How did European Explorers Speak to Newly-discovered Natives? (Short Animated Documentary)

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ธ.ค. 2024

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  • @Swat_Dennis
    @Swat_Dennis 3 ปีที่แล้ว +27338

    The Chinese actually started talking Latin to the British in the 1700's because they thought that was the language still being used. Soooo, that's an interesting fact for you all

    • @tefky7964
      @tefky7964 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2269

      Do you know how did they still know Latin? Did they have few translators able to speak Latin for centuries,always teaching new generation,to always have atleast some just in case?

    • @austinneece7853
      @austinneece7853 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3355

      as far as I am aware, the only reason they spoke to each other in Latin was because McCartney brought four Chinese Catholic priests as interpreters. who knew Latin and Chinese, but not English.

    • @mbern4530
      @mbern4530 3 ปีที่แล้ว +243

      @Hernando Malinche Wouldn't he be taken to the King of Portugal since they were the ones trading in Japan? Or was this during the 2 kingdoms, 1 crown period?

    • @Shuker8964
      @Shuker8964 3 ปีที่แล้ว +457

      Chinese: Salve et grata ad te
      The brits: veni vidi vici

    • @hu3ll0
      @hu3ll0 3 ปีที่แล้ว +139

      @@tefky7964 Mostly Christian missionaries, either Nestorians or Catholics. The Nestorians got there first in the 7th century, but eventually lost favour of the Chinese courts, especially after Catholics arrived in the 10th century, but didn't make a big dent until the 13th century.

  • @tomerpilo5193
    @tomerpilo5193 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10078

    Fun fact: when Hernan Cortez traveled to Tenochtitlan he brought with him 2 translators. A Mayan woman who could translate Nahuatl (language of the Aztecs) to Mayan and a Spanish sailor that got shipwrecked in the Yucatan peninsula and could translate Spanish to Mayan. So it was essentially a game of telephone.

    • @mappingshaman5280
      @mappingshaman5280 3 ปีที่แล้ว +682

      Also the mayan woman became his concubine

    • @ericktellez7632
      @ericktellez7632 3 ปีที่แล้ว +400

      Not so fun when you learn that woman wasnt a woman but a child that was given to Cortez as price when he was in Yucatan and she would get raped by Cortez multiple times, he would marry her when she got pregnant and had his son who would became one of the first mestizos in the new world.

    • @jacklaurentius6130
      @jacklaurentius6130 3 ปีที่แล้ว +349

      @@ericktellez7632 historical revisionism

    • @daemonzap1481
      @daemonzap1481 3 ปีที่แล้ว +234

      @@ericktellez7632 Its crazy how the sins of our modern day will eventualy be a tiny blip in history and be forggotten by our descendants and revisioned accordingly.

    • @AnimatedStoriesWorldwide
      @AnimatedStoriesWorldwide 3 ปีที่แล้ว +221

      @@daemonzap1481 If you this history forgives, you haven't read a lot of history.... Things that are perfectly normal today will be seen as monstrosity and perversion by the future generations who'll barely understand how we live day to day.
      "What.....they bought cheap tables built by workers paid less in poorer countries....? How could they sleep at night....?". We'll never run out of uneducated and judgmental people.

  • @erzar.1730
    @erzar.1730 3 ปีที่แล้ว +21352

    Ah yes, the basics of communication : food shelter Jesus gold and boats.

    • @me-sm8fd
      @me-sm8fd 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1019

      Finds new land , “ WANT SOME JESUS GET YOURS NOW TODAY , you will be murdered if you don’t get some

    • @TimoRutanen
      @TimoRutanen 3 ปีที่แล้ว +472

      @@me-sm8fd And give us your gold

    • @MasterMalrubius
      @MasterMalrubius 3 ปีที่แล้ว +326

      @@me-sm8fd Yeah not like anyone cut out hearts to sacrifice to their god.

    • @madisonbrown8851
      @madisonbrown8851 3 ปีที่แล้ว +162

      @@MasterMalrubius found the christian

    • @me-sm8fd
      @me-sm8fd 3 ปีที่แล้ว +79

      @@MasterMalrubius to me the most amazing part of that in history was that sometimes they would cook it , I know that’s quite violent but I’m just saying

  • @arnaudj.5314
    @arnaudj.5314 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1563

    This is exactly the question that has been in my mind for 10 years that none of my History class teachers could precisely answer

    • @Hand-in-Shot_Productions
      @Hand-in-Shot_Productions ปีที่แล้ว +32

      Well, then, this video was as interesting for you as it was for me... and I found it very interesting!

    • @ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958
      @ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +15

      I learned Russian without a vocabulary list. In certain situations, certain things are said. I could initially parrot the sounds when the right situation arose without knowing exactly what it meant but had a general idea from context. A lot of these add up and eventually you start to think in the new language. It wasn't like taking a class where you memorise lists of words. Only after learning to think in Russian was I able to start learning the skill of translating.

    • @jfields3036
      @jfields3036 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Same here.

    • @pele914
      @pele914 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Bc the truth hurts...they would dock offshore, fire the cannons all night long(origins of fireworks display n also roots of shock n awe) and then take an away boat next morning armed to the teeth....THAT was how they communicated...violence, murder, rape was a big factor, n just overall intimidation...bc think...this is not a merchant expedition it was always military and they were operating as a small team "taking on" an entire nation

    • @YourSideHoe
      @YourSideHoe 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Lol me too

  • @connorgolden4
    @connorgolden4 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9718

    History Matters always answers the questions we didn’t ask but needed to know.

    • @frorproductions5571
      @frorproductions5571 3 ปีที่แล้ว +349

      Actually I asked myself this question a few times before this video

    • @Saqux
      @Saqux 3 ปีที่แล้ว +145

      he is good at making videos about things we have at some point thought about but were too lazy to google

    • @Cigmacica
      @Cigmacica 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Fror Productions me too

    • @garlkurzer
      @garlkurzer 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      I asked

    • @flyingtomatosauce3528
      @flyingtomatosauce3528 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      he answers the questions we didnt need but the ones we deserve

  • @beowyfe
    @beowyfe 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4595

    We all thought the animation signs were just a shortcut. But in reality, everything has been building to this moment, and the real shortcut was the friends we made along the way.

    • @sadettinarslan5324
      @sadettinarslan5324 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      Lost reference?

    • @hugonegron3135
      @hugonegron3135 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      So true

    • @aratirao9007
      @aratirao9007 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      ⬜ SERCH ADITYA RATHORE, HE ALSO MAKES INFOMATIVE CONTENT LIKE HISTORY MATTERS⬜

    • @kaliyuga1476
      @kaliyuga1476 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Cringe

    • @mwplaylist2890
      @mwplaylist2890 3 ปีที่แล้ว +35

      @@sadettinarslan5324 The real reference was inside us all along.

  • @Jan_Koopman
    @Jan_Koopman 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3175

    "They used the only language they knew always worked..." I was absolutely sure you were gonna say: "...violence"

    • @timoteubert7068
      @timoteubert7068 3 ปีที่แล้ว +154

      Well, they did. They kidnapped them

    • @gregmiller9710
      @gregmiller9710 3 ปีที่แล้ว +57

      ..that was the backup lang....>

    • @AlfredoPuente8
      @AlfredoPuente8 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      They got slaved by the natives, hippies weren't a thing in the XV century.

    • @capncake8837
      @capncake8837 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Same.

    • @l.s.11
      @l.s.11 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Me too!

  • @swagmundfreud666
    @swagmundfreud666 2 ปีที่แล้ว +314

    There's a really interesting video of a demonstration of a linguistic technique used to learn an entirely unknown language, with Daniel Everett as the demonstrator. He used this method to learn the Piraha language of the Amazons. It's quite cool to see him do it.

    • @mariosilveirs7663
      @mariosilveirs7663 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Daniel.

    • @goomba008
      @goomba008 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +20

      I read this as the Piranha language and was looking for info if the fish was named the same as the language because they both exist in the Amazon >_

    • @vig4259
      @vig4259 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      Oh god, I read as Piranha lmao.

    • @MechaOrangeStudios
      @MechaOrangeStudios หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Everett said the very first step is finding out the word for "what is this?" (so that he can ask them the words for basic things).
      So Everett would walk around with a box with something rattling inside it, and curious Piraha speakers would come up and ask him "What is this?"

  • @colemancooper5226
    @colemancooper5226 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4381

    James Bisonette obviously taught the Europeans how to speak to the natives

    • @500ccRabbit
      @500ccRabbit 3 ปีที่แล้ว +153

      Is there anyone more Chad than James bisonette!

    • @segmentsAndCurves
      @segmentsAndCurves 3 ปีที่แล้ว +140

      @@500ccRabbit Kelly Moneymaker

    • @inactivetitan8629
      @inactivetitan8629 3 ปีที่แล้ว +102

      Kelly moneymaker bank rolled the whole thing

    • @AliDixon95
      @AliDixon95 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      What about IZZY?

    • @mysterious7215
      @mysterious7215 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Obviously

  • @awc6007
    @awc6007 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5210

    “What was Vietnam like after the Vietnam war?” would be a good future video idea. Love ur Channel.

    • @segmentsAndCurves
      @segmentsAndCurves 3 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      Wait, I see this recommendation before.

    • @mysterious7215
      @mysterious7215 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Yes

    • @tremedar
      @tremedar 3 ปีที่แล้ว +231

      Pretty much like it was during the war, as not long after China invaded. Short, one month, extremely bloody but ultimately Vietnam *actually* won, unlike *the* Vietnam war, which a cease-fire was established, US and allied forces withdrew, NVA used the treaty as toilet paper and finished conquest of the south.
      How was Vietnam after the collapse of the USSR would be interesting, on the other hand.

    • @Gnosis4me4you
      @Gnosis4me4you 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      A Chinese puppet state

    • @gnas1897
      @gnas1897 3 ปีที่แล้ว +215

      @@Gnosis4me4you fairly confident Vietnam sided with the Soviets more than china. Vietnam and china hate eachother

  • @natethenoble909
    @natethenoble909 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3011

    Fun Fact: The Yucatan Peninsula, which comprises Belize and a bit of Mexico, got its name due to troubles with communication. When the Spanish arrived, they asked the Mayans, (the natives that lived there) what was the name of the region. The Mayans responded with 'Yucatan', which meant in their tongue: 'I don't understand you'. The Spanish took this at face value, and began to identify the lands there with the name 'Yucatan'

    • @galantos30
      @galantos30 3 ปีที่แล้ว +537

      It was the same with the Pima. The Spanish asked the Akimel O'odham or "River People" what they called themselves, and they responded "Pima" meaning "I don't know."

    • @juanmola2000
      @juanmola2000 3 ปีที่แล้ว +772

      So you are telling me Latin America has multiple "Valley of Gold", "Silver River", and most importantly the land of "IDFK what you are talking about"

    • @SirAntoniousBlock
      @SirAntoniousBlock 3 ปีที่แล้ว +520

      This story is repeated when the British asked Australian aborigines what that animal was, the reply was "I don't understand" or _kan garoo._ 😆

    • @johanrosenberg6342
      @johanrosenberg6342 3 ปีที่แล้ว +84

      I've been told that places called Nammatis- or variations thereof in Northern Sweden came about the same way. It means nameless in one or more of the sami languages.

    • @elias_xp95
      @elias_xp95 3 ปีที่แล้ว +298

      @@SirAntoniousBlock I hate to shatter your dreams but that tale is actually a myth. Kangaroo comes from the Guugu Yimithirr word "gangurru" which roughly translates as black kangaroo.

  • @samuel61762
    @samuel61762 ปีที่แล้ว +934

    As somebody currently learning another language, the concept of trying to learn a language with no previous translators hurts me on another level.

    • @anotherday-anotherslay
      @anotherday-anotherslay 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +52

      well, political prisoners in other countries and babies do it all the time

    • @akotostotos9619
      @akotostotos9619 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      As an Interrpreter , I'm really glad I came across this video !

    • @solarprogeny6736
      @solarprogeny6736 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +16

      you did that exact thing early in your life, samuel, and in fact the lack of translators would actually expedite your learning, if anything! you'd be in complete immersion after all

    • @nas8318
      @nas8318 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      It's not so daunting if you already speak several languages. You realize that all languages share the same core structure subject-predicate-object

    • @samuel61762
      @samuel61762 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +11

      @nas8318 This isn't always the case, though. I am learning Russian, and the subject, predicate, and object can often be placed in any order due to Russian's flexible grammer rules.

  • @rickypoon6406
    @rickypoon6406 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1575

    Common translator trick: "They just made a joke that doesn't make sense for us. Just laugh."

    • @georgewright3949
      @georgewright3949 3 ปีที่แล้ว +108

      Yea my french teacher used to get us chocolate with jokes on the back turns out humor translates incredibly bad

    • @IncaWarrior.
      @IncaWarrior. 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      I love colloquial metaphors

    • @aratirao9007
      @aratirao9007 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      🏀 SERCH ADITYA RATHORE, HE ALSO MAKES INFOMATIVE CONTENT LIKE HISTORY MATTERS🏀

    • @enejidjsi5939
      @enejidjsi5939 3 ปีที่แล้ว +41

      @@aratirao9007 no

    • @ggoddkkiller1342
      @ggoddkkiller1342 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Europeans shot first then asked the questions so it was quite easy ''speak'' to Natives actually...

  • @TheMaplestrip
    @TheMaplestrip 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2305

    The thing I'm genuinely the most interested in is how missionaries were able to explain Christianity in mere days sometimes.

    • @MrBrock314
      @MrBrock314 2 ปีที่แล้ว +484

      It's not that complicated of a story. God comes to Earth, dies for humanity's sins, resurrects, returns to heaven, coming back again. Story complete. If you skip the more specific things like whether the communion bread is the body of Christ or not, it saves a lot of time and still gets the important parts across.

    • @TheMaplestrip
      @TheMaplestrip 2 ปีที่แล้ว +201

      @@MrBrock314 I suppose. There are a lot of abstract concepts there. I wouldn't know how to describe (a 15th century understanding of) sin to someone. And even just figuring out how to communicate "death" might be hard. Unless the European missionaries were really into miming XP

    • @robertwaguespack9414
      @robertwaguespack9414 2 ปีที่แล้ว +79

      @@TheMaplestrip actually the part about there being one God was understood when explained by Cortez.
      In 1531 there was the miracle of Guadalupe.

    • @TheMaplestrip
      @TheMaplestrip 2 ปีที่แล้ว +56

      @@robertwaguespack9414 Of course it was understood. Central America rapidly turned into one of the most Catholic regions of the world. As the Spanish were learning languages like Nahuatl, I imagine things got relatively easy. By 1931, the Spanish had been active in that region for nearly 40 years.
      I'm particularly curious about first contact moments.
      For example, when the Magellan Expedition reached the Philippines (the first contact between Europe and the Philippines archipelago), Magellan had a strong interest in attempting to convert local groups to Christianity. This ended up leading to his death, but I'm really curious how those interactions played out, with the limited translation potential of his Malay slave.

    • @notmenotme614
      @notmenotme614 2 ปีที่แล้ว +36

      Religion attracted people through magic tricks and gold bling. “If you worship me, you can have wealth and power too”
      That and persecuting other religions

  • @westwoods7675
    @westwoods7675 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1348

    Ah yes, signs. Guess we should have seen this coming from this channel lol

    • @beowyfe
      @beowyfe 3 ปีที่แล้ว +60

      All along, he was trying to how us a sign

    • @kennethnwebb
      @kennethnwebb 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      it's how he said boogie lee woogie lee without a snicker

    • @andrewjgrimm
      @andrewjgrimm 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      And crude drawings!

    • @aratirao9007
      @aratirao9007 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      🥎 SERCH ADITYA RATHORE, HE ALSO MAKES INFOMATIVE CONTENT LIKE HISTORY MATTERS🥎

    • @sidarthsubramanian7480
      @sidarthsubramanian7480 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      And see that demonstrating actions meant murder

  • @jackcoleman5955
    @jackcoleman5955 ปีที่แล้ว +129

    I love that he included the “is/is not” Trinity explanation. Priceless.

    • @Honest_Question
      @Honest_Question 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      Sadly that doesn't make sense even in english 😂

    • @mitmeetsmadness
      @mitmeetsmadness 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      @@Honest_Question Even though I'm atheist myself, I'd say it does make sense. Hegelian dialectics (and later marxian) magnificently include apparatus or theory of certain things being one thing and different things at the same time. E.g. production is also a consumption, because it takes raw materials, machines and people to operate. Vice versa, consumption is also a production, because it creates people.

    • @Honest_Question
      @Honest_Question 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      @@mitmeetsmadness That has nothing to do with it.
      Please tell me _anything_ where A=B and B=C but C≠A

    • @mitmeetsmadness
      @mitmeetsmadness 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      @@Honest_Question It has a lot to do with it. Though one can not find such a case in the static of formal logic. It is to be found in a dynamic, changing system. Let's look into a person who once was thin slowly becoming really thick. Consequentive states of them are similar, yet extreme states at the beginning and the end are drastically different. A = B = C, yet A ≠ C.
      You can say, well, there's minor differenses along the way, and you would be right. But there's no things without at least minor difference. Electrons, which are the same in themselves, are located in different areas of spaces, so saying they are the same means abstracting, cutting off "unimportant" or "unessential" difference. And no single "cut-off" is authentic, but rather a system of such a cut-offs, which makes identity and difference of things relative. If things are identical in one cut-off, they could be different in another, and vice versa.

    • @Honest_Question
      @Honest_Question 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@mitmeetsmadness You literally disproved yourself.
      You said similar which by definition is ≠ not =
      The definition of the trinity is that
      The son = God
      The father = God
      The ghost = God
      But
      The father ≠ The son ≠ The ghost

  • @Mr_M_History
    @Mr_M_History 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3274

    Next time you feel frustrated about having to do compulsory Spanish 101, just remember at least you weren't forcibly shipped to the other side of the world to take it!

    • @JonatasAdoM
      @JonatasAdoM 3 ปีที่แล้ว +213

      Hey, I'll take it.
      Take me to Europe to learn a new language and culture.
      Just... don't ship me back.

    • @fearlesspotato3429
      @fearlesspotato3429 3 ปีที่แล้ว +45

      Yeah because abandoning an underdeveloped mess for the most advanzed civilization on earth was definitely a terrible thing

    • @Sugoie
      @Sugoie 3 ปีที่แล้ว +158

      @@fearlesspotato3429 Yes and dying of scurvy and smallpox on a large canoe because you were kidnapped by some random pale skinned people was the peak of Mesoamerican existence.

    • @dusk6159
      @dusk6159 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      @@fearlesspotato3429 That was true but not until many years later, and definitely not by kidnapping (because one wouldn't survive it thanks to diseases).

    • @dusk6159
      @dusk6159 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@Sugoie There's still many successful "seminal" shipments (even of shipwrecked europeans living among the natives etc) examples throughout the many colonial histories that helped both parties, and that at least were historical (first amerindians to step into specific countries of Europe etc).

  • @kaustralishamal2054
    @kaustralishamal2054 3 ปีที่แล้ว +370

    "they used the only correct form of communication: they used signs".
    I died

    • @waldoman7
      @waldoman7 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      I don't get it

    • @chazzerine7650
      @chazzerine7650 2 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      @@waldoman7 I think signs are the main stereotype of this yt channel, and so, the narrator has a bias for them

    • @izzyxvibes
      @izzyxvibes 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I thought it was body language

  • @AverytheCubanAmerican
    @AverytheCubanAmerican 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3754

    - the natives were kidnapped and forced to learn Spanish while in constant fear of death
    - the Duolingo Owl kidnaps your family and forces you to learn Spanish while in constant fear of death
    *Coincidence? I think NOT!*

    • @itisicountolaf.yournewguar6111
      @itisicountolaf.yournewguar6111 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      🙂

    • @ramonparada
      @ramonparada 2 ปีที่แล้ว +123

      Kidnaping and forcing them to learn Spanish is not exactly how it happened. Yes, Columbus forced some natives to return with him to Spain, but when he arrived Spain the guy that had just discovered the new world was not received with joy. He was arrested, booed by the people in the street and later punished for his lack of respect for the natives. He was also ordered to return the natives that wanted to to their homeland. Also the Kings decided that they shouldn't trust such important enterprise to be directed solely by Columbus, and split the job between a dozen of men. Conquistadores were difficult to control while they were in America but when they returned to Spain they had to be held accountable.

    • @goodaimshield1115
      @goodaimshield1115 2 ปีที่แล้ว +68

      That actually never trully happened. On the contrary, in Spain it was compulsory to learn nahua or quechua for the priests who wanted to go to America. Learning Spanish was never compulsory. This is what happens when anglos think everybody else acts like them.

    • @goodaimshield1115
      @goodaimshield1115 2 ปีที่แล้ว +33

      @@ramonparada There was literally no obligation to learn Spanish XD I guess they learnt it because they were enslaved and shipped to Spain, so it's only normal to learn the language, but "kidnappint natives and force them to learn Spanish in Spain" was not a thing, it sounds stupid as hell, more so when you are aware of Spain's policy regarding language and actually forcing Spqnish priests to take basic lessons in nahua and quechua if they wanted to ever go to America XD

    • @jerrynadler2883
      @jerrynadler2883 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      The Duolingo Owl was directly responsible for the Septermber 11th terror attacks on New York City.

  • @russs7574
    @russs7574 2 ปีที่แล้ว +83

    An interesting follow-up to this would be a video on how Lewis and Clark were able to communicate with the Native Americans along their route, and how man people were involved in the chain of translation. And while they were able to communicate effectively, it must have looked like a Monty Python sketch while they were doing it.

    • @reynaldoflores4522
      @reynaldoflores4522 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      They had with them Sacagawea, who could communicate in sign language.

    • @diegoflores9237
      @diegoflores9237 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      That's different. By that time there were many people on both sides that knew different languages

    • @pele914
      @pele914 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      York, the enslaved African the richer n older of the two's family owned....HE was the one that was the point man that was always the first to interact with the natives...the natives took a liking to him bc they associated his looks n stature(big dude) with being a great hunter. Bc of his exploits he was promised his freedom after the expedition but of course not. You can look this up but there is a reason his name doesn't get included in history books😕 Sacagewea negotiated procurement of supplies n particularly horse but that was actually with the tribe she was kidnapped from....for ALL the other tribes it was all York.

    • @pele914
      @pele914 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@reynaldoflores4522 true but even more importantly, as written in memoirs not my opinion, was the presence of the enslaved African York. The natives ALL took a liking to him specifically.

    • @Daniel_RG
      @Daniel_RG 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Actually, there's a pretty good SNL sketch about them 😆

  • @pepsdeps
    @pepsdeps 3 ปีที่แล้ว +536

    In México the interpreters of Cortés are widely remembered. Jerónimo de Aguilar had become a slave to the Yucatec Maya and when found by Cortés, he became his first translator. Then when the king of Tabasco gifted them Mallintzin, aka la Malinche, she spoke maya and nahuatl, so it was a string from Malinche to Jerónimo and to Cortés (until she learned spanish and just cut Jerónimo off from the whole chain)

    • @jorgec.a3123
      @jorgec.a3123 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Malinche or Marina, Malinche is rather disrespectful

    • @pepsdeps
      @pepsdeps 3 ปีที่แล้ว +143

      @@jorgec.a3123 It's not actually disrespectful, it was just the re-hispanization of the name Malintzin, which was the nahuatl version of Doña Marina, which was her baptized Spanish name, which in turn was similar-sounding to her (supposed) original name Mallinalli (meaning grass reeds, though this one is disputed).
      What I do find disrespectful is the use of "Malinchismo" as a term of betrayal of your own culture. She was a strong woman who was sold and given as property, but then made the most of her circumstances to become one of the most powerful women in Nueva España. She didn't betray no one, she just took an opportunity. She was very smart.

    • @jorgec.a3123
      @jorgec.a3123 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      @@pepsdeps I know she didn't betray anyone that's why I don't think Malinche is appropriate, thanks for your clarification anyways

    • @Nenufort
      @Nenufort 3 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      @@pepsdeps I love that story! Especially the part where Cortés took her as his consort and had his first child and heir with her, a mestizo, thus truly symbolizing the birth of Mexico: a union between Spain and Meoamerica.

    • @pepsdeps
      @pepsdeps 3 ปีที่แล้ว +51

      @@Nenufort It is a nice mythologized story for the birth of México (even though irl it is presumed that the child between Cortés and Doña Marina wasn't...completely consensual...).
      However, the first mestizo child of México was actually born of Gonzalo Guerrero, who was a companion to Jerónimo de Aguilar and ended up incorporating into Mayan culture instead of as a slave. There is a big plaza in Chetumal, Quintana Roo, in honor of the child.

  • @REEEPROGRAM
    @REEEPROGRAM 3 ปีที่แล้ว +620

    *Translator:*
    "They said they want to steal your heart sir"
    "awww"
    *Translator:*
    "No litteraly"

    • @ahmedsalek976
      @ahmedsalek976 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      🤣

    • @juanmola2000
      @juanmola2000 3 ปีที่แล้ว +65

      The fact there is a chance that the conversation happened in reality with the Aztecs is special indeed

    • @polygonalfortress
      @polygonalfortress 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      That comment has a huge meme potential.

    • @N330AA
      @N330AA 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      *Magua:* Greybeard, before you die, know that I will put under the knife your children. So I will wipe your seed from the earth forever.

    • @aratirao9007
      @aratirao9007 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      🏮SERCH ADITYA RATHORE, HE ALSO MAKES INFOMATIVE CONTENT LIKE HISTORY MATTERS🏮

  • @christiannordvall4021
    @christiannordvall4021 3 ปีที่แล้ว +161

    It's also common to use children as translators, because they learn foreign languages significantly faster than adults. This can observed both among contemporary immigrant children in the West, and among the children of Western missionaries in other continents.

    • @nickrodriguez3850
      @nickrodriguez3850 ปีที่แล้ว

      What age of the child?

    • @Brownie.-
      @Brownie.- ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@nickrodriguez3850 over 5 at least.

    • @blockmasterscott
      @blockmasterscott 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

      This is true. I’m married to a Filipina, and visiting her family in the Philippines once a year, I’m always amazed at just how fast those kids learn English, and not only learn, but become REALLY good at it from watching kid shows on TH-cam.
      The parents are just in shock at how well they speak lol.

    • @jameshudkins2210
      @jameshudkins2210 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      Some Americans went to another Country to be Missionaries. The kids learned to be fluent in the local language. The littlest girl complained that bad boys in the local school taught her brother many very bad words in the other language. It's called "The Other Conquest." You come in with some angle to teach them and they teach you.

  • @michaeldresssing3057
    @michaeldresssing3057 2 ปีที่แล้ว +19

    Perfect video, short and straight to the point. Good job👌

  • @MikhailTabigay
    @MikhailTabigay 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1628

    That “Murder” sign when a Spanish arquebusier shot a native.

  • @ioan-ovidiucocolos9225
    @ioan-ovidiucocolos9225 3 ปีที่แล้ว +657

    fun fact: James Bisonette's ancestors come from Tuscany, he's a direct descendant from a modest family called de' Medici

    • @german_doggy7314
      @german_doggy7314 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      How did you know this?
      Edit: nvm I get it now

    • @SakethCVES
      @SakethCVES 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @@german_doggy7314 r/woooosh

    • @ValliantPoppys
      @ValliantPoppys 3 ปีที่แล้ว +42

      @@SakethCVES Shut.

    • @Void_Dweller7
      @Void_Dweller7 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I don’t get it.

    • @Hideyoshi1991
      @Hideyoshi1991 3 ปีที่แล้ว +39

      @@SakethCVES r/thatsnotveryfunnybruhpleaseconsiderbeingfunnynexttimeasthatwouldbeconsideratetothosearoundyou

  • @RyanAmparo-tl
    @RyanAmparo-tl 3 ปีที่แล้ว +286

    This is so interesting to me, especially since I work as a translator. I've always wondered how Europeans communicated with pre-contact civilizations and this answered my question in a more fulfilling way that I expected. Thank you.

    • @afdalridwan3813
      @afdalridwan3813 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Kidnapped them and forced them to learn your languange
      Save your 1 decade research

    • @hullie7529
      @hullie7529 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      @@afdalridwan3813 Kidnapped is such a loaded word and it ignores the reality and complexity of the relations in those times. The natives that were taken to Spain were not restrained, and while you probably can't say that they went on their own free will you can't say that they were forced either. Through time many natives became steemed members of Spanish society thanks to their services to the Crown back in Europe.

    • @jacobpeters5458
      @jacobpeters5458 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I know Columbus made a friend/servant who learned Spanish

    • @gooble69
      @gooble69 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      They didn't communicate with pre-contact civilisations since in order to communicate you first need to make contact.

    • @gooble69
      @gooble69 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @Mike The Owl Well at least he explained his position. Whatever you think you did there is the real embarrassment.

  • @erzar.1730
    @erzar.1730 3 ปีที่แล้ว +738

    Anything is achievable with funding from James bisonette.

    • @jamesbissonette8002
      @jamesbissonette8002 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      All you need is a Patreon account and a dream

    • @dw620
      @dw620 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Whatever happened to pointing at something and S P E A K I N G V E R Y S L O W L Y in English (or Spanish?)
      Darn; we've been doing it wrong...? 😳😳

    • @KouNagai
      @KouNagai 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      İ am waiting for interstellar travel

    • @historyrhymes1701
      @historyrhymes1701 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      The house of Bissonete is wealthier than Mansa Musa, The Habsburgs and Crassus combined.

    • @polygonalfortress
      @polygonalfortress 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      With James bissonnette's money we can colonize by then.

  • @MonsieurDean
    @MonsieurDean 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1077

    I assumed it was through a number of clicks and hand gestures.

    • @afox9561
      @afox9561 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      j

    • @familygash7500
      @familygash7500 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      Wasn't expecting to see you here.

    • @humzahahmad2818
      @humzahahmad2818 3 ปีที่แล้ว +22

      I thought it just went straight to kidnapping them and forcing them to learn it

    • @historyrhymes1701
      @historyrhymes1701 3 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      Or used aliens as translators if history channel is to be believed.

    • @toade1583
      @toade1583 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      @@humzahahmad2818 Well to be fair, it often was that.

  • @MacTac141
    @MacTac141 3 ปีที่แล้ว +129

    Was rewatching “How did France get Nuclear Weapons” and saw this at the end in the suggested and realized I hadn’t seen it before. Probably because it came out 4 minutes ago

    • @german_doggy7314
      @german_doggy7314 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      When I see something new from this channel I click on it instantly

    • @mdakramhossain4470
      @mdakramhossain4470 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      So, literally Arabic was the international language that time. 🤣🤣

  • @dylanbuchman8128
    @dylanbuchman8128 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I love the animation on these videos so much, it's hilarious

  • @akshatpratapsingh6188
    @akshatpratapsingh6188 3 ปีที่แล้ว +741

    They spoke in the universal language of violence

    • @mysterious7215
      @mysterious7215 3 ปีที่แล้ว +26

      🤣🤣

    • @matpk
      @matpk 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@mysterious7215 Compare 1930s Nazi Germany Vs 2020s Communist China IN YOUR NEXT VIDEO!!

    • @KingshukMonsur
      @KingshukMonsur 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Violence and violence Never changes

    • @aratirao9007
      @aratirao9007 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      🔴 SERCH ADITYA RATHORE, HE ALSO MAKES INFOMATIVE CONTENT LIKE HISTORY MATTERS🔴

    • @russianpower4252
      @russianpower4252 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@matpk USA in 2021 is more agressive

  • @edu_pl
    @edu_pl 3 ปีที่แล้ว +141

    One member of my family, D. Juan de Baeza López de Fuenllana, was the first Castilian ever to be fluent in the Purepecha language (spoken in nowadays Mexico)

    • @aaronmarks9366
      @aaronmarks9366 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      That's really interesting, did he live among them for a while to learn it?

    • @edu_pl
      @edu_pl 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      @@aaronmarks9366 Not sure, although I do not believe that they had such a relationship of trust with the Indians (because they killed the father-in-law of D. Juan, during the first years of the Conquest).
      Also, the stories that have been preserved have been transmitted by written records and compilations of deeds made throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, so I have not been able to find oral evidence of this particular event.
      However, it is a proven fact that D. Juan settled in that area of Mexico, at the beginning of the 16th century, since his grandchildren were large landowners and founders of towns, churches, and convents. Even today, the tombs of the two granddaughters (nuns) of D. Juan are preserved: Sor Francisca and Sor Isabel; in the Convent of Santa María de la Gracia in Guadalajara.

    • @jorgetovar3969
      @jorgetovar3969 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      ​@@edu_pl A proven fact, indeed. He died in the city of Morelia (former Valladolid), where I live. One street in my neighborhood was named after him.

    • @chillaxboi2109
      @chillaxboi2109 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@jorgetovar3969 This must be like seeing the grandson of Einstein in your class.

  • @rl9217
    @rl9217 3 ปีที่แล้ว +486

    Europeans: “Hello, do you understand me?”
    Natives: …???…
    Europeans: “….have you heard of James Bisonette?”
    Natives: “I understand perfectly“

    • @nilloc93
      @nilloc93 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Went looking for someone who had made that joke. I'm glad i wasn't disappointed

    • @quincyquincy4764
      @quincyquincy4764 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Stop it! You had no right to be this funny!😂😂😂

    • @eduardogutierrez4698
      @eduardogutierrez4698 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      He is the Ahmed Ziad Turk of History Matters.

    • @cloudynguyen6527
      @cloudynguyen6527 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Later the Europeans find out the golden statue of James Bisonette

    • @tanm3yy
      @tanm3yy 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@eduardogutierrez4698 Extra History?

  • @moritzrossbroich
    @moritzrossbroich 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Thank you for giving us the answer directly and not hiding it behind a 16 minutes video...

  • @alec0062
    @alec0062 3 ปีที่แล้ว +322

    They counted on James Bissonette, he's very multilingual down to his name.

    • @jamesbissonette8002
      @jamesbissonette8002 3 ปีที่แล้ว +56

      Barely monolingual but appreciated nonetheless!

    • @alec0062
      @alec0062 3 ปีที่แล้ว +28

      @@jamesbissonette8002 Oh my God !!! I'm star struck!!! I've been answered by James Bissonette! The one and only! Thank you for making History Matters a reality.

    • @afdalridwan3813
      @afdalridwan3813 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @@jamesbissonette8002 what a chad

    • @gromhellscream1624
      @gromhellscream1624 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      @@jamesbissonette8002 Dude you are such a bro like for real you should get more props. People are so salty nowadays online and irl too and can't josh around or make jokes. 4/5 people I know would get pissed or salty at all this mentioning and memeing but you aren't so cheers mate. It's all in good fun. If my bum ass wasn't poor I would donate more too.

    • @aagamjain1395
      @aagamjain1395 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@gromhellscream1624 Same for me.
      History matters and geography now my favourite channels.

  • @mypetbeardedragon2186
    @mypetbeardedragon2186 3 ปีที่แล้ว +315

    Columbus was an art major. His drawings were so accurate the natives knew every European language just by looking at a cow.

    • @levitschetter5288
      @levitschetter5288 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      Caballo is horse...

    • @thedudeabides3138
      @thedudeabides3138 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Holy shit, that’s left field!

    • @magsaysayandres7078
      @magsaysayandres7078 3 ปีที่แล้ว +44

      I wonder what would happen if he failed art school

    • @mypetbeardedragon2186
      @mypetbeardedragon2186 3 ปีที่แล้ว +33

      @@magsaysayandres7078 I have no idea. There seems to be no historical precedent for such an occurrence!

    • @timbrown3666
      @timbrown3666 3 ปีที่แล้ว +35

      @@mypetbeardedragon2186 Everybody is gangster until Columbus grows a silly mustache

  • @aboudhh
    @aboudhh 3 ปีที่แล้ว +141

    With hernan cortes he had a shipwrecked spaniard that was living amongst natives for years and knew their language.
    However, when the spanish went deeper into central America, the languages changed. So , they found a woman who could speak the shipwrecked spaniards native language and could speak the aztecs language.
    So when cortes met Montezuma the Aztec king, he communicated through 2 translators, alot of information was lost and could not be translated that many times smoothly.

    • @aratirao9007
      @aratirao9007 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      🟠 SERCH ADITYA RATHORE, HE ALSO MAKES INFOMATIVE CONTENT LIKE HISTORY MATTERS🟠

  • @YeshuaIsTheTruth
    @YeshuaIsTheTruth 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +7

    This is awesome. Ive always wondered how they communicated and why thats rarely if ever discussed in history courses.

  • @bificommander
    @bificommander 3 ปีที่แล้ว +349

    "When the first explorers from the warm lands around the Circle Sea travelled into the chilly hinterland they filled in the blank spaces on their maps by grabbing the nearest native, pointing at some distant landmark, speaking very clearly in a loud voice, and writing down whatever the bemused man told them. Thus were immortalised in generations of atlases such geographical oddities as Just A Mountain, I Don't Know, What? and, of course, Your Finger You Fool."

    • @HO-bndk
      @HO-bndk 3 ปีที่แล้ว +70

      Yucatan is [allegedly] Mayan for "What are you saying?", which is what the natives [are said to have] replied when the Spaniards asked them the name of the place.

    • @jacobsxavier6082
      @jacobsxavier6082 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      Terry Pratchett's Discworld saga has left some traces ...

    • @jannegrey
      @jannegrey 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      @@jacobsxavier6082 Indeed. Pratchett is fantastic read and frankly world would be a batter place if everyone read his books ;)

    • @jacobsxavier6082
      @jacobsxavier6082 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@jannegrey I couldn't agree more, his vision for urban police force is my favorite

    • @joshscores3360
      @joshscores3360 3 ปีที่แล้ว +38

      @@HO-bndk Not sure if these are true, but I once read that kangaroo is "I don't know what you're saying" in an Australian indigenous language. Also, the llama's name was the result of Spaniards asking a Quechua "como se llama" or "what is that [animal] called" in reference to a llama, and the Quechua, not knowing Spanish, just repeated the last word, "llama."

  • @generaljohnnyree3349
    @generaljohnnyree3349 3 ปีที่แล้ว +108

    The background effect you put behind the signs was hilarious lmao.

  • @VikingerOnYT
    @VikingerOnYT 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2004

    I wonder how the Vikings did it, so many years before Columbus.

    • @TheChaosfreak97
      @TheChaosfreak97 3 ปีที่แล้ว +65

      You tell me!

    • @jamesyandsonsoutdooradvent9394
      @jamesyandsonsoutdooradvent9394 3 ปีที่แล้ว +609

      Battle axes

    • @hhelminn
      @hhelminn 3 ปีที่แล้ว +541

      Considering they didn't settle there or didn't spend a lot time there I'm gonna guess they just used their hands and whatever worked to communicate

    • @michaelmaroldaiv2857
      @michaelmaroldaiv2857 3 ปีที่แล้ว +93

      Most likely never got past simple signs in the short time they mightve seen SOME people

    • @armija
      @armija 3 ปีที่แล้ว +61

      Dead people do not communicate...

  • @FilipeCardoso1
    @FilipeCardoso1 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    Tu és o maior! Respondes a questões que eu já me pergunto à anos.
    Obrigado 💯

  • @projjwalray-6341
    @projjwalray-6341 3 ปีที่แล้ว +588

    Narration: "acting something out.."
    Animation: "Shoots someone and then displays murder"
    😂😂😂

    • @micheltanaka2420
      @micheltanaka2420 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      That cracked me out SO hard, too! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

    • @hugolafhugolaf
      @hugolafhugolaf 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@micheltanaka2420 The sound effect was perfect.

    • @zinkaghost6490
      @zinkaghost6490 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Truly a master of the comedic arts

  • @zjzr08
    @zjzr08 3 ปีที่แล้ว +28

    The dialogue signs FINALLY have a significant role, in this video hehe

  • @TheRealGigachad1848
    @TheRealGigachad1848 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    Fun fact: in the book Cronistas do Descobrimento (roughly translating to Chronists of the Discovery), which is a collection of reports of European explorers, settlers, and others, about colonial and pre-colonial Brazil, there is a report by a guy who went to visit a native tribe who was already friendly with europeans and had an european guy who could understand their language and help them communicate with other europeans. This guy went to a party in this tribe that was held to celebrate a military victory over another tribe and they were eating those they defeated. Since the guy couldn't speak their language, when a native offered a bit of human meat to him, he thought he was saying something like "you're next" and shat his pants (not literally but who knows).

  • @stefanschleps8758
    @stefanschleps8758 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Thank you! We've watched every episode several times and this is still our favorite channel.

    • @shasvat0
      @shasvat0 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Who we?

  • @Minimanmax
    @Minimanmax 3 ปีที่แล้ว +95

    My brain at 3am: Yes, this will definitely be helpful for my statistics test in a couple of hours

    • @Maksim--Spektor
      @Maksim--Spektor 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Same here, have a statistics exam in a day 😆😆

    • @dwpetterson
      @dwpetterson 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Good luck on the test!

    • @Admiral45-10
      @Admiral45-10 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Isn't it like summer break right now?

    • @UltimateInnerSpirit
      @UltimateInnerSpirit 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@Admiral45-10 some people take summer classes

    • @Ben-ep1de
      @Ben-ep1de 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@Admiral45-10 also, there is a southern hemisphere

  • @lisakassandra4222
    @lisakassandra4222 3 ปีที่แล้ว +118

    "Acting something out and then saying the word for it."
    *shoots someone while holding a sign that reads "Murder"*
    I'm glad I wasn't sipping at my coffee in that moment.

    • @despot2180
      @despot2180 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      trash english Lisa.. learn sign language ;)

    • @ggoddkkiller1342
      @ggoddkkiller1342 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Europeans shot first then asked the questions so it was quite easy ''speak'' to Natives actually...

  • @jonthehumann
    @jonthehumann 3 ปีที่แล้ว +121

    This is one of my burning historical questions. Ever since I've started learning history, I just wondered how they communicated.

    • @jacobpeters5458
      @jacobpeters5458 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      sent pigeons across the atlantic like Medieval google translator

    • @sarryuken8786
      @sarryuken8786 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Columbus took 3 boats. There were two brothers who captained the 2 ships and they were the translators. MEaning, they travelled and communicated with the natives long before Columbus did.
      Columbus was jewish and Spain kicked out all the jews so he had to leave or be killed. Thats why the date he set sail, was the same day jews had to leave Spain!

    • @岩の下駅
      @岩の下駅 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I think the biggest mistake in history teaching is to view past civilizations as primitive and underdeveloped. Some cultures had technology so advanced (with a lot of human suffering thrown at it) that people today can't even fathom how they did some things. For example the unfinished obelisk of Aswan, Egypt or the Easter Island statues. Modern civilizations discovering those cultures or remnants of them were actually so primitive that they could not think of any way to accomplish similar feats if they had to. I guess that's where all these "ancient aliens" conspiracy theories come from. People just cannot imagine the technology and complexity of past civilizations. Communication is another one. Obviously there were translators throughout history. People who learned another language through enslavement, kidnapping, shipwrecking or envoys sent to other kingdoms and empires. Obviously, learning a language was less voluntary back then than it is now.

    • @nunyabidness3429
      @nunyabidness3429 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      answer: The same as any other two civilizations that didn't initially understand each other.

    • @mrkilo-g8794
      @mrkilo-g8794 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Sign language 😂

  • @valentinr.dominguez2892
    @valentinr.dominguez2892 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    As part of their effort to evangelize the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Catholic friars learned the various native languages and evangelized in those languages. These indigenous languages had alphabets that were more pictorial, like hieroglyphics. What the friars did what to apply the alphabet that we use to those languages. Thanks to that, the indigenous people for the first time were able to record this history in a detailed manner.

  • @scotandiamapping4549
    @scotandiamapping4549 3 ปีที่แล้ว +29

    This one has actually been in the back of my mind for a while now.

  • @Rey__Jan
    @Rey__Jan 3 ปีที่แล้ว +232

    “Why does the United States still own Guantanamo Bay?” could be a good video, similar to History Matter's video on why Russia owns Kaliningrad

    • @edgarryan8423
      @edgarryan8423 3 ปีที่แล้ว +19

      Answer is simple, America said so

    • @Weesee_I
      @Weesee_I 3 ปีที่แล้ว +38

      @@edgarryan8423 Right but the context could be interesting, considering the US technically "leases" the land from Cuba, but Cuba doesn't accept their payment.

    • @natnew32
      @natnew32 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      @@Weesee_I US leased land from American-backed Cuban government, Communist rebels overthrew said government and instituted a new one, US doesn't care that the government it made the deal with is gone and just keeps doing what it's been doing despite the new government's protests.

    • @Admiral45-10
      @Admiral45-10 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Russia owns Kaliningrad, because neither Poland or Lithuania wanted to take it.

    • @Weesee_I
      @Weesee_I 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@natnew32 Right, which is why they don't accept the US payment for the "lease," since they don't see it as legitimate.

  • @thebasketballhistorian3291
    @thebasketballhistorian3291 3 ปีที่แล้ว +69

    The "go away" sign had me dying. 🤣

  • @CinemaDemocratica
    @CinemaDemocratica 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I should know this channel's sense of humour well enough by now that it doesn't catch me flat-footed, but still when the dude holds up the sign that says "murder" I just about choked to death on my coffee.

  • @yamarck101
    @yamarck101 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

    My years long question is finally answered !
    Thank you historymatters

  • @shohan5772
    @shohan5772 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    History mixed with peak humour will always be my favourite.
    I hope your channel becomes #1 history channel on TH-cam someday.

  • @ComicalRealm
    @ComicalRealm 3 ปีที่แล้ว +148

    First UFO sighting in America.
    Unidentified Floating Object

    • @xxxBradTxxx
      @xxxBradTxxx 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      vikings were first to Newfoundland

    • @briangarcia7384
      @briangarcia7384 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@xxxBradTxxx technically greenland

    • @xxxBradTxxx
      @xxxBradTxxx 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@briangarcia7384 Lief Erikson made it all the way to Canada. But they didn't set up a colony.

    • @zimriel
      @zimriel 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@xxxBradTxxx He did. Anse Meadows. Almost certainly "Markland", and we even have a firm date (AD 1021, from tree-rings).

  • @Wolf-hh4rv
    @Wolf-hh4rv 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    My grandfather started a farm in Rhodesia in 1916. Within 2 years he could speak 2 African languages as could my father. In the tribal areas it was initially the missionaries that learned African languages and taught the indigenous English. A schooling system was created that taught O and A levels resulting in a population that generally speaks good English.

  • @alinalexandru2466
    @alinalexandru2466 3 ปีที่แล้ว +78

    This covered the basics like food, shelter, *Jesus* , gold and boats.

    • @destubae3271
      @destubae3271 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Cash, Clout, and Christ

  • @christianwalton7080
    @christianwalton7080 3 ปีที่แล้ว +43

    I like how you used the doctrine of the Trinity as the complex concept right after mentioning Jesus. :)

  • @carter1807
    @carter1807 3 ปีที่แล้ว +42

    Thank you for covering this subject. I’ve never understood it even as a child.

  • @Lemonator32
    @Lemonator32 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    The most universal form of communication: pointing to things and saying their names. My 1 year-old nephew knows it well.

  • @anti-dope9608
    @anti-dope9608 3 ปีที่แล้ว +102

    This video is not a whole one without spinning three plates.

    • @manuelmartins1967
      @manuelmartins1967 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Standing still 0 plates this time around

    • @ctam31ify
      @ctam31ify 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Spinning 3 plates is my fav.

    • @Yum_Yum_Delicious_Cum
      @Yum_Yum_Delicious_Cum 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      2:21 for anyone curious

    • @Psych0technic
      @Psych0technic 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Nor without Kelly moneymaker.

    • @scotandiamapping4549
      @scotandiamapping4549 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      *tries to find three plates in the kitchen*
      Oh wait you meant the patreon guy.

  • @TonyPajamaz
    @TonyPajamaz 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    You always cover the things I’ve always wanted to know but never considered. I love this channel so much!

  • @wrex509
    @wrex509 3 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    Ive done demonstrations with students where I, without making a sound, direct them to do activities through signs and gestures. Its always a favorite and one that gets the most participation and interest.

    • @timoteubert7068
      @timoteubert7068 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Although your students have the same culture, unlike native americans and europeans.

    • @wrex509
      @wrex509 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@timoteubert7068 Would you stake your life on that assumption?

    • @timoteubert7068
      @timoteubert7068 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@wrex509 What a stupid, random question.

    • @wrex509
      @wrex509 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@timoteubert7068 Its not a random question. Its specifically designed to point out that you are making a complete assumption without knowing anything more than a short statement by a random person on the internet.

    • @timoteubert7068
      @timoteubert7068 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@wrex509 I don't need to know anything about your students to know that their backgrounds won't be nearly as different as those of the Europeans and native Americans at that time. Because in today's day and age, people connect and influence each other worldwide. Back then they didn't, for thousands of years.

  • @DrVictorVasconcelos
    @DrVictorVasconcelos 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    A crucial correction: Sign languages are fully-fledged languages (it was right in the expression) with vocabulary, grammar, regional variations (dialects), etc. It requires both speakers to know it, and there's a sense of shared culture. There are different languages and they're not mutually intelligible, such as ASL and LIBRAS.
    That's absolutely different from gesticulating, which is just trying to make someone understand what you mean with some form of motion, usually with your hand alone, attempting to be acultural, so that your point gets across... hopefully.
    This distinction is actually important because there's still discrimination of deaf people (who are still called "deaf and dumb") because it makes it seems like they aren't able to understand language, which isn't true.

    • @Aostrele
      @Aostrele 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      who cares

    • @Aostrele
      @Aostrele 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      bruv 💀 sign language isn’t just for that. i don’t understand a single word in sign language yet I point every day.
      pointing is a sign, i’m using the point to communicate something, like a language.
      plus i don’t know a single person who thinks deaf people can’t communicate.

    • @FIVEBASKET
      @FIVEBASKET ปีที่แล้ว

      He meant sign language as having a actual sign

    • @DrVictorVasconcelos
      @DrVictorVasconcelos ปีที่แล้ว

      @@FIVEBASKET These signs, by themselves, are not enough to create what linguists call a language. He may have meant something analogous to "love language", but "sign language" is an expression that has a specific meaning, so his use was innacurate--and I simply pointed that out. I'm not sure why people are getting sensitive over this.

    • @FIVEBASKET
      @FIVEBASKET ปีที่แล้ว

      @@DrVictorVasconcelos ye k I apologize

  • @friedrichi.dersoldatenkoni2896
    @friedrichi.dersoldatenkoni2896 3 ปีที่แล้ว +34

    1:02 that was dark...

  • @catjudo1
    @catjudo1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    I love this channel! Fun factual tidbits with amusing illustrations to hammer the points home. Keep up the great work!

  • @DavidMartinez-fq9eh
    @DavidMartinez-fq9eh 3 ปีที่แล้ว +80

    If I remember correctly, Columbus carried with him a priest who had studied some basic notions of Chinese (because the expedition was supposed to land in China to open a trade route) and was the first to tell him that the people they had found spoke no Chinese, nor anything akin to it. Don´t ask me what Chinese method he had studied.

    • @Nothing-qs4gj
      @Nothing-qs4gj 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @Hernando MalincheThey studied the " ` " Chinese language.

    • @hanhdhsj
      @hanhdhsj 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      @Hernando Malinche The method of the fortune cookie

    • @lyly_lei_lei
      @lyly_lei_lei 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      @@hanhdhsj When you realize Fortune Cookies are entirely American and have nothing to do with China:

    • @morbidsearch
      @morbidsearch 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@lyly_lei_lei
      They were originally invented in Japan but they evolved into their modern form in the USA

  • @IsmaelSilva7
    @IsmaelSilva7 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    In Perú they actually started teaching spanish and having mixed marriages really fast so the first mixed generation (mestizos) was the ones who wrote the chronicles and spread knowledge.

  • @mylesmwalkerjr
    @mylesmwalkerjr 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Who needs documentaries when you have channels like yours and overly simplified to make it better here on TH-cam. I love it👍

  • @jackdean5091
    @jackdean5091 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I’ve honestly thought about this question for so many years. Thanks for the great content!!

  • @ksanchez8095
    @ksanchez8095 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

    I'm from the Dominican Republic and watching my country in your thumbnail really warms my heart! I love your content! Cheers!

    • @prod.jimmyhd
      @prod.jimmyhd 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yeah, i like they put the names of the different regions of Ayiti/Kiskeya at 1:55

    • @JJ-ps9xe
      @JJ-ps9xe 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Viva la Madre patria!

  • @loszhor
    @loszhor 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Many questions answered, thank you!

  • @JonathanColegrove
    @JonathanColegrove 3 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    It's amazing how many times I've laughed out loud while learning some interesting things on your channel!

  • @Danandria
    @Danandria 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    At 0:35, the "Bad luck" sign, hilarious 😂

  • @mitchellgeorge6031
    @mitchellgeorge6031 2 ปีที่แล้ว +97

    What I find super amazing is that since most of the Native American languages weren’t written, the European missionaries had to invent writing systems for them once they learned the language.

    • @faithlesshound5621
      @faithlesshound5621 2 ปีที่แล้ว +26

      The other side of that is, whenever European missionaries found a written language, they did their best to stamp it out. That happened in the Americas, the Philippines, Easter Island and no doubt elsewhere.
      Don't forget how the Christian church was allowed to stamp out pagan learning in Europe and the Middle East from the Emperor Constantine's time onwards. No-one was allowed to teach Etruscan, Babylonian or Egyptian.

    • @madelainepetrin1430
      @madelainepetrin1430 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      True. Jesuit in New France wrote the sound W with doesn't exist in French as the number 8. Makes for fun reading like in Otta8a.

    • @freefromthedark6784
      @freefromthedark6784 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      @@faithlesshound5621 ah no they didn't....with a few exceptions Spanish priests maintained native culture, and protected their customs, and what they found...they literlñay started a university and allowed them to join and learn without renouncing their earlier culture entirely....educate yourself

    • @faithlesshound5621
      @faithlesshound5621 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@freefromthedark6784 That was enlightened of the priests, to allow pagans to study without adopting Roman Catholicism. Should I look for details on New Advent?

    • @seronymus
      @seronymus 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@faithlesshound5621 you have a disgustingly biased name and also your facts are completely wrong, and you clearly don't understand what the Ecumenical Councils were.

  • @loganknox7
    @loganknox7 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    This is such a good question that I’m kicking myself because it’s easily overlook able

  • @James-jl4jt
    @James-jl4jt 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Finally history matters actually answers a question that I've wanted to know for so long

  • @galatheumbreon6862
    @galatheumbreon6862 3 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    "well for this, they used the only form of communication"
    Me: Guns?
    "they used signs"
    Me: oh..didn't expect that

    • @zachdew9gaming985
      @zachdew9gaming985 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      And guns, how else would you explain the murder sign?

    • @RankinMsP
      @RankinMsP 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      😂😂😂

  • @marroonrider3193
    @marroonrider3193 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    the fact that you depicted indigenous americans accurately will never be forgotten my be. thank you🪶🖤

  • @cekan14
    @cekan14 3 ปีที่แล้ว +68

    Apart from that, there was a really simple method that was also used: once Spaniards and native people had intercoursed, their children grew learning basically the two languages, and could later be interpreters for one another. This was the case of La Malinche, a mestiza who helped Hernán Cortés comunicate with the Aztecs before and during the conquest of Mexico.

    • @goodaimshield1115
      @goodaimshield1115 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      la malinche was not mestiza

    • @tweaker1bms
      @tweaker1bms 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      That seems...a little slow.

  • @shahinchoudhury8256
    @shahinchoudhury8256 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    i was having this question for such a long time.
    thanks.

  • @sciencer7005
    @sciencer7005 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    I imagine a Translator saying: They want you to go away

  • @ReydelCiguay
    @ReydelCiguay 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    Gotta enjoy, although brief, this small history of my island 🇩🇴 but yeaa even within Hispaniola, the Tribes there spoke different dialects (Classical Taino, Ciboney, Macorix, Ciguayo). Since Spaniards didn’t really understand, they labeled everyone who helped them as Taino (good people) and Caribs (Those who wanted to do harm to them).

  • @outaouaishockey
    @outaouaishockey 3 ปีที่แล้ว +43

    I have probably heard the name James Bissonette more than any historical character by now. Must be a great man.

    • @jacobpeters5458
      @jacobpeters5458 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Bissonette. James, Bissonette

    • @jamesbissonette8002
      @jamesbissonette8002 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Meh, not that great

    • @deiansalazar140
      @deiansalazar140 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@jamesbissonette8002 So do you make a lot of money? And how do you feel about being a meme now?

  • @iVerse2043
    @iVerse2043 ปีที่แล้ว

    I was wondering this yesterday and totally didn't search it up or mention it on this browser but somehow this video from 1 year ago popped up in the recommendations.

  • @Iron-Bridge
    @Iron-Bridge 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    Great question. Always wanted to know about this. Looks like the first brutal beginnings of comprehensible input in learning and teaching foreign languages. Thank goodness for Duolingo, Babbel and Rosetta Stone now 😊

  • @Numba003
    @Numba003 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    There’s something just so satisfying about watching these little rectangular guys and their signs lol. Thank you for another fun one!
    Stay well out there everybody, and God bless you friends. :)

    • @gram.
      @gram. 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      You too, big guy, with your wholesome comment. Best wishes.

  • @pedrogrande0889
    @pedrogrande0889 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I am a simple man, when I see history matters video. I click.

  • @nathanfrancis9411
    @nathanfrancis9411 ปีที่แล้ว

    Omg that murder sign animation was so cold-blooded… funniest thing I’ve seen on the internet in a little😂

  • @colekopczynski45
    @colekopczynski45 3 ปีที่แล้ว +167

    The theme song for this period of history would be the pokemon theme song, with the word pokemon replaced with colonise.

    • @silverhost9782
      @silverhost9782 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      Gotta colonise em all

    • @Sillyboi05
      @Sillyboi05 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      @@andrewwalter7991 I appreciate this song. Have a like, fellow internet user!

    • @edmundthespiffing2920
      @edmundthespiffing2920 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@andrewwalter7991 I can't stop laughing! I can't breath 😂😂😂

    • @LegoBob4123
      @LegoBob4123 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@andrewwalter7991 Replace “Understand” with “subjugate”

    • @lyly_lei_lei
      @lyly_lei_lei 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@andrewwalter7991 I’m disappointed you didn’t write:
      “It’s you and me
      Manifesting my destiny”
      Manifest Destiny was an American policy but it was about subjugating and integrating the lands from sea to shining sea.

  • @madsgram8437
    @madsgram8437 3 ปีที่แล้ว +77

    Your list of Patreons at the end, sounds like names of people who would make a great crew for a pirate ship.

    • @shan4680
      @shan4680 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      James Bissonette is a great name for the captain!

    • @ErminDedicNT
      @ErminDedicNT 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@shan4680 Yeah, sounds iconic

    • @jamesbissonette8002
      @jamesbissonette8002 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I feel I would get sea sick

    • @jupiter1789
      @jupiter1789 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@jamesbissonette8002 will....you can just fund the ocean and make it stable

  • @AlfredoPuente8
    @AlfredoPuente8 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    1:43 They really liked slaves back in the day even his afro-americans think only one kind of people was the slaver.

  • @BillySnuggles
    @BillySnuggles 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    For some reason I couldn't sleep last night; my brain just kept asking this question over and over, but I was too tired to get up and research it. Thank you for giving me succor.

  • @obstrepousi4339
    @obstrepousi4339 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    i didnt know that i desperately needed to know this

    • @Josef-v8i
      @Josef-v8i 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Same.

  • @doctorgroovyproductions
    @doctorgroovyproductions 3 ปีที่แล้ว +42

    Plot Twist: James Bisonette is Actually the real name of History Matters

    • @oilersridersbluejays
      @oilersridersbluejays 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      That’s been said on literally every History Matters comments section.
      Getting old…

    • @jamesbissonette8002
      @jamesbissonette8002 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Definitely not

    • @writerconsidered
      @writerconsidered 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@jamesbissonette8002 THE James Bissonette. Curious do you enjoy reading all the comments about you?

    • @jamesbissonette8002
      @jamesbissonette8002 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@writerconsidered of course! It’s ridiculous and surreal but always entertaining.

  • @Komnenos83
    @Komnenos83 2 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    Why are so many people saying "with guns"? Europeans literally allied with many native tribes who willingly fought and traded alongside Europeans. This isn't as one sided as you want it to be.

    • @oscaralegre3683
      @oscaralegre3683 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      especially in latín América. Most native got along with the spanish people

    • @timohara7717
      @timohara7717 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Those were the first probably, the later ones reported their haniuas acts and when colonizing it made our ancestors untrustworthy of those similar looking to their murderers

  • @blest_mango7441
    @blest_mango7441 3 ปีที่แล้ว +23

    "why did the Empire of Brazil become a republic?" would be an interesting future video idea.

    • @somefuckinchump
      @somefuckinchump 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Too niche.

    • @hongxiuquan69
      @hongxiuquan69 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @საბა
      When?

    • @hongxiuquan69
      @hongxiuquan69 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @საბა
      That doesn't even make sense.

    • @thedudeabides3138
      @thedudeabides3138 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Because they liked bananas?

    • @joseluisprz94
      @joseluisprz94 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      There are countries that did the right thing by getting rid of their monarchies but Brazil was definitely not one of them.