Ch.'s 17, 18, & 20

Blog: Ch’s 17, 18 & 20

I really enjoyed reading chapter seventeen because it is a great example of Strayer’s method of reflecting how events throughout history influence and ignite other events and ideas oceans away.  The spread of these European ideas was enabled by the Chinese invention of the printing press: “newspapers, books, and pamphlets” (pg. 500).  This mode of communication was utilized by abolitionist efforts in Britain in the late eighteenth century, provoking religious, economic, and political sentiments against slavery.  Interestingly enough while slavery had become unpopular in Britain, racial superiority was exercised throughout the British colonies of South Africa.  Racial separation developed for years into the nineteench and twentieth century. This system of inferior housing, educational systems, and public facilities was termed apartheid. 

In reading about the Haitian Revolution, and the renaming of Haiti after the natives had gained independence from Europe, I was shocked to learn that some natives referred to themselves as “Incas”  (pg. 509).  Strayer does not expand on this and this was the first time I have heard a historian state this fact.  This begs the question, how would Incan natives, who demographically belong to the Andean region, end up in an island in the Caribbean?  One would reasonably assume that since the Andean region and Caribbean islands were both under Spanish colonial control, Inca natives could have been relocated by way of slave trade.  But this assumption does not coincide with the Atlantic Slave trade of the time, flowing east to west.  Before the arrival of the Spanish to Haiti, there were natives on this island.  So, where did these natives originate from?  Flipping back to Strayer’s map of early planet population, humans did migrate from North America into South America about 12,500 years ago, also migrating to the Caribbean islands.  But this preceded the emergence of the Incas in the 1500’s.  I would be interested in researching any archaeological or linguistic evidence in Haiti that may link the natives to the Quechua speaking Inca people. 

In reading about the industrialization of the United States I was intrigued on the topic of socialist movements.   I often wondered why this idea never took root in the United States since we echoed many European ideas of that time.  I always chalked it up to our strong capitalistic roots, but this was never satisfactory to me.  Why did working class frustrations in Europe, during the Industrial Era, spur trade unions and socialism, yet the United States which was struggling with the same social struggles, did not appeal to these reforms? Strayer points to the American Federation of Labor, the major union organization at the time, did not align with any political party.  The second answer Strayer indicates, is land owners were less likely to be attracted to socialism and the United States (thanks to many land grants) had greater land owners than that of our Industrialized cousins in Britain.  The final answer that Strayer gives in response to this question is the sharp class and racial divides at the time, not found in the more homogenous Britain.