Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue way back in 1492.
This delightful ditty firmly places the date of the discovery of the New World into the minds of saavy kids everywhere in Great Satan.
Later on, CC get's dissed in crash courses for introducing alien concepts like slavery, STD's, baby Jesus and advanced weaponry to hapless, childlike races in places from South America all the way to Alaska.
What ev.
What was the motivation for CC to split sail from Europa and head west?
Easy!
Find a short cut to India.
The real quiz is quite significant. Why?
After all, Europa was the centre of the world for the tech saavy Europeans - India's locale was well known and thanks to Prince Henry (the cat who put the 'gator' in) the Navigator sealanes and land routes could have sweetly hooked up to provide the fastest transport times circa 1500 anywhere on earth.
Check out a World map from 1500 AD and the answer is prett obvious.
Critical portions of any route to and from India were totally beseiged by totalitarian monarchies like the Ottomans, Safavid Persia and an unhealthy mix of sundry and "...various mohammedist states..."
Amazing that the reason for the season of Columbus Day is traced back to probs facing the entire free world today.
Unfun, unfree and unhinged regimes built, cruelly maintained and by their very design expansionist feature intolerance, nonegalitarian and misery projection with all the trimmings like slavery, pitiful lit rates and of course - violence.
Detours allowing the avoidance of such retarded, backward civs were in high demand, thanks to Columbus - Europa turned her back on the faux, played league of failed states - and concentrated their efforts on the "New World"
Hail Columbia! Happy Columbus Day.
Hail Columbus! I think he actually came ashore to ask the Indians for a decent cup of coffee. All that way for Starbucks!
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, very interesting post Courtney. Nothing has really changed. The Middle East is an economically backward place we still have to work around.
Yeah, I'm sure ol' Chris would be amused to learn all the things he allegedly did with his discovery, according to a squeaky-wheel few of miseducated cretins with their hysterical revisionism in full screech.
ReplyDeleteColumbus actually was trying to get away from his nagging wife. A route to India was just the excuse.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but I just can't force myself to praise Columbus. Sure, he was looking for trade routes, yada, yada, yada, but my boy Leif Erikson beat him here by around 500years and never get is props.
ReplyDelete