In the early 1600s, Tulip mania took over Amsterdam. Choice bulbs were changing hands for the price of a house.
But, like any stock market boom, the roof fell in and the market crashed! Boom and Bust the perpetual cycle of free-market capitalism.
Russian Resource | Ivan the Terrible | Kuchum Khan | Siberia
Tsar Ivan the Terrible recruited mercenaries to push into Siberia to exploit the natural rsource: fur. This was the original source of Russian wealth.
It’s impossible to imagine modern Russia without Siberia. It would be just another eastern European country.
Nutmeg Trade | Nathaniel Courthope | Dutch East India Company
England tried, for several years, to hold out against the Dutch in the struggle for the nutmeg trade in the Banda Islands.
The fight was lost but in reparation for handing over tiny Run Island Britain was offered another tiny island in exchange. The equally tiny Manhattan Island.
Martin Luther | Roman Catholic Church | Johannes Gutenberg | Protestant Movement
When Martin Luther voiced criticism of the Catholic Church he was accused of heresy. Aided by the north German princes they formed the Protestant movement.
A protest against church corruption had turned into a social revolution. Despite attempted treaties and compromises, Protestants and Catholics went to war for 125 years.
Atahualpa | Francisco Pizarro | Inca Gold | Age of Plunder
Spanish soldiers kidnapped and held to ransom the Emperor of the Incas, Atahualpa. He paid a massive ransom in gold and silver.
In two hours of carnage and confusion, at least 2,000 Incas died. Most were trampled to death in their attempts to escape. Not a single Spaniard died. And Pizarro took Atahualpa hostage.
Ban Christianity | Tokugawa Ieyasu | William Adams | Sakoku
Europeans were evicted from Japan, which became a closed country, Sakoku, because of their obsession with Catholicism.
The first Englishman to embrace Japanese culture, William Adams, is still fondly remembered in Japan. This memorial to him is in an area of Tokyo called Anjin-Cho, in memory of Anjin-san, Mr navigator.
Christopher Columbus | San Salvador | Rodrigo de Triana
Sailing west from Spain, Christopher Columbus believed he would find a short route to Japan and China; He found South America and vast riches.
The invading Europeans brought disease to the natives that decimated the population AND brought back a new strain of syphilis.
Andrew Marr’s History of the World - The Age of Plunder
The 16th Century saw Europeans elevate themselves from plundering robbers to wealthy, capitalist businessmen. The age of Plunder had begun.
The unwitting rejection of Christianity in the form of the Bible by an illiterate South American leader would lead to carnage and bloodshed.
Vikings | Miklagard | Constantinople | Dnieper | History of the World
Andrew Marr tells that Russia got it’s name from the Rus’ as the Vikings were known when they invaded Kiev.
What started with trade - furs and silver - had flowered into culture, architecture and religion. By the 10th century, Europe had an eastern Christian border, drawn by the Vikings and lasting to the present day.
Leonardo da Vinci | Ludovico Sforza | Santa Maria delle Grazie
Leonardo da Vinci combined Art and Science in his painting of The Last Supper in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie.
Leonardo da Vinci remains a standard-bearer for the new confidence of Christian Europe, but its journey to Renaissance was far more than simply a European story.
