January 2006
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January 2006Wealth, Power and Its End.http://www.raken.com/american_wealth/ The first 200 years of American economic history were characterized by the dominance of large landowners and daring merchants, who developed the cities and pioneered in finance and industry Wealthy Amsterdam pearl merchant Kiliaen Van Rensselaer (1580-1644) got Rensselaerswyck from the Dutch West India Company in 1630, it was a little significant reward for one of the company's founders and powerful directors. Kiliaen never happened to visit his estate, leaving its management to his cousin Arent Van Curler (1619-1667). The silver kings of Nevada's Comstock Lode Eleven years after the great California gold rush, the second large mining bonanza was uncovered under Mount Davidson in Western Nevada, just across the Sierra. George Hearst, the father of press lord William Randolph Hearst, had come to California in 1850 and worked for nine years as a placer miner on the Mother Lode and store owner in Sacramento without significant success. In 1859 he learnt from Grass Valley assayer Melville Atwood that there was silver rich ore in the Washoe range worth 3’000 $ a ton, which was systematically being thrown away by the ignorant placer miners and gold seekers. This brought him to the Comstock Lode, where he acquired a one sixth interest in the famous Ophir mine On January 4th 1848, James Marshall discovered gold on the location of a saw mill, he was building for John August Sutter at Coloma, California. Sutter was a Swiss emigrant who had settled in California in 1839 and taken Mexican citizenship to build a large agricultural estate around what later became Sacramento. He had received a land grant of 47'827 acres in 1841 to found New Helvetia and another one of 96'800 acres (the Sobrante grant) in 1844, in rewards of military services rendered. John August Sutter supported California's struggle for independence but not necessarily its' joining the United States. In the agricultural country California was prior to the gold rush, Johann August Sutter counted among the most powerful men, although his financial resources were by far not as abundant as many of his contemporaries thought. Sutter tried to keep the gold finds secret or at least minimize their implications, but Sam Brannan, a ruthless adventurer and merchant, who had led a group of Mormons to California, amplified the news in a series of articles in the "California Star" a San Francisco newspaper he had founded. Brannan owned the dry goods store near Sutter Fort and rightly guessed that a gold rush to the Sacramento River would make him rich. Subsequent gold findings by General John Bidwell in the Feather River and by Major Pearson B. Reading in the Trinity River confirmed the rumors and the California Gold Rush of 1848 was soon raging in America and the World. 500'000 people, mostly young men, would follow the lure of instant wealth and travel to the Pacific, by land over the Oregon, the Mormon or the Santa Fe trails or by sea, first around Cape Horn and later through Panama or Nicaragua. Most of these men would become placer miners and seek their luck washing out the California rivers for gold. Few actually made large fortunes as gold miners but substantial wealth was created overall (in California and the USA) by their labors. Early Civilizationshttp://www.crystalinks.com/kassites.html Back to early times, in Mesopotamia, modern Iraq, which the wealth of the above mentioned merchants was able to destroy. http://www.crystalinks.com/hittites.html The Hittites, who followed the early Mesopotamians. The Hittites Empire stretched from Mesopotamia to Syria and Palestine. Their invasion spelled the end of the Old Babylonian empire in Mesopotamia. The Hittite civilization dominated Mesopotamia from 1600 BC to 1200 BC. Their civilization ended abruptly just as it had started. Hittite cities and territories thrived independently until they were finally conquered most likely by the Assyrians and others.
Assyriahttp://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/greek-babylon.html Ancient History Sourcebook: Greek Reports of Babylonia, Chaldea, and Assyria Indiahttp://www.harappa.com/har/har0.html\ Mohenjo-Daro, or "Mound of the Dead" is an ancient Indus River Valley city that flourished between 2600 and 1900 BCE. It was one of the first world and ancient Indian cities. The site was discovered in the 1920s and lies in Pakistan's Sindh province. Only a handful of archaeologists have excavated here. The transition of civilization takes place due to commerce. The Persian/Arabian gulf was the sea route that connected the Mesopotamians and Indians.
Christian InfluenceJudaism, Christianity, and Islam are sometimes referred to as the "Abrahamic religions", because of the role Abraham plays in their holy books and beliefs. In the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Abraham is described as a patriarch blessed by God (the Jewish people called him "Father Abraham"), and promised great things, father of the People of Israel through his son Isaac; the Qur'an further says Ishmael as the father of the Arabs. In Islam, Abraham is considered to be one of the most important of the many prophets sent by God. In Christian belief, Abraham is a model of faith, and his intention to obey God by offering up Isaac is seen as a foreshadowing of God's offering of his son, Jesus. The birthplace of Abraham was Mesopotamia, and he migrated to Palestine and from where his descendants became a race, recognized by many as the "chosen" race. Ultimately the beliefs propounded by Jesus Christ, enveloped the world and was a catalyst in the development of the modern civilization. The spread of Christian beliefs.The apostles of Jesus, went to the known parts of the world where the Jews were dispersed after the destruction of their temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Not all the Jews accepted the teaching of their fellow Jew, Jesus Christ, and retained the old beliefs. However today, the followers of Jesus far exceed any other founder of religions. St. Peter became the bishop of Rome, the capital city of the Roman empire. The empire was divided in two parts, the eastern was called Byzantine and was predominantly Greek. Europe received Christianity due to the missionary efforts of the early monks of the Western Church. St. Thomas reached Cochin, in India where there was a Jewish synagogue and from him the indigenous Indians too received the faith. Christianization of the Roman EmpireThree men who changed the history of the Roman empire were Marcus Licinius Crassus (53 BC), one of Rome's richest men ever. Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (106-48 BC), known as Pompey the Great, perhaps the greatest military talent of his time, and Gaius Julius Caesar (102-44 BC), arguably the most famous Roman of all times.
Augustus CaesarGaius Julius Octavius - Augustus born on 23 September 63 BC in Rome, son of Gaius Octavius and Aita, niece of Julius Caesar, who adopted him as his heir. Consul 43, 33, 31-23 BC. Effectively became emperor in 27 BC, with extended powers in 23 BC. Married (1) Claudia, (2) Scribonia (one daughter; Julia), (3) Drusilia (one son; Tiberius). Died at Nola, 19 August AD 14. Deified on 17 September AD 14. 1.And it came to pass, that in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that the whole world should be enrolled. 2 This enrolling was first made by Cyrinus, the governor of Syria. (Luke Ch. 2 Verses 1-2). Ancient Europe: Gaul (modern France)
In English the word Gaul also refers to a Celtic inhabitant of that region in ancient times, but the Gauls were widespread in Europe by Roman times, speaking the Gaulish language. Besides the Gauls living on the territory of modern-day France, there were the Lepontii who had settled in the plains of northern Italy (Gallia Cisalpina), and the Helvetii who settled to the north of the alps, in Raetia. GermanyThe medieval empire – known for much of its existence as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation but also as the "Holy Roman Empire" – stemmed from a division of the Carolingian Empire in 843, which was founded by Charlemagne on 25 December 800, and existed in varying forms until 1806, its territory stretching from the river Eider in the north to the Mediterranean coast in the south. During this period of almost a thousand years, the Germans expanded their influence successfully with the help of the Roman Catholic Church, the Teutonic Order and the Hanseatic League to the East. In 1530, the attempt of the Protestant Reformation of Catholicism turned out to have failed, and a separate Protestant church was acknowledged as new state religion in many states of Germany. This led to inter-German strife, the Thirty Years War (1618) and finally the Peace of Westphalia (1648), that resulted in a drastically enfeebled and politically disunited Germany, unable to resist the stroke of the Napoleonic Wars, during which the Imperium was overrun and dissolved (1806). The lasting effect of the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire came to be the division between Austria, formerly the leading state of Germany, from the more western and northern parts. Englandhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext96/achoe10.txt "If you look at a Map of the World, you will see, in the left-hand upper corner of the Eastern Hemisphere, two Islands lying in the sea. They are England and Scotland, and Ireland. England and Scotland form the greater part of these Islands. Ireland is the next in size. The little neighboring islands, which are so small upon the Map as to be mere dots, are chiefly little bits of Scotland, - broken off, I dare say, in the course of a great length of time, by the power of the restless water." wrote Charles Dickens to the children of England. "The Britons had a strange and terrible religion, called the Religion of the Druids. It seems to have been brought over, in very early times indeed, from the opposite country of France, anciently called Gaul, and to have mixed up the worship of the Serpent, and of the Sun and Moon, with the worship of some of the Heathen Gods and Goddesses." "The Romans had scarcely gone away from Britain, when the Britons began to wish they had never left it. The Britons being much reduced in numbers by their long wars, the Picts and Scots came pouring in, over the broken and unguarded wall built by the Romans, in swarms. They plundered the richest towns, and killed the people; and came back so often for more booty and more slaughter, that the unfortunate Britons lived a life of terror. As if the Picts and Scots were not bad enough on land, the Saxons attacked the islanders by sea; and, as if something more were still wanting to make them miserable" Europe before the acceptance of Christianity was considered as the land of the "Barbarians" or bearded warriors. They were very ferocious, and their cold climatic conditions must have made them hardy people. They migrated eastwards and westwards, and the Saxons and Teutons who came from Germany, there were also Vikings and Norsemen to attacked England from the North. Thus the Anglo-Saxon race while living in the confines of a small island in comparison to the European mainland, could build the largest empire, on which the sun would not set. It was the expense incurred to fight the world wars that destroyed them. In order to save the Jews from persecution, they had to fight Hitler. However, one studies history only from the victor's point of view. There are always two sides to a coin, and both sides have their grievances, to settle which they go to wars, according to the ancient custom of their ancestors. Human beings have such poor memory or lack of inclination to study history. Every civilization from Mesopotamia till today's Super Power can only be destroyed from within: its greed, its foolish policies, and spending more than they earn. All the wealth accumulated by their ancestors will be washed down the drain, by the misadventures of future generations. Hurricane KatrinaThe official death toll now stands at 1,383, the third highest in US history (behind the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and the Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928). 6,644 others remain unaccounted for, with 1,300 of them "feared dead". The damage is estimated to be from $100 to $200 billion , at least double from previously most expensive Hurricane Andrew making Katrina the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history. Over a million people were displaced — a humanitarian crisis on a scale unseen in the U.S. since the Great Depression. In Louisiana, the hurricane's eye made landfall at 6:10am CDT on Monday, August 29. After 11:00 am CDT, several sections of the levee system in New Orleans collapsed. By early September, people were being forcibly evacuated, mostly by bus to neighboring states. Federal disaster declarations blanketed 90,000 square miles (233,000 km²) of the United States, an area almost as large as the United Kingdom. The hurricane left an estimated five million people without power, and it may take up to four months for all power to be restored. On September 3, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff described the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as "probably the worst catastrophe, or set of catastrophes" in the country's history, referring to the hurricane itself plus the flooding of New Orleans. Recently a friend of mine, a resident of Louisiana had to go to New Orleans, and after four months, the streets are still littered by upturned cars, destroyed houses, fallen trees. Why? Every one knows but political correctness demands that they support the President and his wars. New Orleans mayor has complained, that America has money to spend on wars, to bring democracy to people far away, but no money to help their citizens to the South. Rich people need "tax-breaks" and poor people should pay for it? This is the price of Capitalism in which few make money at the expense of the majority, who are dumb and ignorant.
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Gaius
Julius Caesar was born on 12 July 100 BC in Rome, son of Gaius Caesar and
Aurelia. Governor of Gaul 58-49 BC. Appointed dictator for ten years in 47 B,
for life on 14 February 44 BC. Married initially to Cornelia (one daughter,
Julia), then to Pompeia, alas to Calpurnia. Assassinated on 15 March 44 BC.
Deified in 42 BC.
Gaul
(from Latin Gallia, c.f. Greek Galatia) is the region of Western Europe occupied
by present-day France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the
Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river.