Well, I work for the (US) government, we got 10/11 off, AND they called it Columbus Day, but I also am in a traditionally red state that astounded many by going a bit blue recently (Georgia), so there's the anecdotal outlier for you.
OTOH, the chairman of the history dept at Yale published a widely-reprinted column claiming that Columbus was motivated by anti-islam prejudice. Come on, man. Make up your minds what is woke.
(Note to self: Do not send grandchildren to Yale to study history.)
I have been amused by the racializing of the issue, so far based entirely on a nearly complete lack of knowledge about racial views in the 15th c.
When Da Gama got to Calicut he correctly thought he was in India. He incorrectly thought that India was a Christian place. He and his crew worshipped daily for 6 months at a kshatriya temple under the impression that they were attending Mass.
As the Portuguese made their way down the coast of west Africa they enslaved the locals, under the impression (which was correct) that they were Muslims and the belief (also correct) that the Muslims would happily enslave them.
The Portuguese knew better than to try to convert Muslims but were surprised when they reached Congo to find black people they could convert; and they happily Christianized them, which explains why the kings of Kongo around 1500 CE were named Joao, Afonso and Diogo.
Measuringworth.com has an inflation calculator for the US dollar that goes back to 1790. It's quite well done. $25,000 in 1892 is worth anywhere from $775,000 to $34.4 million today, depending on how you calculate relative values - the issues are explained at the website.
I have been owned by about 8% fewer people each day this week than last, but I don't think it is because the Republican Party is running short of morons.
Mostly sickened and died. When the Europeans reached West Africa, they died in similar proportions.
I note many ahistorical assumptions in these comments. The Spaniards did not set out to exterminate the people they found. They were distressed when they died off, since the Spaniards wanted their labor. The locals died partly because of disease, partly because of
Spanish labor practices, which were not different from the policies they pursued at home.
It was a brutal time; the Spaniards were not more brutal than the people they encountered.
The Portuguese, when they reached India, did not attempt to subjugate the locals, for obvious reasons. The behavior of the Spaniards of that time toward the Dutch is relevant.
The length and beam of the ships is actually attested in Chinese sources - except they were more compartmented rafts than ships ... and used on rivers, not oceans
Ah, don't beat yourself up too much. As an undergrad, I was a Reagan Republican. We all learn better as we get older. Well, some of us do. . . .
Well, I work for the (US) government, we got 10/11 off, AND they called it Columbus Day, but I also am in a traditionally red state that astounded many by going a bit blue recently (Georgia), so there's the anecdotal outlier for you.
OTOH, the chairman of the history dept at Yale published a widely-reprinted column claiming that Columbus was motivated by anti-islam prejudice. Come on, man. Make up your minds what is woke.
(Note to self: Do not send grandchildren to Yale to study history.)
I have been amused by the racializing of the issue, so far based entirely on a nearly complete lack of knowledge about racial views in the 15th c.
When Da Gama got to Calicut he correctly thought he was in India. He incorrectly thought that India was a Christian place. He and his crew worshipped daily for 6 months at a kshatriya temple under the impression that they were attending Mass.
As the Portuguese made their way down the coast of west Africa they enslaved the locals, under the impression (which was correct) that they were Muslims and the belief (also correct) that the Muslims would happily enslave them.
The Portuguese knew better than to try to convert Muslims but were surprised when they reached Congo to find black people they could convert; and they happily Christianized them, which explains why the kings of Kongo around 1500 CE were named Joao, Afonso and Diogo.
Measuringworth.com has an inflation calculator for the US dollar that goes back to 1790. It's quite well done. $25,000 in 1892 is worth anywhere from $775,000 to $34.4 million today, depending on how you calculate relative values - the issues are explained at the website.
https://www.measuringworth....
Lorenzo Valla. Without him, there would never have been the modern world.
Yeah, in 500-foot-lomg wooden ships.(wooden ships cannot be more than 200 feet long). Menzies is worse than dubious.
Not where I grew up they weren't
I have been owned by about 8% fewer people each day this week than last, but I don't think it is because the Republican Party is running short of morons.
Mostly sickened and died. When the Europeans reached West Africa, they died in similar proportions.
I note many ahistorical assumptions in these comments. The Spaniards did not set out to exterminate the people they found. They were distressed when they died off, since the Spaniards wanted their labor. The locals died partly because of disease, partly because of
Spanish labor practices, which were not different from the policies they pursued at home.
It was a brutal time; the Spaniards were not more brutal than the people they encountered.
The Portuguese, when they reached India, did not attempt to subjugate the locals, for obvious reasons. The behavior of the Spaniards of that time toward the Dutch is relevant.
Quite handy, athough for reasons I have never undrstood, economic historians call these deflators.
Sickened with European diseases?
Mostly of African origin but imported in European bodies
The length and beam of the ships is actually attested in Chinese sources - except they were more compartmented rafts than ships ... and used on rivers, not oceans
A wooden ship more than 200 feet long will hog and break upon waves. A box isn't a ship.