A LESSON IN HISTORY!

"Everything that has happened since the marvellous discovery of the Americas.... has been so extraordinary that the whole story remains quite incredible to anyone who has not experienced it at first hand."

A Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies
Bartolomé de las casas (1552)

Don't tell anyone, but I'm a history geek! I know, it doesn't go with the image I try to portray of myself, but I guess you should never judge a book by its cover! It has been an affliction that had effected me from childhood. From loving every National Trust home I went to as a child, to asking my boyfriend of the time for the latest book on the history of London for my birthday present (He looked mortified, but brought it me anyway: That's love for you). I can tell you everything from the history of the French monarchy, to Victorian London Slums, from the crusaders in the holy land to the fall of the Roman Empire. It all fascinates me. I'm a little obsessed in fact.

While traveling South America last year, I realised I knew nothing about the history of Latin America, apart from that guy called called Columbus. Since then I have emersed myself in it, and it has probably become my favourite part of history, because I believe that the discovery of the Americas is the most important event that has happened in history. It was the meeting of two worlds that had no idea of the existence of each other and it changed the world forever and shaped the world we live in today. I thought the British had done some bad things in history, but from what I now know, I believe the Spanish Conquistadors were the most brutal colonisers of all time. They came, conquered and destroyed the natives who were quite happy with their simple lives and enforced their rules, their religion and their way of life upon them. The Europeans exploited the indigenous people of the Americas, and it still goes on today. It is glaringly obvious that a mainly European-descended Latino elite rules a mainly Indian population. Politicians, doctors, businessman, journalists, landowners, TV personalities are all Latino. The more Indian a person, the poorer they are. The more Latino, the richer. I have seen this all through out my time in Latin America, this because is because the main population is still indigenous, not like in North America. In fact I have never seen a native North American Indian in my life (maybe this is a worse fact)?
I was determined while I was in Mexico, that I had to go and see Chichén Itzá ( or chicken Pizza as my sister calls it, but what the hell does she know)! Now one of the new Seven wonders of the world, it is probably one of the best left monuments of pre conquest civilisation. It was built by the Mayans, who ancestors still populate this area of Mexico today. Me and Hendrik decided to take a day trip from playa del Carmen to see it. I hate these tourist day trips (you get herded around like cattle) but due to the lack of time left to us on our trip, we decided it was the best option. It was as bad as we thought it would be. They picked us up late and we were all packed into a mini bus that didn't have enough room for us all. What was worse, as me and Hendrik were the last to be picked up, we got shoved into the back which was the smallest and as Hendrik is quite well built and not small at 6'2 it was squashed! To make things worse I was wedged between Hendrik and a Brazilian guy of the same build. There was no room. For three hours we sat like that in the heat, with no head rest. I was very uncomfortable, the Brazilian guy huffed and sulked a lot (I'd forgotten what diva's Latin men can be!) and Hendrik just sat there happily and ate lots of bananas! Oh and I forgot there was another Mexican girl shoved in there with us. We stopped off for a toilet break but our driver decided to go AWOL for about half an hour. The Brazilian guys were going mental, the rest of our group sulked in the bus and I asked around and through my bad Spanish discovered that the driver has just pop back to his house for a bit! What the hell!
The driver eventually returned and we made it to Chichén Itzá. It became apparent when we arrived that me and Hendrik were the real only non Spanish speakers in our group. When anyone speaks Spanish to Hendrik he just looks shocked and shouts "English"?
I tell him you should at least say "Can you speak English?" it's more polite. He just looks at me as if to say your so English. As he speaks no Spanish it was left to me to sort it out. What then ensued was an argument with the driver in the car park about how we were promised a English guide and a German guide. The driver laughs at me. The rest of the group look on as if to say:
1. God she is brave and amazing.
2. This girl is crazy. She makes no sense as her Spanish is so bad.
I think they were thinking option 2, but something must of got across because before we know, Hendrik is shoved with a German group and I'm put in an English group full of fat Americans and Chav Russians.

It doesn't matter though, I'm so happy learning about the history and the buildings, which even though they are covered in tourists are still amazing. Most of my own group, though seem to be more preoccupied with taking shit tourist photos of themselves than listening to the history (This annoys history geeks like me)! Speaking of annoying, I feel I might of annoyed my guide a bit. I'm like one of those over eager students that puts their hands up and wants to answer every question and then asks too many in return. He's a good guide and he knows his stuff, but then he's says something:
Guide: "Well lots of people ask me how true, Mel Gibson's apolcalypto is and I say it's rubbish. The height of the empire had finished by the time the conquistadors arrived in Mexico and their were no human sacrifices then."
Wait a second! I don't agree. It's burning inside of me. I can't help myself.
Me: "Well actually, yes that is right for the Mayan's, but when Cortes and the Conquistadors arrived they first encounter the Aztec's who were at the height of their power with Montezuma and still did human sacrifice!
Guide: I only deal with Mayan history, I don't do Aztec's!
The guide looks blankly at me for a second, then decides to move a long to the next site and ignores me. I think he hates me. I don't care. I know I'm right.
We finish the day swimming in cendotes and have another horrible squashed bus journey back, but I don't care. I had another lesson in history that day.

HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT LATIN AMERICA

* Hernán Cortés conquered Mexico with just 500 men, 13 horses and a couple of cannons against a estimated population of 25.5 million.

* The conquest of the Americas was the biggest holocaust in history. The Europeans did not kill most of the Indians with the sword but with disease i.e Small pox. The estimated population of the Americas before the conquistadors in 1518 was 100 million. By 1570 it was 10 million. They had killed off one fifth of the whole human population on earth in 50 years.

* Hardly any of the names of the Americas, represent their indigenous origins.
Colombia: named after a Italian who never set foot on its soil.
Bolivia: after Simón Bolivár, a Latino Venezuelan that spent 2 weeks there.
Amazon: named after a Greek legend of women warriors from Turkey.
Indians: named after a country on the other side of the planet.
The America's: named after another Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, who sailed to the coastline a few times.
Latin America: named after the conquerors!

* Don't even get me started on North America.

* Finally I leave you with a quote from a book I was reading in Mexico called the Gringo Trail by Mark Mann. It summed everything up:
"The Indian, was in a state of being content simply to be in his natural environment, because he thought it was perfect. The white man, on the other hand was in a state of becoming, always striving to change himself and his environment. He didn't know what it was to be at peace with the world around him".
It is this problem that poisons the world today.
I hope you enjoyed your history lesson.