Как британцы мутировали в АМЕРИКАНЦЕВ?

Imagine, the year is 1585. Somewhere in Rus', Ivan the Terrible has just died, and somewhere on the other side of the world, in North America, people who speak English are landing on the shore of the ocean for the first time. Once again, the year is 1585. This is roughly what the settlement of these first English-speaking people in America looked like. Roanoke Island. That's what they named the colony. It was approximately here. Now it's the state of North Carolina. Life in the new place was not easy for these Englishmen. Some immediately returned to England, but after a couple of years, reinforcements arrived. Even more Englishmen, and this time with families. And in one of these families, the first Englishman in America was born. More precisely, an Englishwoman, or rather, it turns out, the first American woman named Virginia Dare. Everything seemed to be going well, but you know the further fate of these people. No, you don't know anything. Nobody knows, because they disappeared, vanished. When another ship from England arrived a few years later, there was almost no trace of this colony left. Even the houses were dismantled. Only a palisade remained, and on it, carved, was the inscription "Croatoan." This, by the way, was the name of a neighboring Indian tribe. But the people were gone. There were no traces of a massacre either. In short, no one knows exactly what happened to the Roanoke colony to this day. They were never found. No graves or bodies either. Perhaps they moved to a neighboring island and mixed with the local Indian tribes, or died of hunger. The most important thing is that the first attempt by the English to settle in North America was not only, so to speak, a legendary failure, but it is also one of the most famous mysteries in history. Let's rewind another 100 years. America again, 1692. The famous region of New England, the town of Salem. It's like Jerusalem. What's interesting here? The fact that in the house of the local pastor, several girls begin to behave strangely, one after another. They have seizures, then convulsions. How to explain this? Correctly, by the devil. The local authorities create a special court and, naturally, find the most blasphemous minions of the devil. As many as 200 people, witches and warlocks. All accusations are mainly based on denunciations and testimonies. Like: "I saw her spirit." I remind you, it's 1692. That is, at this time, the Englishman Isaac Newton had already written his main works on mathematical analysis, physics, and mechanics, described gravity, and conducted his optical experiments. Somewhere across the ocean in New England, at this time, similar Englishmen are hunting witches. No, no one was burned, they were just hanged. 14 women and five men. One more man was crushed to death by heavy stones, and several more people died in prison. I'm not repeating all this for nothing, that all these are Englishmen, English-speaking people, and the like. Okay, witches in Salem. If we were to hear their testimonies in court, even though it's 1692, for our ears they would already sound American. Well, okay, they were born in America, right? But take those people from the vanished Roanoke colony 100 years before that, it seems like all of them, except for one girl, were still born in the old world, in old England. But for us, their speech would sound like American English by default. And Sir Isaac Newton himself, as soon as he opened his mouth, would also seem more American to us. And why lie, even the kings of England of those times. Well, it's not that simple. Let's see what and how. Today, all you need to know is how America separated from England, what remained of England in it and what didn't, and at the same time, what happened to the language? First, the main question: why did the English, provincial European people, suddenly decide to sail all the way to America? What urgent business did they have there? First business is the 15th century, the 1500s. The English had a good example right under their noses. The Spaniards, who, to put it mildly, got rich from everything they took from the Aztecs and Incas. Considering that England was already starting to quarrel with Spain, falling behind was not an option. And also, near America, it was convenient to attack Spanish ships and take everything from the Spaniards themselves, that is, to pirate with the queen's license. Like Francis Drake, our dear admiral, circumnavigator, and privateer, that is, a pirate. By the way, this strait is named after him. So, if you're pirating against the Spaniards, and even under state protection, you'd better settle near your field of activity. That is, a couple of bases in America wouldn't hurt. And this Roanoke colony of ours, the vanished one, was part of these plans. Second business. Not just piracy. Again, it's England, now the 1600s. If we lived in England at that time, there's a very high probability that we would just dream of going somewhere to grab some land that wasn't rented and grow something on it or mine it. You ask, was there little land in England? Yes, damn it, there was too little land in England, or rather, it was inaccessible and expensive. Is there a way out? Yes. 2-3 months of sailing and then a few more years to work off the cost of the move. A dream. And how to go? Just grab a boat and row? No. Naturally, big money stood behind the whole process. What else, a joint-stock company. The Virginia Company, for example. Just in case. England didn't have just one such company. This is generally a form of symbiosis between the crown and private capital. Conditionally, there is some direction on the terrestrial globe. The king is interested in it, and he grants a monopoly for trade or colonization in this place, or rather, he grants a charter. And in return for this monopoly, rich people chip in their money for this whole event, that is, they invest in the company and also risk their own money. And largely through such companies, the future British Empire was born. For example, the East India Company, famous in Asia, the Levant Company, in the Middle East and Turkey. The Royal African Company, there it's clear, slave trade from Africa. And one of the earliest is the Muscovy Company. It appeared almost by accident. English merchants were sailing in the Arctic Ocean, planning to go to China, but didn't make it and ended up at the court of Ivan the Terrible. And so it went. They founded a trading post in what was then Russia. And this, by the way, is how the English court in Moscow appeared. The building, I think, is still standing in Zaryadye Park. And our Virginia Company in America, or rather, both of its branches, is also such a joint-stock enterprise under the royal roof. By the way, why Virginia? In general, for the English in the 15th century, overseas lands in America were initially not so much America, but rather Virginia. Yes, these territories were named in honor of Elizabeth I. The Virgin Queen, Virgin, you know. I understand that you probably noticed the channel name again. Yes, I'd also like to believe that we have something about virgins, but no. This is in honor of Virginia Woolf plus Beowulf, that is, in honor of English literature. Yes, you are on the English School channel. I've noticed that this question has been causing quite a stir among new subscribers lately. Some suggest that he's making fun of us. Others, on the contrary, condemn, to put it mildly, people who don't know about the school. It's crazy, you know. Yes, it's really the English School channel. We know and value our work. If you want to take a trial lesson with us, it's a good choice. It will be, to put it mildly, interesting, and you can do it for free. Welcome to the website. Here it is. You can also look for historical Easter eggs there. The link is below. Plus, here's a QR code for your convenience. So, English investors chip in to organize expeditions, to set up settlements. The king says, "Okay" and gives a charter. If it works out, then it's a win-win. There will be profit, there will be taxes, and there will be a piece of England, but across the ocean. This is how Jamestown settlement appeared in Virginia. The year is 1607. Jamestown is already in honor of King James. If you suddenly have a question why King James is translated into Russian as Jacob, then here's the chain. And what was the plan of the Virginia Company? They wanted to find gold, but in the process, it turns out that the lands of Virginia are, to put it mildly, not Peru, and there will be no gold. So the first years of Jamestown were a brutal survival. A poorly chosen location, swampy, with contaminated water. They looked for gold, but didn't sow bread properly. After the first winter, this backfired. And relations with the Indians also didn't go well. In general, everything went as it should. After a couple of years, things came to cannibalism. First, the settlers ate dogs, rats, snakes. When everything ran out, out of despair, they dug up graves. One colonist killed and ate his pregnant wife. He was then burned at the stake. And the colony almost died out here. But at the last moment, ships arrived from England with new supplies and an order not to leave anywhere, but to restore everything. And then, little by little, it turned out that the land of Virginia was simply a paradise for cultivating tobacco, and Europe was a paradise for selling tobacco. Everyone smokes there already, like the wolf from "Well, Just You Wait!" And so it went. In general, Jamestown as a settlement did not survive to our days. Now there are museums, but Virginia itself at least became the state of Virginia. More precisely, it's not even a state, it's a Commonwealth, a Republic of Virginia. It, by the way, borders the capital, that is, the District of Columbia and Washington. And it is also a kind of capital itself, the capital of world data centers. No, there will be no integration here, just so you know. For that, we have another Virginia. And Virginia tobacco is now one of the mainstream types or varieties of tobacco. If anything, do not use tobacco or nicotine under any circumstances. It will end badly. Okay, piracy, okay, land and tobacco. But wait, look at the map. Well, someone from the English settled this part of the American coast. But why then is the land called New England, located hundreds of kilometers away? Because there was at least one more reason why the English went to America. Yes, religious motives. And the people who sailed for religious reasons went to another part of America, further north. In England, there were enough people who, by the beginning of the 16th century, believed that the Anglican Church, and England itself, were so corrupted that they could no longer be repaired. Therefore, they had to sail away somewhere. And this was part of the Puritan movement. Moreover, the separatists were the most separatist of all Puritans. In fact, the word "pure" itself is related to purity, like cleanliness. We want the purification of the church and everything else. And so, 1620. The first ones who sailed for religious reasons were the passengers of the legendary ship Mayflower, the very one from the English language textbook. 102 people on board. The plan was grand, eschatological. In short, let's get to our promised land as soon as possible. We will live there as we wish, far from sinful lands. And according to legend, they landed at this stone in America. Well, more precisely, this is what's left of Plymouth Rock. It's already been taken apart for souvenirs. In England, they set sail from the port of Plymouth, but the place where they arrived in America and named their colony Plymouth as well. But in general, this place in America was called Plymouth even before them. There were English navigators. It was already on the maps. In short, the first winter was tough, to say the least, illness, hunger, cold, and in the end, only 52 out of 102 people survived. And according to legend, the local Indians from the Wampanoag tribe helped them greatly, taught them to grow corn and hunt properly. In general, because of all this, the English and the Indians together were able to have a harvest festival. Relations with the Wampanoags were not so smooth later, but in honor of those events, one of the main American holidays is celebrated, Thanksgiving Day, the last Thursday of November. It's interesting that the thanks are not so much to the Indians who came to help, but rather to God or the universe. In short, now it's a family holiday at best. In fact, this story is a little prettier than Jamestown and cannibalism. Therefore, the Mayflower, the pilgrims on it, and their Plymouth settlement are somehow mentioned much more often as the start of America, although they were actually second or third. But what happened next? Understandable. These first pilgrims in Plymouth were relatively lucky. At least they didn't all die and disappear. And more colonists, also Puritans, followed them to these lands. Puritanism is known primarily for its asceticism and strict customs. And you can imagine how fun it was to live and work in these blessed lands. In general, what to do in the north of America, besides prayers and gardens? Tobacco did not grow in these latitudes. The land was not as fertile as in Virginia, but there was fish, there was forest. So, where to put it? Ports inevitably appeared. This is how the northern part of the coast began to develop, under a new brand. Not Virginia, but separately New England. So, if we take the 15th century, that is, the 1600s, how did the life of Englishmen in England differ from the life of those Englishmen who sailed to America? In literally everything. England is a parliament, a church, an aristocracy, land and money are long divided, the population is dense. If you weren't born into the right family, well, the quest is greatly complicated. And there's not much peace, by the way. That is, religious schisms, revolution, civil war, and kings are executed or overthrown. And America at the same time is literally a frontier. Few people, a lot of land, few cities, constant illnesses, wars with locals, hunger. Initially, it's a survival mode. It's even more dangerous than in England. But here, a white settler has a better chance of rising and possibly even participating in local self-government someday. Question two. And when did such a community as Americans appear, and at what point did they stop being considered Englishmen? Let's put it this way. If we speed up, then for the next 150 years, we have the following conditions in our RT for English colonies: a lot of land. It is, let's say, almost nobody's, and at the same time, few hands. This means people will arrive. My lord. There's something to grow and sell. Tobacco, rice, then cotton. There's someone to sell to. Not only in Europe, but also within America itself and between the colonies. The population is indeed constantly arriving, almost a thousand voyages a year from Britain. Plus, new people are constantly being born here. Ports and cities are inevitably built. And all this is so far from London that it takes 2-3 months to sail. That is, literally a 3-month ping just to get news. And therefore, a lot can be decided on the spot. How will this affect the economy? And there are two inconvenient moments. First, it's cool that the land is nobody's, but it was, you know, inhabited by Indians. Well, it means you can formally buy it from them, or you can take it, for example, for debts, or you can just take it by force in the end. It works, right? Yes. And also, for example, the same smallpox, which was like an eternal pandemic in Europe. Worse than the plague, and measles, and flu. Unfortunately, the Indians died from all of this. And let's be honest, some Indians also decimated other Indians. But this is about the fifteenth reason why there are so few of them left. And secondly, yes, land is good, but it's unlikely that you'll stick a stick in it and it will bloom. Someone has to cultivate the land for this. Well, at least a little. Thank God, there is someone who will do it for food, for very bad food, and for a very bad life. You just need to bring someone from Africa, and they will endure very bad conditions and work if forced. They lay here in layers. For each Negro, there was a narrow strip of 90 by 30 cm, to which he was chained for 45 to 90 days, depending on the wind. What is this gruel? Peas, corn, and lard. They love it. We have to tie them up, otherwise they will suffocate. It seems he doesn't like it. He decided to starve himself. Poor thing. Well, we'll feed him. Give me a chisel, a hammer, and a funnel here quickly. Like this. With all the water, it's a little over 100 years after the founding of Jamestown. And we have 13 legendary English colonies in America. 13. Just so you know, in their honor, there are still 13 stripes on the flag, 13 arrows in the eagle's paw, 13 leaves on the olive branch, 13 olives, by the way, 13 stars above the eagle's head. This is despite the superstition of Americans, who don't even like to number the thirteenth floor as the thirteenth. In short, here are all these colonies from right to left. A short excursion. Let's go. Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the very New England, founded by Puritans, what their economy started with: fish, timber, trade, and the famous port of Boston. Next, Connecticut, also a Puritan colony. If anything, in English it's not related to the word "Connect." It's "Quinnehtukqut" - it's from an Indian name, meaning "long river with floodplains." In Connecticut, by the way, an early document with the basic principles of elected government was written, called the Fundamental Orders. And this is considered a very early proto-constitution. Next. Rhode Island. These are the Puritans who quarreled with the Puritans from Massachusetts, so there was a colony with greater religious freedom and, in general, the idea of separating church and state. And also a refuge for Baptists, Quakers, or Jews. The sea feeds, so there are ports, fish, seafaring, shipbuilding. New York and New Jersey, these are actually former Dutch possessions. The city of New York was initially New Amsterdam. It became New York because after the Dutch, this colony was given to the king's brother, at that time the Duke of York. Farms, trade, including fur. A port, and also the convenient Hudson River. It also goes deep into the continent. What else is needed? Pennsylvania Welcomes you. It was founded by other Protestants, Quakers. These believed that a person doesn't really need a church, priests, bishops for faith. And this colony was known for its religious tolerance, and also for exporting grain, flour. And it had the famous city and river port of Philadelphia. Delaware, a former Swedish colony. Then it went to the Dutch, then to the English. And it, by the way, formally became the first state because Delaware was the first to ratify the US Constitution. Next, Maryland. A refuge for Catholics from England. The main source of income, as in Virginia. Tobacco export. Virginia. Jamestown. The very one. Yes. The first permanent English colony. Tobacco. Plantations. The first profitable English project in America. North and South Carolina. Farmers, rice, cotton plantations. And plantations inevitably mean, well, you understand. And finally. Georgia. This is the latest of the thirteen colonies. It was conceived as a buffer against Florida, because Florida was Spanish at that time. Naturally, these were not all British possessions in America. There were also Quebec, and Florida, and the Bahamas. But why are these 13 colonies important to us? Because these are the rebellious lands that will later become the first thirteen states, completely independent of London. Each of these colonies is still a separate state under the same old name within the USA. And when they were colonies, again, they were not a single whole. They were 13 separate British projects. Each with its own administration and its own governor and its own interests. Well, except for the common roof in London. So, what interests us. Over these, well, let's say 150 years, five or six generations of people who spoke English were born on American soil, but at the same time had a vague idea of what England or Britain looked like. By 1750, there were about 1,200,000 people living in the thirteen colonies, that is, about a million white people and 200,000 slaves. In Britain at that time, there were about 6 million people. Well, the difference is noticeable, but it's already comparable, right? And what, by the way, was the difference in lifestyle on both sides of the ocean at that time? How can 150 years of relative religious freedom plus self-governance far from the center affect a separate population of Englishmen? Will some separate kind of Englishman emerge? We have a person who described all this not by hearsay or intuition, but who lived in America and in England. And you have all seen him many times. And perhaps you subconsciously like his face. This person is Benjamin Franklin, scientist, politician, businessman, journalist, and diplomat. Born in Massachusetts, America, but also lived in England for a considerable time. It was in 1751 that he wrote the following: "In America, a man somehow quickly becomes his own master. There is a lot of land, so people marry earlier, start families faster, and no one, they say, stays a worker for another person for long. In short, not only is freedom here in America somewhat greater, and the chances of getting rich are greater, and respect for the old hierarchy is less. But most importantly, if the population continues to multiply and double every 25 years in the same way, then the largest number of Englishmen will soon be on this side of the water, that is, in America. And he, honestly, saw the future, because by the beginning of the War of Independence, the population in the thirteen colonies had grown not to 1.2 million, but to 2.5 million. And there was another person, a Briton, Member of Parliament Edmund Burke, who had visited America and also had the opportunity to compare. Here's what he said just before the War of Independence: "These people in the southern colonies, like Virginia, are especially proud of their freedom because they live among a large number of slaves and own slaves themselves. So freedom for them is not just a right, it is also a status." And he also noticed the Americans' tendency towards litigiousness, stubbornness, legal issues, legal principles. Like they are all a bit lawyers there, they have a nose for someone trying to step on their toes. Where did all this craving for laws, codes, jurisprudence come from? In part, due to Puritanism in the northern colonies, precisely those where the Mayflower sailed at one time, that is, in New England. Not only did everyone there strictly need to read the Bible, hence the cult of literacy, schools, colleges, printing, but this literacy also generated a large number of contracts, written rules, meeting minutes. And following this, questions constantly arise like: "Show me, where do you have the right to this?" And who gave this authority?" And after several generations in such an environment, you have too many well-read and educated people who, not only are accustomed to the principles of self-governance, but also know how to dispute something. So, if necessary, they will argue with the governor, and if necessary, then with everyone. A useful skill. We also teach this in our Puritan school. We have an English course for work and business. I drew the website for this course a couple of years ago, and for some reason, it actually turned out in the spirit of the colonial era. But soon we'll have version 2.0. In short, in this course, you can learn to communicate easily and freely with minions and accomplices, read contracts in English, and fight for a decent salary. I'll put the link to the website in the description, and here's a QR code for convenience. Well, and if you are so Puritan or Quaker that it is important for you to attract people to your side with your speech and persuade them, then we also have a live course on rhetoric and public speaking for this. I also lead some parts of it. I participate in three modules, including in English. In short, the link is in the description. And again, if you need a QR code. Well, okay. Somewhere in the 1750s, even before the revolution and independence, we can safely say that although the British flag was still over these lands, different people lived here. And not only Englishmen, by the way, lived here. Scots, Irish, Germans, even everyone who liked it, God, everything is visible, were arriving. Well, that's how it turns out. You were born in America, in the colonies, you speak English, or maybe not. You live here your whole life, you've never been anywhere else, you sometimes hear about that land, England, somewhere far away. Sometimes people come from there, and you start to wonder: "Are we really made of the same stuff?" And if you meet a Briton, you inevitably notice that your speech differs from his from time to time. Here, of course, I would like to tell a story that American English began to diverge even before independence. But no, we all hear from time to time that English in America has somehow been greatly simplified along the way, has become almost the language of savages compared to British, and so on. But the thing is, it was the British English that went in the wrong direction. Moreover, yes, even before American independence. Let's go in order. There is a main, legendary principle that still distinguishes an American from a Briton. At least to the ear. It's the sound of 'r' after vowels. In America today, it's pronounced by default, so these words will sound like "car." In Britain, the 'r' after vowels is not pronounced. "Hard," "water," "father." Why did Americans add the sound? No, it's not to avoid spasming our teachers, or they didn't add it. On the contrary, it was the British who abandoned this sound. Once again, before the 1750s, all English-speaking people, all Britons, both in the thirteen colonies, and the pilgrims on the Mayflower, and in the Roanoke colony, and, damn it, Shakespeare, if you want! All of them pronounced this 'r'. This is roughly how the English language sounded in those centuries. Let's listen to a little reconstruction. "natural," "divine," "la," "fora." How do we know for sure what and how it was pronounced if there were no audio recordings? Well, specifically with 'r', there is a description of 15th-century pronunciation, which clearly indicates that 'r' is pronounced, both at the beginning of the word and at the end. And there are notes from the end of the 15th century, where the author directly complains that in London, in recent years, they have started to pronounce 'r' carelessly in words like "cad." And this turn happened even before American independence. Once again, it wasn't American English that started to differ, but precisely the British variant that acquired this innovation. Or even a simplification, if you like. If the English language was spoiled or perverted by anyone, it was precisely those who remained in Britain. And, by the way, this phenomenon with 'R' specifically did not happen overnight, but took at least a couple of centuries to cover all of Britain, but it began in the mid-1700s. By the way, there's a horror movie called "The Witch." It's about Puritan colonists in New England in the 1630s. A very stylish film. It looks cool, aesthetically pleasing, but the language is not quite right. Well, yes, despite the era, they speak essentially modern British in this film. And, of course, they don't pronounce 'r' after vowels. But if anything, the director himself explained that "the accents are not period correct," meaning the accents in the film do not correspond to the era, because otherwise, if they had reconstructed the pronunciation of the 15th century, all viewers would have to read subtitles. So, something like "knife" would sound like "naif." And why is it so difficult? Because, let's be honest, this thing with the sound 'r' after vowels is just one of many features of pronunciation. And this one detail, despite the fact that Americans preserved it, certainly doesn't make modern American the model of the language of the pilgrims who lived 400 years ago. No, languages don't stand still anyway. Literally four or five generations are enough for the difference between variants to be noticeably significant. You know this from your own experience. It's enough to watch Soviet cinema or talk to your great-grandmother, if you're lucky. And again, in Britain itself, there are accents like West Country, where 'r' is still pronounced after vowels. And this is also an echo of those ancient times. And conversely, in America, there are plenty of dialects where 'r' is not pronounced after vowels. That is, the conditional AAVE, or African American Vernacular English, and old Boston and New York, and New England as a whole. Well, if we take the general principle and watershed, then it so happened that in one of the main features of pronunciation, American English is more faithful to its origins. And in one, or only? Yes, the thing is, it's not in one. The well-known British "fast," "last," "past," "bath" has been pronounced in America for centuries as "fast," "last," "past," "bath." So, "fast" is also a British innovation, damn it! And it, apparently, also started in Britain in the 1700s, at the very beginning of the 16th century. At first, it was considered almost a sign of semi-literacy. So it turns out that the American word "answer" is a bit older than the British word "answer." And there are many other quite well-known arguments that American English is supposedly a simplified version of British. The famous topic about how Americans are so stupid that even autumn for them is not "o" but "fau." Like, for dummies, so they understand that leaves are falling. It's cool that the French word "automne" is a sign of pure British English. But in general, the American "fall" is a remnant of the rather ancient expression "fall of the leaf," leaf fall, like spring. It's related to the expression "spring of the year," meaning the year is growing. Again, it turns out the damn colonists preserved the language better. They even use the word "gotten" for some reason in America. They could have simplified it like in Britain, so it would be "got." Although, wait, something doesn't add up. A simplified language. That's us, you know. My colleague and I made a separate, large video review on this topic about 7 years ago. Who is closer to the roots, British or American? If you want, you can watch us when we were young. Oh yes, we still need to pull the final trigger that will detach the American colonies from Britain and start a separate American history. So, what do you think, should we tell the story for the 200th time about how England began to strangle its own colonies with taxes, regulations, about the Boston Tea Party, about the Founding Fathers? Of course, we should. But only for the sake of order. I think this deserves a separate video. Yes, for now, I think after everything that has been said, we still have quite a few questions that, among other things, can be discussed in the next video. If you have any additions or corrections, let's chat in the comments. I will try to track and respond to all interesting ones. Let's go there and stay in touch.