And the rest is History
I’m a guy who loves history. Reading history, events, wars, and biographies is my favorite activity. I’m always game for watching historical movies, plays and so on. History, especially if it is event filled, is an amazing material for reading and watching in movie form. You see, I love the books and movies which fall under the genre of ‘fantasy’, and believe me people, when I say that History, if well told, can better than any fantasy novel or movie you have read or seen (Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings included J). The reason I’m ready to stick out my neck so much for history is that, with fantasy, all the events however great they are, are unreal; whereas with history, every event is real, its causes are right there in your face and its effects can very much affect you directly.
To prove my point, let’s see an example. Take the event of the fall of Constantinople. This was a city in the erstwhile Byzantine Empire. On May 29, 1453 this mighty city fell to the heavy onslaught of the Turks and that day started the era of the Ottoman Empire which lasted till 1922, almost 500 years. Now, at first sight, the event seems to rank at grade say, 6 or 7 (on a scale of 1 to 10) of historic events, given that it laid the way for an empire that lasted 500 years. But what if I tell you that this event might very well have caused our whole nation of India to have been formed as we know it today and that this event might tell you why more than two-thirds of the world speaks in English today and furthermore, could also have been the deciding factor in the fact that we now go to colleges where they teach in English and follow the modern education system! Now what’s the grade? 10? 20? (Yeah, it’s still out of 10 guys J)
Taken aback? Well, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the power of History. To just put your minds to peace, allow me to explain my previous point. Constantinople, or Istanbul as it is known now, was a big trading center and more importantly, the center-knot of that mystical trade route that bound lands as far as China with the Europe and England – The Silk Route. Now, contrary to its name, this route was fraught with hazards. Passing over terrain as diverse as ocean fronts to deserts to perilous mountain tops, this route was used by Europeans to trade in silk and spices with Asia. It was the age when traveling was done on horsebacks and mules carried the burden. Now, although this trade route was passable for trade, it went over land and hence, was unusable for 3-4 months of winter when all the mountain passes closed with snow.
Now, this is just the part that nature played. The other player in the game was man. This trade route passed over territory controlled by innumerable lords, kings, emperors and through lands which were the strongholds of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Romans and so on. It was a route fraught with wars, disease, and unstable warlords sitting on tinderboxes ready with a torch to start a bloody war. Now, being an all land route, all the traders and their caravans had to take the risk that if the warlord through whose territory they were passing, chose to, he could block the trade route and steal all their possessions. There was nothing anyone could do to ensure that this entire route which spanned Europe and Asia could be kept open at all times. If a military power decided to ensure that this route stayed open, it would have to wage wars with every single power from Rome to the Calcutta and that meant maintaining supply lines stretching 2 continents. Try doing that with mules carrying your loads and horses carrying your army and you will understand the gravity of the situation. This route was kept open with the blessing of all, with the knowledge that it would benefit all.
This changed with May 29, 1453. The Turks conquered Constantinople. And the mighty Turks decided to stop this trade route. The “Silken” bond tying the Orient to Europe was broken. But history doesn’t stop for anybody. The wheels of innovation that were hitherto fuelled by hobby now started turning with the fuel of fight for survival and unhindered trade. It heralded in the era of the ocean and sea routes and mighty armies upon mighty ships. Britain, France, Spain, Portugal all answered the call of the ocean. It was the Age of Discovery and destiny was his who had the courage to fare the seas. There were people in Europe who could smell the Eastern spices on the salt of the seas, and were brave enough to face any peril at sea to reach that magical land of silks and pearls in the East. The powers of Europe fuelled this huge trade machine and explorers backed by Imperial wealth and need started searching for alternate trade routes, routes that would take them over nine seas and around the Cape of Good Hope (hitherto thought of as the place where Earth ended) and bring them to a paradise known to the entire world as “Indies”, our very own, India. It was during one such exploration that a young yet brave hearted man all of 29 years of age landed on May 20, 1498 at Calicut on the east coast of India, a man whose name is synonymous with the “advent of the West” – Vasco da Gama.
Due to the fact that finding a sea route to India had become a “need” rather than an alternative, the sea routes were discovered with a zeal far exceeding that of the surge to the West during the Gold Rush in the United States. Portuguese were followed by the British and French. As trading routes had become free of interference of crazy warlords and whimsical kings of the Middle East, trade doubled and quadrupled. Ships traveling east from Europe, started docking at various ports along the African continent. As a result, European settlements and culture were brought to Africa. The land of Africa which was hitherto impassable by land due to its impenetrable rain forests now lay open to European expansionists via the sea. The Indian subcontinent was by now experiencing the brunt of British and French expansion and colonization. From the western coast of Africa to the Far East, every land was now open to the military might of European powers like Britain, France, Portugal and Spain. Under the guise of protection of free trade (which some of the traders really believed in), trading companies started maintaining an army and navy. These trading companies which maintained trading posts all over Africa and India came under the protective umbrella of their respective governments. After all, trade with India meant money flowing into the government coffers. It was during this time that one such company was established in 1600 and which arrived in India with its pioneering traders around the turn of the 17th century, a company that would go on to establish the biggest and the most powerful Empire in the history of mankind – The British East India Company.
A land which was loosely held as one territory until then, when seen closely was a collage of hundreds of Maharajas, Princes and one defunct Mughal Emperor. The British East India Company would then go on a conquest that would establish an empire that finally and once and for all united all these big and small kingdoms and princely states into one country and give it the name: India. Commerce led to civic development. Cities were built. The British brought with them those tools of the west that changed the face of the subcontinent forever - trains, postal system, universities, highways, telegram and so on caused a metamorphosis of a populace that until then lived in self sufficient villages using old and archaic agriculture methods to survive.
And this was how the East was won - by sheer courage, innovation, politics, trade, war, and tactics. And the rest as they say….. is History…
To prove my point, let’s see an example. Take the event of the fall of Constantinople. This was a city in the erstwhile Byzantine Empire. On May 29, 1453 this mighty city fell to the heavy onslaught of the Turks and that day started the era of the Ottoman Empire which lasted till 1922, almost 500 years. Now, at first sight, the event seems to rank at grade say, 6 or 7 (on a scale of 1 to 10) of historic events, given that it laid the way for an empire that lasted 500 years. But what if I tell you that this event might very well have caused our whole nation of India to have been formed as we know it today and that this event might tell you why more than two-thirds of the world speaks in English today and furthermore, could also have been the deciding factor in the fact that we now go to colleges where they teach in English and follow the modern education system! Now what’s the grade? 10? 20? (Yeah, it’s still out of 10 guys J)
Taken aback? Well, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the power of History. To just put your minds to peace, allow me to explain my previous point. Constantinople, or Istanbul as it is known now, was a big trading center and more importantly, the center-knot of that mystical trade route that bound lands as far as China with the Europe and England – The Silk Route. Now, contrary to its name, this route was fraught with hazards. Passing over terrain as diverse as ocean fronts to deserts to perilous mountain tops, this route was used by Europeans to trade in silk and spices with Asia. It was the age when traveling was done on horsebacks and mules carried the burden. Now, although this trade route was passable for trade, it went over land and hence, was unusable for 3-4 months of winter when all the mountain passes closed with snow.
Now, this is just the part that nature played. The other player in the game was man. This trade route passed over territory controlled by innumerable lords, kings, emperors and through lands which were the strongholds of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Romans and so on. It was a route fraught with wars, disease, and unstable warlords sitting on tinderboxes ready with a torch to start a bloody war. Now, being an all land route, all the traders and their caravans had to take the risk that if the warlord through whose territory they were passing, chose to, he could block the trade route and steal all their possessions. There was nothing anyone could do to ensure that this entire route which spanned Europe and Asia could be kept open at all times. If a military power decided to ensure that this route stayed open, it would have to wage wars with every single power from Rome to the Calcutta and that meant maintaining supply lines stretching 2 continents. Try doing that with mules carrying your loads and horses carrying your army and you will understand the gravity of the situation. This route was kept open with the blessing of all, with the knowledge that it would benefit all.
This changed with May 29, 1453. The Turks conquered Constantinople. And the mighty Turks decided to stop this trade route. The “Silken” bond tying the Orient to Europe was broken. But history doesn’t stop for anybody. The wheels of innovation that were hitherto fuelled by hobby now started turning with the fuel of fight for survival and unhindered trade. It heralded in the era of the ocean and sea routes and mighty armies upon mighty ships. Britain, France, Spain, Portugal all answered the call of the ocean. It was the Age of Discovery and destiny was his who had the courage to fare the seas. There were people in Europe who could smell the Eastern spices on the salt of the seas, and were brave enough to face any peril at sea to reach that magical land of silks and pearls in the East. The powers of Europe fuelled this huge trade machine and explorers backed by Imperial wealth and need started searching for alternate trade routes, routes that would take them over nine seas and around the Cape of Good Hope (hitherto thought of as the place where Earth ended) and bring them to a paradise known to the entire world as “Indies”, our very own, India. It was during one such exploration that a young yet brave hearted man all of 29 years of age landed on May 20, 1498 at Calicut on the east coast of India, a man whose name is synonymous with the “advent of the West” – Vasco da Gama.
Due to the fact that finding a sea route to India had become a “need” rather than an alternative, the sea routes were discovered with a zeal far exceeding that of the surge to the West during the Gold Rush in the United States. Portuguese were followed by the British and French. As trading routes had become free of interference of crazy warlords and whimsical kings of the Middle East, trade doubled and quadrupled. Ships traveling east from Europe, started docking at various ports along the African continent. As a result, European settlements and culture were brought to Africa. The land of Africa which was hitherto impassable by land due to its impenetrable rain forests now lay open to European expansionists via the sea. The Indian subcontinent was by now experiencing the brunt of British and French expansion and colonization. From the western coast of Africa to the Far East, every land was now open to the military might of European powers like Britain, France, Portugal and Spain. Under the guise of protection of free trade (which some of the traders really believed in), trading companies started maintaining an army and navy. These trading companies which maintained trading posts all over Africa and India came under the protective umbrella of their respective governments. After all, trade with India meant money flowing into the government coffers. It was during this time that one such company was established in 1600 and which arrived in India with its pioneering traders around the turn of the 17th century, a company that would go on to establish the biggest and the most powerful Empire in the history of mankind – The British East India Company.
A land which was loosely held as one territory until then, when seen closely was a collage of hundreds of Maharajas, Princes and one defunct Mughal Emperor. The British East India Company would then go on a conquest that would establish an empire that finally and once and for all united all these big and small kingdoms and princely states into one country and give it the name: India. Commerce led to civic development. Cities were built. The British brought with them those tools of the west that changed the face of the subcontinent forever - trains, postal system, universities, highways, telegram and so on caused a metamorphosis of a populace that until then lived in self sufficient villages using old and archaic agriculture methods to survive.
And this was how the East was won - by sheer courage, innovation, politics, trade, war, and tactics. And the rest as they say….. is History…
posted by Viraj Datar | 10:51 AM
2 Comments:
If only someone at school had told me that History wasnt about boring facts but actually His-Story... highly engrossing !
Viraj - thot of giving a try at being a history prof ?
i never thot a suject as boooooooring as hisory cud be so interesting so as to affect my very being and they way i am today...
guess the power of past on our present and future is always miscontrued....
very very well written... :)
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