I have decided to author another thread, this one quite different from my others. Instead of breaking news, or that solidified with fact, I shall
attempt to compare the rise and downfall of the Spanish Empire, with the United States of America.
Everyone knows the story of Christopher Columbus. In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
What most do not know, is the hegemony that the Nation-State of Spain would command over the entire Western Hemisphere (Save part of Brazil) long into
the 17th and 18th Centuries. For Spain, the discovery of "India" and later, South America, was both a godsend, and a curse.
On the one hand, Spain gained more wealth in a century, than any other European nation had in history. The vast amounts of Gold, Silver and Land they
discovered--and stole--from Native Americans could never be dreamed of before.
At the same time, the vast amounts of wealth led to rivalries, inflation and later, war.
In 1492, Isabella and Ferdinand ended the "Reconquesta" and united Spain into a single monarchial nation. Unlike most European nations at the time,
Spain was now able to focus outward, rather than inward. Their attention was brought to Portugal. The Portuguese had been sailing for almost a
Century. They controlled the African Trade, and were already sailing into the East, and making contact with India and later, China. To the Spanish,
this was not only a challenge, but a business opportunity.
When Christopher Columbus came along later and offered to sail the distance, he was laughed at and called crazy.NOT
for thinking the world was
round. That had been decided years before, and is commonly held myth. Instead, he believed the Bible told him that the distance was just 2,500 miles
to America. Science at the time disagreed on the distance, but many believed that the distance was well over 10,000 miles.
Yada, yada. As everyone knows, Columbus discovered Hispanola in 1492, and continued to sail and discover until his death in 1506.
After the discovery, comes the real story.
Spain, Conquistadors, the Mayans and the Incas.
Shortly after Columbus arrived in Hispanola, the Spanish and the Portuguese signed the Treaty of Tortesillas, which essentially cut the world in half.
The Pope gave Spain all of the Western Hemisphere, except for the Eastern portion of Brazil, and the Portuguese all of the Eastern Hemisphere. This
seemed like a good deal for the later, due to the knowledge of only the Caribbean Islands.
By 1521, Cortez had conquered the Mayans. His team of just 400 conquistadors, toppled the largest empire in the Americas. His discovery of
Tenochtitlan, which housed well over 600,000 people, led to an explosion of interest in the Americas.
Shortly after, in 1532, Pizarro and his men (just 127 of them) arrived in modern-day Peru, and conquered the Incan Empire. Stretching over 380,000
square miles, the Incan Empire was equivalent in size to the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.
A series of explorations, atrocities and the annihilation of millions of Native Americas led to the Spanish holding an Empire stretching from Modern
Louisiana through Mexico, all the way to Modern Chile.
Spain almost immediately began their search for gold. And did they find it. The Mayan's City of Tenochtitlan was literally coated in gold. Buildings
were covered in it, the people wore it, and they offered it to the Gods. Spain began opening Silver and Gold mines throughout Mexico, and they struck
pay dirt. Caravels, the main European vessel at the time, could carry just over 160 tons of cargo. Every single year, Spain was transferring over
1,000,000 pesos worth of gold and silver, or 60,500 pounds of cargo.
The amount of money Spain was transferring is almost unimaginable. In a matter of just three decades, Spain went from the poorest country in Western
Europe, to the wealthiest in history.
Their Navy was considered the largest and greatest to ever sail, and was comprised of hundreds of ships. The Spanish Armada (Just one!) that sailed
against the English in 1588 had over 130 ships.
Unfortunately, the wealth and power was relatively short lived.
There was so much wealth in Spain, that nothing was able to be done. The cost of producing a factory or just to produce the wool sweater made in that
factory, became to expensive for even the wealthy to afford. What happened in Spain resembles the United States of today. The cost of producing
something became too high, so what did they do? They out-sourced. Spain single-handedly financed the Industrial Revolution in France and the
As the 16th century had worn on, inflation in Spain (a result of state debt and, more importantly, the importation of silver and gold from the New
World) triggered hardship for the peasantry. The average cost of goods quintupled in the 16th century in Spain, led by wool and grain.
The industrial growth of other nations, combined with the European nations getting fed up with Spain bullying them (sound familiar?), began to rebel.
The French and Portuguese began to fight back, starting the Eight Year's War and Thirty Year's War. A newly Protestant England attempted
Colonization, and defied Spain. The Battle of Gravelines led to the collapse of the Spanish Armada, and the loss of over 80 ships. England occupied
Jamaica and its colonies in North America continued to grow.
Spain, wrecked by inflation and a non-industrialized core, began to fall behind. Even with hundreds of ships worth of Gold and Silver still flooding
out of South America every year, their influence continued to wane. By the 18th and 19th Centuries, much of their Western Hemisphere Empire was gone.
Jamaica, Hispanola, Louisiana, Venezuela, Mexico, Columbia, and Florida had become either Independent or part of the United States by the Early
1800's. In 1898, Cuba and Puerto Rico, the last of the Spanish Empire's colonies in the West, were ceded to the United States.
How does this relate to America?
Lets play a game. Its an easy game. They say history repeats itself, so lets have history play out. It is the year 2050, and the United States is on
its last leg. What? How? Its simple. 75 years of over-extended military, outsourcing, uncontrolled debt and inflation and an increasingly belligerent
world push the United States off the world stage. Our economy is far behind our Asian comrades. Our Government is so far in debt it can't even borrow
money from 3rd World Nations, and our Military has been handed a string of defeats and retreats in the Pacific and the Middle East.
Sound like fantasy? Its not.
The Spanish empire fell because it could not mind its own business and control its greed. There is only so much wealth a group can hold. There are
only so many nations an Empire can control. And there is only so much industry to outsource. At some point, you lose everything.
How do we prevent this?
Honestly, listen to what the Constitution and our Fathers said. Scale back the military, Gold-Standard, Bring Industry back to America and end the
corruption the Corporations have in our Government.
Its now or never America.