Argentina

Argentina

The most stupendous achievement ever attained by a nation in so short a time was the discovery, conquest, and settlement of Mexico and South America by Spain within the compass of a century. To fix indelibly and for ever upon the peoples of a vast continent the language, religion, customs, polity, and laws of a nation on the other side of the globe called for qualities which could only be temporarily evoked by an irresistible common sentiment. The sentiment which gave to Spain for a time the potency to carry through simultaneously the tasks of imposing religious orthodoxy upon Christendom and founding her great colonial empire was pride: pride of religion, race, and person, deliberately fostered by rulers for political ends. This origin of the delusive strength that carried the Conquistadores through an untracked continent regardless of perils and sufferings, and made South America Spanish, rendered inevitable that the rewards, national and individual, should disappoint the recipients. For pride and its concomitant covetousness are never satisfied; and the frenzied thirst for rapid riches and distinction that spurred the Spanish explorers and conquerors onward rarely ended in the idle luxurious dignity that was their goal, and it ultimately brought to the mother country nought but penury and degradation. [xvi] It was ignorance of economic truth that led Spaniards in the sixteenth century to regard the possession of the precious metals as wealth, regardless of circumstances: and the error coloured the whole domination of Spain in the New World. That the nation and the individual should hope to become permanently powerful and rich by obtaining vast stores of the metallic medium whilst discouraging productive industry appears to modern ideas ridiculous, but to the discoverers of America it was regarded as quite the natural course of events. The effect is seen in the rapid subjection and development of the regions believed to be rich in the precious metals, and the comparative neglect of the vast territories where patience and the labour of man were needed to win nature's abundant bounty from the fertile soil. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 40069
Author: Hirst, W. A. (William Alfred)
Release Date: Jun 24, 2012
Format: eBook
Language: English