Civilization #44: The Spanish Conquest of the New World

Okay, good morning. So today we are doing, um, the European conquest of the New World, meaning North and South America. Um, and, um, so these people who start to conquer the New World are called the conquistadors, which is Spanish for conquerors. These are mercenaries. They're bandits. They're lower-class people who have to leave Spain and Portugal and look for new opportunities in South and Central America. Okay.

So, um, some basic history. Remember that, um, when we discussed the Islamic Golden Age, um, the Islamic Empire was sort of to connect the world in globalized trade, and the networks ran all the way from Central, um, Asia over to China, into Europe, and even into parts of Africa. There's the, um, maritime Silk Road that they created, uh, because they want the porcelain from China. They also have an overland Silk Road. Okay.

And at this point in history, Spain, which is called Al-Andalus, it's part of the, um, Islamic world, and it, it is integrated heavily into the Islamic world. Um, it's become very wealthy, very cosmopolitan. Um, because of this, this globalized trade becomes much more concentrated, becomes much more rapid during the Mongolian conquest. Okay. And, um, because of the Mongolian Empire, the Pax Mongolica, um, a lot of knowledge, a lot of trade is being transferred from the East to the West, including paper, which is made in, um, which was first invented in China, but also gunpowder.

Next class, we talk about the gunpowder revolution, which marks a radical change in how the world, uh, works. Um, so, um, historically, we have considered the Vikings to be the first to explore the New World. Remember that when we discussed the Vikings, they made it all the way to present-day Newfoundland, um, and found a colony called Vinland. Um, but the colony didn't last very long, and that was the first encounter between the Europeans and the native people of North America. Um, the thing that you learn in this class that's very important to understand is the world has always been interconnected in some capacity. It's always been globalized. So we can assume that even before the Vikings, there were some encounters between the Old World and the New World. It could have been the Egyptians. It could have been the Harappans of the Indus Valley civilization. It could also been the Chinese. Okay. Just because we don't have written records or archeological evidence does not mean that there was no contact. We have to assume that there was some limited contact between these worlds. Okay.

But it's only until the 16th century when, uh, the Old World and the New Worlds begin to collide with each other violently. And the reason why is that, um, Spain was eventually reconquered by the Europeans and it became Christian, and because of that, Spain lost its trade routes in the Islamic world. Also, at this particular time in history, the Ottoman Empire is rising in power, and what's really important is that in 1453, they conquer Constantinople, which is, which was the seat of the Eastern Roman Empire. And so now, for the Europeans to trade with India, China, and the rest of East Asia, they have to pay a heavy tax to the Ottomans and the Italians as well. They don't want to do that. So their response is to discover their own routes to East Asia, to China, to the East Indies, and they do, um, they hire a lot of these, um, very experienced Italian, um, um, seamen. So Christopher Columbus is from Genoa. He is Italian, and he was hired to go discover a route to China, uh, and he ended up in discovering, um, North America, basically. Um, so all the major powers, France, England, Portugal, Spain, they are engaging in maritime exploration. Okay.

And, um, starting about the, in the 16th century, what happened is that the Spanish will start to conquer Central America and South America. And they do so in less than 30 years. Okay, it's a very quick conquest. And, um, so you can, you can see that during the 16th century, uh, there's a lot of exploration going on. There's a lot of contacts being made. Um, the Portuguese are really the first to establish the maritime empire. And so the question then is, why is it that the Portuguese end up establishing colonies in Africa, in India, in China, uh, throughout the East Indies? And the reason why is that the fear was that Portugal and Spain would come into conflict with each other. So the Pope divided the world into two. So the Portuguese got, um, this part of the world, and the Spanish got the New World, basically, and the Spanish obviously got the very, the better end of this deal, but that was the arrangement. Okay.

So the Spanish got all of, um, present-day Mexico, Central America, and most of South America. And there's a lot of gold, a lot of silver within these, uh, regions. And as a result, Spain became very wealthy. Okay. Um, eventually, the British and the French will get involved as well. But because South America and Central America were already taken by the Spanish and the Portuguese, they ended up in North America, which was cold and poor and inhabited by lots of very aggressive and violent, uh, natives. And it turned out that, um, in the long run, this would, would prove, this would prove to be more beneficial for the British. Okay, in the long run, uh, but currently, the Spanish have accumulated all the wealth in the New World. Okay.

So, um, the main thing I want you to remember is that because the Old World and the New World collided, this marked a revolution in European agriculture because now the Europeans could import these extremely nutritious and easy-to-produce vegetables back into Europe. So, corn was invented by the native people of Central America. Corn is not naturally produced. You have to, uh, basically, um, scientifically invent it by crossbreeding different crops. Okay. It's a very long process, and corn allowed for the Mayan civilization to flourish. So corn is an extremely important nutrient that's easy to produce, cheap, and very nutritious. So is the potato. Okay, the potato, over time, will become the staple food of Europeans. Um, so are peanuts, so are squash, so is the tomato. Okay, so all these foods that we take for granted were actually first domesticated in the Old World, which was then transported to the New World. And because of these very nutritious foods, and they're far more nutritious than wheat, you have a population explosion in Europe. Okay, so this is very important. I want you, I want you guys to remember this. The potato, the corn led to a population explosion in Europe. And what did the natives get? Well, they got a lot of diseases, right? They got a lot of measles and smallpox.

So, um, the question we're looking at this morning is, how did a few thousand conquistadors, Spanish mercenaries basically, how were they able to conquer millions and millions of indigenous people in South America? There were three main civilizations in South America at this time: the Aztecs, the Mayans, and the Incas. And the Spanish were able to conquer all three major civilizations in less than, uh, 30 years. So how were they able to do so? Okay, that's a question we're looking at this morning. Okay.

Now, the central explanation is three-fold. When you talk to scholars, there are three explanations for how this happened. It was a perfect storm of three factors. Okay. The first is the native people were not in contact with the Europeans. So the Europeans brought with them these diseases that the native people had no immunity against. Okay? And the four major ones are smallpox, measles, typhus, and cholera. And this wiped out about 80% of the population in North and South America. It was basically a genocide. Okay, 80% is a lot of people. We're talking about millions and millions of people.

Second major factor is that, um, there were these internal conflicts, tribal warfare among the native people, and the Europeans, the Spanish exploited this. They, they were basically used a divide and conquer strategy against the natives, right? You first, um, unite with a tribe that hated the Aztecs. You, you conquer the Aztecs together, and then you enslave the, uh, the tribes. Okay, so that's a divide and conquer strategy.

And the third, uh, factor is, uh, the Europeans had superior weapons and technology. Okay, they had armor, they had cannons, they had horses. The natives didn't have access to any of this technology. So, um, um, that's the three-fold explanation. But, um, if you ask the Spanish at that time, how did you do it? How are you able to with a few thousand soldiers conquer this vast territory? And the Spanish would, would just say, because, one, God willed it. Our God made us conquerors. It was a divine mission from God. Okay? And the second is, we were so powerful that the natives bowed before us. They saw us as gods. Okay? That was the central explanation, um, of the Spanish at that time. And because this is clearly a very racist attitude, right? We're superior. We are white. We're here to civilize you. Scholars have rejected this explanation. Okay?

But what I want to show you today, uh, and I know this is going to be controversial, and so please feel free to debate or ask questions or point out inconsistencies in my argument. Okay? But I want to argue today that this, the original Spanish argument, actually has much more evidence. It makes much more logical and coherent sense than the current scholarly interpretation. Okay, does that make sense? All right, so this is my thesis. This is my argument. The religious beliefs and practices of the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans made them vulnerable to Spanish conquest. So the ultimate weakness of these people was their religion. Okay, you're not allowed to say this today in university because, um, it's absolutely correct. But I want you to make that argument because I think this is what makes the most academic, logical, and coherent sense. Okay, that's my thesis to you today.

Okay, so, um, um, a quick picture to contrast the collision of civilizations. Okay, so the Aztec people, uh, they're ferocious warriors. They love war, but they have wooden spears and they have no armor. Okay. Whereas the Europeans, they have swords, they have shields, they have armor. Okay. So this is a clash of civilizations. All right.

Okay. So, um, let's go back to the beginning of time. And one thing that you learn, we talked about before, is how civilizations arise because of three factors, right? Geography, um, is the main factor. Okay. So, you want to be in a temperate climate. You need rivers in order to have civilizations, and you need natural boundaries like mountains in order to protect yourself from invaders. Okay? And that's why the five earliest civilizations are all in this latitude right here. Okay? Right here. And they are China, India, the Indus Valley civilization, the Harappans, Mesopotamia, which is here, Egypt, which is here, sorry, and the Mayan civilization. All right? And what's amazing is that when you start to analyze all five civilizations, you will discover there's actually a lot of similarities, a lot of common characteristics among these five civilizations. Okay. Um, so, yeah. So this part of the world right here. Okay. The Tropic of Cancer. This is where all five civilizations first developed around this area. Okay.

So the Mayan civilization was one, was just an astounding civilization. Uh, they had millions and millions of people. They spread all across Central America. They had science, they had astronomy, they had mathematics, they had a written language. Okay. Um, they built pyramids. Uh, so these are all these temples to worship their, uh, their gods. They had something called the Mayan calendar. And it's an astonishing achievement because back then, they used 365 days. So it was Egyptian was actually the first to use a solar calendar. The Mayans independently also created their own calendar. And, um, if you actually study the calendar, um, it's actually a very sophisticated, very nuanced, extremely scientific, um, instrument that they use for agriculture. Um, the most astonishing achievement of the Mayans was agriculture. And this is no different from science. Okay, they not only were the first to invent corn. Okay, again, what's really important for us to remember is that corn is not produced naturally. Nature did not produce corn. The Mayans invented corn. And this was important because it allowed them to feed a large population with very limited agriculture. But not only that, but they figured out the most efficient way to use farmland. And this is called the Three Sisters planting. Okay. What they would do is this. They would grow corn, bean, and squash together in a symbiotic relationship so that they're all helping each other, um, nourish themselves and grow. Okay. So, the corn will provide the structure in order for the beans to climb in order to reach sunlight. Okay. The bean will fertilize the corn and squash by releasing nitrogen into the soil, and the squash will basically prevent, um, weeds and insects, uh, from invading this ecosystem. Okay, so it's a, it's a perfect symbiotic relationship that we still use today. And because of this sudden breakthrough, um, the Mayans were able to build a civilization of millions and millions of people. Okay. It was, it was, it's just an incredible, uh, achievement. Okay. Any, any questions? Okay. All right. Let's, let's continue.

Um, as we discussed in this class, all civilizations rise and fall. That's just a natural cycle. There's nothing you can do to prevent them from declining over time. Same process with the Mayans, where over time, because of their breakthroughs in agriculture, they reach a peak, uh, in about the year 780 AD in their population, but after the, after they reach a peak, okay, this is really important, there's a huge decline. All right. And the thing that you learn in this class is that there are three, uh, sorry, there are, sorry, uh, so scientists have looked at the reasons for this decline, and what they discovered is ecological collapse. Okay, so you have this huge increase in population, and this leads to deforestation and soil erosion. Basically, they're able, they're not able to grow farmland anymore, and that's why their civilization has collapsed. Okay, but the question then is, is this correlation or is this causation? Right? Do you guys understand? Right? Because scientists will, will scholars will tell you this is causation. It's because they had an overpopulation, so they were, um, using too much of the land, and so it led to deforestation and soil erosion. Okay, that's causation. But some other scholars argue it is correlation, and the reason why is that Mayans are, uh, really famous for their ecological management. They're, they're masters at being able to manage their environment. So this could be a correlation and not causation. So then what's the causation?

Okay. Well, if we look at all civilizations, there are three factors that lead to the decline. All right. If a civilization is prosperous, stable, and peaceful, guess what? Three things always happen. The first is the idea of elite overproduction. Right? The Peter Turchin argument, which is that over time, you have too many nobles, you have too many elites who compete for status together. Okay, that's the first problem. Second problem is the idea of "rat utopia," where old people live too long, and as such, young people are not able to inherit status, and this leads to a malfunctioning of society. Okay, because young people feel they have no opportunities. Same thing that's happening in the world today, where in America, there's something called quiet quitting, in China, there's something called lying flat, "tang ping." Okay. And the third is the idea of financialization, debt slavery. And the idea here is that if you're a very prosperous society, it's very hard to get people to work because they don't really want material goods. All they want to do is have enough food to feed their family, and they're good. Okay? That's why if you pay them more, they actually work less. So the only way you get them to work more is if you get them into debt. Okay? You enslave them. And that's, that's what every civilization has done since the dawn of time: debt slavery in order to get, in order to produce, get people to work harder. Okay, this idea of financialization. Uh, so all three things are correlated. They are symbiotic. They work together, and they all spell the end of civilization. Okay, this is true for Rome. This is true for the Mayans. This is, this has been true also for China throughout its history. Okay, does that make sense, guys? All right.

All right. Um, so as the Mayan civilization collapsed, people diffused all over Central and South America, and they brought with them the Mayan culture. Okay, because the Mayan culture was the dominant culture of that time. It's like China in, uh, Southeast Asia. China is this huge sun that shines light on all other, uh, countries, including Japan and, uh, South Korea. And what will happen over time is that, um, different tribes will fight over to inherit the Mayan legacy. Okay, they will take, they will, um, compete against each other in order to become the major empire. And the nation that eventually wins out in Central America, I'll call the Aztecs. The Aztecs are really interesting people. Okay. So, um, and they're very similar to the Romans. So, um, if you think Aztec, think Romans as well. The main similarity is that both the Aztecs and the Romans are societies based on war. They love war. All they want to do is fight war. Okay.

So, um, the Aztecs are originally from southern United States. Okay. What? Southern United States. And because of climate change, they have to migrate to Central America for food. Um, problem is that Central America was already overpopulated, and they start to hire themselves out as mercenaries to the other tribes, and then eventually they came into conflict with the other tribes and they became isolated in a place called Tenochtitlan. Okay. And this is basically swamp land. It's very hard to grow food in Tenochtitlan. Um, today Tenochtitlan is called what city do you guys know? Tenochtitlan is called what city today? Can you guess? Mexico City. Okay. So, Mexico City, if you have a chance to visit there, it is actually on the site of Tenochtitlan, which is a city that the Aztecs founded. And remember, back then it was all basically swamp land. And so, something miraculous happened. The Aztecs adapted themselves to the swamp land and they began to, um, focus on, um, agriculture. Okay. Okay. And this agriculture was very innovative. Uh, they turned basically swamp land into farmland, and it allowed for the populations to increase and prosper. So swampland is bad because you can't really grow crops, but swampland is good because it's pretty defensible. Okay. So, so they were able to very quickly expand their population. And so what did they do? Well, they started to conquer other territories because this is a war society. Okay, it is a heavily military society focused on war. The religion is to, uh, defeat enemies and then sacrifice these enemies to their god who, um, maintains his vitality through blood sacrifice. Okay.

Um, so the Aztecs were known for the most grotesque forms of human sacrifice. They would sacrifice a thousand people at once. They would also sacrifice you while you were alive. Uh, so they would cut you up and then cut out your heart while you were alive. And obviously, the, the entire point was terror. Okay, to terrorize your enemies and to unite your people. And, um, what's really important for us to remember is that all war societies, including the Romans, the Vikings, and the Aztecs, practice a form of human sacrifice. Okay, remember this. It's very important. The Vikings, we, we discussed how they practiced human sacrifice. Um, the Romans also practiced human sacrifice. And this is something that they sort of, um, hid in their history. Um, so the way they practiced their human sacrifice is at the end of every major military campaign, they would, they would have a parade called a triumph. Okay, they would parade their war captives across the city of Rome, and then these war captives were taken to the temple of Jupiter, where the parade would end, and then they would be strangled to death in front of Jupiter. That's human sacrifice. Okay, that's, that's, that's like having human sacrifice. There's another word for it. But the Romans said, "Oh no, no, no, we don't do this." Okay, we don't do human sacrifice because we're much more civilized than other people, and they never explain why the strangulation is not human sacrifice. Okay. All right.

Over time, because the Aztecs were such a violent, aggressive people, they, like the Romans, were able to take over the entire, uh, territory of Central America. Okay. Okay. And they did so with allies. Okay. They were the main partners. They, part, they're part of something called the Triple Alliance. Okay. So three tribes that united together in order to conquer, uh, the surrounding enemies. They were the main partner. Um, the Aztec civilization was like the Romans, extremely advanced. They had, uh, hierarchy. They had priests. They had universal schooling. Okay. So every child was allowed to go to school and learn to read and write. Um, they had a system of courts and judges, and they had a very strict legal code. They had a very vibrant economy. Okay. So this was a very vibrant civilization, and as such, their city, Tenochtitlan, grew very, very large. When the Spanish first came to the city, they were amazed by the extreme wealth and size and prosperity of this city. Okay, it made them salivate. Okay. So this is another shot of Tenochtitlan.

Um, eventually the Aztecs were conquered by one man with maybe a few hundred soldiers. His name is Hernán Cortés, and he's an adventurer. He did not have permission from Spain to go and conquer the Aztecs. He just did so because he wanted to. He, he was a soldier of fortune. Okay. And, um, when he first arrived with the Aztecs, the Aztecs actually treated him very, very well. Okay. He was a, he was like a novelty, right? Yeah. He had weapons, but there was only a few hundred of them, whereas the Aztecs had millions and millions of soldiers. So their king at this time, Moctezuma, welcomed him with open arms, and Moctezuma probably wanted to co-opt him, right? He, he saw him, Moctezuma saw Cortés as an opportunity, uh, to use against his enemies and his internal enemies as well. Cortés just wanted gold. Okay, that's all he cared about, gold. So wherever he could find gold, he'd be happy to, to go. Okay. So, um, but there was a misunderstanding because these were two very different civilizations. So, uh, during a religious ceremony, uh, when the Aztecs were gearing up, uh, Cortés' men saw this as a threat, and they started to massacre these soldiers, and one thing led to another. We don't know what happened, okay? Because the Aztecs were obviously destroyed by the Spanish, um, the Christian missionaries would come and destroy all written records of the Aztecs, and all we have are these stories that probably aren't true. Okay, but what probably happened is that, uh, the Spanish captured Moctezuma and held him as a captive. Okay, they wanted a ransom. They couldn't get the ransom, so they killed him, and then very shortly, um, they were expelled from the city, but then a disease, the disease of smallpox, hit the population, and they all fell sick, and that gave time for the Spanish to recuperate and then eventually conquer the city with allies. All right, does that make sense? Okay.

All right. Now let's go to the Incas. The Incas, also a huge empire throughout South America. Uh, these mountains called the Andes. Okay. So like modern-day Peru. Um, they are in the highlands, and they also had very advanced civilizations. Okay. Um, one thing that made the Incas different from the Aztecs is they practiced a form of ancestor worship. A pretty extreme form of ancestor worship. So the idea is the emperor is divine. If you're divine, it means you're immortal. So even though the emperor dies, he's then mummified. Okay, he's mummified. And so he's still alive. And if he's still alive, that means he keeps all his lands and wealth. It doesn't go somewhere else. Okay. So then now the new emperor comes into power, and now he has to conquer new lands in order to establish his divinity. Okay? So the Incas are endlessly, eternally expansionist. They have no choice in the matter. And if you think about it, this is actually a good, um, strategy to reduce internal, internal, um, conflict, right? Because this reduces the problem of elite overproduction. The old, the old emperor's family and, uh, loyal soldiers keep their land, and now the new emperor has to go conquer new territory. Okay. So this resolves the issue of elite overproduction, but it also makes your society extremely unstable because it's too spread out, and, um, too many enemies. Okay.

Um, the way that the Incas conquered other people is, um, when they conquer other people, their gods are incorporated into a pantheon of gods. Like the Romans, the Incas are extremely tolerant people. You can worship any god you want as long as you acknowledge the supremacy of my god. Okay. So the pantheon of gods. So within the, uh, Inca Empire, everyone was allowed to practice their own religion as long as they submit themselves and pay tribute. Okay. The Incas also had a very advanced, um, bureaucratic system. They had a census, they collected tribute, they collected taxes, they had a legal code. Um, they had a court system. Um, what's interesting about them is they didn't have a writing system, but they had, uh, beads. Okay. Okay. And with beads, with with numerals, you can create basically a knowledge system. Okay. So this is basically like a, like a very primitive computer or calculator. Um, what's left of the Incas is Machu Picchu. If you ever have a chance to visit there, it's beautiful. It's, it's, it's a hike. Um, I want to visit one day with my kids. Okay.

Uh, the Incas were conquered by another conqueror, a student named Francisco Pizarro. Okay. Uh, the emperor he defeated was Atahualpa. Sorry, I'm not, I'm not going to pronounce his name properly. Um, and what happened was that Atahualpa had just fought a civil war, and now he's the divine emperor. And the legend is that, uh, Pizarro fought a battle with Atahualpa. Atahualpa had 40,000 soldiers. Pizarro had 200 soldiers, and Pizarro won and captured Atahualpa as a, uh, hostage. This story is probably not true. Okay. What probably happened was that, um, the emperor greeted the Spanish with open arms and said, "Let's negotiate," and the Spanish basically captured him. Okay, remember, in this society, the emperor is divine. He's untouchable. So it is, it is beyond his imagination that the Spanish would capture him. Okay. Then what happened is that Pizarro said to the emperor, "We'll let you go if you can fill this room with gold." And guess what happens? The emperor issues out a command, and a few days later, the entire room is filled with gold. Okay? So this place is pretty wealthy. Then what do the Spanish do? What do you think? They kill him. Okay? They kill him, and then they conquer the entire territory. So that's why you should not pay ransoms to pirates. Okay. Um, it, it sort of, I think Pizarro himself was sort of astonished that there was so much gold and the Incas could just fill a room like that, right? And then like, well, you know, if I can just ask for gold and they'll give it to me, then why don't I just take this entire territory? And that's what he did. Okay. All right.

Um, so another question is, how did this happen? How was it possible that the Aztecs and Incas were defeated by just a few hundred conquistadors very quickly? Okay, in a few decades. And, um, what I want to show you now is the religious practice and belief system of the Maya, Mayans, which then influenced the Aztecs and the Inca, the Incas. Okay. All right.

So, um, in these societies, religion is spread through, uh, oral tradition from priests to people. Okay. Um, but fortunately, in about the year 1700, there was a Dominican priest who, uh, made it his mission to write down this oral tradition. Okay. And this book, we call the Popol Vuh. It's translated into the Book of the Community, and it just, uh, it, it's just a literary form of the oral tradition, the old religious tradition of the Mayan people. Okay. So we're going to look at a few passages to figure out their underlying belief system and how it governed their society. All right. Okay.

So this is a story of the Hero Twins. So the Mayans worship the Hero Twins as the saviors of humanity. So what happened is the twins, themselves had twin fathers who were, um, captured and killed by demons in the underworld. Okay, this is very similar to the Egyptian myth of, um, Osiris, uh, who was killed by his brother Set and then sent into the underworld. Okay. And so the brothers want vengeance against these demons. And so what they do is they become friends with the demons, and they, and then they make themselves, um, immortal. Okay? When they die, they come back to life. And then they play a trick on these demons. They go to the demons and say, "Hey, look at us. We can play this game where we cure ourselves. We cut our heart and we come back alive." Okay? And the demons are like, "Yeah, we want to play this game as well." And they all end up killing themselves. Okay? So this is a passage from, um, the Popol Vuh.

"Sacrifice in the same way said One Death and Seven Death to Hunahpu and Xbalanquequo. These are the Hero Twins, okay? These are the Hero Twins. Very well, then surely you will be revived. Are you not dead? For we are here to gladden you, oh lords, along with your vassals and your servants, they said. Therefore, to the lords, okay, so they're playing a trick on these demons. The first we sacrifice was the very head of all the lords, One Death by name, the lord of Xibalba. He was dead. Then this one death. Next, they grabbed Seven Death, but they didn't revive them. Thus the Xibalbans took their heels when they saw that the lords had died. So they killed all the lords and then they killed all the demons. Their hearts were now taken from their chest. Okay, their hearts were now taken from their chest. It's very important because this is how the Aztecs practice their sacrifice. Okay, so they're trying to, with their rituals, they're trying to express or bring to life this mythology. Okay, which is what the Vikings did as well. Both of them had been torn open as punishment for what they had done. Straight away, the one lord executed and not revived. The other lord had been, had begged humbly, weeping before the dancers. He would not accept it, for he had become disoriented. Take pity on me." Okay, so this is how the Hero Twins conquer and destroy all the demons. Okay, and the Aztecs will take this story, they'll turn it into the basis of their religious ritual. Okay.

All right. Uh, this is a story of the creation of the first man. What's interesting is that the Mayans believe that the gods made different attempts to create humanity. The first attempt is by making them out of mud, and they, they fall apart. Okay, so that's a disaster. Then they try to make man out of wood. That doesn't work either. So then they try corn maze. Okay, and that works. So that's why the, um, um, Mayans consider themselves the children of the corn. Okay, they worship corn as something that's divine. Okay. Um, so the gods create man and let, and let's read the story together. "Then the Framer and the Shaper asked him, 'What is the nature of your existence? Do you know it? Do you not look and listen? Are not your speech and your walk good? Behold now, therefore, and see that which is beneath the sky. Are not the mountains clear? Do you not see the valleys? Try then, they were told.'" Okay. So the gods created men, and they want men to be thankful. Why? Because the gods created men in order to serve them. Okay. So basically, basically the gods created humanity to be their slaves. "Thus their vision of everything beneath the sky was completed, and they gave thanks to the Framer and the Shaper. And this is what man says to the gods: 'Truly, we thank you doubly, triply, that we were created, that we were given our mouths and our faces. We are able to speak and to listen. We are able to ponder and to move about. We know much, for we have learned that which is far and near. We have seen the great and the small, all that exists in the sky and on the earth. We thank you, therefore, that we were created, that we were given frame and shape. We became because of you, our grandmother and you, our grandfather,' they said, when they gave thanks for the frame and shape. Okay. So we humans are paying our thanks to the gods. Okay. We're showing our gratitude. Their knowledge of everything that they saw was complete. The four corners and the four sides, that which is within the sky and that which is within the earth. Okay. So, we now have knowledge and wisdom because of the gods."

Now, this is really important. But this does not sound good to the Framer and the Shaper. "It is not good what they have said, they that we have framed and shaped. They said we have learned everything great and small." Okay. So the gods don't want our gratitude. They want our subservience. They want our obedience. Okay. And this becomes a basis of these religions where we have to believe that the gods created us in order to serve them. We are slaves to the gods. All right? And again, this is very similar to the Enuma, the Babylonian creation myth, where the god Marduk creates humans so that the gods wouldn't have to work anymore. It is also very similar to the Catholic Church, which believes that, um, we are slaves to God because God freed us from the devil. Okay.

Um, this is the god Tohil. Okay, which is the Mayan fire god. And what they believe is that Tohil demands that we sacrifice our enemies to him so that, so that the blood will rejuvenate him. Okay? He's a god of fire and of sacrifice, and he's always hungry. So the Mayans believe they always have to go to war to capture slaves to be sacrificed to their god. All right? And there's a lot of mythology around this god. And this god has always demanded human sacrifice. So the humans decide to rebel against him. Okay? They, they have tried many tricks to rebel against him. They all fail because he's smarter than us. So eventually the humans decide to get together and to fight him. Okay? But they all get killed. Thus, only a portion of them were able to return. Okay? Those who rebelled, only a few were left alive. Only a few people from the nations were able to escape from Tohil. At first, they tried to flee. When they were caught, they were finished off. They were killed. It was not just a few of the people who died. And of those that did not die, the insects came upon them and tormented their hearts. They were no longer able to wage war. Okay? So the gods had destroyed their capacity to ever challenge them, to ever rebel. They did not take up their arrows or their shields again. Thus, all the nations were humiliated and begged humbly before the faces of Balam Quitzé, Balam Acat, and Mahucutah. "Pity, do not kill us," they said. "Very well, then. Certainly, you shall become obedient. You shall be servants as long as there are sun and light," they were told. Okay. So, we can never ever challenge gods because when we tried, we're all killed. And so the gods showed mercy to us. And so from now on, we must obey the gods. But now it's like, how do you obey the gods? What do, what do the gods require of us? That's the question now. All right. We obey the gods through their priests who understand them. Okay. Does that make sense?

Okay. So, so let's read. "Kukulkan and K'uk'ulkan were enchanted people, priests and enchanted lords. Kopa and Kazuma were also enchanted lords. They knew if there would be war. Why? Because the gods tell them. They could see the future. Okay? They, they talked with the gods. It was clear before their faces. They saw if there would be death, if there would be hunger. They surely knew if there would be strife. There's an instrument of sight. There was a book. Popol Vuh was their name for it. Okay. So everything that's written down here, it's sacred because it was written down by those who speak directly with the gods. So everything, all these words are the direct words from the gods themselves. But it was not only because of this that they were lords. They were great in their essence. Great as well were their fasts. In order to venerate their temples and venerate their sovereignty, they fasted for long periods of time and sacrificed before the faces of their gods. Not only do the gods favor them, but they themselves made many sacrifices in order to win the favor of the gods. Okay? They are worthy. Therefore, therefore, we must submit ourselves before them. Okay? And that's how we worship the gods. Okay? Does that make sense?

So, think about this. The logic is very clear. The Mayans created a civilization that was extremely religious and hierarchical. Okay? Everyone, millions of people must worship their priest-king because the priest-king is a direct representative of God. Right? But when you do that, you create the condition for the Spanish to come, kill that priest-king, and become the new priest-king. Doesn't make sense. That's what happened. The Mayans created this religion in order to enslave all everyone around them, and that provided the perfect opportunity for the Spanish to come and take over that role. So in history class, you may have learned that the Spanish were extremely cruel to the natives, not more so than the previous overlords. Okay, does that make sense, guys? All right. All right.

So, um, what I'm going to do now is, having explained the history, I'm going to provide the theory. Okay. I'm going to explain the theory of all this. Okay. But before I do so, are there any questions about what, what we've learned so far? What, what was clear to you guys? The logic of this. All right. So let me explain the theory. Okay. Okay.

So what you learn in this class, what we, what we talked about in this class previously is the idea of game theory. Okay, game theory. The game theory, idea of game theory is that all human interaction, it's playing a game. Okay, we may forget we're playing a game, but we're still playing a game. So if you want to understand how people behave, you first have to figure out how the game works. What are the rules of the game? Okay.

So, um, Sumeria, uh, the Sumerians were one of the first earliest civilizations because they were based on the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia. Okay. And what happened was that they developed different city-states along the river, um, the Euphrates and and Tigris. And all these city-states had their own city god. Okay. And these were all different. They, they all had these different city gods. Um, over time, these cities came into conflict with each other because of trade issues. Okay. And also because of land issues. So they start to fight. At this point, this becomes a competition. It becomes a game. Okay. And whenever there's a game, there has to be rules that underpin this game. And the, and the rule, the first rule of this game was, we do not attack each other's cities. Does that make sense? Why? Because the city is a physical manifestation of God on earth. So you can kill the enemy's army on the field, but you don't attack the city. And also there are city walls to protect the city. Okay. And so what, what would happen over time is this game establishes an equilibrium where, okay, um, they fight all the time, but no one can actually conquer the other cities because these cities are protected by the gods, and so this, this reaches an equilibrium, and this, this is a form of peace and stability. Okay. And there are like these elaborate rules governing warfare among the people of Sumeria. Okay.

But then you had one king named, uh, Lugal-zage-si, who was like, "Screw this. I'm going to come and I'm going to kill your god." Okay. So he comes, he sacks the city. Okay. He basically steals from the temple. The temple is where all the gold, all the valuables are, and he sacks, sacks the temple, and even his soldiers are afraid that the gods will come and smite him. Okay, they're afraid, but nothing happens to him. So he does it again and again and again, and he becomes over time more and more powerful. Okay, so he's breaking the rules of the game. He hacked the game. Okay, this is called hacking or he cheated, whatever. But he figured out what the ultimate taboo is. Okay, the ultimate taboo, and he broke it. You break it, you become God yourself. Okay, does that make sense? The idea of taboos are what humans must not break. What humans must not violate. Only gods are allowed to break this taboo. Okay? Only gods are allowed to kill each other. We humans must not try to kill each other's gods by ransacking their temple. Okay. And now, once this rule is broken, what happens is you allow a society called the Akkadians to come in and conquer everyone because they are the most warlike. Okay. All right.

So how is it possible for a different people who, who are much fewer and much poorer, to come and conquer an entire empire? We discussed this, right? The Mongols. When you are, um, severely, uh, limited in your resources, you have to use psychological warfare. All right. So the three forms are isolation dominance. Isolation dominance just means that you will do more than anyone else in order to win the war. It doesn't make sense. That's what escalation dominance means. Second is the idea of terror. So the Mongols were going around and killing people randomly in order to instill terror, uh, among the population. The third is the idea of an aura of inevitability and invincibility. Okay? You want people to think you are the demon or the gods themselves, and that's how you get people to obey you. Okay. So the Mongols perfected this strategy. All right. But the Akkadians also used this strategy. Sargon the Great, Sargon of Akkad. Okay. And what he did was he perfected siege warfare to break down the walls. And before, it was thought impossible that you could break down these city walls, but he did so. And so this created, uh, escalation dominance, terror, and an aura of inevitability and invincibility. Okay, does it make sense, guys? This, this is how this often happens. Um, when societies are playing a game against each other, when they're in competition, they establish an equilibrium. Okay, the equilibrium is held together by an ultimate taboo. But so, but then someone comes along and breaks this ultimate taboo, which then opens up the game. Okay.

Okay. And whoever wins, and who's, whoever now is able to master psychological warfare, escalation, dominance, terror, and aura of inevitability will win this game. Okay? Does that make sense? All right. Now that we understand the basic theory, let's apply it to the Aztecs. All right. So the Aztecs, sorry, had escalation dominance, they had terror, right? Because of human sacrifice, and they had the aura of inevitability and invincibility. Okay, this is how they're able to control millions of people, even though they themselves had a very limited population. They employed the same strategies as the Mongols. Okay. The Incas also used these three strategies, right? And so you can just say that it is really about God. The Aztecs proved that their god was superior to every other god. Okay, does that make sense? All right.

The problem now is you have the Spanish who come in, and they don't know how the game is played. They don't, they reject all the rules of the game. They reject the idea that God cannot be killed. They kill God, right? They killed Moctezuma, who is the god of the Aztecs, and they killed the Inca emperor as well. And when you do that, when you break the taboo, you leave people completely helpless. Okay, does that make sense? So, let me use an analogy so that this makes sense to you. In today's world, there is an ultimate taboo among societies. Okay? So, China, United States can engage in economic warfare. Russia and Ukraine can, can engage in military warfare. These are not taboos. The, the ultimate taboo is no one is allowed to use nuclear weapons. Doesn't make sense, guys? No one is allowed to use nuclear weapons because if anyone used nuclear weapons, the world would end tomorrow. All right? So, um, if you think about it, there were actually a couple of instances where we were very close to nuclear war. Okay. During something called the Cuban Missile Crisis, it was very close. Okay. But there was a chain of command. So maybe one guy would give the issue the command to launch nuclear weapons. But then you have like 10 other people who have to say yes. And there's always be one guy who's like, "I don't want to be the guy who ends the world." Okay. Okay. So, like, I know there's talk about possibly Russia or United States using nuclear weapons. Okay. It's not going to happen because it's the ultimate taboo. If anyone uses nuclear weapons, the world ends. It's like killing God. No one would do, would do it. Okay? But let's imagine 10 aliens, okay? 10 aliens, just 10 of them. And there's like eight billion of us, right? They come to Earth on their spaceship, far away. They're, they're out on the moon, right? They are not inhibited by this taboo of nuclear, using nuclear weapons. Okay, does that make sense? So, all they do is use one nuclear weapon against us, and then what would happen? We would all surrender. Does that make sense? Okay. Does that logic make sense to you? Same thing happened with the Aztecs and Incas. Because the Spanish were able to kill their god, the, the everyone is like, "What do we do now? What do we do now? We exist to serve God. God is invincible. But the Spanish killed them. Which means what? Which means now the Spanish are gods, right?" Does it make sense? So this is what happened. It's game theory. If you're able to figure out the ultimate taboo and you're able to use it against the local people, then you win. And you don't need that many people. You don't need that many soldiers. You don't need that much weapons or technology. You can just use the ultimate taboo against them. Okay? Because again, the thing that you learn in this class, which is very important, is sorry, the worldview, which is basically religion. It is the basis of who we are. It is our operating system. Okay. That your computer cannot run without an operating, operating system. We cannot run without a worldview and a religion. Okay? If you destroy the worldview, it's like cutting off someone's brain. You, you turn this person into zombies and slaves. Okay? Does that make sense? So what the, the implication of this is whenever a society has an extremely strict hierarchy where the, the majority are forced to worship a minority, it makes that society extremely vulnerable to invasion and conquest. Does that make sense? Does that make sense, guys? All right. Okay. Doesn't matter how many people. It does not matter how many people you have. Doesn't matter how much weapons you have. As long as you have a strict hierarchy, it becomes the ultimate weakness of a society. Okay? It becomes, you, you become vulnerable to an outside invasion. Right? Okay, any questions? Is this clear to you guys, the logic of this? Okay, any, any questions. Okay.

So, uh, next class, we do the gunpowder revolution. Okay, gunpowder revolution. And this will mark a radical change in how society is structured. Okay.