I saw this meme while looking for memes on pepper.
No, wait, it wasn't that, but I'll leave it up anyway in case anyone wants something spicy.
This was the one I saw, along with another one shown below.
Of course, the second one is correct, since the Americas still would have existed even with cheaper pepper.
But it just goes to show the causes and effects of history. Europeans knew of vast riches to the east, yet struggled to find a way to travel there and access them. Little was known about the geography or the shape of the world. The Ottomans blocked Europeans' access to the east, so they searched for other ways. The Portuguese tried to explore the coast of Africa to see if there was a way around Africa. Columbus wanted to convince Spain to finance a voyage heading west, believing that the Atlantic and Pacific were a single ocean which he could cross to reach "The Indies," as it was called at the time. Such a voyage was considered foolhardy and dangerous, and it would almost certainly end in failure, disaster, or death.
In other words, there had to be a pretty powerful incentive for people to engage in such a risky and dangerous enterprise. It probably wasn't just for cheaper pepper, but what if the Ottomans had been more amicable in allowing trade access? Or what if the Byzantine Empire had been strong enough to repel the Ottomans and keep trade routes to Asia open? There might not have ever been any strong incentive to explore other paths.
America probably still would have been "discovered," but under completely different circumstances - and it most likely would have been called something else.
But the expansionist greed of the Ottomans led to the expansionist greed of the Europeans, who created expansionist greedy colonies in the Americas.
All because we wanted cheaper pepper. I don't even like pepper that much.
What a world we live in. Any thoughts?
No, wait, it wasn't that, but I'll leave it up anyway in case anyone wants something spicy.
This was the one I saw, along with another one shown below.
Of course, the second one is correct, since the Americas still would have existed even with cheaper pepper.
But it just goes to show the causes and effects of history. Europeans knew of vast riches to the east, yet struggled to find a way to travel there and access them. Little was known about the geography or the shape of the world. The Ottomans blocked Europeans' access to the east, so they searched for other ways. The Portuguese tried to explore the coast of Africa to see if there was a way around Africa. Columbus wanted to convince Spain to finance a voyage heading west, believing that the Atlantic and Pacific were a single ocean which he could cross to reach "The Indies," as it was called at the time. Such a voyage was considered foolhardy and dangerous, and it would almost certainly end in failure, disaster, or death.
In other words, there had to be a pretty powerful incentive for people to engage in such a risky and dangerous enterprise. It probably wasn't just for cheaper pepper, but what if the Ottomans had been more amicable in allowing trade access? Or what if the Byzantine Empire had been strong enough to repel the Ottomans and keep trade routes to Asia open? There might not have ever been any strong incentive to explore other paths.
America probably still would have been "discovered," but under completely different circumstances - and it most likely would have been called something else.
But the expansionist greed of the Ottomans led to the expansionist greed of the Europeans, who created expansionist greedy colonies in the Americas.
All because we wanted cheaper pepper. I don't even like pepper that much.
What a world we live in. Any thoughts?