Love the channel but Months between uploads feels like an age to me, can't help but think that this channel would be alot bigger with more frequent uploads. Thank you for all your work on these videos I enjoy watching them all.
The description of the Spanish ships as mountains is fascinating because in the early 19th century Japanese accounts of Western steam ships used that same language. 'Flouting mountains.'
@@Apogee012 No im thinking of that time. The Japanese had these huge ships that looked like boxes all made out of wood. Mainly used for transportation.
this may be a bit fanciful but i like to compare to modern day ufo sightings.. we have no idea what the hell we are looking at so just try and explain it with things we do know.. oh yeah a flying saucer.. just like these people did comparing ships to floating mountains
@@GoldenChildBH who is "you guys", my people have been slaves to the ottoman empire for 600 years and they called us worse than apes, only the last 50 years did we have any sort of connection with black people. Just because anglo saxons have the same skin color as us doesnt mean we are the same 🙄
First contact for Spaniards in the Aztec empire was with fishermen. As well, the Aztec held no illusion of what boats were, just having not seen such large ones before of such style.
Yeah but I think in a general sense they get that they are ships. In fact they can probably guess that they are Warships. Its probably more that theres no language to describe it. Do you honestly think NOBODY had constructed a boat by that point on the coast? Do you know what kind of cities these people built?????...
Exactly. Though I could see them being seen like floating fortresses almost, given the “fortification” of military caravels at the time. Bit like how a pontoon truck is considered a truck rather than a boat.
@bastiat I don't know if you are American but you are right. Like most "intelligent" Americans we are really lazy and want someone to tell us the source rather than actually searching for it ourselves and when they don't have the source we just talk shit about that person and assume they are just lying.
I was thinking about that when Montezuma brought Cortez and his men a bunch of daughters. Imagine meeting a new kind of person for the very first time, and then fucking one of them. They must have been over the moon, like Kirk fucking alien women..
@@thisisntsergio1352 Yup, and then his country got forced to buy Opium, lost territory to the Russians, and was forced to give GB Hong Kong, after getting completely curb stomped.
@squirtpussyassfart8518 I don't know if you're well intentioned or if you're trying to spread this myth maliciously, but races aren't different species. Different species are defined by the fact that they can't interbeed (and if they can, the offspring will be sterile or suffer some other type of incapacitation). Races aren't different species, and this is a myth that sounds like it was made to dehumanize others that don't look like you. We're all humans, lol
Modern conception of races is too shallow and inaccurate to be analoged onto the term subspecies. I appreciate the point you're trying to make but if you look at races, the genetic diversity is incredibly large to the degree that they are often more closely genetically related to humans outside of their racial group than those in the same group. Black people are the poigntant example of this. Africa being such a natural barrier laden continent has prevented large scale contact between the Congo, Niger, Swahili Coast,Mediterranean and Horn of Africa. Genetic studies if people from all these areas who would largely be considered black have as much relation to one another as they do to Indo-Europeans. That's profound considering they likely had no contact with Neanderthals.
The Dutchman taken ashore was likely eaten. People forget (and AFAIK no longer taught in school) that the Maori were at constant war among themselves, took slaves and practiced cannibalism.
Our schools are trying to rewrite history and as the older of us gradually all die off, it is becomming easier. I have no doubt that what future generations will learn will be mostly fabrications.
I love the account of Montezuma basically saying “I’m just a guy, don’t let them tell you crazy stuff about me” A very human moment, such a shame things soured so quickly!
He seems to be very intelligent and well-spoken. The Aztecs apparently had a very rich tradition of philosophy and rhetoric but unfortunately it has been almost entirely lost
@@jennpunk4lif3 "How many died during the Spanish Inquisition? Again, this is hotly debated with estimates ranging from 30,000 to as many as 300,000. There are some, however, who believe that the horrors of the Inquisition have been exaggerated, and that just one per cent of the 125,000 people believed to have been tried were executed." I am with those who believe in the numbers were greatly exaggerated, after all who has the time to genocide? People keep saying "Medieval/Ancient times were o baaad" while infact they lived just as long as we do, statistics do not lie but they can be presented in a way to change people's opinions.
ALLWAAH'S description of the Stately, magnificent and majestic Ships Plying the Oceans to the Landlocked Desert Arabs : { وَلَهُ ٱلۡجَوَارِ ٱلۡمُنشَـَٔاتُ فِي ٱلۡبَحۡرِ كَٱلۡأَعۡلَٰمِ } [Surah Ar-Rahmân: 24] Yusuf Ali: And His are the Ships sailing smoothly through the seas, lofty as mountains:
@@thenoblepoptart there is more to it. for instance, the accounts of hernan cortez were a letter to the king in which he explained away his mutany and murder of fellow spaniards. so, it was in his interest to twist the story quite heavily in his favour. yes, first person sources are very valueable. but you always have to remember that people lie and always have lied
I recently read Emperor Qianlong’s letter in full … and tbh the part where he’s usually laughed at (we have everything; we don’t need you; you need us) is not untrue if looked from his perspective. The part diverging the most from modern understanding is his description of the accepted diplomatic order in China: foreigners were permitted to live in Beijing provided that they adopted Chinese way of living and never returned to their homeland, and China couldn’t possible accommodate Britain’s request for sending diplomatic embassy that kept their customs and returned regularly to Britain, even more unthinkable should every state requests the same treatment. It of course goes against everything we know of the Westphalian system, but then again, makes sense from his perspective. Also, he knows of the prowess of Britain as he instructed costal guards to strengthen coastal defense as Britain was “unlike the other Western barbarians” and we don’t know what they would do, not having their demands met … which was quite interesting.
The funny part is that he listed out all of Macartney's demands in the reply letter because he believed Macartney was misrepresenting what the British king actually wanted and he was trying to set the record straight in case Macartney came back with a different story, such was the bad impression that Macartney's embassy had made.
Huns was demons in europeans eyes diffrent looking people who mastered in archery Huns bows was much more strong than european bows and a Hun arrow could easly pierce Roman shiels and armors also unlike europe Huns was nomadic so they was raiding instead of invading permenantly
I can imagine what the people of both civilizations were thinking meeting each other for the first time, especially the children. It must've been a "well shit...what now?" Moment.
@@pinkbombshellcasing2672 I truly hope this is sarcasm. Ever heard of the Silk Road? Extensive trade routes between China and Europe that were in existence before the time Christ?
Romans and (Han) Chinese had official embassies opened in each other's empires. Macedonians that reached India established a colony in what is now northern China. So ancient greeks had contact with Chinese as well.
First contact between the British and the tribe of my father's ancestors was notably friendly. It happened very late so they already had resistance against the diseases that Captain Vancouver and his crew carried. His ship coming down the river was seen and was fascinating. Many fine furs were traded that day.
One thing is the video made Qianlong seem ignorant of the British and their empire which is very untrue. Qianlong is aware of the international situation especially of western European colonial empires and British mercantilism. He didn't think the British can offer him anything, and too much contact can be a destabilizing influence (don't want the Han Chinese to get too uppity against the Manchu ruling class).
Lol, mic drop, stick to comedy! these people are as enslaved as ever, the European global banks have controlled China, the moment Europeans set foot in there. It was built up by the global bankers, all its cheap manufacturing industry are all deliberately coordinated by the bankers, in exchange for these perks, all kinds of horrible inhumane experimentations are carried out in that country. Quinglong would have regretted having such a stubborn isolation attitude towards his own people and outsiders, look at them now, an international guinypig, population disbalance, the global banks carried all their operations there first as a testing ground.
@@DeamonMaim The opium wars happened during his son or grandson reign, he was lucky enough not to face such a cruel reality, and the Qing during his time was still the most powerful empire on earth despite starting to fall behind on many areas especially technology, at least until Napoleonic era.
In his letter, the Emperor seems to believe that Britain was nothing more than a small nation in remote part of Europe, which I guess is technically correct. It is just weird he seems so oblivious about British presence and activities in Asia. I mean, by that time, British Empire was a growing colonial powerhouse with ever-expanding dominion in India and South East Asia (Malaya & Singapore), basically a potentially *dangerous* rising power, located right next door to China. His ministers should have some knowledge about massive geopolitical shift in Asia, with these "barbarians" from Europe gradually subjugating and taking over more and more land in Siberia, India, and South East Asia.
@@weirdno.1uniqueno.173 Qing dynasty might view itself as the most powerful nation. After all Qing army easily stop/defeat several Russian expeditions in Mongolia. That is, maybe Qing court believe that those Russian/Cossacks expeditions were the full extent of European military power. On the other hand the Qing court should have heard various stories from Chinese merchant communities about these European "barbarians" defeated massive allied fleet in Malacca, taking over parts of modern Malaysia and Indonesia, and winning several massive wars in India. I mean maybe Qing believe they possesses the best army and navy in the world, but don't you think stories about how ~30 Portuguese ships crushed an armada of hundreds of ships, or a small British army of several thousands men defeated a 50,000 strong combined Indian army might warrant further investigation?
I just love your videos! BTW, was an excerpt from the letters of Cortes already used before? I distinctively remember that part where Cortes is like: "If it ain't a church, it's a mosque". 😉 Seriously though, it's fascinating how we can see him applying his familiar frame of reference to describe unfamiliar things in the New Word.
Due to the reconquista being so rooted in spanish culture, a pagan temple back then was refered as mosque. Samd with the therm "moor". While nos used only for magreb people, back then moor was used to every dark skined enemy, with aztecs being named moors in some ocasion aswell (in Bernal letters maybe, one of the main Cortes soldier and not as educated as him)
Quite literally was like these ancient peoples had seen alien creatures. Many different ancient peoples had completely different statures, different facial structure, massive height differences, different hair texture/color, and in some cases completely different skull shapes/sizes. Some may not have even thought they were the same species.
The differences in skull measurements is completely false and when the “science” was conducted in them they took outliers of those populations to “prove” race is biological
@@EeryCracker53 imagine you were 60 years old in an African tribe 2000 years ago.nowhere in your tribes history,except folklore about “gods,” had knowledge of a 6 foot 5 white man with white/golden hair or a 4 foot olive skinned person with jet black hair ever been. Seeing that for the first time would be extremely shocking to anybody.
The Haida people are pretty interesting too. They would raid the coasts of northwestern North America, raiding and taking slaves from other tribes. When they eventually came to blows with Russian explorers their armor was too thick that the Russian muskets couldn't penetrate it.
Please do a documentary on Johannes Schiltberger also known as the german Marco Polo , a medieval person from Bavaria, Germany who got enslaved in 1380 and travelled all the way to Mongolia where he mentioned to have seen an Alma, a Big foot kind of creature
Cortes main objective was to take Tenochtictlan as intact as possible, with Moctezuma acting as a vassal for Charles V, so he could rejoice on how beautifull the city was. After la Noche Triste, (Alvarado in comand and not Cortez), and the brutal capital siege by both parts (warhammer tier brutal), Cortez broke to tears to see how all he had for his monarch was some gold and bricks. Sadly, ambushes on the road to Tenochtictlan, most of em ordered by Moctezuma, made spaniards very paranoid by the time they reach the lake city, hence why they chose to hold Moctezuma hostage as a safe conduct, hence why Moctezuma, as safe conduct, lost its value since his nobles stopped respecting him as the aztec emperor told the spaniards. The way to Tenochtictlan is what sealed its fate. Source: the same "Cartas de Relacion" used in the video.
@@_--Reaper--_ Warhammer 40k and fantasy are board games (and eventually PC games) of the military strategy kind. They have deep stories behind them which feature excessive violence of the highest order.
Cortez and his men already had strong allies by his side which were the tribe and kingdom enemies of the Aztec like the Tlaxcalteca. The Tlaxcalteca were the main ones helping the Spaniards. Not to mention small pox… small pox alone was responsible for killing off most of the citizens of Tenochtitlán
Those ambushes are still very disputed. There are tons of possible explanations about the Cholula massacre, and others incidents such as at Nauhtla were not ordered by the capital.
a adore aztec history, and this account is so fantastic and mystical. I’ve only read retellings of this great encounter, never the full original accounts. it’s interesting how they would regard one another’s customs. how Cortez misinterpreted the gifts of Montezuma, and how he was meant to respond to them.
It's possible they used a different term than "Chinese", people in the West don't realise that what you call "China" they call themselves the "Central state", which together with the tone of the letter says it all...
Well yeah. In those times back then, nationalism didn't exist and "China" was less seen as a nationality and more as a concept of hegemony and civilization. Whoever controlled China were the civilized ones, even if those people used to be so-called barbarians. Fun fact: Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, used to be called Dihua which meant "enlighten and civilize" because it was intended as a Centre of Chinese culture in the far western region. The Manchu Qing dynasty named it that. The communists changed its name to Urumqi which was the name of the small Mongolian village near where it was founded because they thought "Dihua" was too imperialist.
@@derekjackson1039 Fake, literally we made the proto-human rights, "Leyes de Indias" and the inquisition had no power over and couldn't judge any local there.
@@derekjackson1039 burgos laws stopped spanish from abusing natives but not all cases were easy to track also the spanish empire vacinated all the territories of the empire with the balmis expedition stopping the viruela from killing natives and never did any grnocide 90% of Hispanoamerica also spanish were not a lot sonthey used diplomacy to ally with pro hispanoc tribes and defeated the aztecs there were more tribes apart from the aztecs the natives were the ones that did the conquest of america spain only told them what to do and convinced them to joing
How did Cortes have such a detailed conversation with Montezuma? Surely the language barrier must of been huge. I'm assuming some parts are made up or embellished by Cortes, but still I don't understand how they communicated.
They knew there would be a language barrier so they brought in a translator. The Spanish had all ready been in contact with natives, and natives were all ready in contact with one another. At times, they needed 2 translators who had a single mutually comprehensible native language.
@@f0llinge This isn't wrong, but it also leaves out some truly wild details of the two specific people. Cortes negotiated for the release of a missionary named Gerónimo de Aguilar who had been shipwrecked earlier on the mainland. Aguilar learned Mayan through nearly a decade living with them (the other surviving Spaniard shipwrecked with Aguilar, Gonzalo Guerrero, assimilated into the Mayan culture and became a prominent warlord in the resistance against the Spanish). Cortes's party also came into conflict with a different group of Mayans that didn't have much in the way of fancy goods to give to the Spanish to make them go away - so they gave a bunch of young women. Among them was Marina, 'La Malinche', and after Cortes realized she could translate from Aguilar's Mayan to Montezuma's emissaries' Nahuatl (they had intentionally sought Cortes out), Cortes elevated her from slave/prostitute to an advisory role(slash prostitute - that still happened). There's ambiguity about the how's and why's of her support of Cortes's campaign, but support it she did and Cortes's time in Montezuma's court, and Montezuma's time as Cortes's prisoner, would not have happened the same way without her.
Much love and appreciation for Voices of the Past for working so hard to provide the world with such unique and informative historical material. Watching videos like this makes me realize what a shitty education I had.
On the contrary, I'm finding that these letters being presented void of context renders them near meaningless. Additionally, who is doing the translation? What are their aims? History is a pastiche and these are but loose floating scraps of the puzzle
An interesting detail about China is that they called all raiders Huns, they used this name to refer to raiders from the steppe as well as Gothic raiders. The people we call the Huns nowadays are called this because they embraced the name of Hun.
@@samuelrodriguez9801 today you learn that maybe pronunciations of words changed during China's millenia of history and that ancient Chinese were not ignorant of the differences between the nomadic peoples and actively engaged in diplomacy or even espionage to maintain balances of power and contain rising threats in the steppes.
@@samuelrodriguez9801 Then the Chinese also did not call the Huns "Huns", they called them 匈奴, Xiongnu in Mandarin, or most likely another pronuciation at the time. The Huns, according to Chinese sources, *called themselves* 胡 or Hu (familiar? like "Hun", maybe?). The Chinese only adopted 胡 as the general cognomen to refer to their western nomadic neighbors, while being aware of the difference between them.
" I set no value on objects strange or ingenious and I have no use for your country's manufactures". This was a truly bad idea. Although, not that surprising, since China invented gunpowder, mechanical clocks, magnetic compass and (rudimenatry) printing press and yet, never developed them to the incredible degree that the Europeans did. Innovate or stagnate.
I would have added Portuguese Explorer, Ferdinad Magellan's stellar experience on April 27, 1521 in Cebu meeting with Datu Lapu Lapu and a poison arrow on the island of Mactan. Fun fact: His body was never recovered and his skull was rumored to be displayed in Lapu Lapu's dining room on a wall. 😅
Very cool bro, that you included the Tangata Whenua. If you have time you should look into the land wars of New Zealand from 1830 to 1860. Maori were also involved in the biggest case of cannibalism in European records. The Boyd massacre in 1809.
@@jasonhaven7170 had nothing to do with the Europeans other than the sale of firearms and land grabbing missionaries. This was tribe v tribe civil wars all over the place.
@Jason Haven Many maori didn't even sign it. Technically, they're not under the protection of the law. But enjoy all the benefits as if they were, and none of the responsibilities.
Those "small blunt pikes" are called a taiaha and the pointed on one end and flat and blank on the other end and the small clubs are called Patu's wich are made of green stone, wood, bone or a mixture. The Maori are very skilled with there weapons and in hand to hand combat
@@j4y167 hahaha not all. Seems like you've met some shitty ones. I'm actually doing very well. If you lived in NZ you would know and understand why they struggle over there. Jobs literally only pay enough for rent and 12hr days mon to fri and rent on average is $600+.
@@brutifullroast2548 I live in Australia and kiwis constantly talk shit about us and say NZ is better. If what you say is true, NZ is a solid ten times worse
@@j4y167 it is and it isn't. Australia is boring can't do anything without money and NZ is alot more scenic and nicer, complete opposite to Auz also alot more to do
@@j4y167As a kiwi, there's good and bad in both. I think the cost of living is better for you guys, right? But if you're indigenous, you'd probably prefer here
Mystery was a greater part of life back then. Legends of strange people in far off lands were standard. The exhilarating curiosity of encountering new peoples, made some easier to exploit.
It's sad. Even IF violence was never acted on and any of them would have had every intention of coexistence, disease would inevitably take its blood tax. Death is absolutely unavoidable.
actually Cortez was kinda prophetic. But also from a biological and genetical perspective, smallpox was inevitable. Viruses are the only horizontal transport agents of genes, they exist since the beginning of life. If 80% to 90% of the native decline was due to epidemics we have to see it as evolution doing its bloody job leaving those good genes perpetuating. This happens all the time between large groups of individuals.
Spaniards were afraid of the aztecs because they culture and religion reminded them of islam at first glance, back then if you can believe it islam was even more brutal than today nightmare fueling even. Unfortunate for the aztecs that Spaniards landed at that specific point in time, you can also blame islam because if it wasnt for them blocking ships raiding and enslaving europe population whenever they could europeans would have never venture to the west and would have never found america till 200 years later the least
@@Tepaneca The Aztecs were just as bloodthirsty and evil an empire as many Europeans. For this reason, the majority who helped to destroy it were indigenous people from other subjugated tribes.
The world seems so connected with modern technologies. These people could only imagine a forest, a desert, a jungle ect, and the cultures there in, from the limited knowledge brought back by explores and merchants. Awesome video, thank you. 🙏🏻
1793 China: We welcome you, unwashed barbarians. We do not need your tech or anything, but you can buy our tea and silk. If you behave, that is... 1842 Royal Navy: deploy the gunboat diplomacy.
The was some from the Zulu's it wasn't first contact but it shows how things can be misunderstood after winning a battle they were nice enough to help the British dead to clarify they stripped and stabbed the corpses so the spirits could escape.
@@masterson0713 You might be taking the mick but I'm going to assume you're being serious just in case. They where they have some nasty cultural practices but this was on the grand scale at the same time we brits were selling opium to china if I remember correctly to get tea. Us brits started the war on false premise to get cattle. But they were genuinely just trying to help out their enemies dead. If we buried their dead they'd think those barbaric scum there trapping the souls of the dead in the ground. edit The zulus civility to the enemy dead was misinterpreted at the time.
@@cardboardbox191 I understand everything you said but I don't care. I care about what benefits my culture and when my culture is the only culture left we'll all be the better for it.
As for the Tasman account, they must of shown up in the middle of war. Māori have a long history of waging wars. In war time, trade was really the last thing on their minds. Typically everyone knew who was at war. So seeing an outsider dressed funny in a large boat would have really been the last thing they would have expect from an “enemy”.
It was more that Iwi were fighting each other at the time, most likely because of a betrayal, or insult. We do not change our stance when doing something. It is part of our culture to keep doing the task until it is finished. Even when making war. In this, Maori are no different from the Tartars.
Imagining first contact with interstellar aliens, I think, as a species, we have a better rapport with dogs, chimps and dolphins than any potential extraterrestrial civilization. How far will that get us?
@@lucaswallace7476 And, sadly the observable universe is too vast for any meaningful contact or encounter with any civilizations at the same level of development as ours. We could be a billion years too early or a billion years too late. We may find microbes all over and at the same time, be totally oblivious the billion year old civilization that might take fleeting notice of us who are like microbes to them. Not worth slowing down to take a sample as they fly past in their inter-dimensional craft.
My People (Maori) thought the British were Lizard people because they row boats backwards, our people thought they must have eyes in the backs of their heads to row backwards and called them goblins haha
@@marcocortes9968 Hmmm...That may be a fair assessment but even if its true that doesnt put a silver lining on the actions of Cortez. Moctezuma showed every courtesy possible and that should have been reciprocated. Of course im saying this 400 years down the line so my understanding of the world they lived in cant be held to our current societal structure if im being completely honest here
@@Cereal_Killer007 of course, I agree that it seemed like that would be the right thing to do. I do think eveb in that time, that was the socially right thing to do. He was supposedly catholic, and that is a value that is taught. But he came with his own intentions. In the end it looked like he only returned the favour with hurt. Though, all in all I think it was good they were conquered. As a mexican, the story of the aztec and spanisv is told as the backstabbed people. But when you look closer, seeing how the aztec treated their own and those that lived on the nearby regions, I think they were even crueler than the spanish.
@@Cereal_Killer007 I guess it just depends on what people consider crueler. From my point of view, having your arms tied as you get your heart ripped out (and still beating) through your abdomen to be later eaten in a dish called “pozole”. Or perhaps having your entire skin ripped to look as a carpet Is worse than what the spanish did with prisoners.
I once read about nomadic tribes putting their meat between their horses back and the saddle, so that horses body heat and the salt on their sweat heats the meat all day until it becomes edible.
Some important context for the Qianlong Emperor's letter: - He refers to the Europeans as "barbarians". Sounds harsh to us especially the way the narrator puts inflection on it. But this is the same as Romans calling Gauls barbarians - before our modern globalized world, everyone referred to mysterious foreigners as barbarians. Heck, this is no different than the Japanese term for foreigners: Nanban, or "Southern Barbarians" (because they first made contact from the Philippines), but you don't see people widely accusing the Japanese of being elitist or racist. It is ironic this is coming from the Qing Dynasty emperor, who is Manchu, not Han Chinese, so technically, his people were the "barbarians" before they assimilated after conquering China - for example, Korean and Japanese pamphlets from the 17th century claim that China had fallen to barbarian rule (Manchu rule), and that they are now the inheritors of a shared East Asian tradition. Xenophobia and racism were normalized in all societies at that time, and so to accuse the Chinese world-view specifically as many are doing in the comments is neglecting this piece of context. Let's be happy we now live in a world where we accept that racism and xenophobia are bad. - A big sticking point here is freedom to trade. People need to understand that the Chinese empire has operated on a vassal trading system for centuries - that is, they only trade with vassals of the empire. For example, Korea was an autonomous vassal under China for many years (hence why there is no official Korean "emperor", only "king" until very modern history), and while Japan had an emperor, diplomatically speaking the emperor was not recognized by the Chinese while it was still an empire, and rather the shogun was often enfeoffed as "King of Japan". Why were Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and other civilizations okay with this? Because it was really just a formality: they were still autonomous and often their rulers were called "emperors" by their own people anyways, and this small slight allowed them to trade peacefully with the Chinese empire, which is much more valuable. So, Britain requesting special permissions of free trade would break centuries of tradition, which at this moment Qianlong has no reason to do so. Plus, Qianlong is right is saying if he gives special permissions to Britain, doesn't he have to do the same for all European nations? That would be a complete breakdown of the imperial system, which again, Qianlong has no reason to believe should happen at the moment. - I agree Qianlong should not have been so dismissive and rude about European manufactured products. But commerce is made up of the agreement of two parties: if one party isn't willing to buy, you can't force them to do so. - "How can our dynasty alter its whole procedure and system of etiquette established for more than a century to meet your individual views?": a truth of diplomacy for all time, albeit expressed arrogantly. You can't just march in and expect people to change for you. They don't know you, and you have to first work within the confines of their etiquette and social system to build solid relations, and then take it from there. - Why is everyone saying he tells King George III to "eat shit"? He literally doesn't say that... I hope that people who are offended by the tone and content of Qianlong's letter can understand some of the context before passing judgment on the Chinese world view.
@@23Lgirl I know - reread my comment. What I said is that the Chinese emperor would invest the shogun as the “King of Japan”, and have Japan as a nominal vassal of the Chinese empire. This is because it would have been unacceptable to have two emperors - one Chinese and one Japanese - as the emperor was viewed as the ruler of all under Heaven, which there obviously can’t be two of. So, in order to get trading privileges, this was the nature of the relationship between the Chinese Empire and Japan. Obviously, this is just for show - shogun is a military leader as you said, while Japan does have its own emperor. But it is an example of the imperial system that Qianlong is working in, and as he points out, he shouldn’t need to change the system just to satisfy Britain’s desire for special trading privileges.
@@23Lgirl If you’re interested in a famous example of this, look up when the Ming Wanli emperor decided to invest Toyotomi Hideyoshi as the King of Japan, much to Korea’s chagrin at the end of the first Imjin War. I know Toyotomi wasn’t technically shogun but as the de facto military conqueror of Japan, the purpose is the same: to normalize relations between China and Japan and to reopen trade. (And we know this obviously didn’t end well because the Second Imjin War would soon break out)
Still think he was an idiot. He looks at European goods and machinery and weapons and ironclad ships, vastly superior to the Chinese ones, and goes, 'Oh I won't trade my leaves and plates for this shit.' It's like some extraterrestrial aliens offering us antimatter bombs and space ships that can survive a nuke and travel across the solar system in mere days and we don't want to trade some coffee machines and smartphones for them. We don't just say we don't want to trade though, we insult them and their goods in the process.
@@josephrobinson6171 But were Europeans offering machinery, weapons, and ironclads in the trade deal? No, of course not - why would they be arming a potential rival? As for manufactured goods, that's down to a matter of taste: for example the Chinese commonly wore silk in the spring, fall, and summer, and heavier wool outfits in the winter. Perhaps European textiles and other wares were just not that attractive. But that ignores the main issue here: special trading privileges. To do so for England would break tradition, which we can agree in hindsight isn't too big a deal, but more importantly practically-speaking, every nation in Europe would expect similar privileges. I think we can agree that this outcome is something Qianlong wants to avoid in the short term. I doesn't end up working out for the Qing in this regard but putting yourself in Qianlong's shoes, would you do things differently (other than in wording of the letter)? Let me be clear that it's cool too that you disagree :) I didnt like his tone personally myself, and would be offended if I received such a letter. The goal of my comment wasn't to change anyone's mind about Qianlong, but rather inform viewers before they start start projecting and spewing anti-Chinese sentiment like some other commenters have unfortunately chosen to do.
It's super interesting hearing these primary sources of events that will never happen again. It's kinda sad in a odd way that the planet is so well known and traveled.
So confused about the Montazuma* one.... are you telling me a handful of Spaniards were put up by the local king and then they arrested the king and took him prisoner? And this giant city of people were just ok with this????
It was essentially manipulation, the boiling frog method. Sweet words and lies to keep the emperor calm. Need an excuse to do some violence? Oh well you see, down the road there we were attacked "unprovoked", so now we have to investigate, it's only fair... Surely since you're a benevolent king this isn't what your people are like, you've been such a good host so far. To keep goodwill with us, your guests, you'd better investigate this criminal matter. I thought so well of you after all, you're such a nice guy that you'd never neglect this... It was all about playing on Montezuma's sympathies and honor to see how much they could get away with without bloodshed. But inevitably they went from taking inches to taking miles. Conquering nation meets peaceful nation. Them's the breaks.
Old Europeans about asians: Ugly. Modern europeans: My waifu, I love anime. Look at me I look like Samurai. Old Asians about Europeans: Ugly Modern Asians: I need to work more to color my unnatural blonde hair and make plastic surgery to change my eye shape. also need to buy new european clothes to look like schoolgirl. Old Europeans about native americans: Ugly Modern Europeans: I eat taco and have mustaches and sombrero, I am latino. My Totem is Tequila man. Old native Americans about Europeans: ugly Modern Native Americans: Okay, Guys we all speak english and few even speaks spanish, without knowing native language so stop this topic. we all ugly.
The Qianlong letter is something - I've heard about the diplomatic blunder that preceded it, but to end a letter from one sovereign to another ending with the sentiment of "Don't say I didn't warn you, tremblingly obey" is the single dumbest diplomatic move I've ever heard, I feel like not even Rome would have done that. I get that the Chinese Empire regarded itself as unique (similar to Rome, actually) but that was absurd. As much as I think the opium wars were about the worst thing the British Empire ever did, I don't have any sympathy for this particular son of heaven.
These accounts are absolutely fascinating. I’ve read a few books about montezuma and the empire he ruled. His predecessors prophesied that his day would be the time that foreigners would arrive and the aztec empire would fall. How did they know this I wonder? Did they know what the future would hold for their people after the Aztecs fell? I need to figure this out.
The "prophecies" about foreigners arriving etc. were written years later, and seem suspiciously contrived to suit the cause of the Spaniards who, by then, had conquered much of what is now Mexico.
I think we all have this innate fear, especially when we are doing great and happy we feel doom is right around the corner. We do this to this day with that doomsday clock thing and doomsday preppers.
Amigo mio, Was Astrology. Everything was dictate by the cosmos. They were more advance in this matter than the europeans. But all civilizations used Astrology anyway, I used for agriculture purposes.
Emperor Qianlong: "Trembling Obey, and show no negligence" *Drops Royal Mic* Queen Victoria: "Allow me, my lords, to respond in place of my grandfather..."
@@astronaut8917 they didn't hook the entire youth. Just because it's a problem in the West doesn't mean it's a problem in Asia or Africa. In fact tick tock isn't that popular in Sri Lanka
The Chinese one needs a bit of context. The British delegation, because they were kinda dumb, thought to show off by sending what they would consider interesting gifts. Which were basically toys and gimmicks with no practical use. Had they sent more practical goods, then perhaps they wouldn't have received such a snarky response. The Chinese aren't blameless either, though. This was only about 10 years or so before the ENTIRE CHINESE NAVY would get pantsed by a group of pirates. Which they learned absolutely nothing from since the British would go on to do pretty much the exact same thing with the exact same result. By contrast when the U.S. tried something similar with Japan, Japan broke into a civil war not over whether or not to modernize, but in just HOW they should modernize (FYI The Last Samurai is about as indicative of Meiji Era politics as an elementary school's thanksgiving play is about the first thanksgiving) Japan went on to become a major power until WWII. China, meanwhile, is *still* technically bickering with itself since Taiwan is a thing. Chinese history has been described with many poetic examples of dividing and uniting...but really it's just a long chain of people not learning from the past. They were at one point screwed over by a pointlessly complex and nepotistic bureaucracy. Now the entire country is run by a pointlessly complex and nepotistic bureaucracy.
The Qing do learns about their lost against the western power that they start a Self Strengthening Movement campaign which doesnt run very smoothly as there were a lot of troubles in the goverment where they have economic problems, conservative faction protest, corruption within the goverment etc.
yeah i see alot of parallels in the government and bureaucracy of the CCP with instead of the title of emperor they just changed it to chairman. the main difference now is back then Chinese goods were of the highest quality and importance to global trade an wealth which were incredibly small in number but worth a fortune in Europe. Now its in reverse with Chinese goods being cheap and plentiful and low quality and its the European luxury brands and designer goods that are in huge demand in China. i wonder if things will reverse again in the future who knows
Reducing all the progress China has made into a “bickering with Taiwan” and claiming its governed by a “nepotistic bureaucracy” is holy insulting as it is insufferably ignorant
@@zachdaniels5626 LOL....he gave the orders to attack and conquer smaller , vulnerable tribes to get slaves , human sacrifice victims , concubines , etc.
I always chuckle when I remember that for centuries, China felt no need for much contact with the outside world. From their perspective, they had everything.
I bet George III "trembling" loved that after losing America. He must have thrown it on the table and said "just trade out of Canton for gods sake" Fantastic stuff. The Emperor was right though, who needs all this twaddle that's being manufactured. LOL😂
This is what I imagine would happen to humanity if we ever tried to establish contact with a technologically superior race like extraterrestrials, we would be extorted of our resources and labors as these people were
If you live off the land on a horse killing when you want or need WHY do you need gold and riches, you cant eat it drink it. A glass of water is more valuable than a bag of gold.
Play War Thunder now with my link, and get a massive, free bonus pack including vehicles, boosters and more: playwt.link/pastvoiceswt
The last one should say "George III" not "Charles III". I don't think Charles is quite that old.
Shilling manipulation games is despotic.
this channel is full of propaganda.
Did he edit out the Kentucky part of Chinese Christianity
Love the channel but Months between uploads feels like an age to me, can't help but think that this channel would be alot bigger with more frequent uploads. Thank you for all your work on these videos I enjoy watching them all.
The description of the Spanish ships as mountains is fascinating because in the early 19th century Japanese accounts of Western steam ships used that same language. 'Flouting mountains.'
Weird cuz Japan’s ships were of low quality but they tended to be huge too. At least the military ones.
@@ernimuja6991 ur thinking of the wrong time, this is in the edo period when commodore matthew perry forced them to open in 1840-1850,
@@Apogee012 No im thinking of that time. The Japanese had these huge ships that looked like boxes all made out of wood. Mainly used for transportation.
this may be a bit fanciful but i like to compare to modern day ufo sightings.. we have no idea what the hell we are looking at so just try and explain it with things we do know.. oh yeah a flying saucer.. just like these people did comparing ships to floating mountains
@@ernimuja6991 oh really??? what were they called??
Roman #1: So what were the Huns like?
Roman #2: Basically orcs.
Tolkien based orcs on steppe nomads so Roman#2 is not so wrong
@@perun5984source: a Reddit post
@@BirdBrainHarus hey at least now we can say to black people to cut it out since we never considered them to look like orcs 😁
@@eastbow6053 lol what, you guys never called us orcs though, just monkeys/apes.
@@GoldenChildBH who is "you guys", my people have been slaves to the ottoman empire for 600 years and they called us worse than apes, only the last 50 years did we have any sort of connection with black people. Just because anglo saxons have the same skin color as us doesnt mean we are the same 🙄
Henceforth, I shall end all my correspondence with "Tremblingly obey, and show no negligence."
😂 Bra!!!!
bold words for a celestial empire within opium distance
Company emails hit different now
This would have been cold as fuck if they didnt get absolutely dogged on later in the opium wars 💀💀💀
@@balkanmontero "I set no value on objects strange or ingenious..." Yeah, those words would come back to haunt them.
First contact for Spaniards in the Aztec empire was with fishermen. As well, the Aztec held no illusion of what boats were, just having not seen such large ones before of such style.
Are there primary sources illustrating this
Source please
Yeah but I think in a general sense they get that they are ships. In fact they can probably guess that they are Warships. Its probably more that theres no language to describe it. Do you honestly think NOBODY had constructed a boat by that point on the coast? Do you know what kind of cities these people built?????...
Exactly. Though I could see them being seen like floating fortresses almost, given the “fortification” of military caravels at the time. Bit like how a pontoon truck is considered a truck rather than a boat.
@bastiat I don't know if you are American but you are right. Like most "intelligent" Americans we are really lazy and want someone to tell us the source rather than actually searching for it ourselves and when they don't have the source we just talk shit about that person and assume they are just lying.
Could you imagine what it must of been like during those first meetings of different cultures? Must of been like aliens arrived!
Must have*
I was thinking about that when Montezuma brought Cortez and his men a bunch of daughters. Imagine meeting a new kind of person for the very first time, and then fucking one of them. They must have been over the moon, like Kirk fucking alien women..
I imagine a mix of curiosity, fear, distrust, and disgust were pretty common.
Bro... you hit the nail on the head 💯% In three years you'll get to meet the "Aliens" as well 🛸👽
Nah. It's just like seeing a black guy wearing a hoodie.
Tenochtitlan must have been such a beautiful city! So sad every trace of it is gone and that the lake is completely dried up :(
It was a capital of murder and deserved to be razed to the ground.
Before anyone calls me racist, my ancestors were those monsters.
Well Mexico City is kinda there...
Stained with blood and death.
@Renzo Alarcón Yeah bro, and Cuzco was modeled after the Olympus.
it technacilly did not dissapear but has changed with history. the city you call Tenochtitlan is actually called Mexico City now
The letter of Emperor Qianlong is, of course, a great classic. Hilarious in more ways than one.
Homie said "fuck around and find out"
Paper tiger
@@kennyg1358 Now China's getting payback on the Anglos with fentanyl
@@thisisntsergio1352 and then he found out lol
@@thisisntsergio1352 Yup, and then his country got forced to buy Opium, lost territory to the Russians, and was forced to give GB Hong Kong, after getting completely curb stomped.
It's amazing how the Romans and the Huns viewed one another. They viewed each other as a different species, like Romulans and Kleons from Star Trek.
@squirtpussyassfart8518 I don't know if you're well intentioned or if you're trying to spread this myth maliciously, but races aren't different species. Different species are defined by the fact that they can't interbeed (and if they can, the offspring will be sterile or suffer some other type of incapacitation). Races aren't different species, and this is a myth that sounds like it was made to dehumanize others that don't look like you. We're all humans, lol
@@shronkler1994 i think the correct distinction would be sub species
*Klingons
@@subzerotwarde3842 yea that's more appropriate i think
Modern conception of races is too shallow and inaccurate to be analoged onto the term subspecies. I appreciate the point you're trying to make but if you look at races, the genetic diversity is incredibly large to the degree that they are often more closely genetically related to humans outside of their racial group than those in the same group. Black people are the poigntant example of this. Africa being such a natural barrier laden continent has prevented large scale contact between the Congo, Niger, Swahili Coast,Mediterranean and Horn of Africa. Genetic studies if people from all these areas who would largely be considered black have as much relation to one another as they do to Indo-Europeans. That's profound considering they likely had no contact with Neanderthals.
The Dutchman taken ashore was likely eaten. People forget (and AFAIK no longer taught in school) that the Maori were at constant war among themselves, took slaves and practiced cannibalism.
Read the Boyd massacre bro, grim.
many of the austronesian/pacific islander peoples practiced cannibalism
Our schools are trying to rewrite history and as the older of us gradually all die off, it is becomming easier. I have no doubt that what future generations will learn will be mostly fabrications.
Kinda like 100% of all tribals?
@@paulprice1705 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-M%C4%81ori_settlement_of_New_Zealand_theories
I love the account of Montezuma basically saying “I’m just a guy, don’t let them tell you crazy stuff about me”
A very human moment, such a shame things soured so quickly!
He seems to be very intelligent and well-spoken. The Aztecs apparently had a very rich tradition of philosophy and rhetoric but unfortunately it has been almost entirely lost
Yeahp the covered that stuff right up
In the name of Jesus 😑
@@EchoLog
You prefer unwilling human sacrifices in the thousands?
@@Adventeuan Say, ever heared of the spanish inquisition?
@@jennpunk4lif3
"How many died during the Spanish Inquisition? Again, this is hotly debated with estimates ranging from 30,000 to as many as 300,000. There are some, however, who believe that the horrors of the Inquisition have been exaggerated, and that just one per cent of the 125,000 people believed to have been tried were executed."
I am with those who believe in the numbers were greatly exaggerated, after all who has the time to genocide?
People keep saying "Medieval/Ancient times were o baaad" while infact they lived just as long as we do, statistics do not lie but they can be presented in a way to change people's opinions.
Oh, how I do love this channel. Nothing's quite so educational or enlightening as hearing _directly_ from those who lived in these fascinating times.
Absolutely. The only barrier is the translation because I don’t speak medieval spanish lmao, we place our trust in the transcriber
@@thenoblepoptart Is this person a pirate?
ALLWAAH'S description of the Stately, magnificent and majestic Ships
Plying the Oceans to the
Landlocked Desert Arabs :
{ وَلَهُ ٱلۡجَوَارِ ٱلۡمُنشَـَٔاتُ فِي ٱلۡبَحۡرِ كَٱلۡأَعۡلَٰمِ }
[Surah Ar-Rahmân: 24]
Yusuf Ali:
And His are the Ships sailing smoothly through the seas, lofty as mountains:
@@thenoblepoptart there is more to it. for instance, the accounts of hernan cortez were a letter to the king in which he explained away his mutany and murder of fellow spaniards. so, it was in his interest to twist the story quite heavily in his favour.
yes, first person sources are very valueable. but you always have to remember that people lie and always have lied
@Jürg Nobs exactly, so one needs to be very careful with cultures who only have oral histories.
I recently read Emperor Qianlong’s letter in full … and tbh the part where he’s usually laughed at (we have everything; we don’t need you; you need us) is not untrue if looked from his perspective. The part diverging the most from modern understanding is his description of the accepted diplomatic order in China: foreigners were permitted to live in Beijing provided that they adopted Chinese way of living and never returned to their homeland, and China couldn’t possible accommodate Britain’s request for sending diplomatic embassy that kept their customs and returned regularly to Britain, even more unthinkable should every state requests the same treatment. It of course goes against everything we know of the Westphalian system, but then again, makes sense from his perspective.
Also, he knows of the prowess of Britain as he instructed costal guards to strengthen coastal defense as Britain was “unlike the other Western barbarians” and we don’t know what they would do, not having their demands met … which was quite interesting.
the things i would give just to be able to see the look on the Kings face when he read that letter
And, to his point of view, they didn't think much of the Europeans. They weren't as eager for their trade goods as the other way around.
Funny fact....Qing Dynasty consider Britain as tributary state, because Britain brought gifts and bribes to Qing elites for favors.
The funny part is that he listed out all of Macartney's demands in the reply letter because he believed Macartney was misrepresenting what the British king actually wanted and he was trying to set the record straight in case Macartney came back with a different story, such was the bad impression that Macartney's embassy had made.
Do they know about Britain's prowess or its rapacity? England wasn't more advanced that any other European country at the time.
Marcellinus's telling of the Huns sounds like someone describing orcs.
Jr Tolkien actually based the orcs off of huns/Mongol hoard concept I'm pretty sure.
Alot of depictions of Orcs are based on a mixture of viking and mongols.
My favorite orcs, the elder scrolls type, are basically 99% Mongolian.
@@swampdonkey1567 mongolmer
Huns was demons in europeans eyes diffrent looking people who mastered in archery Huns bows was much more strong than european bows and a Hun arrow could easly pierce Roman shiels and armors also unlike europe Huns was nomadic so they was raiding instead of invading permenantly
@@swampdonkey1567 are TES orcs Mongolian though?
I can imagine what the people of both civilizations were thinking meeting each other for the first time, especially the children. It must've been a "well shit...what now?" Moment.
Qianlong's letter was hardly first contact between China and Europeans.
Source please
@@pinkbombshellcasing2672 I truly hope this is sarcasm. Ever heard of the Silk Road? Extensive trade routes between China and Europe that were in existence before the time Christ?
@@Michiganfan105 the silk road was a trade network, not first contact. although contact had certainly been made before 1793
Romans and (Han) Chinese had official embassies opened in each other's empires. Macedonians that reached India established a colony in what is now northern China. So ancient greeks had contact with Chinese as well.
@@joey199412 Rome had no knowledge of China, just rumors and vice versa.
First contact between the British and the tribe of my father's ancestors was notably friendly. It happened very late so they already had resistance against the diseases that Captain Vancouver and his crew carried. His ship coming down the river was seen and was fascinating.
Many fine furs were traded that day.
British propaganda
@@almightydiaz??
I think you mean Qianlongs Letter to George III not Charles III at 22:58
Bruh wrote a letter forward in time to today
@@moritamikamikara3879 oh shit bro predicted ww3 from the 1700s 💀
One thing is the video made Qianlong seem ignorant of the British and their empire which is very untrue. Qianlong is aware of the international situation especially of western European colonial empires and British mercantilism. He didn't think the British can offer him anything, and too much contact can be a destabilizing influence (don't want the Han Chinese to get too uppity against the Manchu ruling class).
Qianlong has got to have one of the biggest mic drops in history.
Lol, mic drop, stick to comedy!
these people are as enslaved as ever, the European global banks have controlled China, the moment Europeans set foot in there.
It was built up by the global bankers, all its cheap manufacturing industry are all deliberately coordinated by the bankers, in exchange for these perks, all kinds of horrible inhumane experimentations are carried out in that country.
Quinglong would have regretted having such a stubborn isolation attitude towards his own people and outsiders, look at them now, an international guinypig, population disbalance, the global banks carried all their operations there first as a testing ground.
Then the Opium wars happened... that letter sure didn't do China any Favours
@@DeamonMaim The opium wars happened during his son or grandson reign, he was lucky enough not to face such a cruel reality, and the Qing during his time was still the most powerful empire on earth despite starting to fall behind on many areas especially technology, at least until Napoleonic era.
In his letter, the Emperor seems to believe that Britain was nothing more than a small nation in remote part of Europe, which I guess is technically correct.
It is just weird he seems so oblivious about British presence and activities in Asia. I mean, by that time, British Empire was a growing colonial powerhouse with ever-expanding dominion in India and South East Asia (Malaya & Singapore), basically a potentially *dangerous* rising power, located right next door to China.
His ministers should have some knowledge about massive geopolitical shift in Asia, with these "barbarians" from Europe gradually subjugating and taking over more and more land in Siberia, India, and South East Asia.
@@weirdno.1uniqueno.173 Qing dynasty might view itself as the most powerful nation. After all Qing army easily stop/defeat several Russian expeditions in Mongolia. That is, maybe Qing court believe that those Russian/Cossacks expeditions were the full extent of European military power.
On the other hand the Qing court should have heard various stories from Chinese merchant communities about these European "barbarians" defeated massive allied fleet in Malacca, taking over parts of modern Malaysia and Indonesia, and winning several massive wars in India.
I mean maybe Qing believe they possesses the best army and navy in the world, but don't you think stories about how ~30 Portuguese ships crushed an armada of hundreds of ships, or a small British army of several thousands men defeated a 50,000 strong combined Indian army might warrant further investigation?
I just love your videos!
BTW, was an excerpt from the letters of Cortes already used before? I distinctively remember that part where Cortes is like: "If it ain't a church, it's a mosque". 😉
Seriously though, it's fascinating how we can see him applying his familiar frame of reference to describe unfamiliar things in the New Word.
Due to the reconquista being so rooted in spanish culture, a pagan temple back then was refered as mosque.
Samd with the therm "moor". While nos used only for magreb people, back then moor was used to every dark skined enemy, with aztecs being named moors in some ocasion aswell (in Bernal letters maybe, one of the main Cortes soldier and not as educated as him)
Say the same for europeans
Quite literally was like these ancient peoples had seen alien creatures. Many different ancient peoples had completely different statures, different facial structure, massive height differences, different hair texture/color, and in some cases completely different skull shapes/sizes. Some may not have even thought they were the same species.
just like we do today? 😂
The differences in skull measurements is completely false and when the “science” was conducted in them they took outliers of those populations to “prove” race is biological
You mean 'subspecies'...
It's a shame we aren't allowed by our rulers to speak accurately...
@@EeryCracker53 imagine you were 60 years old in an African tribe 2000 years ago.nowhere in your tribes history,except folklore about “gods,” had knowledge of a 6 foot 5 white man with white/golden hair or a 4 foot olive skinned person with jet black hair ever been. Seeing that for the first time would be extremely shocking to anybody.
@@chuegraff Yeah shit must’ve been crazy lol. The mystery and unknown stuff that these people experienced is so interesting looking back on it today
The Haida people are pretty interesting too. They would raid the coasts of northwestern North America, raiding and taking slaves from other tribes. When they eventually came to blows with Russian explorers their armor was too thick that the Russian muskets couldn't penetrate it.
Please do a documentary on Johannes Schiltberger also known as the german Marco Polo , a medieval person from Bavaria, Germany who got enslaved in 1380 and travelled all the way to Mongolia where he mentioned to have seen an Alma, a Big foot kind of creature
You make one..
But Marco Polo was from Italy, hows that not the west lol
@@maximipe sorry I looked it up again. He was called the german Marco Polo
@@spiritualbliss7855 Tbf wouldn't be surprised as some anglo authors don't consider the mediterranean countries
@@maximipe italy is mediterranean
He showed up demanding gifts in gold and daughters. What a wild time to be alive.
I too make this demand.
Dude had a plan
Back then when women were property of the father or husband.
Yeah.
@@masterson0713u too get dropped where u stand
@@aviancypress5181 does that mean you refuse my demand for daughters and gold?
Cortes main objective was to take Tenochtictlan as intact as possible, with Moctezuma acting as a vassal for Charles V, so he could rejoice on how beautifull the city was.
After la Noche Triste, (Alvarado in comand and not Cortez), and the brutal capital siege by both parts (warhammer tier brutal), Cortez broke to tears to see how all he had for his monarch was some gold and bricks.
Sadly, ambushes on the road to Tenochtictlan, most of em ordered by Moctezuma, made spaniards very paranoid by the time they reach the lake city, hence why they chose to hold Moctezuma hostage as a safe conduct, hence why Moctezuma, as safe conduct, lost its value since his nobles stopped respecting him as the aztec emperor told the spaniards.
The way to Tenochtictlan is what sealed its fate.
Source: the same "Cartas de Relacion" used in the video.
Explain what you mean by "warhammer tier brutal"
@@_--Reaper--_ Burn the heretic!!
@@_--Reaper--_ Warhammer 40k and fantasy are board games (and eventually PC games) of the military strategy kind. They have deep stories behind them which feature excessive violence of the highest order.
Cortez and his men already had strong allies by his side which were the tribe and kingdom enemies of the Aztec like the Tlaxcalteca. The Tlaxcalteca were the main ones helping the Spaniards. Not to mention small pox… small pox alone was responsible for killing off most of the citizens of Tenochtitlán
Those ambushes are still very disputed. There are tons of possible explanations about the Cholula massacre, and others incidents such as at Nauhtla were not ordered by the capital.
Aztecs fr went "nah that's fucking cap ain't no way, send him to the insane asylum" and then they saw the ships and were like "oh shit he was right"
a adore aztec history, and this account is so fantastic and mystical. I’ve only read retellings of this great encounter, never the full original accounts. it’s interesting how they would regard one another’s customs. how Cortez misinterpreted the gifts of Montezuma, and how he was meant to respond to them.
Sad we could've been great as an empire but this Republic is our downfall
It would be a great addition to hear about the impression had but all the fed up tribes that allied with the spaniards to topple the mexicas
@@kntrsh texcoco who allied with the spanish has accounts.
@@Gekumatz I spoiled the surprise
@@imperiumgrim4717 wth is going on with the us/rus/china bots spamming everywhere with out of place political coments
The description of the Huns is a typical example of why one has to work with multiple different sources.
Distinction between Chinese and Barbarian is most strict 26:40 Looks like the ethnic Manchu rulers assimilated too well
是的🙂
It's possible they used a different term than "Chinese", people in the West don't realise that what you call "China" they call themselves the "Central state", which together with the tone of the letter says it all...
@@rob6927 China =华huá
Well yeah. In those times back then, nationalism didn't exist and "China" was less seen as a nationality and more as a concept of hegemony and civilization. Whoever controlled China were the civilized ones, even if those people used to be so-called barbarians. Fun fact: Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, used to be called Dihua which meant "enlighten and civilize" because it was intended as a Centre of Chinese culture in the far western region. The Manchu Qing dynasty named it that. The communists changed its name to Urumqi which was the name of the small Mongolian village near where it was founded because they thought "Dihua" was too imperialist.
@@bobjones2959 Come on man, that is HAIR SPLITTING. It is still pretty much a nation-state.
"We Spaniards are somewhat touchy and importunate."
Some things are eternal.
I personally have the opposite impression of the Spanish being relaxed and living one day at a time.
Yep, “Aztecs: welcome, here is food, water, daughters….Spanish: put these shackles on, and we’re burning people at the steak”
@@vinny9868 Italians & Spaniards basically act the same. Its Latin nature to be impatient & persistent one minute then relaxed and chill the next 😂
@@derekjackson1039 Fake, literally we made the proto-human rights, "Leyes de Indias" and the inquisition had no power over and couldn't judge any local there.
@@derekjackson1039 burgos laws stopped spanish from abusing natives but not all cases were easy to track also the spanish empire vacinated all the territories of the empire with the balmis expedition stopping the viruela from killing natives and never did any grnocide 90% of Hispanoamerica also spanish were not a lot sonthey used diplomacy to ally with pro hispanoc tribes and defeated the aztecs there were more tribes apart from the aztecs the natives were the ones that did the conquest of america spain only told them what to do and convinced them to joing
How did Cortes have such a detailed conversation with Montezuma? Surely the language barrier must of been huge. I'm assuming some parts are made up or embellished by Cortes, but still I don't understand how they communicated.
They knew there would be a language barrier so they brought in a translator. The Spanish had all ready been in contact with natives, and natives were all ready in contact with one another. At times, they needed 2 translators who had a single mutually comprehensible native language.
@@f0llinge This isn't wrong, but it also leaves out some truly wild details of the two specific people. Cortes negotiated for the release of a missionary named Gerónimo de Aguilar who had been shipwrecked earlier on the mainland. Aguilar learned Mayan through nearly a decade living with them (the other surviving Spaniard shipwrecked with Aguilar, Gonzalo Guerrero, assimilated into the Mayan culture and became a prominent warlord in the resistance against the Spanish). Cortes's party also came into conflict with a different group of Mayans that didn't have much in the way of fancy goods to give to the Spanish to make them go away - so they gave a bunch of young women. Among them was Marina, 'La Malinche', and after Cortes realized she could translate from Aguilar's Mayan to Montezuma's emissaries' Nahuatl (they had intentionally sought Cortes out), Cortes elevated her from slave/prostitute to an advisory role(slash prostitute - that still happened). There's ambiguity about the how's and why's of her support of Cortes's campaign, but support it she did and Cortes's time in Montezuma's court, and Montezuma's time as Cortes's prisoner, would not have happened the same way without her.
They had a Mexican translator who had learned Castellano. They had already Been in Mexico and made Allies with several nations tribes
You can bet you're soul he did.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Malinche
Much love and appreciation for Voices of the Past for working so hard to provide the world with such unique and informative historical material. Watching videos like this makes me realize what a shitty education I had.
On the contrary, I'm finding that these letters being presented void of context renders them near meaningless. Additionally, who is doing the translation? What are their aims? History is a pastiche and these are but loose floating scraps of the puzzle
@@ShaqPlaque there’s definitely a dishonest Western European narrative at play. Lol
@@SturdyRoots007 😢 I’m oppressed by western society
@@SturdyRoots007 you wish. the west looks like the good guys because they were. the people they met were cannibals
Also the Sentinelese straight up got tribe members stolen and returned dead and everyone's like "WhY dOn'T tHeY lIkE vIsItOrS?!"
I absolutely love your channel, I’m glad you released content often❤️ love from Norway 🇳🇴
Qianlong's diss on Charles was fire
Lol
*gets addicted to opium*
He dissed himself into the century of humiliation.
@@leviticuscornwall9631 China gets revenge now with fentanyl
It was actually George III
An interesting detail about China is that they called all raiders Huns, they used this name to refer to raiders from the steppe as well as Gothic raiders. The people we call the Huns nowadays are called this because they embraced the name of Hun.
@@YizhouRong the Chinese called the Turks Tujue not Turks. All those are names the Chinese didn’t use to refer to them.
What kind of Gothic raiders would have ever encountered China?
@@samuelrodriguez9801 today you learn that maybe pronunciations of words changed during China's millenia of history and that ancient Chinese were not ignorant of the differences between the nomadic peoples and actively engaged in diplomacy or even espionage to maintain balances of power and contain rising threats in the steppes.
@@samuelrodriguez9801 Then the Chinese also did not call the Huns "Huns", they called them 匈奴, Xiongnu in Mandarin, or most likely another pronuciation at the time. The Huns, according to Chinese sources, *called themselves* 胡 or Hu (familiar? like "Hun", maybe?). The Chinese only adopted 胡 as the general cognomen to refer to their western nomadic neighbors, while being aware of the difference between them.
Not true
Just imagine how much these historical stories were really twisted if we had a time machine and became undercover witnesses in these events
" I set no value on objects strange or ingenious and I have no use for your country's manufactures".
This was a truly bad idea. Although, not that surprising, since China invented gunpowder, mechanical clocks, magnetic compass and (rudimenatry) printing press and yet, never developed them to the incredible degree that the Europeans did.
Innovate or stagnate.
You never know until it's too late...Especially when you've had so much success unchecked for so long.
That was historically the Asian mindset to traders from the west since the Portuguese started traveling down Africa
@@CatnamedMittens No, the Portuguese pirates did this only for slavery and gold
@@عليياسر-ذ5ب false. Calcutta was done for trading rights
@@CatnamedMittens No, the Portuguese were just pirates or demons. They burned any city that helped them
I would have added Portuguese Explorer, Ferdinad Magellan's stellar experience on April 27, 1521 in Cebu meeting with Datu Lapu Lapu and a poison arrow on the island of Mactan. Fun fact: His body was never recovered and his skull was rumored to be displayed in Lapu Lapu's dining room on a wall. 😅
Very cool bro, that you included the Tangata Whenua. If you have time you should look into the land wars of New Zealand from 1830 to 1860. Maori were also involved in the biggest case of cannibalism in European records. The Boyd massacre in 1809.
1830s ? More like the 1800s onwards to escalation in 1820 the start of the Nga Puhi raids
Then the Europeans should've stuck to their own lands, and followed treaties to the word.
@@jasonhaven7170 had nothing to do with the Europeans other than the sale of firearms and land grabbing missionaries. This was tribe v tribe civil wars all over the place.
@Jason Haven
Many maori didn't even sign it.
Technically, they're not under the protection of the law.
But enjoy all the benefits as if they were, and none of the responsibilities.
@@mjanny6330 protection of law? Lol the only protection Maori need is from the actual pakeha.
Those "small blunt pikes" are called a taiaha and the pointed on one end and flat and blank on the other end and the small clubs are called Patu's wich are made of green stone, wood, bone or a mixture. The Maori are very skilled with there weapons and in hand to hand combat
These days all they're skilled in is crying racism when their unemployment benefits arent raised, and drinking petrol
@@j4y167 hahaha not all. Seems like you've met some shitty ones. I'm actually doing very well. If you lived in NZ you would know and understand why they struggle over there. Jobs literally only pay enough for rent and 12hr days mon to fri and rent on average is $600+.
@@brutifullroast2548 I live in Australia and kiwis constantly talk shit about us and say NZ is better. If what you say is true, NZ is a solid ten times worse
@@j4y167 it is and it isn't. Australia is boring can't do anything without money and NZ is alot more scenic and nicer, complete opposite to Auz also alot more to do
@@j4y167As a kiwi, there's good and bad in both. I think the cost of living is better for you guys, right? But if you're indigenous, you'd probably prefer here
The Gigachad Qianlong Emperor vs the virgin martyr Montezuma
From history we now know what our first contact with aliens is going to be like
Not good.The military should not be allowed to be involved!
Mystery was a greater part of life back then. Legends of strange people in far off lands were standard. The exhilarating curiosity of encountering new peoples, made some easier to exploit.
Lol dude went off on the Huns
HUNS are the ANCESTOR of TATARS 💪
@@islammehmeov2334 both ugly sub humans then
@@snoogles7903 better than GEY HOMOSEXUAL westerners
@@islammehmeov2334 They became extinct, Timur killed them
@@عليياسر-ذ5ب TIMUR HIMSELF IS TATAR
It's sad. Even IF violence was never acted on and any of them would have had every intention of coexistence, disease would inevitably take its blood tax. Death is absolutely unavoidable.
Europeans are known to be savages unlike the Romans, Greeks and Canaanites
Sadly…the EUROPEANS…were unavoidable. 😑
@@adrianchambers4417 But the Greeks and Romans were very kind compared to the Europeans
@@adrianchambers4417 Loser cope
actually Cortez was kinda prophetic. But also from a biological and genetical perspective, smallpox was inevitable. Viruses are the only horizontal transport agents of genes, they exist since the beginning of life. If 80% to 90% of the native decline was due to epidemics we have to see it as evolution doing its bloody job leaving those good genes perpetuating. This happens all the time between large groups of individuals.
The first time that the Spaniards witnessed the mass human sacrifice of the Aztecs, must have been as worthy of retelling here as any other stories.
Spaniards were afraid of the aztecs because they culture and religion reminded them of islam at first glance, back then if you can believe it islam was even more brutal than today nightmare fueling even. Unfortunate for the aztecs that Spaniards landed at that specific point in time, you can also blame islam because if it wasnt for them blocking ships raiding and enslaving europe population whenever they could europeans would have never venture to the west and would have never found america till 200 years later the least
No proof of mass graves have ever been found
@@Tepaneca well that is scary because that means they were eating the bodies
@@eastbow6053i doubt they ate humans as a major food source. Most cannibal acts took place as ritual.
@@Tepaneca The Aztecs were just as bloodthirsty and evil an empire as many Europeans. For this reason, the majority who helped to destroy it were indigenous people from other subjugated tribes.
The world seems so connected with modern technologies. These people could only imagine a forest, a desert, a jungle ect, and the cultures there in, from the limited knowledge brought back by explores and merchants.
Awesome video, thank you. 🙏🏻
It’s very interesting how first contact is relayed from these encounters.
Barbarians do not change the Romans have a future view
Keep in mind that in 1793, China was by far the world's largest economy, matched only by Greater India.
Slave/serfdom labour really paid off.
@@lollllolll. yeah lowers unemployment
And they were in power without enslaving Africans unlike the rest
Didn’t last long after 1793, China was way too late to the industrialization party and couldn’t keep up with the times.
@@kennth6594 Africans enslaved Africans
Ain’t no way this man went yo montezuma’s house, did it with his daughter, ate good, slept good, and tried to kill him 😂😂 yo who are these people!!
1793 China: We welcome you, unwashed barbarians. We do not need your tech or anything, but you can buy our tea and silk. If you behave, that is...
1842 Royal Navy: deploy the gunboat diplomacy.
Royal navy: Did I hear an opinion?
*Proceeds to decimate outdated Chinese fleet*
@@azorahai7837British government: we welcome you, Somalians, Afghans, Pakistanis, Muslims
There is no punchline
Chinese emperors reaction to ENG as opposed to the Aztecs reaction to ESP
The was some from the Zulu's it wasn't first contact but it shows how things can be misunderstood after winning a battle they were nice enough to help the British dead to clarify they stripped and stabbed the corpses so the spirits could escape.
@@masterson0713 You might be taking the mick but I'm going to assume you're being serious just in case. They where they have some nasty cultural practices but this was on the grand scale at the same time we brits were selling opium to china if I remember correctly to get tea. Us brits started the war on false premise to get cattle. But they were genuinely just trying to help out their enemies dead. If we buried their dead they'd think those barbaric scum there trapping the souls of the dead in the ground.
edit
The zulus civility to the enemy dead was misinterpreted at the time.
@@cardboardbox191 I understand everything you said but I don't care. I care about what benefits my culture and when my culture is the only culture left we'll all be the better for it.
@@masterson0713 Then why did you feel the need to single out the Zulu's as savages? and what culture are you referring to anyway?
@@cardboardbox191 uh bc we just watched a video about Zulus? American constitutionalist.
@@masterson0713 ok buddy
Qianlong's letter to King George III was an absolute drive-by.
As for the Tasman account, they must of shown up in the middle of war. Māori have a long history of waging wars. In war time, trade was really the last thing on their minds. Typically everyone knew who was at war. So seeing an outsider dressed funny in a large boat would have really been the last thing they would have expect from an “enemy”.
demons
must have*
It was more that Iwi were fighting each other at the time, most likely because of a betrayal, or insult. We do not change our stance when doing something.
It is part of our culture to keep doing the task until it is finished. Even when making war.
In this, Maori are no different from the Tartars.
Wow, great footage…the art, the narrative. Excellent content. Thank you.
so interesting to hear accounts of Dutch explorers around australia and Tasmania
"Explorers" of eerder plunderende kolonisten?
Thanks!
Fun fact: calling out the Manchus as barbarians would lead to capital punishment for Chinese until British Hongkong existed.
Fun fact: revisionist history is a thing now.
Imagining first contact with interstellar aliens, I think, as a species, we have a better rapport with dogs, chimps and dolphins than any potential extraterrestrial civilization. How far will that get us?
theory is that because universe is growing faster than light travel we will never reach anyone ever and they will never reach us
The only aliens in this universe are humans, demons, jinns, and the Seventh Lands only
The observable universe is too vast for it to only contain us.
@@lucaswallace7476 And, sadly the observable universe is too vast for any meaningful contact or encounter with any civilizations at the same level of development as ours. We could be a billion years too early or a billion years too late. We may find microbes all over and at the same time, be totally oblivious the billion year old civilization that might take fleeting notice of us who are like microbes to them. Not worth slowing down to take a sample as they fly past in their inter-dimensional craft.
Any personal encounter with aliens beyond playing Peek-a-Boo and Patty Cake would be monumental.
Did anyone think that there was a bug crawling on their screen at 7:34?
Qianlong's letter is fabulous. An early example of a mic drop.
You absolutely deserve millions of subscribers. This is fantastic
I agree with my 8 month ago self!
Qianlong: You guailos aren't shit,
Britain: Welp... Might use the _other_ diplomacy then
My People (Maori) thought the British were Lizard people because they row boats backwards, our people thought they must have eyes in the backs of their heads to row backwards and called them goblins haha
lmfao
El goblino 👀👀👀👀
Smartest Maori around
@@BlackSlimShady late 1700s lol
The Emperor's rebuke of England is refreshing.
How sad for Montezuma, he showed them every courtesy as a most gracious host but the spaniards still killed him anyway.
To be fair, Moctezuma thought Cortez was a god. I think that is the only reason they were so nice.
@@marcocortes9968 Hmmm...That may be a fair assessment but even if its true that doesnt put a silver lining on the actions of Cortez. Moctezuma showed every courtesy possible and that should have been reciprocated. Of course im saying this 400 years down the line so my understanding of the world they lived in cant be held to our current societal structure if im being completely honest here
@@Cereal_Killer007 of course, I agree that it seemed like that would be the right thing to do. I do think eveb in that time, that was the socially right thing to do. He was supposedly catholic, and that is a value that is taught. But he came with his own intentions. In the end it looked like he only returned the favour with hurt.
Though, all in all I think it was good they were conquered. As a mexican, the story of the aztec and spanisv is told as the backstabbed people. But when you look closer, seeing how the aztec treated their own and those that lived on the nearby regions, I think they were even crueler than the spanish.
@@marcocortes9968 Crueler than the spanish? That would be tough to do...lol
@@Cereal_Killer007 I guess it just depends on what people consider crueler. From my point of view, having your arms tied as you get your heart ripped out (and still beating) through your abdomen to be later eaten in a dish called “pozole”. Or perhaps having your entire skin ripped to look as a carpet Is worse than what the spanish did with prisoners.
I once read about nomadic tribes putting their meat between their horses back and the saddle, so that horses body heat and the salt on their sweat heats the meat all day until it becomes edible.
Some important context for the Qianlong Emperor's letter:
- He refers to the Europeans as "barbarians". Sounds harsh to us especially the way the narrator puts inflection on it. But this is the same as Romans calling Gauls barbarians - before our modern globalized world, everyone referred to mysterious foreigners as barbarians. Heck, this is no different than the Japanese term for foreigners: Nanban, or "Southern Barbarians" (because they first made contact from the Philippines), but you don't see people widely accusing the Japanese of being elitist or racist. It is ironic this is coming from the Qing Dynasty emperor, who is Manchu, not Han Chinese, so technically, his people were the "barbarians" before they assimilated after conquering China - for example, Korean and Japanese pamphlets from the 17th century claim that China had fallen to barbarian rule (Manchu rule), and that they are now the inheritors of a shared East Asian tradition. Xenophobia and racism were normalized in all societies at that time, and so to accuse the Chinese world-view specifically as many are doing in the comments is neglecting this piece of context. Let's be happy we now live in a world where we accept that racism and xenophobia are bad.
- A big sticking point here is freedom to trade. People need to understand that the Chinese empire has operated on a vassal trading system for centuries - that is, they only trade with vassals of the empire. For example, Korea was an autonomous vassal under China for many years (hence why there is no official Korean "emperor", only "king" until very modern history), and while Japan had an emperor, diplomatically speaking the emperor was not recognized by the Chinese while it was still an empire, and rather the shogun was often enfeoffed as "King of Japan". Why were Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and other civilizations okay with this? Because it was really just a formality: they were still autonomous and often their rulers were called "emperors" by their own people anyways, and this small slight allowed them to trade peacefully with the Chinese empire, which is much more valuable. So, Britain requesting special permissions of free trade would break centuries of tradition, which at this moment Qianlong has no reason to do so. Plus, Qianlong is right is saying if he gives special permissions to Britain, doesn't he have to do the same for all European nations? That would be a complete breakdown of the imperial system, which again, Qianlong has no reason to believe should happen at the moment.
- I agree Qianlong should not have been so dismissive and rude about European manufactured products. But commerce is made up of the agreement of two parties: if one party isn't willing to buy, you can't force them to do so.
- "How can our dynasty alter its whole procedure and system of etiquette established for more than a century to meet your individual views?": a truth of diplomacy for all time, albeit expressed arrogantly. You can't just march in and expect people to change for you. They don't know you, and you have to first work within the confines of their etiquette and social system to build solid relations, and then take it from there.
- Why is everyone saying he tells King George III to "eat shit"? He literally doesn't say that...
I hope that people who are offended by the tone and content of Qianlong's letter can understand some of the context before passing judgment on the Chinese world view.
Shogun was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Not the king.
@@23Lgirl I know - reread my comment. What I said is that the Chinese emperor would invest the shogun as the “King of Japan”, and have Japan as a nominal vassal of the Chinese empire. This is because it would have been unacceptable to have two emperors - one Chinese and one Japanese - as the emperor was viewed as the ruler of all under Heaven, which there obviously can’t be two of. So, in order to get trading privileges, this was the nature of the relationship between the Chinese Empire and Japan. Obviously, this is just for show - shogun is a military leader as you said, while Japan does have its own emperor. But it is an example of the imperial system that Qianlong is working in, and as he points out, he shouldn’t need to change the system just to satisfy Britain’s desire for special trading privileges.
@@23Lgirl If you’re interested in a famous example of this, look up when the Ming Wanli emperor decided to invest Toyotomi Hideyoshi as the King of Japan, much to Korea’s chagrin at the end of the first Imjin War. I know Toyotomi wasn’t technically shogun but as the de facto military conqueror of Japan, the purpose is the same: to normalize relations between China and Japan and to reopen trade. (And we know this obviously didn’t end well because the Second Imjin War would soon break out)
Still think he was an idiot. He looks at European goods and machinery and weapons and ironclad ships, vastly superior to the Chinese ones, and goes, 'Oh I won't trade my leaves and plates for this shit.'
It's like some extraterrestrial aliens offering us antimatter bombs and space ships that can survive a nuke and travel across the solar system in mere days and we don't want to trade some coffee machines and smartphones for them. We don't just say we don't want to trade though, we insult them and their goods in the process.
@@josephrobinson6171 But were Europeans offering machinery, weapons, and ironclads in the trade deal? No, of course not - why would they be arming a potential rival? As for manufactured goods, that's down to a matter of taste: for example the Chinese commonly wore silk in the spring, fall, and summer, and heavier wool outfits in the winter. Perhaps European textiles and other wares were just not that attractive.
But that ignores the main issue here: special trading privileges. To do so for England would break tradition, which we can agree in hindsight isn't too big a deal, but more importantly practically-speaking, every nation in Europe would expect similar privileges. I think we can agree that this outcome is something Qianlong wants to avoid in the short term. I doesn't end up working out for the Qing in this regard but putting yourself in Qianlong's shoes, would you do things differently (other than in wording of the letter)?
Let me be clear that it's cool too that you disagree :) I didnt like his tone personally myself, and would be offended if I received such a letter. The goal of my comment wasn't to change anyone's mind about Qianlong, but rather inform viewers before they start start projecting and spewing anti-Chinese sentiment like some other commenters have unfortunately chosen to do.
Thanks Byf!
It's super interesting hearing these primary sources of events that will never happen again. It's kinda sad in a odd way that the planet is so well known and traveled.
Alien meetings
yeah i agree, honestly
yeah and probably meeting with aliens will also be too late 😢
"Tumeke Bru"
-Maori warriors after discussing how their going to eat Abel Tasman.
I really enjoyed your video. Elegant and well-constructed. A pleasure to watch. Thank you.
Finally! Happy New Year Voices of the Past!
What makes it Happy?
So confused about the Montazuma* one.... are you telling me a handful of Spaniards were put up by the local king and then they arrested the king and took him prisoner? And this giant city of people were just ok with this????
The king seemed cool with it at the time.
It was essentially manipulation, the boiling frog method. Sweet words and lies to keep the emperor calm. Need an excuse to do some violence? Oh well you see, down the road there we were attacked "unprovoked", so now we have to investigate, it's only fair...
Surely since you're a benevolent king this isn't what your people are like, you've been such a good host so far. To keep goodwill with us, your guests, you'd better investigate this criminal matter. I thought so well of you after all, you're such a nice guy that you'd never neglect this...
It was all about playing on Montezuma's sympathies and honor to see how much they could get away with without bloodshed. But inevitably they went from taking inches to taking miles. Conquering nation meets peaceful nation. Them's the breaks.
The letter of Vasco da Gama to the King of Portugal after contact with one of the brazilian indigeneous people, the Tupis, is amazing
Old Europeans about asians: Ugly.
Modern europeans: My waifu, I love anime. Look at me I look like Samurai.
Old Asians about Europeans: Ugly
Modern Asians: I need to work more to color my unnatural blonde hair and make plastic surgery to change my eye shape. also need to buy new european clothes to look like schoolgirl.
Old Europeans about native americans: Ugly
Modern Europeans: I eat taco and have mustaches and sombrero, I am latino. My Totem is Tequila man.
Old native Americans about Europeans: ugly
Modern Native Americans: Okay, Guys we all speak english and few even speaks spanish, without knowing native language so stop this topic. we all ugly.
5:42 - the Maori were actually asking 'Have you guys got any moas, we seem to have made them extinct over here?'
The answer would have been "ask the chinese, that's where ours come from."
The Qianlong letter is something - I've heard about the diplomatic blunder that preceded it, but to end a letter from one sovereign to another ending with the sentiment of "Don't say I didn't warn you, tremblingly obey" is the single dumbest diplomatic move I've ever heard, I feel like not even Rome would have done that. I get that the Chinese Empire regarded itself as unique (similar to Rome, actually) but that was absurd. As much as I think the opium wars were about the worst thing the British Empire ever did, I don't have any sympathy for this particular son of heaven.
Pablo Escobar: Britain, please, I want drugs and trafficking
Qianlong in particular isn't really deserving of sympathy given he used genocide as a state policy against rebelling "barbarians".
God damn, Qianlong had no chill
These accounts are absolutely fascinating. I’ve read a few books about montezuma and the empire he ruled. His predecessors prophesied that his day would be the time that foreigners would arrive and the aztec empire would fall. How did they know this I wonder? Did they know what the future would hold for their people after the Aztecs fell? I need to figure this out.
The "prophecies" about foreigners arriving etc. were written years later, and seem suspiciously contrived to suit the cause of the Spaniards who, by then, had conquered much of what is now Mexico.
No, this is just a legend about a god who comes from the sea and destroys civilization
It was a guess.
A mere coincidence.
I think we all have this innate fear, especially when we are doing great and happy we feel doom is right around the corner. We do this to this day with that doomsday clock thing and doomsday preppers.
Amigo mio, Was Astrology. Everything was dictate by the cosmos. They were more advance in this matter than the europeans. But all civilizations used Astrology anyway, I used for agriculture purposes.
Emperor Qianlong: "Trembling Obey, and show no negligence" *Drops Royal Mic*
Queen Victoria: "Allow me, my lords, to respond in place of my grandfather..."
China: Insults King George and the English people by calling them barbarians. King George lll: Lmao * hooks entire country on opium *
now europe and america are hooked on worse drugs made with chinese ingredients
When you don't read history and twist everything
China now: *hooks entire youth of western society on tik tok *
@@astronaut8917 they didn't hook the entire youth. Just because it's a problem in the West doesn't mean it's a problem in Asia or Africa. In fact tick tock isn't that popular in Sri Lanka
@@perlarosa886 i mean, they did specify western so...
I love the colorful language each culture used to describe these first encounters. Historical poetry, almost
I like how most of them describe each other as essentially being ugly
The Chinese one needs a bit of context.
The British delegation, because they were kinda dumb, thought to show off by sending what they would consider interesting gifts. Which were basically toys and gimmicks with no practical use.
Had they sent more practical goods, then perhaps they wouldn't have received such a snarky response.
The Chinese aren't blameless either, though. This was only about 10 years or so before the ENTIRE CHINESE NAVY would get pantsed by a group of pirates. Which they learned absolutely nothing from since the British would go on to do pretty much the exact same thing with the exact same result.
By contrast when the U.S. tried something similar with Japan, Japan broke into a civil war not over whether or not to modernize, but in just HOW they should modernize (FYI The Last Samurai is about as indicative of Meiji Era politics as an elementary school's thanksgiving play is about the first thanksgiving)
Japan went on to become a major power until WWII. China, meanwhile, is *still* technically bickering with itself since Taiwan is a thing.
Chinese history has been described with many poetic examples of dividing and uniting...but really it's just a long chain of people not learning from the past. They were at one point screwed over by a pointlessly complex and nepotistic bureaucracy.
Now the entire country is run by a pointlessly complex and nepotistic bureaucracy.
The Qing do learns about their lost against the western power that they start a Self Strengthening Movement campaign which doesnt run very smoothly as there were a lot of troubles in the goverment where they have economic problems, conservative faction protest, corruption within the goverment etc.
yeah i see alot of parallels in the government and bureaucracy of the CCP with instead of the title of emperor they just changed it to chairman. the main difference now is back then Chinese goods were of the highest quality and importance to global trade an wealth which were incredibly small in number but worth a fortune in Europe. Now its in reverse with Chinese goods being cheap and plentiful and low quality and its the European luxury brands and designer goods that are in huge demand in China. i wonder if things will reverse again in the future who knows
Reducing all the progress China has made into a “bickering with Taiwan” and claiming its governed by a “nepotistic bureaucracy” is holy insulting as it is insufferably ignorant
@@Squared_Table Which shows nothing has changed since that letter.
Poor old Montezuma, he seemed like a nice chap who didn't want any trouble.
Not at all true
He just wanted to save his murderous ass lol
Yeah , Montezuma was happy with just taking the hearts of tens of thousands of human sacrifices , he didn't want trouble.
@@alfredosenalle9284 I mean, the Pope of that time wasn't that good either.
@@zachdaniels5626 LOL....he gave the orders to attack and conquer smaller , vulnerable tribes to get slaves , human sacrifice victims , concubines , etc.
Excellent episode, thank you for making and sharing it with the world👍
Is the treatment of Montezuma is the most embarrassing thing in all of history? Probably
You forgot the tribbles on Space Station K-7. Now THAT is a disastrous first contact.
I always chuckle when I remember that for centuries, China felt no need for much contact with the outside world. From their perspective, they had everything.
I bet George III "trembling" loved that after losing America. He must have thrown it on the table and said "just trade out of Canton for gods sake"
Fantastic stuff.
The Emperor was right though, who needs all this twaddle that's being manufactured.
LOL😂
Ah, I love first contact stories. Now this is a gem of an idea for a video. Well done.
This is what I imagine would happen to humanity if we ever tried to establish contact with a technologically superior race like extraterrestrials, we would be extorted of our resources and labors as these people were
Already happend
This is one of the best TH-cam videos I have ever seen. 👏🏼
Would've liked to see ibn battuta journey on this channel
He's travels were legit amazing and just as brutal as much of these stories.
I think he does have a video on him.
@@huwhitecavebeast1972
yes he wa vlogger
If you live off the land on a horse killing when you want or need WHY do you need gold and riches, you cant eat it drink it. A glass of water is more valuable than a bag of gold.
Cortes is a pretty bad guest… I'm happy that not a single one of the Spaniards who've been to my house have tried to imprison me!