The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [81]
Books and Resources:
The New Penguin History of the World, Roberts, J, 2007, Penguin. p. 358 et al fall of Byzantium; p. 342 et al Crusades.
Crusader Castles in the Holy Land 1192-1302, Nicolle, David, 2005, Osprey. Excellent maps and illustrations by Adam Hook.
A History of the Byzantium State and Society, Treadgold, Warren, 1997, Standard University Press.
Lost to the West, the Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization, Brownworth, Lars, 2009, Crown Publishers. The best short book on Byzantium.
Chapter 9
The New World and the Rise of America
Columbus and 1492
The Age of Discovery led to the European discovery of the Americas in 1492 when Columbus ran into the land mass and thought it was Asia (actually he stumbled onto Cuba, but that’s another story).[84] Spain sponsored the voyage, and Queen Isabella herself paid for the undertaking. Columbus returned with Native Americans that he called Indians because he thought he had found India or a set of islands near India. After a bit of additional exploring it was soon determined he had not reached Asia but a new land unknown in Europe. Of course, Spain claimed the new land, but the Spaniards were not so much interested in North America. The gold of Mexico and South America attracted them. Some areas of North America were claimed by Spain (Florida, parts of Southwest America), but Spain’s real efforts went to gathering the South American gold and in turning the Native Americans into slaves . . . err . . . Christians.
Disease decimated the Native Americans. Some estimates say 70 percent of the population was destroyed by 1700, mostly from disease. The empires of the Inca and Aztecs fell to the Spanish Conquistadores and opened the way for the complete domination of the South American native societies. The Spanish simply placed themselves at the top of the social scale where the old rulers had been causing the population to follow their orders—or else. The new rulers were exploiters and used the natives as virtual slaves to mine the gold or grow the crops that would bring in money. Spain did well and prospered throughout the sixteenth century. England and Holland, plus other upstart nations, spent their time raiding Spanish possessions in the Caribbean and otherwise working to diminish Spanish power. For all the wealth flowing into Spain from the New World little was spent on improving the economy or the daily life of the peasants in Spain. The aristocracy made most of the money and depleted it on projects only benefiting them. Spain spent a lot of wealth on its army and on the wars it had to fight expanding or protecting its empire. Thus, the benefit to Spain for all the gold and wealth that came its way was brief.
After a few failures, the English finally established a North American colony in 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia. This colony, founded 115 years after Columbus’ voyage, just managed to hang on in the face of disease (the colony was in a swamp), starvation, recalcitrant lazy colonists, and some hostile Native Americans. Other colonies placed farther north encountered fewer problems with disease and angry natives—at least at first. In 1664 the English took New Amsterdam from the Dutch and renamed it New York. This was a thriving port in 1664, showing how well the New World was treating people who came for hard work rather than exploitation.
This was the key difference between the colonies of North America and South America. Where Spain came to take and leave, the colonists of the north came to work and stay. The Spaniards looked to Spain as the homeland that they would eventually