video_title
stringlengths 25
104
| Sentence
stringlengths 73
2.51k
|
|---|---|
Globalization I - The Upside Crash Course World History #41.m4a | Dang. Like in 1800, there were a billion human beings on this planet, and that was more than had ever been seen before. And we live more than twice as long, on average, as humans did just two centuries ago, largely due to improved health care for women in childbirth and their infants, but also thanks to antibiotics and the second agricultural revolution that began in the 1950s, the so-called Green Revolution, that saw increased use of chemical fertilizers lead to dramatically higher crop yields. Of course, these gains haven't been evenly distributed around the world, but chances are, if you're watching this, you a. survive childbirth, and b. feel reasonably confident that your children will as well. That's a new feeling for humans, and as a parent, I can assure you, it's a miracle and one to be celebrated. We study history so that we can understand these changes, and so that we can remember both what we've gained and lost in getting to where we are. Next week, our last week, we'll look at the many facets of globalization that aren't causes for celebration. |
Globalization I - The Upside Crash Course World History #41.m4a | Of course, these gains haven't been evenly distributed around the world, but chances are, if you're watching this, you a. survive childbirth, and b. feel reasonably confident that your children will as well. That's a new feeling for humans, and as a parent, I can assure you, it's a miracle and one to be celebrated. We study history so that we can understand these changes, and so that we can remember both what we've gained and lost in getting to where we are. Next week, our last week, we'll look at the many facets of globalization that aren't causes for celebration. But for today, let's just pause to consider how we got from here to here, how the relentless and unquenchable ambition of humans led to a world where the entire contents of the Library of Alexandria would fit on my iPhone, along with recordings of everything Mozart ever composed. In such a world, it's easy to feel that we are big and powerful, maybe even invincible. It's easy to feel that, and also dangerous. |
Globalization I - The Upside Crash Course World History #41.m4a | Next week, our last week, we'll look at the many facets of globalization that aren't causes for celebration. But for today, let's just pause to consider how we got from here to here, how the relentless and unquenchable ambition of humans led to a world where the entire contents of the Library of Alexandria would fit on my iPhone, along with recordings of everything Mozart ever composed. In such a world, it's easy to feel that we are big and powerful, maybe even invincible. It's easy to feel that, and also dangerous. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next week. Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan Muller. |
Globalization I - The Upside Crash Course World History #41.m4a | It's easy to feel that, and also dangerous. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next week. Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan Muller. Our script supervisor is Meredith Danko, associate producer Danica Johnson, and the show is written by my high school history teacher Raoul Meyer and myself. Our graphics team is Thought Bubble. Last week's Phrase of the Week was, crush those rebels. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | As we enter into the third century BCE, we see the Roman Republic that was founded in 509 BCE has now exerted control over most of the Italian peninsula. But it's not the only power in the Mediterranean. We have the remnants of Alexander the Great's empire, and we also have the Carthaginians. And you can see here in blue that Carthage had an extensive empire that controlled most of the western Mediterranean. And so you can imagine it was only a matter of time before they come into conflict with each other. And it turns out they are actually going to have three significant wars. Some historians view it as the most significant and largest scale wars up to that point in history. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And you can see here in blue that Carthage had an extensive empire that controlled most of the western Mediterranean. And so you can imagine it was only a matter of time before they come into conflict with each other. And it turns out they are actually going to have three significant wars. Some historians view it as the most significant and largest scale wars up to that point in history. And the first of these happens in 264 BCE. And it goes on for 23 years to 241 BCE. This is known as the First Punic War. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | Some historians view it as the most significant and largest scale wars up to that point in history. And the first of these happens in 264 BCE. And it goes on for 23 years to 241 BCE. This is known as the First Punic War. You can see it on the timeline right over here, going from 264 to 241. To 241 right over there. And it's a result of a conflict that starts between two city states in Sicily. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | This is known as the First Punic War. You can see it on the timeline right over here, going from 264 to 241. To 241 right over there. And it's a result of a conflict that starts between two city states in Sicily. Sicily is this island right over here. And you have the city state of Syracuse, which is a powerful city originally established by the Greeks, and it gets into a scuffle with Messina, which is another city state at the northern, northeastern tip of Sicily. And Rome and Carthage, these two great powers, get embroiled, and it ends up being a conflict over the island of Sicily, where Carthage already had a foothold on the west coast. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And it's a result of a conflict that starts between two city states in Sicily. Sicily is this island right over here. And you have the city state of Syracuse, which is a powerful city originally established by the Greeks, and it gets into a scuffle with Messina, which is another city state at the northern, northeastern tip of Sicily. And Rome and Carthage, these two great powers, get embroiled, and it ends up being a conflict over the island of Sicily, where Carthage already had a foothold on the west coast. Now what's interesting going into this war is that Carthage had a powerful, you could view it as an empire over the sea. It had a very powerful navy, while Rome had a very powerful army, and not really much of a navy to speak of. But as we'll see as we go through the First Punic War, that will change. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And Rome and Carthage, these two great powers, get embroiled, and it ends up being a conflict over the island of Sicily, where Carthage already had a foothold on the west coast. Now what's interesting going into this war is that Carthage had a powerful, you could view it as an empire over the sea. It had a very powerful navy, while Rome had a very powerful army, and not really much of a navy to speak of. But as we'll see as we go through the First Punic War, that will change. The first major battle happens at Agrigentum, and I'm probably mispronouncing it here, on Sicily. And the Romans are able to win decisively, and then the Carthaginians, you can imagine, start to say, well, maybe we should engage them more in the sea. And that happens in 260 at the Battle of Lippori Islands, which are right over here. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | But as we'll see as we go through the First Punic War, that will change. The first major battle happens at Agrigentum, and I'm probably mispronouncing it here, on Sicily. And the Romans are able to win decisively, and then the Carthaginians, you can imagine, start to say, well, maybe we should engage them more in the sea. And that happens in 260 at the Battle of Lippori Islands, which are right over here. And when the Romans get defeated there, they say, hey, maybe we need a little bit more of a navy. And so over the course of these several decades, you have this constant, this continual fighting. And there are some Carthaginian or Punic victories. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And that happens in 260 at the Battle of Lippori Islands, which are right over here. And when the Romans get defeated there, they say, hey, maybe we need a little bit more of a navy. And so over the course of these several decades, you have this constant, this continual fighting. And there are some Carthaginian or Punic victories. We've talked about in previous videos, the word Punic is derived from what the Romans called the Carthaginians, which is derived from their roots as Phoenicians. You have some Punic victories, but for the most part, Rome is successful. And so at the end of the First Punic War, a few things happen. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And there are some Carthaginian or Punic victories. We've talked about in previous videos, the word Punic is derived from what the Romans called the Carthaginians, which is derived from their roots as Phoenicians. You have some Punic victories, but for the most part, Rome is successful. And so at the end of the First Punic War, a few things happen. You have Carthage leaves Sicily. Carthage expelled, expelled from, from Sicily. You have, you have war indemnity. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And so at the end of the First Punic War, a few things happen. You have Carthage leaves Sicily. Carthage expelled, expelled from, from Sicily. You have, you have war indemnity. Rome tells Carthage, hey, you've gotta pay us for all of the damage you've created. And so this is difficult for Carthage, because a war costs Carthage a lot. And Carthage, especially, it didn't have citizen soldiers. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | You have, you have war indemnity. Rome tells Carthage, hey, you've gotta pay us for all of the damage you've created. And so this is difficult for Carthage, because a war costs Carthage a lot. And Carthage, especially, it didn't have citizen soldiers. Its army was made up of, the Navy had citizen, I guess you say sailors, but its army was made up mainly of mercenaries. Mercenaries. So these are soldiers who really, if you pay them enough, they're gonna fight for you. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And Carthage, especially, it didn't have citizen soldiers. Its army was made up of, the Navy had citizen, I guess you say sailors, but its army was made up mainly of mercenaries. Mercenaries. So these are soldiers who really, if you pay them enough, they're gonna fight for you. They don't really have allegiances based on some type of ideology or citizenship. So Carthage, as they went through this many decades war, they one, had to pay all these mercenaries. They had their own costs. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | So these are soldiers who really, if you pay them enough, they're gonna fight for you. They don't really have allegiances based on some type of ideology or citizenship. So Carthage, as they went through this many decades war, they one, had to pay all these mercenaries. They had their own costs. And now Rome is making them pay indemnity. War indemnity. Indemnity to Rome. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | They had their own costs. And now Rome is making them pay indemnity. War indemnity. Indemnity to Rome. And the other, I guess you could say side effect of this first Punic War, is that it was a catalyst for Rome building its Navy. Rome builds, builds Navy. And so you can imagine, especially the cost of the first Punic War, it becomes very difficult for Carthage. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | Indemnity to Rome. And the other, I guess you could say side effect of this first Punic War, is that it was a catalyst for Rome building its Navy. Rome builds, builds Navy. And so you can imagine, especially the cost of the first Punic War, it becomes very difficult for Carthage. It actually destabilizes Carthage. A lot of the mercenaries, when they're not paid as they see they should be, they actually rise up. And from 240 to 238, you have a mercenary war. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And so you can imagine, especially the cost of the first Punic War, it becomes very difficult for Carthage. It actually destabilizes Carthage. A lot of the mercenaries, when they're not paid as they see they should be, they actually rise up. And from 240 to 238, you have a mercenary war. So 240 to 238 BCE. BCE. You have a mercenary war. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And from 240 to 238, you have a mercenary war. So 240 to 238 BCE. BCE. You have a mercenary war. Eventually, it's able to be put down by the Carthaginians, but the side effect is it weakens their hold on Sardinia and Corsica. And so by the end of the mercenary war, by the end of the mercenary war, the map looks like this right over here. So you could view this map as what the Mediterranean looked like in 238 BCE. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | You have a mercenary war. Eventually, it's able to be put down by the Carthaginians, but the side effect is it weakens their hold on Sardinia and Corsica. And so by the end of the mercenary war, by the end of the mercenary war, the map looks like this right over here. So you could view this map as what the Mediterranean looked like in 238 BCE. Where you see now the Romans not only have control of the Italian peninsula, they've gained control over Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily. Now this is Roman power is only going to increase, but the Carthaginians, this proud empire, they're not done here. So in 218, the Carthaginian general Hannibal, the famous Hannibal, decides to attack the Romans. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | So you could view this map as what the Mediterranean looked like in 238 BCE. Where you see now the Romans not only have control of the Italian peninsula, they've gained control over Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily. Now this is Roman power is only going to increase, but the Carthaginians, this proud empire, they're not done here. So in 218, the Carthaginian general Hannibal, the famous Hannibal, decides to attack the Romans. And he does it in an unconventional way. He attacks from the north. He takes his army, which includes elephants, through the Swiss Alps. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | So in 218, the Carthaginian general Hannibal, the famous Hannibal, decides to attack the Romans. And he does it in an unconventional way. He attacks from the north. He takes his army, which includes elephants, through the Swiss Alps. This is an artist's depiction of Hannibal's army with its elephants going through the Swiss Alps. And they're able to wreak havoc over the Italian peninsula. And this goes on for roughly 15 years. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | He takes his army, which includes elephants, through the Swiss Alps. This is an artist's depiction of Hannibal's army with its elephants going through the Swiss Alps. And they're able to wreak havoc over the Italian peninsula. And this goes on for roughly 15 years. And so from 218 BCE till 201 BCE, you have the Second Punic War. Second Punic War. And even though Hannibal's able to wreak havoc for over a decade on the Italian peninsula, he's never able to fully take control of Rome. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And this goes on for roughly 15 years. And so from 218 BCE till 201 BCE, you have the Second Punic War. Second Punic War. And even though Hannibal's able to wreak havoc for over a decade on the Italian peninsula, he's never able to fully take control of Rome. And there's several explanations there. One is the people that he conquers kept rising up against him. They weren't just happy to be subjugated by the Carthaginians, by the Punics, I guess you could say. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And even though Hannibal's able to wreak havoc for over a decade on the Italian peninsula, he's never able to fully take control of Rome. And there's several explanations there. One is the people that he conquers kept rising up against him. They weren't just happy to be subjugated by the Carthaginians, by the Punics, I guess you could say. And he never was able to get as many reinforcements as necessary to fully subjugate Rome. And by the end of the Second Punic War, the Romans decide to take the battle to Carthage. And in 202 BCE, at the Battle of Zuma, the Romans are able to decisively beat Hannibal. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | They weren't just happy to be subjugated by the Carthaginians, by the Punics, I guess you could say. And he never was able to get as many reinforcements as necessary to fully subjugate Rome. And by the end of the Second Punic War, the Romans decide to take the battle to Carthage. And in 202 BCE, at the Battle of Zuma, the Romans are able to decisively beat Hannibal. Hannibal is called back to defend the homeland. And he is defeated here at Zuma. And so in 201 BCE, you have the end of the Second Punic War. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And in 202 BCE, at the Battle of Zuma, the Romans are able to decisively beat Hannibal. Hannibal is called back to defend the homeland. And he is defeated here at Zuma. And so in 201 BCE, you have the end of the Second Punic War. And by that point, at the end of the Second Punic War, you now have Rome in control of significant chunks of the Iberian Peninsula that used to be under control of Carthage. And Carthage has really been reduced to a client state of Rome. And this is roughly what the map looks like. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And so in 201 BCE, you have the end of the Second Punic War. And by that point, at the end of the Second Punic War, you now have Rome in control of significant chunks of the Iberian Peninsula that used to be under control of Carthage. And Carthage has really been reduced to a client state of Rome. And this is roughly what the map looks like. And after this, Rome isn't happy. I mean, this was a pretty ugly war. Hannibal was here wreaking havoc on the Italian peninsula. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And this is roughly what the map looks like. And after this, Rome isn't happy. I mean, this was a pretty ugly war. Hannibal was here wreaking havoc on the Italian peninsula. He was almost successful at taking over Rome. It was an existential threat to the Roman Republic. And so Carthage essentially becomes a client state of Rome. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | Hannibal was here wreaking havoc on the Italian peninsula. He was almost successful at taking over Rome. It was an existential threat to the Roman Republic. And so Carthage essentially becomes a client state of Rome. They have to pay war indemnity. They really can't have a significant army anymore or a significant navy. And many people in Rome over the next several decades, even though Carthage is weakened so much, they start arguing, hey, we should just completely destroy this city. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And so Carthage essentially becomes a client state of Rome. They have to pay war indemnity. They really can't have a significant army anymore or a significant navy. And many people in Rome over the next several decades, even though Carthage is weakened so much, they start arguing, hey, we should just completely destroy this city. Because every time we destroy them, or at least we beat them, we get into this peace treaty, but then they get powerful again, and then we get into a war with them. And these are very ugly wars. And so finally, in 149, let me write this, 149 BCE, as Carthage is starting to reassert a little bit of power, it's trying to rebuild its military, the Romans get scared. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And many people in Rome over the next several decades, even though Carthage is weakened so much, they start arguing, hey, we should just completely destroy this city. Because every time we destroy them, or at least we beat them, we get into this peace treaty, but then they get powerful again, and then we get into a war with them. And these are very ugly wars. And so finally, in 149, let me write this, 149 BCE, as Carthage is starting to reassert a little bit of power, it's trying to rebuild its military, the Romans get scared. And they say, you know what, let's just finish them off once and for all. And they say, all right, they start to put very onerous terms on the Carthaginians. They say, hey, move your city further inland. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And so finally, in 149, let me write this, 149 BCE, as Carthage is starting to reassert a little bit of power, it's trying to rebuild its military, the Romans get scared. And they say, you know what, let's just finish them off once and for all. And they say, all right, they start to put very onerous terms on the Carthaginians. They say, hey, move your city further inland. We don't want you to ever be a power. The Carthaginians, of course, can't say, hey, we're just gonna move our entire city and we're gonna cede to your demands. And so the Romans use that as grounds for attack. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | They say, hey, move your city further inland. We don't want you to ever be a power. The Carthaginians, of course, can't say, hey, we're just gonna move our entire city and we're gonna cede to your demands. And so the Romans use that as grounds for attack. And then, so from 149 BCE to 146 BCE, you have the Third Punic War, Third Punic War, which is really the one where Rome goes to destroy Carthage. And they are able to destroy Carthage, ending a 700-year city-state empire, whatever you wanna call it. They then become, the city of Carthage is utterly destroyed. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | And so the Romans use that as grounds for attack. And then, so from 149 BCE to 146 BCE, you have the Third Punic War, Third Punic War, which is really the one where Rome goes to destroy Carthage. And they are able to destroy Carthage, ending a 700-year city-state empire, whatever you wanna call it. They then become, the city of Carthage is utterly destroyed. Its inhabitants are enslaved, which the Romans like to do for subjugated people. And the city was burned in a very systematic way for 17 days. The Romans wanted to ensure that Carthage could never rise up again to threaten Rome. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | They then become, the city of Carthage is utterly destroyed. Its inhabitants are enslaved, which the Romans like to do for subjugated people. And the city was burned in a very systematic way for 17 days. The Romans wanted to ensure that Carthage could never rise up again to threaten Rome. And so after the Third Punic War, the Romans are now the dominant empire in the Mediterranean. Not only did they control that, what they controlled going into the Third Punic War, but now they controlled, they controlled, they controlled, they controlled Carthage's African colonies. The same year, 146 BCE, they were also able, the Romans were also able to take control of Greece. |
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage World History Khan Academy.m4a | The Romans wanted to ensure that Carthage could never rise up again to threaten Rome. And so after the Third Punic War, the Romans are now the dominant empire in the Mediterranean. Not only did they control that, what they controlled going into the Third Punic War, but now they controlled, they controlled, they controlled, they controlled Carthage's African colonies. The same year, 146 BCE, they were also able, the Romans were also able to take control of Greece. And so as we exit out of the Third Punic War, you now have a Rome that is extremely powerful. And this Roman Republic is starting to resemble this empire. It's not officially an empire yet. |
Aztec Empire World History Khan Academy.m4a | We've already talked about the Aztec civilization in several videos, but what we're going to focus on in this video is the Aztec Empire, which shouldn't be confused with the Aztec civilization. The civilization is referring to the broader groups of people over hundreds of years, but the Aztec Empire is a very specific entity that formed in the hundred years before Spanish colonization. What you see here is a zoomed in version of what today would be southern Mexico and right over here on the globe, and you can see many city states formed here. A city state is a city that also considers itself a state that has its own political organization, its own way of functioning. It's not dependent on any other government forms, and it's analogous to what we see in classical Greece, where you have the city states of Athens and Sparta. Now, what's particularly interesting is what's going on around Lake Texcoco in the 14th century. In 1325, you have the city of Tenochtitlan form on this island in Lake Texcoco, and initially, Tenochtitlan is one of the weaker city states around Lake Texcoco. |
Aztec Empire World History Khan Academy.m4a | A city state is a city that also considers itself a state that has its own political organization, its own way of functioning. It's not dependent on any other government forms, and it's analogous to what we see in classical Greece, where you have the city states of Athens and Sparta. Now, what's particularly interesting is what's going on around Lake Texcoco in the 14th century. In 1325, you have the city of Tenochtitlan form on this island in Lake Texcoco, and initially, Tenochtitlan is one of the weaker city states around Lake Texcoco. You see many of these city states, some of the stronger ones, you have Texcoco right here, and in particular, you have Azcapotzalco. But as we fast forward roughly 100 years, you get to a situation where Azcapotzalco falls into a civil war. Their ruler dies, and there's a succession battle, and the various city states around Lake Texcoco take sides. |
Aztec Empire World History Khan Academy.m4a | In 1325, you have the city of Tenochtitlan form on this island in Lake Texcoco, and initially, Tenochtitlan is one of the weaker city states around Lake Texcoco. You see many of these city states, some of the stronger ones, you have Texcoco right here, and in particular, you have Azcapotzalco. But as we fast forward roughly 100 years, you get to a situation where Azcapotzalco falls into a civil war. Their ruler dies, and there's a succession battle, and the various city states around Lake Texcoco take sides. What eventually happens is Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan form what is known as a triple alliance or the triple alliance, and are able to conquer the Azcapotzalco, and so in conquering the Azcapotzalco, what you have forming is known as the Aztec Empire. Now it starts as an alliance between these three city states and other city states in the area, but over time, Tenochtitlan, which is sometimes referred to as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, because it is a city state of the Mexico people, and this is where the name Mexico or Mexico actually comes from. Now even though it's an alliance, over time, Tenochtitlan essentially becomes the capital of this alliance or the capital of this Aztec Empire, which continues on for roughly 100 years until 1521, when it is defeated by Hernando Cortes. |
Aztec Empire World History Khan Academy.m4a | Their ruler dies, and there's a succession battle, and the various city states around Lake Texcoco take sides. What eventually happens is Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan form what is known as a triple alliance or the triple alliance, and are able to conquer the Azcapotzalco, and so in conquering the Azcapotzalco, what you have forming is known as the Aztec Empire. Now it starts as an alliance between these three city states and other city states in the area, but over time, Tenochtitlan, which is sometimes referred to as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, because it is a city state of the Mexico people, and this is where the name Mexico or Mexico actually comes from. Now even though it's an alliance, over time, Tenochtitlan essentially becomes the capital of this alliance or the capital of this Aztec Empire, which continues on for roughly 100 years until 1521, when it is defeated by Hernando Cortes. Now the story of how Hernando Cortes is able to conquer this empire is fascinating, and I'm not going to be able to go into all of the details in this video, but needless to say, he's able to convince several hundred conquistadors to come and try to conquer the empire, and he's able to do so by recruiting tens of thousands, some estimates I've seen are 100,000 soldiers from neighboring city states who had issues with the Mexico or with the Aztec Empire, and so he's eventually able to take over the famed city of Tenochtitlan. And it's really important to recognize how advanced they were at the time. You see these causeways, these bridges, leading into the island. |
Aztec Empire World History Khan Academy.m4a | Now even though it's an alliance, over time, Tenochtitlan essentially becomes the capital of this alliance or the capital of this Aztec Empire, which continues on for roughly 100 years until 1521, when it is defeated by Hernando Cortes. Now the story of how Hernando Cortes is able to conquer this empire is fascinating, and I'm not going to be able to go into all of the details in this video, but needless to say, he's able to convince several hundred conquistadors to come and try to conquer the empire, and he's able to do so by recruiting tens of thousands, some estimates I've seen are 100,000 soldiers from neighboring city states who had issues with the Mexico or with the Aztec Empire, and so he's eventually able to take over the famed city of Tenochtitlan. And it's really important to recognize how advanced they were at the time. You see these causeways, these bridges, leading into the island. They had a fairly advanced dam system to collect fresh water from the rain while also to control flooding. In fact, a lot of that was destroyed when the conquistadors came in Mexico City, which eventually gets founded over this lake, is going to have issues with flooding for some time in the future. In fact, the Spanish, in order to control the flooding, end up draining this lake, and this is where Mexico City forms. |
Aztec Empire World History Khan Academy.m4a | You see these causeways, these bridges, leading into the island. They had a fairly advanced dam system to collect fresh water from the rain while also to control flooding. In fact, a lot of that was destroyed when the conquistadors came in Mexico City, which eventually gets founded over this lake, is going to have issues with flooding for some time in the future. In fact, the Spanish, in order to control the flooding, end up draining this lake, and this is where Mexico City forms. But the big takeaway here is near the end of the Aztec civilization, as we get to the 100 years before the conquistadors arrive, you have this empire form, this empire which starts as an alliance of city states but eventually becomes a tributary empire. Unlike the neighboring Mayans, which were on the Yucatan Peninsula, on this map they would be in this region right over here, the neighboring Mayans were autonomous city states, some might have had more power, more influence at different times, but the Aztec tributary state means the other city states are paying tribute to Tenochtitlan. They are paying revenue, they are paying service to what essentially is the capital or the seat of that empire until it is conquered by the Spanish. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | As you enter into the fourth century, it's persecuted by Diocletian. But then Constantine takes power, he's sympathetic to the Christians, he even convenes them in order to unify the Christians, to have a more unified sense of what it means to be Christian, in order to settle things like the Arian controversy, and he converts himself to Christianity. And as we exit the fourth century, you have Theodosius, who makes Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, and then begins to persecute other religions. Now what we're going to do in this video is continue the narrative, and in particular, we're going to see how there's an evolution between the church in the west and the church in the east. In previous videos, we already talk about how the Roman Empire itself is initially administered between west and east, and then that administration becomes more and more formal. Theodosius is the last emperor to truly rule both halves. They start getting ruled separately, and as you get into the latter half of the fifth century, the Western Empire itself falls to Germanic conquerors. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | Now what we're going to do in this video is continue the narrative, and in particular, we're going to see how there's an evolution between the church in the west and the church in the east. In previous videos, we already talk about how the Roman Empire itself is initially administered between west and east, and then that administration becomes more and more formal. Theodosius is the last emperor to truly rule both halves. They start getting ruled separately, and as you get into the latter half of the fifth century, the Western Empire itself falls to Germanic conquerors. Now in previous videos, we talk about how the emperors who rule from Constantinople consider themselves to continue the Roman Empire. They didn't call themselves the Byzantine Empire, as we now call them. They called themselves the Roman Empire. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | They start getting ruled separately, and as you get into the latter half of the fifth century, the Western Empire itself falls to Germanic conquerors. Now in previous videos, we talk about how the emperors who rule from Constantinople consider themselves to continue the Roman Empire. They didn't call themselves the Byzantine Empire, as we now call them. They called themselves the Roman Empire. They considered themselves Roman emperors. The west falls, as I just mentioned, into a bunch of Germanic kingdoms. Justinian is able to reclaim a lot of the land formerly lost in the Western Roman Empire. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | They called themselves the Roman Empire. They considered themselves Roman emperors. The west falls, as I just mentioned, into a bunch of Germanic kingdoms. Justinian is able to reclaim a lot of the land formerly lost in the Western Roman Empire. Now there's some other interesting actors that we see emerging on this map. And once again, we're now in the sixth century. You have these Germanic tribes, the Visigothic kingdoms here in modern-day Spain, and here in modern-day France, you have the Franks, and the word France really is referring to land of the Franks, another Germanic tribe. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | Justinian is able to reclaim a lot of the land formerly lost in the Western Roman Empire. Now there's some other interesting actors that we see emerging on this map. And once again, we're now in the sixth century. You have these Germanic tribes, the Visigothic kingdoms here in modern-day Spain, and here in modern-day France, you have the Franks, and the word France really is referring to land of the Franks, another Germanic tribe. Now they are about to factor much, much more relevantly, and when I say about, I'm saying over the next several hundred years, in this eventual division, culturally and religiously, between east and west. As I mentioned in previous videos, the division, yes, it will center on notions of language. In the west, especially in the church, Latin is used. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | You have these Germanic tribes, the Visigothic kingdoms here in modern-day Spain, and here in modern-day France, you have the Franks, and the word France really is referring to land of the Franks, another Germanic tribe. Now they are about to factor much, much more relevantly, and when I say about, I'm saying over the next several hundred years, in this eventual division, culturally and religiously, between east and west. As I mentioned in previous videos, the division, yes, it will center on notions of language. In the west, especially in the church, Latin is used. In the east, in the church, Greek is used. There are spiritual debates that we will touch on in a few minutes, but there's also a power struggle. You have the Byzantine emperor seated in Constantinople. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | In the west, especially in the church, Latin is used. In the east, in the church, Greek is used. There are spiritual debates that we will touch on in a few minutes, but there's also a power struggle. You have the Byzantine emperor seated in Constantinople. You have the Bishop of Rome, now known as the Pope, really the Pope of Rome, who considers themselves more and more the leader of all of Christianity, and their argument there is, look, this is the church that, according to tradition, was founded by Peter, first amongst the apostles. You have the Patriarch of Constantinople, and patriarchs of other significant centers of Christianity say, wait, hold on a second. Yes, Bishop of Rome, you are very important, but we consider you to be first amongst equals. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | You have the Byzantine emperor seated in Constantinople. You have the Bishop of Rome, now known as the Pope, really the Pope of Rome, who considers themselves more and more the leader of all of Christianity, and their argument there is, look, this is the church that, according to tradition, was founded by Peter, first amongst the apostles. You have the Patriarch of Constantinople, and patriarchs of other significant centers of Christianity say, wait, hold on a second. Yes, Bishop of Rome, you are very important, but we consider you to be first amongst equals. You don't have jurisdiction over all of Christendom. Together, we have jurisdiction. And this was, to some degree, the case under Justinian, and it was very clear at this time that the Byzantine emperor was very powerful, not just over the temporal realm, really referring to the day-to-day material realm, but also a lot of influence on the spiritual realm, which was really supposed to be the domain of the bishops or the popes or the patriarchs. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | Yes, Bishop of Rome, you are very important, but we consider you to be first amongst equals. You don't have jurisdiction over all of Christendom. Together, we have jurisdiction. And this was, to some degree, the case under Justinian, and it was very clear at this time that the Byzantine emperor was very powerful, not just over the temporal realm, really referring to the day-to-day material realm, but also a lot of influence on the spiritual realm, which was really supposed to be the domain of the bishops or the popes or the patriarchs. This notion of the pentarchy was codified in the Justinian law, this idea that these five centers of Christianity really have extra weight and collectively are really leading Christendom. Now, as I mentioned, things get interesting as we fast forward about 250 years. So let's go to the year 800. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | And this was, to some degree, the case under Justinian, and it was very clear at this time that the Byzantine emperor was very powerful, not just over the temporal realm, really referring to the day-to-day material realm, but also a lot of influence on the spiritual realm, which was really supposed to be the domain of the bishops or the popes or the patriarchs. This notion of the pentarchy was codified in the Justinian law, this idea that these five centers of Christianity really have extra weight and collectively are really leading Christendom. Now, as I mentioned, things get interesting as we fast forward about 250 years. So let's go to the year 800. So one thing you might notice is that group in yellow, the Franks, have now conquered a lot more, and they're conquering it under the leadership of Charlemagne. At the same time, you see this green over here. Islam has dramatically spread from its founding in the early 7th century all the way now as we're exiting the 8th century to cover most of the Middle East, Persia, bordering on modern-day Pakistan, India, North Africa, and even going into modern-day Spain. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | So let's go to the year 800. So one thing you might notice is that group in yellow, the Franks, have now conquered a lot more, and they're conquering it under the leadership of Charlemagne. At the same time, you see this green over here. Islam has dramatically spread from its founding in the early 7th century all the way now as we're exiting the 8th century to cover most of the Middle East, Persia, bordering on modern-day Pakistan, India, North Africa, and even going into modern-day Spain. At the same time, especially because of these Islamic conquests, the Byzantine Empire and the Byzantine emperor is significantly weaker. So you can imagine the pope in Rome here saying, well, who's going to protect me, especially from my political enemies? Now, Charlemagne considers himself something of a protector of Christianity, and Pope Leo III goes to him for protection, and Charlemagne is able to actually provide it. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | Islam has dramatically spread from its founding in the early 7th century all the way now as we're exiting the 8th century to cover most of the Middle East, Persia, bordering on modern-day Pakistan, India, North Africa, and even going into modern-day Spain. At the same time, especially because of these Islamic conquests, the Byzantine Empire and the Byzantine emperor is significantly weaker. So you can imagine the pope in Rome here saying, well, who's going to protect me, especially from my political enemies? Now, Charlemagne considers himself something of a protector of Christianity, and Pope Leo III goes to him for protection, and Charlemagne is able to actually provide it. And in exchange, or perhaps in thanks for that, the pope crowns Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor. Now, what's significant about this is it really introduces a fourth actor here, because the title Holy Roman Emperor was intentionally given to say, look, now you, Charlemagne, you are the heir to the grandeur of Rome. You are the heir to the Roman emperors. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | Now, Charlemagne considers himself something of a protector of Christianity, and Pope Leo III goes to him for protection, and Charlemagne is able to actually provide it. And in exchange, or perhaps in thanks for that, the pope crowns Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor. Now, what's significant about this is it really introduces a fourth actor here, because the title Holy Roman Emperor was intentionally given to say, look, now you, Charlemagne, you are the heir to the grandeur of Rome. You are the heir to the Roman emperors. Now, you might be saying, wait, isn't that what the Byzantine emperors thought they were? Didn't they think this was the Roman Empire? And at that time, their emperor was an empress. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | You are the heir to the Roman emperors. Now, you might be saying, wait, isn't that what the Byzantine emperors thought they were? Didn't they think this was the Roman Empire? And at that time, their emperor was an empress. It was Empress Irene of Athens. And so once again, this is creating further tension. They're using different languages, Latin versus Greek. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | And at that time, their emperor was an empress. It was Empress Irene of Athens. And so once again, this is creating further tension. They're using different languages, Latin versus Greek. You now have the Western pope recognizing a different, as you could say, Roman emperor in Charlemagne. The nature of the West is becoming more Germanic and using the language Latin, while the nature of the East is continuing in Greek traditions. On top of that, what you have in the year 800, you're actually in this period where you've had several conflicts over this notion of iconoclasm. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | They're using different languages, Latin versus Greek. You now have the Western pope recognizing a different, as you could say, Roman emperor in Charlemagne. The nature of the West is becoming more Germanic and using the language Latin, while the nature of the East is continuing in Greek traditions. On top of that, what you have in the year 800, you're actually in this period where you've had several conflicts over this notion of iconoclasm. This iconoclasm movement, you could say, started in 726 when the Byzantine emperor said, enough of these images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary and other figures of Christianity in our churches, citing references in the Old Testament saying that, hey, we shouldn't have these images. And so this conoclasm, or these destroying of icons, starts to begin. Well, the pope in the West, they say, hey, we don't think we have to listen to you. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | On top of that, what you have in the year 800, you're actually in this period where you've had several conflicts over this notion of iconoclasm. This iconoclasm movement, you could say, started in 726 when the Byzantine emperor said, enough of these images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary and other figures of Christianity in our churches, citing references in the Old Testament saying that, hey, we shouldn't have these images. And so this conoclasm, or these destroying of icons, starts to begin. Well, the pope in the West, they say, hey, we don't think we have to listen to you. I am the bishop of Rome. I have universal jurisdiction. And then to add insult to injury, now in 800, you have Charlemagne being crowned holy Roman emperor. |
Great Schism or East-West Schism part 1 World History Khan Academy.m4a | Well, the pope in the West, they say, hey, we don't think we have to listen to you. I am the bishop of Rome. I have universal jurisdiction. And then to add insult to injury, now in 800, you have Charlemagne being crowned holy Roman emperor. Now a thread further running through this is something that we talked about in a previous video, this notion of folloquia, where in 381, the Council of Constantinople, they augment the Nicene Creed, where they say, and we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father. Well, in the West, they add the Latin term, folloquia, which means and the Son. And this is touching on some of these notions in the Arian heresy, where does the Holy Spirit proceed from? |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | Hi, I'm John Green, this is Crash Course World History, and today we're going to talk about the entire fracking globe over the course of several centuries, so let's get right to it. Mr. Green, fracking? You don't know about Battlestar Galactica yet, me from the past? Oh man, there are so many great things in your future. Today I'm going to try to show you how tiny Spain's influence spread around the world and shaped the lives of almost every human on the planet, generally in negative ways. I know, everything is such a bummer on Crash Course recently. It's the 16th century, people are getting richer, they're living more connected lives, and all I can do is whine about how much better the old days were. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | Oh man, there are so many great things in your future. Today I'm going to try to show you how tiny Spain's influence spread around the world and shaped the lives of almost every human on the planet, generally in negative ways. I know, everything is such a bummer on Crash Course recently. It's the 16th century, people are getting richer, they're living more connected lives, and all I can do is whine about how much better the old days were. What am I, your grandpa? Let's get festive! Woo! |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | It's the 16th century, people are getting richer, they're living more connected lives, and all I can do is whine about how much better the old days were. What am I, your grandpa? Let's get festive! Woo! Ha! Intro So the Aztecs weren't the first impressive polity in Mesoamerica, that honor would go to the Olmecs or the Mayans, but they were probably the greatest. The Aztecs formed out of an alliance of three major cities in modern day Mexico in about 1430, just 89 years before Cortes and his conquistadors showed up. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | Woo! Ha! Intro So the Aztecs weren't the first impressive polity in Mesoamerica, that honor would go to the Olmecs or the Mayans, but they were probably the greatest. The Aztecs formed out of an alliance of three major cities in modern day Mexico in about 1430, just 89 years before Cortes and his conquistadors showed up. The Aztec state was very hierarchical, with an emperor at the top and a group of unruly nobles beneath him, just like Europe. And in addition, there was a class of powerful priests whose job it was to keep order in the cosmos. So Aztec religion held that history was cyclical and punctuated by terrible disasters and then would ultimately end with a massive apocalypse. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | The Aztecs formed out of an alliance of three major cities in modern day Mexico in about 1430, just 89 years before Cortes and his conquistadors showed up. The Aztec state was very hierarchical, with an emperor at the top and a group of unruly nobles beneath him, just like Europe. And in addition, there was a class of powerful priests whose job it was to keep order in the cosmos. So Aztec religion held that history was cyclical and punctuated by terrible disasters and then would ultimately end with a massive apocalypse. And the job of the priests was to avoid these disasters by appeasing the gods, generally through human sacrifice. The Aztecs extended their control over most of southern Mexico, parts of Guatemala and the Yucatan, and they demanded tribute from conquered people in the form of goods, precious metals, and people to sacrifice. If you're familiar with The Hunger Games, it won't surprise you to learn that this didn't sit very well with said conquered people. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | So Aztec religion held that history was cyclical and punctuated by terrible disasters and then would ultimately end with a massive apocalypse. And the job of the priests was to avoid these disasters by appeasing the gods, generally through human sacrifice. The Aztecs extended their control over most of southern Mexico, parts of Guatemala and the Yucatan, and they demanded tribute from conquered people in the form of goods, precious metals, and people to sacrifice. If you're familiar with The Hunger Games, it won't surprise you to learn that this didn't sit very well with said conquered people. And the fact that the Aztecs were basically ruling over thousands of people who hated them made it a lot easier for Cortes to come in and find allies to overthrow them. All that noted, in less than 100 years, the Aztecs accomplished some amazing things. Especially the building of their capital city Tenochtitlan on the site of modern-day Mexico City, which was like Venice in that it was divided and serviced by canals. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | If you're familiar with The Hunger Games, it won't surprise you to learn that this didn't sit very well with said conquered people. And the fact that the Aztecs were basically ruling over thousands of people who hated them made it a lot easier for Cortes to come in and find allies to overthrow them. All that noted, in less than 100 years, the Aztecs accomplished some amazing things. Especially the building of their capital city Tenochtitlan on the site of modern-day Mexico City, which was like Venice in that it was divided and serviced by canals. They also had floating gardens called chinampas, which provided food for the city. Oh, it's already time for the open letter? Alright. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | Especially the building of their capital city Tenochtitlan on the site of modern-day Mexico City, which was like Venice in that it was divided and serviced by canals. They also had floating gardens called chinampas, which provided food for the city. Oh, it's already time for the open letter? Alright. An Open Letter to Human Sacrifice. But first, let's see what's in the secret compartment today. Oh, nice! |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | Alright. An Open Letter to Human Sacrifice. But first, let's see what's in the secret compartment today. Oh, nice! Come on, be a mushroom, be a mushroom, be a... D'oh! Dear Human Sacrifice, look, I'm not going to defend you. But if you really believe that the world is going to end if the gods are not appeased, then human sacrifice kind of makes sense. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | Oh, nice! Come on, be a mushroom, be a mushroom, be a... D'oh! Dear Human Sacrifice, look, I'm not going to defend you. But if you really believe that the world is going to end if the gods are not appeased, then human sacrifice kind of makes sense. And as evidence for this, let me submit to you that we engage in human sacrifice all the time. Remember the movie The Dirty Dozen? No? |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | But if you really believe that the world is going to end if the gods are not appeased, then human sacrifice kind of makes sense. And as evidence for this, let me submit to you that we engage in human sacrifice all the time. Remember the movie The Dirty Dozen? No? Because you're too young? That makes me hate myself. Anyway, it was all about glorious sacrifice, and now sometimes a few have to die in order for many to live. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | No? Because you're too young? That makes me hate myself. Anyway, it was all about glorious sacrifice, and now sometimes a few have to die in order for many to live. Did you at least see that, uh, that meteor movie that Ben Affleck was in? What was that called, Stan? Asteroid. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | Anyway, it was all about glorious sacrifice, and now sometimes a few have to die in order for many to live. Did you at least see that, uh, that meteor movie that Ben Affleck was in? What was that called, Stan? Asteroid. Asteroid! Armageddon. Armageddon! |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | Asteroid. Asteroid! Armageddon. Armageddon! Armageddon. Right. Like that. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | Armageddon! Armageddon. Right. Like that. Human sacrifice. Best wishes, John Green. All right, now let's head south to the Inca civilization, which was older than the Aztecs and in some ways even more impressive. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | Like that. Human sacrifice. Best wishes, John Green. All right, now let's head south to the Inca civilization, which was older than the Aztecs and in some ways even more impressive. Founded in the 13th century, the Inca Empire ruled between 4 and 6 million people by the time the Spanish showed up in 1532. Trade and a very effective administrative structure held the empire together, which was even more impressive when you consider all the roads and temples that were built atop mountains, with nothing to haul things up those mountains except for llamas and people. The Inca had no written language, but they were able to keep records with knotted strings called quipus, and they were really good at integrating conquered people into the empire, mandating that people learn the Incan language. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | All right, now let's head south to the Inca civilization, which was older than the Aztecs and in some ways even more impressive. Founded in the 13th century, the Inca Empire ruled between 4 and 6 million people by the time the Spanish showed up in 1532. Trade and a very effective administrative structure held the empire together, which was even more impressive when you consider all the roads and temples that were built atop mountains, with nothing to haul things up those mountains except for llamas and people. The Inca had no written language, but they were able to keep records with knotted strings called quipus, and they were really good at integrating conquered people into the empire, mandating that people learn the Incan language. And vitally, they ordered every male peasant under Inca control to do unpaid work for the Inca government for a specified period of time each year. This system, which the Inca called mita, allowed them to build all those roads and temples. The Spanish would later adopt this system and the hierarchical system with the emperor at the top, except they would make it all, you know, much suckier. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | The Inca had no written language, but they were able to keep records with knotted strings called quipus, and they were really good at integrating conquered people into the empire, mandating that people learn the Incan language. And vitally, they ordered every male peasant under Inca control to do unpaid work for the Inca government for a specified period of time each year. This system, which the Inca called mita, allowed them to build all those roads and temples. The Spanish would later adopt this system and the hierarchical system with the emperor at the top, except they would make it all, you know, much suckier. And yes, that is a technical historian term. So the Spanish arrived in Mexico in 1519 and in Peru in 1532, benefiting in both cases from total chaos due to disease. And after conquering the Inca and the Aztecs, they created an empire with two administrative divisions. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | The Spanish would later adopt this system and the hierarchical system with the emperor at the top, except they would make it all, you know, much suckier. And yes, that is a technical historian term. So the Spanish arrived in Mexico in 1519 and in Peru in 1532, benefiting in both cases from total chaos due to disease. And after conquering the Inca and the Aztecs, they created an empire with two administrative divisions. The Viceroyalty of New Spain, founded in 1521, and the Viceroyalty of Peru, founded in 1542. In some ways, the Aztec and Inca empires were perfect for Spanish conquest. Their administrative structures were similar, there was a similar link between secular and religious power, albeit different religions. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | And after conquering the Inca and the Aztecs, they created an empire with two administrative divisions. The Viceroyalty of New Spain, founded in 1521, and the Viceroyalty of Peru, founded in 1542. In some ways, the Aztec and Inca empires were perfect for Spanish conquest. Their administrative structures were similar, there was a similar link between secular and religious power, albeit different religions. All of which made it relatively easy for the Spanish crown to step into the void left by those two great empires and send their own administrators to run the place. While most of the Spanish aristocrats who came over ran large agricultural operations, you don't see a lot of movies called, like, Indiana Jones and the Search for a Nice Farm in the Countryside. The real glory for conquistadors was gold. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | Their administrative structures were similar, there was a similar link between secular and religious power, albeit different religions. All of which made it relatively easy for the Spanish crown to step into the void left by those two great empires and send their own administrators to run the place. While most of the Spanish aristocrats who came over ran large agricultural operations, you don't see a lot of movies called, like, Indiana Jones and the Search for a Nice Farm in the Countryside. The real glory for conquistadors was gold. Initially, they found some, both in the Caribbean and in Mexico, but never enough to get, like, super rich. Fortunately, or as I will argue, unfortunately, they did find a mountain made of silver. So the Spanish adopted the mita, which the Incas had used to build roads and public buildings, to mine and process that silver. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | The real glory for conquistadors was gold. Initially, they found some, both in the Caribbean and in Mexico, but never enough to get, like, super rich. Fortunately, or as I will argue, unfortunately, they did find a mountain made of silver. So the Spanish adopted the mita, which the Incas had used to build roads and public buildings, to mine and process that silver. So one-seventh of the adult male Indian population from each district was required to work in the silver mines for a year, being paid only subsistence wages. Now, you might wonder why the Spanish didn't purchase African slaves to work in the mines. They did in Mexico, but in South America, it was cheaper to use indigenous labor. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | So the Spanish adopted the mita, which the Incas had used to build roads and public buildings, to mine and process that silver. So one-seventh of the adult male Indian population from each district was required to work in the silver mines for a year, being paid only subsistence wages. Now, you might wonder why the Spanish didn't purchase African slaves to work in the mines. They did in Mexico, but in South America, it was cheaper to use indigenous labor. Purchasing slaves was inefficient because, one, they didn't have experience working at high altitudes, and two, mine work was super deadly. Mercury, which can be used to refine silver ore, was found at the mountain of Juan Cavalica. And mercury poisoning among miners was so common that parents would often maim their children to keep them from having to work in the mines. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | They did in Mexico, but in South America, it was cheaper to use indigenous labor. Purchasing slaves was inefficient because, one, they didn't have experience working at high altitudes, and two, mine work was super deadly. Mercury, which can be used to refine silver ore, was found at the mountain of Juan Cavalica. And mercury poisoning among miners was so common that parents would often maim their children to keep them from having to work in the mines. You can see why I'm struggling to be festive. Let's go to the Thought Bubble. So Spanish mines in the Americas produced over 150,000 tons of silver between the 16th and the 18th centuries, over 80% of the world's supply. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | And mercury poisoning among miners was so common that parents would often maim their children to keep them from having to work in the mines. You can see why I'm struggling to be festive. Let's go to the Thought Bubble. So Spanish mines in the Americas produced over 150,000 tons of silver between the 16th and the 18th centuries, over 80% of the world's supply. Spain became the richest nation in Europe and Spanish silver pesos became the de facto currency. But the Spanish royal family does not appear to have understood inflation, and the huge influx of silver caused skyrocketing inflation, and since they never set tax rates to account for it, they collected the same amount of money 60 years after the discovery of silver, but that money was worth a fraction of what it once had been. And in general, it's not clear that Spain benefited much from the discovery of silver. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | So Spanish mines in the Americas produced over 150,000 tons of silver between the 16th and the 18th centuries, over 80% of the world's supply. Spain became the richest nation in Europe and Spanish silver pesos became the de facto currency. But the Spanish royal family does not appear to have understood inflation, and the huge influx of silver caused skyrocketing inflation, and since they never set tax rates to account for it, they collected the same amount of money 60 years after the discovery of silver, but that money was worth a fraction of what it once had been. And in general, it's not clear that Spain benefited much from the discovery of silver. Rich countries have a way of finding their way into expensive and not totally necessary wars, and Spain was no exception. While empire wasn't the central cause of Spain's many 16th century wars, it sure did fund them. So in 1519, which was a heck of a year for Spain, Charles V united the kingdoms of Spain and Austria by being named head of the Holy Roman Empire, so-called because it was not holy, not Roman, and not an empire. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | And in general, it's not clear that Spain benefited much from the discovery of silver. Rich countries have a way of finding their way into expensive and not totally necessary wars, and Spain was no exception. While empire wasn't the central cause of Spain's many 16th century wars, it sure did fund them. So in 1519, which was a heck of a year for Spain, Charles V united the kingdoms of Spain and Austria by being named head of the Holy Roman Empire, so-called because it was not holy, not Roman, and not an empire. Charles had this dream of a unified Central Europe, which was constantly being thwarted by German nobles who had a dream of a non-unified Central Europe, and eventually Charles V's ambitions were shattered and he gave the Austrian half of his kingdom to his son Ferdinand and gave Spain, with the American stuff, to Philip in 1556. Thanks Thought Bubble. So Philip II didn't only inherit all of Spain's holdings in the Americas and in Europe and in the Philip not a coincidence-enes. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | So in 1519, which was a heck of a year for Spain, Charles V united the kingdoms of Spain and Austria by being named head of the Holy Roman Empire, so-called because it was not holy, not Roman, and not an empire. Charles had this dream of a unified Central Europe, which was constantly being thwarted by German nobles who had a dream of a non-unified Central Europe, and eventually Charles V's ambitions were shattered and he gave the Austrian half of his kingdom to his son Ferdinand and gave Spain, with the American stuff, to Philip in 1556. Thanks Thought Bubble. So Philip II didn't only inherit all of Spain's holdings in the Americas and in Europe and in the Philip not a coincidence-enes. He also inherited a rebellion in the Netherlands because the Dutch were like, we're gonna be Protestant. Also, you guys know nothing about economics, which incidentally the Dutch are still saying to the Spanish. And then the English sided with the Dutch and there was a war featuring a disastrous invasion of England called the Spanish Armada in 1588. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | So Philip II didn't only inherit all of Spain's holdings in the Americas and in Europe and in the Philip not a coincidence-enes. He also inherited a rebellion in the Netherlands because the Dutch were like, we're gonna be Protestant. Also, you guys know nothing about economics, which incidentally the Dutch are still saying to the Spanish. And then the English sided with the Dutch and there was a war featuring a disastrous invasion of England called the Spanish Armada in 1588. England's success against the Spanish, even though it can largely be chalked up to weather, was credited to Queen Elizabeth I. That led to a period of wealth and national pride, which meant that people had both the money and the desire to see, I don't know, plays about old English kings named Richard. And that, my friends, is how the discovery of silver in Bolivia contributed to the genius of William Shakespeare. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | And then the English sided with the Dutch and there was a war featuring a disastrous invasion of England called the Spanish Armada in 1588. England's success against the Spanish, even though it can largely be chalked up to weather, was credited to Queen Elizabeth I. That led to a period of wealth and national pride, which meant that people had both the money and the desire to see, I don't know, plays about old English kings named Richard. And that, my friends, is how the discovery of silver in Bolivia contributed to the genius of William Shakespeare. Anyway, American silver didn't cause these wars any more than it wrote Hamlet, but the new wealth made both more possible. Knowing that they had this enormous silver war chest at their disposal made them much more inclined to build all those ships that got sunk in 1588. And soon enough, even a mountain of silver couldn't pay for all their warring and the Spanish crown had to borrow money, which they couldn't pay back, so they defaulted on their debts several times in the 17th century. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | And that, my friends, is how the discovery of silver in Bolivia contributed to the genius of William Shakespeare. Anyway, American silver didn't cause these wars any more than it wrote Hamlet, but the new wealth made both more possible. Knowing that they had this enormous silver war chest at their disposal made them much more inclined to build all those ships that got sunk in 1588. And soon enough, even a mountain of silver couldn't pay for all their warring and the Spanish crown had to borrow money, which they couldn't pay back, so they defaulted on their debts several times in the 17th century. Yay, silver! So most of the silver mined in the Americas went to Europe, but at least a third of it went to China, either directly on Spanish galleons or indirectly through the purchase of Chinese goods. China had encountered inflation of its own after printing the world's first paper money in the 12th century, so they switched back to coins. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | And soon enough, even a mountain of silver couldn't pay for all their warring and the Spanish crown had to borrow money, which they couldn't pay back, so they defaulted on their debts several times in the 17th century. Yay, silver! So most of the silver mined in the Americas went to Europe, but at least a third of it went to China, either directly on Spanish galleons or indirectly through the purchase of Chinese goods. China had encountered inflation of its own after printing the world's first paper money in the 12th century, so they switched back to coins. Initially, Chinese coins were made out of copper or bronze, but their economy was so big, they were the leading producer of consumer goods until the 19th century, that they ran out. So they went to silver. Now, China didn't have a lot of silver itself, but Japan did, so they traded manufactured goods for it, but soon even that wasn't enough. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | China had encountered inflation of its own after printing the world's first paper money in the 12th century, so they switched back to coins. Initially, Chinese coins were made out of copper or bronze, but their economy was so big, they were the leading producer of consumer goods until the 19th century, that they ran out. So they went to silver. Now, China didn't have a lot of silver itself, but Japan did, so they traded manufactured goods for it, but soon even that wasn't enough. This was mostly because in the 16th century, China changed its tax structure. Taxes, man! They're at the center of human history. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | Now, China didn't have a lot of silver itself, but Japan did, so they traded manufactured goods for it, but soon even that wasn't enough. This was mostly because in the 16th century, China changed its tax structure. Taxes, man! They're at the center of human history. In the early part of the Ming Dynasty, Chinese farmers paid their taxes in goods, mainly grain and labor. But as more silver entered the economy, the Ming government changed its policy and required taxes to be paid in silver. This meant that almost everyone in China had to produce something that could be sold for silver, which usually meant silk. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | They're at the center of human history. In the early part of the Ming Dynasty, Chinese farmers paid their taxes in goods, mainly grain and labor. But as more silver entered the economy, the Ming government changed its policy and required taxes to be paid in silver. This meant that almost everyone in China had to produce something that could be sold for silver, which usually meant silk. In fact, the Ming government often required people to make silk. That glut of silk inevitably led to a price drop, which hurt the Chinese economy, but not nearly as much as it hurt the Spanish economy, where almost every silk producer was put out of business. So much for the idea that global outsourcing is a new problem. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | This meant that almost everyone in China had to produce something that could be sold for silver, which usually meant silk. In fact, the Ming government often required people to make silk. That glut of silk inevitably led to a price drop, which hurt the Chinese economy, but not nearly as much as it hurt the Spanish economy, where almost every silk producer was put out of business. So much for the idea that global outsourcing is a new problem. You'd think that all this silver would make the Chinese incredibly rich, just like the Spanish, right? Yes, just like the Spanish, in that they got rich, but they didn't stay rich. The Ming government also failed to peg taxes to inflation and spent too much on defense, notably the Great Wall. |
The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation Crash Course World History #25.m4a | So much for the idea that global outsourcing is a new problem. You'd think that all this silver would make the Chinese incredibly rich, just like the Spanish, right? Yes, just like the Spanish, in that they got rich, but they didn't stay rich. The Ming government also failed to peg taxes to inflation and spent too much on defense, notably the Great Wall. And by the 17th century, the Ming were overthrown by the Fu Manchus. Oh, it's just the Manchus? Gah! |