Wow, haven't posted anything in a while. Nothing much to write about.
Finished a book on the colonization of the Americas, found it very interesting and decided to pursue that further, especially early colonial New York. Picked up a book called the Island at the Center of the World, by Russell Shorto, which focuses on the Dutch colonization of New Amsterdam (New York, once it became part of the British Empire). I found the scarcity of surviving primary documented history regarding Dutch settlements in and around the New York area very unnerving as it is stated in the book that much of the records were destroyed by Dutch housekeeping in the early nineteenth century, a true tragedy which I can parlay into a very intrinsic part of my family genetic make-up wherein hoarding documents and other written materials that have no bearing on anything at the present become obstacles that lead to very crowded dwelling experiences.
Ok, going back to my readings, the two books that preceded Shorto's were; Alan Taylor's, American Colonies and the first two chapters of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, by Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace (a 1,400 plus page book that my father finished about two weeks). In both, one common theme is stressed repeatedly, that of the plight European settlers bestowed upon native peoples in each of the their respective colonized realms, disease. Alan Taylor's book covers the full range of American colonization, from the Spanish to the American expansion into the western frontier and in each case he stresses the effects of European colonization upon the indigenous populations. It all starting with the Spanish and their affects on the indigenous people of the Canary Islands, an African Island group and not directly related to American colonization, yet served rather as a trial run in regards to the practices taken against native American peoples, where in a group called Guanches was systematically enslaved and outright decimated by European disease. One very interesting fact that I discovered from Taylor's book (and one that I am ashamed that I did not know) was that the first settlers of South Carolina were Barbadian-English sugar planters who, after a planter elite class had formed in Barbados found that their sugar plantations were far from lucrative and usurped themselves to North America in hopes of improving their prospects. A typical case of Western societies, overuse of land and the focus on finding new areas to exploit.
I could go on. Making this blog entry even more like a college term paper and to be honest in the reason for reading so much recently about American colonization and the expansion of Western Europe into the Americas stems from the fact that I never had the chance as a student of history to take a class or study the colonization of America in depth enough to feel that I was ever truly satisfied, in fact, I never actually had a class devoted to European colonial aspects in the Americas throughout my academic career. I tried to get into a very popular class offered on the subject, but was already too late on the third day of registration, so therefore, I guess I am taking it upon myself to fulfill something that I deem important or something that I missed out on. Does that make sense?
Regardless, Dutch New Amsterdam is a very interesting subject and I recommend reading up on it.
Perhaps I am finding a true meaning, or course, rather theme that this blog should take? History?
Finished a book on the colonization of the Americas, found it very interesting and decided to pursue that further, especially early colonial New York. Picked up a book called the Island at the Center of the World, by Russell Shorto, which focuses on the Dutch colonization of New Amsterdam (New York, once it became part of the British Empire). I found the scarcity of surviving primary documented history regarding Dutch settlements in and around the New York area very unnerving as it is stated in the book that much of the records were destroyed by Dutch housekeeping in the early nineteenth century, a true tragedy which I can parlay into a very intrinsic part of my family genetic make-up wherein hoarding documents and other written materials that have no bearing on anything at the present become obstacles that lead to very crowded dwelling experiences.
Ok, going back to my readings, the two books that preceded Shorto's were; Alan Taylor's, American Colonies and the first two chapters of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, by Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace (a 1,400 plus page book that my father finished about two weeks). In both, one common theme is stressed repeatedly, that of the plight European settlers bestowed upon native peoples in each of the their respective colonized realms, disease. Alan Taylor's book covers the full range of American colonization, from the Spanish to the American expansion into the western frontier and in each case he stresses the effects of European colonization upon the indigenous populations. It all starting with the Spanish and their affects on the indigenous people of the Canary Islands, an African Island group and not directly related to American colonization, yet served rather as a trial run in regards to the practices taken against native American peoples, where in a group called Guanches was systematically enslaved and outright decimated by European disease. One very interesting fact that I discovered from Taylor's book (and one that I am ashamed that I did not know) was that the first settlers of South Carolina were Barbadian-English sugar planters who, after a planter elite class had formed in Barbados found that their sugar plantations were far from lucrative and usurped themselves to North America in hopes of improving their prospects. A typical case of Western societies, overuse of land and the focus on finding new areas to exploit.
I could go on. Making this blog entry even more like a college term paper and to be honest in the reason for reading so much recently about American colonization and the expansion of Western Europe into the Americas stems from the fact that I never had the chance as a student of history to take a class or study the colonization of America in depth enough to feel that I was ever truly satisfied, in fact, I never actually had a class devoted to European colonial aspects in the Americas throughout my academic career. I tried to get into a very popular class offered on the subject, but was already too late on the third day of registration, so therefore, I guess I am taking it upon myself to fulfill something that I deem important or something that I missed out on. Does that make sense?
Regardless, Dutch New Amsterdam is a very interesting subject and I recommend reading up on it.
Perhaps I am finding a true meaning, or course, rather theme that this blog should take? History?
posted by Vin at 9:12 PM
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