May 09, 2019 Thursday
Bedtime Story
Understanding the Roots of Civil War
Hopkins was an ardent supporter of Abraham
Lincoln not for sake of mere political or financial gain but sincerely
believing in his progressive views which were always an anathema for the
society.
Lincoln’s liberal and progressive radical
ideas of equality and universal franchise were disliked and repulsive to most
white Americans even in the Northern States.
It was then simply unthinkable (very
understandably I should say) for the white Americans who were largely
descendants of immigrants from the British Isles and other European nations
(who were then the Imperial masters of the world) of the New World to equate
themselves with the slave descendents of the black pygmies/negroes with
primitive rituals and customs who had been ferried from the disease infested
Dark Continent.
The Atlantic slave trade started in the 16th
century (and lasted till the 19th century) when the trade contact
was made between the Old World (Afro-Eurasia) and the New World (the Americas).
Of course, even before the Atlantic slave
trade had started the European colonizers – most notable the Portuguese – by
means of their naval explorations had already begun to migrate and settle in
lands outside their own continent.
The first place (and the nearest) where
African colonization by the Europeans would start was the Canary Islands which
is an Archipelago located just 100 kilometers west of Morocco.
You might contest that these islands could
be anyone’s (in fact, today it is a territory of Spain and is labeled as an Autonomous
Community of Spain) since it falls on no man’s land (or ocean in this case).
The counterargument is that these islands
are a part of the African Tectonic Plate that includes most of the African Continent
(but not all) as well as a large oceanic crust that stretches all the way from
North Atlantic to south in the Antarctic.
But then the human apes have never
respected geological boundaries and for most part of their existence were
unaware of even the existence of these tectonic plates.
Canary Islands were invaded and colonized
as early as 15th century and the whole island along with its people
was converted into a production house of wine and sugar for the European masters.
Not satisfied with this the Iberians (a
part of Spain is known as the Iberian Peninsula) enslaved the aboriginal inhabitants
of Canary Islands who were known as the Guanches to use them as workers both
within the islands as well as Christian Mediterranean.
This transfer of Guanches slaves from the
Canary Island to the European Mediterranean marked the beginning of the trend
how Africa and its people would be exploited by the Europeans both in the Old
World and the New World.
It is best said by the American historian
John Thornton who is a professor at the history department at Boston University
and who specializes in the history of Africa, the African Diaspora and the
Atlantic world:
“The actual motivation for European expansion
and for navigational breakthroughs was little more than to exploit…”
Stay tuned to the voice of an
average story storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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