To an Attempted Explanation I
Rachel, this doesn't have much to do with you today. Gonna try something new--see if I like it.
Alright bitches, here's a history lesson--so listen up. A long, long time ago there was something called the Silk Road. For almost a thousand years a network of trade routes spanned China to the east, Central Asia, Northern India, and to the very west, the Roman Empire in Europe. A little factoid: this is how Buddhism spread from India to China. POP QUIZ: who made the most bank out of this Silk Road? What is it you say? China--after all the Silk Road is named after Chinese Silk right? NOPE. The Silk Road didn't do shit compared to the other things that were happening in China then. It was actually them Middle Easterners and them Indians that made it all rain. These two groups were in the middle of everything, and all traders had to go through their territory. Let's concentrate on the Middle East for the rest of this post, cuz this is the starting point for the shit storm I'm gonna attempt to explain.
So historically, the Middle East had been hella important to the the trade of goods, transit of people and ideas, and passage of armies. They were also the reason the Silk Road continued; they spent crazy cash on maintaining a safe network of trade routes. The Middle East prospered like no other, so they bred like rabbits, had a huge population explosion, but more importantly, because of the lengthy development of urban civilization, and ease of access, the Middle East was "the cradle of important works of law, religion, sciences, and the arts" DAMN!
But then one badass mofo named Magellan came along and something happened. BAM! Circumnavigation. Magellan proved the world--with his janky ass ship (seriously it was pretty bad you should look this up) and his crew of prisoners--that sailing around the world was possible. Oh, did I mention that HE NAMED THE PACIFIC OCEAN? What a boss. Anyway, the Middle Easterners were like "Let's trade homies. Where tha money at?" And the rest of the world was like "fuck that, we got sails bitches."
Up till Magellan, the states and merchants of those regions maintained a near monopoly of international transit and trade. All of a sudden, the Middle East wasn't important anymore. It's like William Hung from American Idol that one year; "Sting like a Bee" was on everyone's mind, but now no one gives a shit about him anymore. The Middle East gradually lost it's power and with the draining political influence, the European powers came in and took over the new worldwide system of nautical trade. The end result was an unprecedented integration of the world economy, and a hegemony of modern capitalism based on the West.
The Europeans were the big boys now. By the 19th century, the Middle Easterners were on the sidelines now sucking on their thumbs. Actually, they sucked so hard that even in the age of imperialism, states like Yemen and Saudi Arabia that bordered European powers were left alone because they were seen as desolate wastelands with no resources--any conquest there wouldn't be worthwhile.
Guess what happens next?
Ah yes, Oil is discovered in 1932. From here, things go cray cray. But I'll leave it for another post.
Alright bitches, here's a history lesson--so listen up. A long, long time ago there was something called the Silk Road. For almost a thousand years a network of trade routes spanned China to the east, Central Asia, Northern India, and to the very west, the Roman Empire in Europe. A little factoid: this is how Buddhism spread from India to China. POP QUIZ: who made the most bank out of this Silk Road? What is it you say? China--after all the Silk Road is named after Chinese Silk right? NOPE. The Silk Road didn't do shit compared to the other things that were happening in China then. It was actually them Middle Easterners and them Indians that made it all rain. These two groups were in the middle of everything, and all traders had to go through their territory. Let's concentrate on the Middle East for the rest of this post, cuz this is the starting point for the shit storm I'm gonna attempt to explain.
So historically, the Middle East had been hella important to the the trade of goods, transit of people and ideas, and passage of armies. They were also the reason the Silk Road continued; they spent crazy cash on maintaining a safe network of trade routes. The Middle East prospered like no other, so they bred like rabbits, had a huge population explosion, but more importantly, because of the lengthy development of urban civilization, and ease of access, the Middle East was "the cradle of important works of law, religion, sciences, and the arts" DAMN!
But then one badass mofo named Magellan came along and something happened. BAM! Circumnavigation. Magellan proved the world--with his janky ass ship (seriously it was pretty bad you should look this up) and his crew of prisoners--that sailing around the world was possible. Oh, did I mention that HE NAMED THE PACIFIC OCEAN? What a boss. Anyway, the Middle Easterners were like "Let's trade homies. Where tha money at?" And the rest of the world was like "fuck that, we got sails bitches."
Up till Magellan, the states and merchants of those regions maintained a near monopoly of international transit and trade. All of a sudden, the Middle East wasn't important anymore. It's like William Hung from American Idol that one year; "Sting like a Bee" was on everyone's mind, but now no one gives a shit about him anymore. The Middle East gradually lost it's power and with the draining political influence, the European powers came in and took over the new worldwide system of nautical trade. The end result was an unprecedented integration of the world economy, and a hegemony of modern capitalism based on the West.
The Europeans were the big boys now. By the 19th century, the Middle Easterners were on the sidelines now sucking on their thumbs. Actually, they sucked so hard that even in the age of imperialism, states like Yemen and Saudi Arabia that bordered European powers were left alone because they were seen as desolate wastelands with no resources--any conquest there wouldn't be worthwhile.
Guess what happens next?
Ah yes, Oil is discovered in 1932. From here, things go cray cray. But I'll leave it for another post.
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