Madison Rambles #2: The Apocalypse After The Black Death
Hello, everyone!
I was relaxing over the weekend, tired from the first week of school... until I realized I had reading to do! So I tried to stop being lazy and read over thirty pages in the span of roughly an hour.
As I was reading, I quickly realized what the chapter was about: European colonization. It's not the most pleasant to read about, but I know it is very important to learn about the crimes against humanity Europe performed on the Native Americans and African people. There is a reason why slavery is illegal in every country, and that is because we have learned from the horrific unpaid labor people had to endure.
I will be focusing on Chapter 13.
Everyone in America knows that Europe loved to conquer. It started with Christopher Columbus in 1492 and continued with outbreaks of smallpox and other diseases. Racism followed, with a hierarchy based on race forming in the Americas. But no place was the hierarchy stricter than what would become the United States of America.
In Latin America, if someone was half black or half native, they would be considered "mixed race." This population would eventually grow to create the diversity in places such as Mexico, as reflected in holidays such as Dias los Muertos (a mix of Catholic and native traditions). However, in America, even someone who was half black would be considered black. This influenced history even centuries later with segregation and laws on interracial marriage.
While the book doesn't go into great detail about American slavery yet, they do have at least a paragraph talking about the hell-like conditions of their work. Most notably, the mortality rates were high, with slaves being replaced constantly. It is a mystery how owners weren't traumatized by the amount of human deaths, but maybe the financial benefit persuaded them into these inhumane actions.
It may sound, from these paragraphs alone, that all Europeans were on top of the world, but that was not the case. First of all, China and the Islamic empires were still very powerful. Second of all, the Ottoman empire would recruit young Christian boys and convert them to the Islamic faith, scaring the European Christians. Despite the prominent positions these boys could achieve, Christians warned not to let their boys be recruited to the "barbarians," or else they would be exposed to things such as homosexuality. The result was child marriages and murdering recruiters. It makes the religious reactions to Harry Potter seem tame in comparison.
So in the end, Europe was dominating the Americas, but were afraid of the Ottoman Empire and homosexuality. It shows how irrational and paranoid the Europeans could get. I'm glad this history book is slowly showing that Europe was like the Wizard of Oz; seemingly fierce and powerful at first, but also scared of losing power to someone else.
That was surprisingly long. I didn't expect talking this long about European colonization, but it is good to learn from our mistakes.
Next chapter goes into more detail about the African slave trade. I am very sad that there has to be two chapters about the harm Europe has done to the world.
Until next time!
I was relaxing over the weekend, tired from the first week of school... until I realized I had reading to do! So I tried to stop being lazy and read over thirty pages in the span of roughly an hour.
As I was reading, I quickly realized what the chapter was about: European colonization. It's not the most pleasant to read about, but I know it is very important to learn about the crimes against humanity Europe performed on the Native Americans and African people. There is a reason why slavery is illegal in every country, and that is because we have learned from the horrific unpaid labor people had to endure.
I will be focusing on Chapter 13.
Everyone in America knows that Europe loved to conquer. It started with Christopher Columbus in 1492 and continued with outbreaks of smallpox and other diseases. Racism followed, with a hierarchy based on race forming in the Americas. But no place was the hierarchy stricter than what would become the United States of America.
In Latin America, if someone was half black or half native, they would be considered "mixed race." This population would eventually grow to create the diversity in places such as Mexico, as reflected in holidays such as Dias los Muertos (a mix of Catholic and native traditions). However, in America, even someone who was half black would be considered black. This influenced history even centuries later with segregation and laws on interracial marriage.
While the book doesn't go into great detail about American slavery yet, they do have at least a paragraph talking about the hell-like conditions of their work. Most notably, the mortality rates were high, with slaves being replaced constantly. It is a mystery how owners weren't traumatized by the amount of human deaths, but maybe the financial benefit persuaded them into these inhumane actions.
It may sound, from these paragraphs alone, that all Europeans were on top of the world, but that was not the case. First of all, China and the Islamic empires were still very powerful. Second of all, the Ottoman empire would recruit young Christian boys and convert them to the Islamic faith, scaring the European Christians. Despite the prominent positions these boys could achieve, Christians warned not to let their boys be recruited to the "barbarians," or else they would be exposed to things such as homosexuality. The result was child marriages and murdering recruiters. It makes the religious reactions to Harry Potter seem tame in comparison.
So in the end, Europe was dominating the Americas, but were afraid of the Ottoman Empire and homosexuality. It shows how irrational and paranoid the Europeans could get. I'm glad this history book is slowly showing that Europe was like the Wizard of Oz; seemingly fierce and powerful at first, but also scared of losing power to someone else.
That was surprisingly long. I didn't expect talking this long about European colonization, but it is good to learn from our mistakes.
Next chapter goes into more detail about the African slave trade. I am very sad that there has to be two chapters about the harm Europe has done to the world.
Until next time!
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