02e: Conclusions1. Why colonize?
Most simply put, Western Europe was running out of room around 1500 AD. In many countries and assorted principalities, the population was growing faster than the ability to support the population's physical needs. Western European countries also coveted new markets for their goods, along with wealthy trading partners. As we learned in segment 02b, these markets and new lands could not be found in the East, where the Turks and the Russians did play. So the Western Europeans literally had to discover them - much as earlier civilizations had done before them, and as later nations would do after them.
2. The old school view
When I was in high school, history textbooks still claimed that Christopher Columbus “discovered” America in 1492 AD. This implied, in turn, a strong us-and-them distinction between the good Europeans (who were bringing civilization and religion to the bad Indians) and the bad Indians (who massacred and scalped the good Europeans). Since the Europeans considered the Indians to be savages, they considered themselves untitled to claim and rule whatever lands they could grab. The technical term for this assumption is claiming terra nullius, or “nobody’s land.” It was all for the Indians’ own good, or so we were indirectly led to believe. For his role in bringing the so-called New World to Europeans' attention, the good Christopher Columbus had statues erected and cities and even an entire country named in his honor. But the continents themselves were named after that latecomer Amerigo Vespucci.
3. You discovered what?
When I was a pup, we heard considerably less about the peoples already inhabiting the Americas when Columbus reached the Indies in 1492. Fascinating as the Maya, Inca, and Aztec cultures could be, they were South American empires and therefore did not directly impact American history, or so it was told. As for the original inhabitants of North America - they left behind no written records and therefore couldn't possibly have left their mark on American history either. This view of history began to be corrected during my college years: as I once heard an Indian professor tell a class, "We didn't need Columbus to discover us. We already knew we were here." It became very popular to "demythologize" Christopher Columbus and point out his crimes, both authentic (he did kill Native Americans, and did trade in slaves) and percieved (the genocide of American Indians and the institution of slavery). Even though a great deal of the Western Europeans' legacy involved slaughter and oppression of the Native Americans, it is very hard to argue that the world today is not a better place for the colonization of the Americas.
4. Ends and Means
This lecture will conclude by comparing the ends and the means. The Europeans who came to "civilize" the New World - especially the Spanish, Portuguese, British, French - were guilty of hideous crimes against Native Americans and African slaves. The same is true for the United States of America. This fact is something all American citizens need to confront. On the other hand, we shouldn't cling to illusions about the Native Americans or the Africans, either. The Native Americans fought with each other, practiced Ethnic Cleansing upon each other, built empires at each others' expense: all of the things their European contemporaries were doing, just with generally inferior technology. Likewise, the African slave trade had its roots in African slavery, and the unfortunate souls had to be first sold into slavery by other Africans. The bottom line, as best I can figure it out, is that whoever our ancestors were - white, black, brown, red, or green - we don't need to be proud of each and every thing they did in order to be grateful for the good things they have left us. That said, I want to get the Old World out of the way before we return to our Roots.
Lecture 02 Homepage
02a: Introduction
02b: The Old World - 1500 AD
02c: The New World - 1500 AD
02d: Wave of Exploration
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