We start off learning about the politics of sugar. I found it interesting that the majority of African slaves were brought to Brazil to work on the growing and production of sugar—a product that today enslaves most of America. We are slaves to a substance that was mass-produced on the backs of imported humans, and now we “free people” are shackled by it ourselves.
I also thought it interesting that the Spaniards encouraged inter-racial marriage in Mesoamerica, creating three distinct groups of people that were not necessarily shunned because of their ethnicity, while the Portuguese used native women only as concubines, and therefore their children were “inauthentic.” The offspring of the Spaniards were therefore more “legitimate” and had more social opportunities. When the Europeans arrived, the women came with the men, resulting in less “cultural mixing.”
By around 1750, slaves in North America became “self-reproducing,” and therefore importation was less necessary than in Brazil where slaves continued to be imported until the mid-late 1800s. Another in note in the slave history of the Americas is that more slaves were set free-some after 7 years by the Portuguese, and the color of skin was less of a social stigma than what has occurred in North America.
Switching to American colonialism, by the time Britain entered the picture, they came late in the game and got the American leftovers. Needless to say, they made the most of it. Because Britain had by this time become more industrialized than Spain or Portugal, they brought with them a more rapidly developing social environment. Since many of the settlers of the British colonies wanted to escape their society, they had a desire to change things rather than to re-create the societies from which they came; this allowed the North Americas to be more socially innovative. They were also more numerous, which allowed them to monopolize on the ownership of land and take over farm production, rather than mixing with the native population, which had largely been decimated from disease.
Russia became a unique empire, spreading across north eastern Asia and dominating through military power. This was necessary in order to maintain order among the diverse cultures that had occupied the land.
As we head into chapter 15, I thought I’d make an observation about the size of a country relative to its power. People often warn the U.S. that we are huge consumers with a relatively small population, but that has often been the case. When you look at Portugal, Spain and France, and see how small they are and how much land and wealth they were able to accumulate, is it odd that the U.S. has done the same? Or that we have sought expansion through military might, as did the Russians and the Chinese? This is kind of the way of history. Might does not make right, but it does make power, which then makes (takes) wealth, which then takes might to keep what it has gotten by might. Right? I may have mixed up the order here, but the fact remains that empires have forever been built on military strength, and countries have been won and lost based on financial and military power. So is the winner the one who has enough money to buy the biggest and best guns? In this case, perhaps the U.S. does have it right. That is unless someone uses a bigger and better bomb before we do. Or could people just give up and get along without having to conquer one another? Have we evolved to a place where this world chess game can become a dance where we switch partners rather than demolishing cultures? I don’t think so. I really don’t think so. It is totally naïve to think that people can ever live in peace. We are all just insignificant ants. And that’s where religion comes in. It’s a way for the oppressed to feel powerful and hopeful. And it’s so handy for a government, because they can control the people without physical violence. The government can safeguard the “morals” of people’s children while the parents work at McDonald’s.
I cannot even discuss the slave trade.
Now comes the Catholics vs. the Protestants, with more people killing each other because of God—purportedly the SAME god! Same Jesus, same Bible, same trinity, but different rituals—yeah, let’s kill 3,000 people in a day and thousands upon thousands of people in a week over this. Kind of like sacrificing people to the gods, huh? Yeah. Christians are way more civilized than pagans. I think I’ll leave off on discussing the religion thing, as I’m not a fan. Let’s talk about science!
Europe fortunately had a scientific revolution, known as Europe’s Scientific Revolution. People began observing and discussing the laws of nature like crazy, and this began to change the ideas about the Church, questioning its ultimate authority, and we began to contemplate a division between church and state. Universities sprung up that were able to exclude religious teaching from the curriculum; intellectuals were able to think and discuss ideas freely without fear from religious persecution. In Islamic countries, the opposite happened, and the scientific thinkers studied outside formal educational institutions, which were structured around Quranic studies. They had a saying, “May God protect us from useless knowledge;” I’m sure a Christian fundamentalist will pick this one up eventually, as it’s a handy quote, particularly for the intelligent designers.
When Newton figured out gravity, things began to change rapidly and with an equal and opposite reaction. Scientific thinkers turned away from angels and spirits to perception as only what we can ascertain through scientific means, and the Church freaked out. Their power and authority was under attack by reason, and these two factions continue to be at odds today, and this division will probably never end. People won’t stop thinking, nor will they stop trying to find a spiritual solution to their problems. When a world contains such inhumanity and imbalance of power and wealth, it MUST have religion to keep people content while they are oppressed.
I’m signing off now because this writing has been exhausting. My opinionated mind is worn out from expressing itself.
Excellent blogging so far!
ReplyDeletePA