I just want to say thank you for making this video, and sharing the works of Sor Juana. Hopefully, it encourages people to read more about her, and trust me you will not be let down. Ps- If you interested in learning about her and her works I would recommend that you read her Poem "Hombres Necios" or "Foolish Man", you can say its a feminist poem and controversial for her time. Also, read " The Response to Sor Filotea" , there she explains her life, and get an understanding how brilliant her mind was. Anyways, thank you!
Hello. I’m Mexican, I’m currently writing my PhD thesis in Latin-American literature. I really appreciated this video. It was pretty accurate. I recommend you “Primero sueño” from Sor Juana.
I also recommend Yo la peor de todas by Maria Luisa Bemberg. Assumpta Serna did a great performance as Sor Juana and it was Bemberg’s final film. Thanks to that film I also appreciate Primer Sueño a lot.
I´m guessing it´s the nuns because a) they could write, b) if they entered the convent with a dowry they didn`t have to work day and night and c) they weren´t as closely supervised as other rich women.
She actually joined the most relaxed convent she could find. And she also had the favor of the Vicereine and Viceroy and some other nobles. When the viceroys were sent back to Spain her problems started.
It makes me incredibly happy when my cousin Sor Juana makes people so happy. She has so many interesting people in her family. I descend from two of her grandfather's brothers.
Sor Juana also has a movie by Argentinian director Maria Luisa Bemberg called Yo la Peor de Todas (I the Worst of All). It’s another amazing movie I recommend to anyone interested in Sor Juana’s story. I also recommend reading Premier Sueño (1st Dream). It’s Sor Juana’s magnum opus.
I am part Mexican and know a little about Sor Juana Inez de Cruz, yet I knew nothing about Mesoamerican drama. Thanks Crash Course for the information!
@2:39: Ironically, *some of the Spaniards themselves* who settled in the Americas - in particular Mexico - *were actually themselves recently assimilated "Moors", by then known as "Moriscos"* ("Mauresques" if they were in southern France) - and I guess went over the top to "prove" that they were now really Spanish, and so used these performances to confirm themselves psychologically.
[episode request] Please do an episode on post-War Japanese theater in the 1960's focusing on Karajuro's works and Shuji Terayama's works of Tenjou-Sajiki !!
It's a feminist myth that Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a feminist. She was never prevented to pursue her education at no point in her life. In fact, she probably received far more opportunities and education than anyone in the Americas at the time. Her very privileged European family paid for her private lessons until she joined the Cloisters, where nuns received the same education opportunities as religious men got at the Catholic University (pretty much the only university in the continent at the time). She probably picked the Cloisters herself when she was older to avoid men because she was a lesbian, not because marriage would prevent her education. The Vicereine, her galpal, being a living example of a married woman pursuing education at the time. That's -literally- how they met. She was also a religious woman as evidenced by her letters. She probably had a lot of guilt because she was a lesbian and that pushed her to obsess over her "spiritual health," specially after her beloved Vicereine returned to Spain. In practice, at least, she became a devoted nun.
Overall, I enjoy watching Crash Course Theater and realize that it's a great resource for young people who aren't already familiar with some of the history being discussed. However, I'm disappointed that so much erroneous and/or biased information is being disseminated in this episode. For example, the appellation "Aztec" is a misnomer - there were never any Mesoamerican people who referred to themselves as such. The label "Aztec" was coined by the nineteenth century naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. The proper name of the people who Hernán Cortés and the Conquistadors encountered in 1519, and subsequently conquered in a brutal manner, is Mexica. Furthermore, the Mexica, whose culture and history is being grossly misrepresented in this video, resided in what came to be known as North America not Central America. Regarding the claim that pre-Colombian theater - particularly that of the Mexica - was inspired by human sacrifice, all of the sources cited in this episode are post-colonial sources and should not be trusted to provide unbiased, accurate accounts of the lives of people who were routinely demonized to justify Spain's colonial undertakings. Even the codices (which are shown in this video) were produced by Mexica slaves under the command of Conquistadors and priests. I'm not suggesting that there wasn't any human sacrifice among the Mexica and other pre-Colombian people; I'm merely pointing out the fact that the vast majority of documented accounts - including those cited here - have been debunked, or at least called into question, by scholars who don't have a Eurocentric agenda prejudiced by Christian apologetics. Apparently Crash Course doesn't see the irony in stating that "performance is a pretty useful way to spread religious and imperial propaganda and impose your preferred historical narrative," as they use this video to spread religious and imperial propaganda and impose their preferred historical narrative. Now, moving on to the shamefully inaccurate overview of Sor Juana's life. It's asserted that - in opting not to get married - Sor Juana new that "if she became a nun, she could determine her own intellectual life, and she did." The fact is that having inherited her grandfather's vast book collection at a young age, Sor Juana became an autodidact who engaged in various intellectual pursuits, including intensive studies of science, philosophy, and indigenous-based pre-Hispanic history. Not only was she painfully aware that being a nun was a great impediment with regards to her intellectual life, but the aforementioned intellectual pursuits (along with her feminist views) made her a target of church leaders who, in 1694, forced her to sell her treasured books, renew her religious vows, and sign various penitential documents. As further punishment for the sin of pursuing what the church deemed to be heretical studies, Sor Juana was sent away to tend, and hence be exposed to nuns who were afflicted by an epidemic. So while her death may indeed be characterized as "righteous as heck," it should also be noted that it was essentially the result of a death sentence issued by the Catholic Church - for the crime of being a freethinker. I hope that people who come across this video, particularly young people, take the time to research the fascinating life and work of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, because this Crash Course episode is lacking in many ways and should not be relied upon to provide accurate information.
No it wasn't an impediment, she knew that if she got married she could would not be able to study. She stated very clearly in her response to Sor Filotea that marriage was not for her. The only things that bugged her about being a nun was that she hated cooking and working in the kitchen, she didn't like to spend all her time teaching the young girls in the convent and the nuns coming to her with petty arguments but she was allowed to study far more than anywhere else. Juana was sent away to be with her aunt in Mexico city. The church didn't force her to sell her books but she gave them up as penance and charity according to a letter that was found in the mexican archives not too long ago. Signed her 2nd cousin in the 10th generation .
Hi Mike, since no one has pointed this out yet, for Catholic Christians like the colonial Spanish in this video, the Eucharist is not “at least partially symbolic.” In Catholic sacramental theology the bread and wine truly and fully become the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus. It isn’t regarded as bread and wine once it has been consecrated by the priest. Other Christian churches may have a more symbolic understanding of the Eucharist.
Jill Christensen I think the “partially symbolic” is referring is species or the appearance of the bread and wine in the Eucharist. The wine is the blood of Christ but it keeps the appearance of wine. Where in the sacrifice blood with the appearance of blood is used.
Jill Christensen awesome 👏🏽 I am A Catholic studying theology I was gonna make that comment! Thank you. Also, this channel has a lot of anti-catholic biases. I do still enjoy watching the channel but you should read Steven Wiednkof’s (that may be the right spelling) book The Real Story of Catholic History
Do Africa Civs Before Western/European Influences/Religion/Major Interactions (Trade) Thanks. It Would Be Cool If You Did The 4 Corners Separately. (North, South, East, West) It’s A Pretty Big Continent Id Like To See How They Differed. Thanks Again I Love This Channel.
It is about freaking time you're going to get around to Japanese theater, Japanese theater is what I was most wanting to learn about. I hope you cover Japanese Hero shows (setting up a small stage at like a mall or something and doing a small fight scene to promote a TV series popular at the time) soon.
He already covered Japanese theater way earlier, concentrating on the Noh dramas. Now he's moving on to kabuki. But this is not his first foray into Japan.
The Noh Dramas video didn't tell me anything I wanted to know, so this probably will be his first foray into Japan that tells me anything useful. I want to make Japanese hero show-esque play, but I need research material.
The correct term here would probably be "Mesoamerica", given it discusses precolumblian cultures: That specifies the cultural region of Mexico, Guatamala, etc, and not being as wide/vague a group as "North America"
+Patrick Reding: From a precolumbian cultural context, "Central America" is usually used to describe the cultures that are below Mesoamerica, but above South America.
Patrick Reding Patrick we use Central America in Spanish to talk about the isthme between North and South America. It evena has its own tectonic plate. Nothing to do with Americans not wanting to be in the same continent.
I'd want to know more about Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz; too bad the narrator keeps on praising her for having politically correct views. Maybe the viewer / reader can decide that. Her accomplishments sound impressive.
inspiring story of a very brave and independent woman. An independent woman at a time when women were treated as nothing more than property "Handmaid's Tale" style
If your gonna teach about another culture learn to pronounce our people’s words. Mexico is not Central America, it’s part of North America look at a map. We are part of Turtle Island (indigenous way of referencing North America). Your Náhuatl pronunciation was boarder line offensive.
Miladys Morales When talking about Czech would anyone be reasonable if they were offended because of the speaker's inability to pronounce words like "Strč"? Or mis pronouncing almost all Chinese tones? Also, most Mexicans think that the way they are pronouncing a Nahuatl word is the correct pronunciation, but it's actually an awful pronunciation. This is: the accent is wrong most times and their pronunciation of the sound "tl" at the end of most words is laughable. Those problems come from the lack of phonetic exercise. I'm a trained phonetician and still I needed years for a right pronunciation of some sounds in certain positions and I'm still learning many others. This means that being self righteous about a good pronunciation is stupid when you don't speak every language and they're only doing a small account.
@Jacob Miller i agree that is difficult to pronounce some words and open shouldn't get so mad, but the thing that differentiates the us with Latin America is mestizaje, in the us the whites didn't mix a lot with native population, they killed them right away. Here, colonialist started families with the natives, just look at Spanish groups, every mix has a name and there was a lot of it. Almost all of us are a mix between white people and native population, and as usually the man was white (because, you know, our ancestors were basically enslaved and women usually raped or forced to marry colonialist), we have Spanish last names and names usually. We are native, both of my parents have native ancestry, near ancestry, my great grandmother was mapuche, and my dad's side is just plain native. Having a last name and white ancestry doesn't mean we are not native or we don't feel connected to our people
Whats with putting “so called” in front of anything mildly controversial? It WAS a new world to europeans and considering that they have by far the most influence on the continents undermining the legitimacy of the label is not helpful. This isnt ISIS the “so called” islamic state here no the reason its called the new world is because it would influence european politics, the worlds most important politics, forever
Dikianify Because it wasn’t a new world. It was already discovered before and people were living there. Calling it a new worlds is saying the those inhabitants meant nothing.
It's also good to mention here that the Vikings got there long before either Columbus or Vespucci did, so it wasn't new to Europeans either at the time Spanish [or Italian] people arrived there.
+Dikianify: Beyond the answers people have already given, I want to point out that the entire reason european history and politics ARE the most influenttial and globally dominant is BECAUSE of the colonization of the Americas: Prior to that point, Europe wasn't really that much more globally influential then Asia or the Middle east was, and hell, even the Latin American civilizations of the time really weren't as far behind Old World ones as people think: People call them "stone age", but in reality they were closer to Ancient Greece in complexity (I can clarify on this further if needed) The fact that, thanks to insane luck, diseases, and the native geopolitics (the army that sieged the aztec captial was over 99% native troops from various city-states) in Mesoamerica, that Cortes was able to topple the Aztec empire, is what allowed european global dommiance to follow: Spain itself wasn't in a position to be financing widespread colionlization of the mainland, Cortes happened to go off on his own and topple the largest political state on the Continent, and that their tributaries were okay with just paying the Spanish now rather then the ruling Aztec triple alliance, instantly getting Spain a massive revenue stream, is what allowed and convinced them and other european powers to even bother with colionalism, and the economic extraction they got from it was what funded their global cultural dommiance. In short, up untill that point, the empires and states of the "New World" weren't really that much less influential, since no one region of human culture was politically or culturally dominant: That only changed AFTER Europe was able to cripple and exploit Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations and all the other, less complex tribes and cultures in the americas.
I just want to say thank you for making this video, and sharing the works of Sor Juana. Hopefully, it encourages people to read more about her, and trust me you will not be let down.
Ps- If you interested in learning about her and her works I would recommend that you read her Poem "Hombres Necios" or "Foolish Man", you can say its a feminist poem and controversial for her time. Also, read " The Response to Sor Filotea" , there she explains her life, and get an understanding how brilliant her mind was. Anyways, thank you!
Hello. I’m Mexican, I’m currently writing my PhD thesis in Latin-American literature. I really appreciated this video. It was pretty accurate. I recommend you “Primero sueño” from Sor Juana.
Thanks for mentioning the Netflix show! I keep recommending it to my friends whenever they ask for a Spanish language show to watch
I also recommend Yo la peor de todas by Maria Luisa Bemberg. Assumpta Serna did a great performance as Sor Juana and it was Bemberg’s final film. Thanks to that film I also appreciate Primer Sueño a lot.
Also Sor Juana is on the 200 pesos bill here in Mexico.
Sin Juana no entra, joven.
Omg that's so cool! I was NOT expecting you guys to talk about her!!! I'm SO happy!
I´m guessing it´s the nuns because a) they could write, b) if they entered the convent with a dowry they didn`t have to work day and night and c) they weren´t as closely supervised as other rich women.
Because women couldn't go to the university, but nuns could study theology at least
She actually joined the most relaxed convent she could find. And she also had the favor of the Vicereine and Viceroy and some other nobles. When the viceroys were sent back to Spain her problems started.
It makes me incredibly happy when my cousin Sor Juana makes people so happy. She has so many interesting people in her family. I descend from two of her grandfather's brothers.
Sor Juana also has a movie by Argentinian director Maria Luisa Bemberg called Yo la Peor de Todas (I the Worst of All). It’s another amazing movie I recommend to anyone interested in Sor Juana’s story. I also recommend reading Premier Sueño (1st Dream). It’s Sor Juana’s magnum opus.
I am part Mexican and know a little about Sor Juana Inez de Cruz, yet I knew nothing about Mesoamerican drama. Thanks Crash Course for the information!
Done with high school and still watch these
She’s so inspiring, gracias por todo
Sir that is Nun of your business.
Anthony Wolf 🤓
@2:39: Ironically, *some of the Spaniards themselves* who settled in the Americas - in particular Mexico - *were actually themselves recently assimilated "Moors", by then known as "Moriscos"* ("Mauresques" if they were in southern France) - and I guess went over the top to "prove" that they were now really Spanish, and so used these performances to confirm themselves psychologically.
I love Sor Juana, thank you so much for making a video about her
I'll have to use, "it comes from my Faith" the next time I workshop anything.
Sorjuana 😍
“there was theater in Central America” and topic is the famous Sor Juana of Mexico (North America).
Sor Juana poems touch the soul in ways that can't be understood in any translation,
I was curious about this. I wanted to know what form of entertainment did the spaniards enjoyed. Besides learning about the conquest.
The Siglo de Oro episode was some weeks ago... the one with Cervantes, Calderón de la Barca and Lope de Vega.
She and I have the same birthday--awesome.
[episode request] Please do an episode on post-War Japanese theater in the 1960's focusing on Karajuro's works and Shuji Terayama's works of Tenjou-Sajiki !!
It's a feminist myth that Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a feminist. She was never prevented to pursue her education at no point in her life. In fact, she probably received far more opportunities and education than anyone in the Americas at the time. Her very privileged European family paid for her private lessons until she joined the Cloisters, where nuns received the same education opportunities as religious men got at the Catholic University (pretty much the only university in the continent at the time). She probably picked the Cloisters herself when she was older to avoid men because she was a lesbian, not because marriage would prevent her education. The Vicereine, her galpal, being a living example of a married woman pursuing education at the time. That's -literally- how they met.
She was also a religious woman as evidenced by her letters. She probably had a lot of guilt because she was a lesbian and that pushed her to obsess over her "spiritual health," specially after her beloved Vicereine returned to Spain. In practice, at least, she became a devoted nun.
Another perfect episode.
Overall, I enjoy watching Crash Course Theater and realize that it's a great resource for young people who aren't already familiar with some of the history being discussed. However, I'm disappointed that so much erroneous and/or biased information is being disseminated in this episode. For example, the appellation "Aztec" is a misnomer - there were never any Mesoamerican people who referred to themselves as such. The label "Aztec" was coined by the nineteenth century naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. The proper name of the people who Hernán Cortés and the Conquistadors encountered in 1519, and subsequently conquered in a brutal manner, is Mexica. Furthermore, the Mexica, whose culture and history is being grossly misrepresented in this video, resided in what came to be known as North America not Central America.
Regarding the claim that pre-Colombian theater - particularly that of the Mexica - was inspired by human sacrifice, all of the sources cited in this episode are post-colonial sources and should not be trusted to provide unbiased, accurate accounts of the lives of people who were routinely demonized to justify Spain's colonial undertakings. Even the codices (which are shown in this video) were produced by Mexica slaves under the command of Conquistadors and priests. I'm not suggesting that there wasn't any human sacrifice among the Mexica and other pre-Colombian people; I'm merely pointing out the fact that the vast majority of documented accounts - including those cited here - have been debunked, or at least called into question, by scholars who don't have a Eurocentric agenda prejudiced by Christian apologetics. Apparently Crash Course doesn't see the irony in stating that "performance is a pretty useful way to spread religious and imperial propaganda and impose your preferred historical narrative," as they use this video to spread religious and imperial propaganda and impose their preferred historical narrative.
Now, moving on to the shamefully inaccurate overview of Sor Juana's life. It's asserted that - in opting not to get married - Sor Juana new that "if she became a nun, she could determine her own intellectual life, and she did." The fact is that having inherited her grandfather's vast book collection at a young age, Sor Juana became an autodidact who engaged in various intellectual pursuits, including intensive studies of science, philosophy, and indigenous-based pre-Hispanic history. Not only was she painfully aware that being a nun was a great impediment with regards to her intellectual life, but the aforementioned intellectual pursuits (along with her feminist views) made her a target of church leaders who, in 1694, forced her to sell her treasured books, renew her religious vows, and sign various penitential documents. As further punishment for the sin of pursuing what the church deemed to be heretical studies, Sor Juana was sent away to tend, and hence be exposed to nuns who were afflicted by an epidemic. So while her death may indeed be characterized as "righteous as heck," it should also be noted that it was essentially the result of a death sentence issued by the Catholic Church - for the crime of being a freethinker.
I hope that people who come across this video, particularly young people, take the time to research the fascinating life and work of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, because this Crash Course episode is lacking in many ways and should not be relied upon to provide accurate information.
No it wasn't an impediment, she knew that if she got married she could would not be able to study. She stated very clearly in her response to Sor Filotea that marriage was not for her. The only things that bugged her about being a nun was that she hated cooking and working in the kitchen, she didn't like to spend all her time teaching the young girls in the convent and the nuns coming to her with petty arguments but she was allowed to study far more than anywhere else. Juana was sent away to be with her aunt in Mexico city. The church didn't force her to sell her books but she gave them up as penance and charity according to a letter that was found in the mexican archives not too long ago. Signed her 2nd cousin in the 10th generation .
Technically the Catholic belief in Transubstantiation means the bread and wine literally becomes the body and blood of Christ so vampires all around!
Hi Mike,
since no one has pointed this out yet, for Catholic Christians like the colonial Spanish in this video, the Eucharist is not “at least partially symbolic.” In Catholic sacramental theology the bread and wine truly and fully become the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus. It isn’t regarded as bread and wine once it has been consecrated by the priest. Other Christian churches may have a more symbolic understanding of the Eucharist.
Ric Boni Yup, these verses are recited at the consecration every single Mass.
Jill Christensen I think the “partially symbolic” is referring is species or the appearance of the bread and wine in the Eucharist. The wine is the blood of Christ but it keeps the appearance of wine. Where in the sacrifice blood with the appearance of blood is used.
Jill Christensen awesome 👏🏽 I am A Catholic studying theology I was gonna make that comment! Thank you. Also, this channel has a lot of anti-catholic biases. I do still enjoy watching the channel but you should read Steven Wiednkof’s (that may be the right spelling) book The Real Story of Catholic History
Jesus is a lowly demon boiling in a vat of semen in Hell.
@Ric Boni Jesus is a lowly demon boiling in a vat of semen in Hell.
Kabuki's next! woo!
Do Africa Civs Before Western/European Influences/Religion/Major Interactions (Trade) Thanks. It Would Be Cool If You Did The 4 Corners Separately. (North, South, East, West) It’s A Pretty Big Continent Id Like To See How They Differed. Thanks Again I Love This Channel.
Great video 👍
I love crash course
So that's where the lizardmen came from - it was the Aztecs!
It is about freaking time you're going to get around to Japanese theater, Japanese theater is what I was most wanting to learn about. I hope you cover Japanese Hero shows (setting up a small stage at like a mall or something and doing a small fight scene to promote a TV series popular at the time) soon.
He already covered Japanese theater way earlier, concentrating on the Noh dramas. Now he's moving on to kabuki. But this is not his first foray into Japan.
The Noh Dramas video didn't tell me anything I wanted to know, so this probably will be his first foray into Japan that tells me anything useful. I want to make Japanese hero show-esque play, but I need research material.
GREAT.
I thought no episode for this week
اللى عربى وعنده بيبى فى كجى احنا بنقدم دروس
Mexico, Central America? Are you serious?
The correct term here would probably be "Mesoamerica", given it discusses precolumblian cultures: That specifies the cultural region of Mexico, Guatamala, etc, and not being as wide/vague a group as "North America"
Central America isn't actually a thing. It's just an invention of US Americans who don't want to admit they share a continent with Honduras.
+Patrick Reding: From a precolumbian cultural context, "Central America" is usually used to describe the cultures that are below Mesoamerica, but above South America.
Okay, I'll buy it in that context.
Patrick Reding Patrick we use Central America in Spanish to talk about the isthme between North and South America. It evena has its own tectonic plate. Nothing to do with Americans not wanting to be in the same continent.
i dont like theater at all but i Love my sis Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz so im out here supporting her art 🤧🤙🏽
My bad, but Ponce is pronounced "Pon-seh" not "Ponz"...!
it makes me wonder why didn't missionaries use plays in India to proselytize christianity?
I'd want to know more about Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz; too bad the narrator keeps on praising her for having politically correct views. Maybe the viewer / reader can decide that. Her accomplishments sound impressive.
What about Mary Juana?
...and unclick the bell finally
Sous titres francais sil vous plait
fun fact: that whole Blood of Christ thing isn´t symbolic at all..
Nyoom
Was Sor Juana a feminist philosopher before Wollstonecraft?
inspiring story of a very brave and independent woman. An independent woman at a time when women were treated as nothing more than property "Handmaid's Tale" style
Hahahahahahahahaha Quetzalcóatl hahahahahahahahahahaha
No we don't need a president. Anywhere, anytime.
The aztecs were never known for human sacrifices
yes they were.
First
If your gonna teach about another culture learn to pronounce our people’s words. Mexico is not Central America, it’s part of North America look at a map. We are part of Turtle Island (indigenous way of referencing North America). Your Náhuatl pronunciation was boarder line offensive.
Miladys Morales When talking about Czech would anyone be reasonable if they were offended because of the speaker's inability to pronounce words like "Strč"? Or mis pronouncing almost all Chinese tones?
Also, most Mexicans think that the way they are pronouncing a Nahuatl word is the correct pronunciation, but it's actually an awful pronunciation. This is: the accent is wrong most times and their pronunciation of the sound "tl" at the end of most words is laughable. Those problems come from the lack of phonetic exercise. I'm a trained phonetician and still I needed years for a right pronunciation of some sounds in certain positions and I'm still learning many others. This means that being self righteous about a good pronunciation is stupid when you don't speak every language and they're only doing a small account.
Jacob Miller yes there’s something called “colonization” and forces marriages
Jacob Miller niyolcuezohtoc nicocolia white man. Be quiet I’m tired of non-natives thinking they can determine who is native or not.
@Jacob Miller i agree that is difficult to pronounce some words and open shouldn't get so mad, but the thing that differentiates the us with Latin America is mestizaje, in the us the whites didn't mix a lot with native population, they killed them right away. Here, colonialist started families with the natives, just look at Spanish groups, every mix has a name and there was a lot of it. Almost all of us are a mix between white people and native population, and as usually the man was white (because, you know, our ancestors were basically enslaved and women usually raped or forced to marry colonialist), we have Spanish last names and names usually. We are native, both of my parents have native ancestry, near ancestry, my great grandmother was mapuche, and my dad's side is just plain native. Having a last name and white ancestry doesn't mean we are not native or we don't feel connected to our people
She was also a lesbian
Whats with putting “so called” in front of anything mildly controversial? It WAS a new world to europeans and considering that they have by far the most influence on the continents undermining the legitimacy of the label is not helpful. This isnt ISIS the “so called” islamic state here no the reason its called the new world is because it would influence european politics, the worlds most important politics, forever
Dikianify Because it wasn’t a new world. It was already discovered before and people were living there. Calling it a new worlds is saying the those inhabitants meant nothing.
Because Crash Course's audience is not only Europeans. To a lot of us this world wasn't new.
It's also good to mention here that the Vikings got there long before either Columbus or Vespucci did, so it wasn't new to Europeans either at the time Spanish [or Italian] people arrived there.
Dikianify
Accuracy is important, idiot.
+Dikianify: Beyond the answers people have already given, I want to point out that the entire reason european history and politics ARE the most influenttial and globally dominant is BECAUSE of the colonization of the Americas: Prior to that point, Europe wasn't really that much more globally influential then Asia or the Middle east was, and hell, even the Latin American civilizations of the time really weren't as far behind Old World ones as people think: People call them "stone age", but in reality they were closer to Ancient Greece in complexity (I can clarify on this further if needed)
The fact that, thanks to insane luck, diseases, and the native geopolitics (the army that sieged the aztec captial was over 99% native troops from various city-states) in Mesoamerica, that Cortes was able to topple the Aztec empire, is what allowed european global dommiance to follow: Spain itself wasn't in a position to be financing widespread colionlization of the mainland, Cortes happened to go off on his own and topple the largest political state on the Continent, and that their tributaries were okay with just paying the Spanish now rather then the ruling Aztec triple alliance, instantly getting Spain a massive revenue stream, is what allowed and convinced them and other european powers to even bother with colionalism, and the economic extraction they got from it was what funded their global cultural dommiance.
In short, up untill that point, the empires and states of the "New World" weren't really that much less influential, since no one region of human culture was politically or culturally dominant: That only changed AFTER Europe was able to cripple and exploit Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations and all the other, less complex tribes and cultures in the americas.