The Super Summary of World History (24 page)

Figure 20 Colonial Empires 1800

Christopher
Columbus
was probably history’s most important discoverer because he found the “New World” of the North and South American continents, which were unknown in Europe. Europe knew about the Orient because they had been trading with the East for centuries, but they did not know about this new land that was only sparsely inhabited by people they called Indians.
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The Europeans thought it was too good to be true—lots of land and no one of importance in the way. For the Europeans, nothing could have been better. For the Native Americans, nothing could have been worse. The Spanish were in a fix when Columbus approached them with his idea of getting to the Orient by going west. Portugal was making its way around the African continent, and was in no mood to allow others to assume their role. Spain, England, France, Holland, and other European monarchs, faced disruption of the lucrative trade with the Far East. Columbus at least offered them a chance to reach the Indies and gain another way to compete with Portugal.
Queen
Isabella
of Spain decided to take the risk of backing Columbus and his idea of reaching the east by sailing west; but like many risk takers, she got something far beyond the assumed bargain. That something was even more incredible than a route to the Indies; it was an unknown world of vast potential and enormous mineral wealth. Columbus found something new and wonderful. Europe was ready to see what else the world held that was new and wonderful.

Now that the world was suddenly round someone needed to circumnavigate it. Magellan, a Portuguese turned Spaniard, accomplished the feat by setting out from Spain in 1519 and returning in 1522. Well,
he
didn’t sail around the world, his crew did. He gets the credit for making the entire trip since he was in charge when the five ship fleet set out. The voyage made by Magellan and his crews was terribly hard. Out of 237 men only 18 managed to circle the globe; many died, some turned back. Magellan’s real test came at Cape Horn at the tip of South America. As they sailed south along the eastern edge of South America toward the Cape, the rigging froze; and no food was available along the shores they passed. It was a barren and windswept land, offering them nothing they needed for continuing the voyage. Still, on he pressed. The nearer the small fleet got to the Antarctic the worse the storms became. He sailed through the Straits of Magellan (not the Straits of Magellan then of course) that were racked with violent storms, and somehow made it to the Pacific Ocean, which he so named because of the lack of storms encountered. Of course, after the straits and its storms almost anything would look passive. Then they started across the Pacific and found it to be almost endless. Magellan claimed everything he discovered for Spain. After surviving all the previous troubles, Magellan died in the Philippines fighting the natives. Before he made the passage around South America, part of his fleet turned back to Spain and told the Spanish authorities Magellan’s fleet had perished. They were still in Spain when the sole surviving ship from Magellan’s fleet sailed in and put the lie to their story. Those who turned back were executed for mutiny. So, only one ship returned to Spain, but it was enough to claim the Philippines and most of South America (Portugal got Brazil) for the sponsors of the voyage—Spain.

Spanish thugs . . . oops . . . troops under various vicious . . . oops . . . bold leaders conquered Mexico (the Aztecs)
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and Peru (the Incas). The
Conquistadors
, the name for the Spanish troops—meaning conqueror—were brave and brazen beyond all imagination. Tiny groups of men fought enormous armies of natives and won. These men were courageous, and how they managed to conquer these native kingdoms is a story in itself, but the result of these conquests was the decimation and subjugation of the American natives.

Native
Empires
in
the
Americas

Figure 21 Aztec Capitol of Tenochtitlan

The native empires of the
Aztecs
and the
Incas
were large and powerful entities with absolute rulers, majestic cities, astounding temples of worship that resembled the pyramids of Mesopotamia, significant wealth, an understanding of astronomy, written language, large trading areas, and blood sacrifice to their gods. In other words, these were major civilizations. These noteworthy societies were preceded by other important Meso-American civilizations with all the fundamental attributes of cities found in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East. These organized empires believed in gods, sacrificed to those gods, and had armies that conquered and oppressed other tribes in their areas. Cities grew up that were large, well organized, well administered, and were fed by farmers using complex irrigation systems to assist them in growing their crops, consisting of maize (corn) and potatoes. Sound familiar? It should, because these civilizations were very much like those in the Middle East, although they grew up in isolation from other empires. We
know
these civilizations grew up in isolation because upon contact with Europeans they died by the hundreds of thousands from diseases carried by the white invaders. Small pox was so deadly that it alone took millions of lives. If there had been contact between the regions these diseases could not have extracted such a deadly toll because the natives would have experienced them already and built up immunities. The crops of the Americas, maize and potatoes, were probably cultivated from at least 5000 BC. Europe had no idea these crops existed; thus, it is apparent no contact occurred after that time.

Figure 22 Meso-American Cultural Sites (Maya)

What these civilizations did
not
have in common with the Middle East, Europe, and Asia was
herd
animal
husbandry. Unlike all the Middle Eastern civilizations, they did not have herd animals such as cows, horses, and sheep. In addition, their crops were corn based. Wheat and barley crops were unknown to them. The largest omission from their civilizations, in terms of inventions, was the wheel. None of the Native American cultures had invented the wheel even though they had round calendars, and some of their toys had wheels. They also did not have gunpowder, cannons, or rifles. In Europe, rifles were in use by 1520, and they were using cannons in 1320. These weapons were the difference between victory and defeat for the Native Americans in the Aztec and Inca Empires.

As these cultures grew up in isolation from cultures in the Middle East, but ended up much like them, it may be an indication of the universal underpinnings of human thought. Their gods were multiple, and they demanded sacrifices of blood. This was common in Mesopotamia even though the practice of human sacrifice was not so widely used. In Mesopotamia and Egypt, the inhabitants constructed pyramids with steps,
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which were a lot like those constructed in Meso-America. How is it that at least two widely separated cultures developed the pyramid as a shape for worshiping their gods?
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Contact between these cultures is improbable, and they did not jointly emerge from a common civilization. Instead, I think inbred human personality traits are the common point of origin for a belief in gods, the geometric structures constructed to worship these gods, the warfare and sacrifice desired by the gods, the drive for domination over others, and many other things. If widely separated cultures develop much the same way with beliefs in conquest, war, gods, sacrifice to the gods, and massive buildings for ceremonial centers, it seems what was inside the people drove them to these beliefs and actions. We should note that cultures in China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and many other locals developed similar beliefs, even if their buildings were not the same.

These native empires started in Mexico, north of the Yucatan Peninsula on the Gulf Coast about
1200
BC
. The first were the
Olmecs,
who existed from about 1200 BC to 400 BC. Some doubt the Olmecs were an empire at all because their artifacts are restricted to a rather small region; however, they did construct substantial ceremonial centers with what seems to be an astronomical alignment, and these had pyramids and large plazas. The most conspicuous artifact left behind were gigantic stone heads with African facial features. This may indicate the culture was not of Native American origins; however, this is highly speculative. This culture vanished by 300 BC; why is open to speculation. Here we should note this is one of the few major civilizations growing up apart from a major river. The same is true of other Meso-American civilizations such as the Aztec, and the Inca in South America. In the Middle East, Turkey, India, and China the large empires grew up along major river systems.

About 300 BC, early
Mayan
civilization was starting in the area of Guatemala with intensive agriculture that included hillside terracing and canals. Composed complex hieroglyphics, the Mayan script was the most advanced system of writing in the Americas. Mayan math and astronomical skill enabled the invention of a highly accurate circular calendar that divided time into finite periods. It is said this legendary calendar predicts the end of the world in 2012. The Mayans, and probably the Olmecs, were involved in blood sacrifice, a tradition enduring through all the major Meso-American civilizations. Blood, it seems, was necessary to nourish the gods. As with subsequent civilizations in Meso-America, it was the king’s job to obtain sacrificial victims for the gods, and this involved the conquest, enslavement, and murder (sacrifice) of conquered peoples. These ideas lived on in the societies following the Olmec and the Maya, because these kinds of sacrifices were in vogue until the European invasion in the sixteenth century.

Around AD 800, the Mayan civilization suffered a mystifying collapse, and the population fell dramatically in the Yucatan area. This breakdown caused the fall of
Chichen
Itza
, their magnificent city dominating the cities of the northern Yucatan Peninsula for centuries. The collapse led to a dispersion of the surviving population into smaller kingdoms. There was a re-emergence of the culture in about AD 1180, when the Mayan cities thrived once more. This relatively decentralized new Mayan culture thrived until the Spanish incursions of 1519.

The mysterious
Toltecs
civilization was ruling central Mexico about AD 850. Their society esteemed war and conquest. The Aztec rulers claimed descent from this legendary culture centered in the city of Tula. The discovery of this city led archeologists to believe it was at its height about AD 900, and destroyed about AD 1160. The city had large monuments, and the people practiced the same blood sacrifice as future cultures in the region.

The empire of the
Aztecs
, which probably replaced the Toltecs, centered on their capital super city of
Tenochtitlan
, constructed on a lake in the Valley of Mexico and home to about 250,000 people. Organized as an imperial structure under an absolute king, this impressive realm began its rise about AD 1400, eventually stretching from the Pacific Coast of Mexico to the Atlantic Gulf Coast. Although the Aztec Empire lacked an extensive road system, interconnecting trade routes were well established. The Aztecs practiced the blood sacrifice of their forbearers, and carried the ritual to extremes.
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The Aztec Empire fell when Cortez conquered Tenochtitlan in 1521.

The
Inca
Empire
in Peru centered on its capital city
Cuzco
, the religious, cultural, and political core of their Andes Empire.
Machu
Picchu
, their temple complex, is surrounded by fortress walls and perched high on a peak for extra protection. This mountainous realm enjoyed well-constructed roads which assisted in keeping the rather-narrow 2,600-mile-long strip (from Ecuador southern Chile) along the Pacific coast of Peru unified as a kingdom. Apparently, an absolute emperor controlled all aspects of life and the economy. The conquistador Pizarro and his small army destroyed the Inca in 1532.