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Some people have a very stereotypical view of “Pygmies” who call themselves by their own ethnic names : Mbuti, Baka and Batwa.They are sometimes called the “Childlren of the Jungle” or People of the Forest. A large number of them do not live in “the jungle” or the forest. They live in urban and peri-urban areas. They have created nationwide networds and NGOs to support their causes and defend their “indigenous rights”. Many hold university degrees and are professionals.Indigenous World 2019: Democratic Republic of CongoIndigenous peoples in the Democratic Republic of CongoThe Mbuti, the Baka, and the Batwa peoples are the indigenous peoples of The Democratic Republic of Congo. Although the concept of “indigenous peoples” is accepted and endorsed by the government, the Mbuti, Baka and Batwa peoples remain challenged in relation to their ancestral lands and natural resources, ethnic conflicts and violation of human rights.Indigenous World 2019: Democratic Republic of CongoWRITTEN ON 24 APRIL 2019. POSTED IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGOThe concept of “indigenous peoples” is accepted and approved by the government and civil society organisations (CSOs) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In the DRC, the term refers to the Mbuti, Baka and Batwa peoples, who consider the generic denomination of “Pygmies” to be derogatory and discriminatory.The exact number of indigenous peoples in the DRC is unknown. The government estimates it at around 600,000 (1% of the Congolese population) but CSOs give a figure of up to 2,000,000 (3% of the population). They live in nomadic and semi-nomadic groups throughout virtually all of the country’s provinces. Indigenous peoples’ lives are closely linked to the forest and its resources: they practise hunting, gathering and fishing and treat their illnesses through the use of their own pharmacopeia and medicinal plants. The forest lies at the heart of their culture and living environment.1Kahuzi Biega National Park: World Heritage Committee ignores indigenous Batwa communities’ rightsIn January 2018, the Forest Peoples’ Programme (FPP) and several other indigenous and CSOs in the DRC and elsewhere sent a letter2 to UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre raising the situation of the Batwa and drawing attention to the violation of their human rights as exemplified by their longstanding expulsion and permanent exclusion from the Kahuzi Biega National Park. The letter particularly noted a case from 2017 when a young Batwa (17 years of age) was shot and killed by park guards for having entered the park. The young man’s father, who was with him at the time, states that they were in the park to gather forest produce.Having received no response to this first letter, the same organisations sent a second letter3 to the World Heritage Committee prior to its 42nd session. This letter urged the Committee to bring its decisions into line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and called on the Congolese government to embark on positive dialogue with communities that have ancestral links to the park.This second attempt to bring serious human rights concerns to the attention of the World Heritage Committee also received no response. Two statements were subsequently published in solidarity with the Batwa of KahuziBiega. The first4 was issued by World Heritage Watch (WHW), a civil society gathering that meets prior to the sessions of the World Heritage Committee. The second was officially submitted to the Committee by the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on World Heritage (IIPFWH).During its 42nd session, the Committee again decided to overlook these serious concerns and ended the discussion on the conservation status of the KahuziBiega National Park without mentioning the human rights concerns of the indigenous Batwa once.3rd International Festival of Indigenous Peoples (FIPA)This festival, organised by the Congolese Indigenous Peoples Network (DGPA), took place from 7-9 September with the aim not only of promoting the cultural diversity of indigenous Pygmies around the world but of offering a framework of endogenous knowledge and exchanges on environmental issues, biodiversity and climate change.Patrick Saidi, DGPA coordinator said: “This festival should enable concrete solutions to be identified that will put indigenous issues back on the agenda. FIPA is intended as an international framework of reference for the promotion and defence of indigenous peoples’ rights and an appreciation of their traditional knowledge.”The ministers or their representatives present at the event spoke on their ministries’ commitment to advancing the indigenous Pygmy peoples’ cause, above all with regard to the discrimination they face:The Minister for Culture and Art, Astrid Madiya Ntumba, undertook to “ensure their sustained support until we can co-exist side by side without discrimination, and until indigenous peoples’ culture is integrated with those of other peoples.”The Minister for Land Planning, Félix Kabange Numbi, stated: “Personally, I have always supported the indigenous peoples and will continue to do so. In terms of the forest reform, land reform and land planning reform underway, we will take local communities, and particularly indigenous peoples, into account.”The Minister for Customary Affairs said: “Indigenous peoples are our fellow citizens; my Ministry undertakes to continue efforts to integrate ”The representative of the Ministry for Environment and Sustainable Development said: “The forest forms the indigenous peoples’ supermarket, we want effective measures taken to protect We want to help them benefit more from this supermarket.”5Lethal conflict between the dominant Luba community and Batwa indigenous peoples in Tanganyika ProvinceOver the course of the last seven years, the lethal conflict between the dominant Luba community and the indigenous Batwa peoples of Tanganyika Province has persisted. The causes include conflict over natural resources, land and customary practices, and the indigenous Batwa having suffered human rights violations for years.In August 2017, a comprehensive report by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) entitled, A silent crisis in Congo: The Bantu and the Twa in Tanganyika, described the structural and circumstantial causes of the conflict and made recommendations to the authorities on how to bring the conflict to an end. In the introduction, it notes: “This conflict illustrates how marginalization of the Twa minority group due to a combination of limited access to resources, exclusion from local decision-making and systematic discrimination, can result in large-scale violence and displacement.” The document goes on to examine the opportunities and threats and gives a list of practical recommendations, from the viewpoint of transforming and resolving the conflict.6On 13 April 2018, a conference was held in Geneva on humanitarian assistance in the DRC at which the disastrous results of a “‘forgotten’ conflict between the Bantu (majority African population) and minority Pygmy militia” were deplored. According to figures published by Voice of America (VOA), some 500,000 to 650,000 people have been displaced by the violence caused by this conflict around the shores of Lake Tanganyika (southeast) since 2016/17.Around the provincial capital of Kalemie, located between the lake and the fertile plans of Rugumba, 67,000 displaced Bantu are trying to survive in twelve displacement camps, having fled raids, pillaging, and other atrocities such as the burning of villages, rapes, etc. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), more than 80% of the people living in the displacement camps have no access to clean water and 75% have no access to latrines. Furthermore, most have no shelter other than a mosquito net.Among the underlying causes of a conflict that has been ongoing since 2013, Jean Omasombo, lecturer at Kinshasa University and researcher at the Royal Central African Museum in Tervueren, notes: “The declining standard of living among Bantu, which has pushed them into the forest for their survival, forests on which the Pygmies depend.” Numerous agreements aimed at ending the conflict have failed to resolve it.7Organic law on indigenous peoples in the DRCDuring its Universal Periodic Review in 2014, the DRC accepted the following recommendations, which it aims to implement or is in the course of implementing:Continue to work for the recognition of indigenous peoples nationally;Guarantee indigenous communities’ – particularly Pygmies’ – land rights in the protected natural parks;Harmonise projects to reduce greenhouse gases, deforestation and forest degradation, in accordance with the UN Declaration on the Rights of IndigenousA procedure for adopting a specific law on indigenous peoples has been in place for the past few years. This initiative was launched by a consortium of non-governmental and indigenous peoples’ organisations in 2003, coordinated by the DGPA.8Four years on, questions have been raised as to the outcome of this draft law within the Congolese parliament, despite repeated investigations into violations of indigenous peoples’ rights. In an interview dated 21 August 2018, Kone Lassana, lawyer and head of the FPP’s Legal and Human Rights Programme, believed the delay in the adoption of the law to be unjustified, particularly in a country such as the DRC, which has signed the African Human Rights Charter and many other human rights instruments: “For us, this political reticence is unjustified. During the last parliamentary session, we had hoped there would be some courageous decisions taken in terms of adopting this draft legislation. There were no such positive developments. […] They think adopting a specific law on indigenous peoples will create division, because they have a fixed vision of the nation, sovereignty and territorial integrity.”9Review of the Land LawWith World Bank support, the DRC has been implementing a land reform process since a start-up workshop was held in Kinshasa from 19-21 July 2012. This workshop formed the starting point for a process of reflection on sustainable and appropriate responses to the different land issues noted across the country.A National Land Reform Commission (CONAREF) was created by prime ministerial decree on 30 May 2013.10The 4th National Steering Committee meeting for the land reform process took place from 26-27 June 2018. At the end of the meeting, the Minister of Land Affairs, Lumeya Dhu Maleghi, announced that the DRC could have a new and realistic Land Law by 2019, incorporating all the country’s specific features and replacing the law enacted on 20 July 1973 and amended in 1980. For its part, the UN Habitat delegate, one of the main technical and financial partners, repeated their organisation’s commitment to support the DRC until completion of the process.11 On 17 and 18 December 2018, several experts and Pygmy delegates met in Kinshasa to study the outlines and possibilities of including indigenous peoples’ rights within the new draft law. The representative of the Support to Forest-Dependent Communities Project (REPALEF), Joseph Itongwa, acknowledged that some progress had already made in this regard: “Indigenous peoples’ land issues are a major concern for Pygmies when advocating for defence of their rights. In addition to land issues, REPALEF is also involved in other reforms with the aim of ensuring that indigenous rights are taken into account,” he stated.12On the occasion of the National Dialogue on including indigenous peoples’ rights in land reform, held on 17 and 18 December 2018, the Indigenous Peoples’ Ambassador to the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Kapupu Diwa Mutimanwa, spoke on behalf of indigenous people to welcome the Congolese government’s stated commitment to restore equality. He noted that 92 essential options had been validated with the aim of guiding the final drafting of the national land policy document.13Notes and referencesAlbert K. Barume IWGIA Indigenous World 2017See Forest Peoples, “The Letter to UNESCO re designation of PNKB as World Heritage site,” available at: http://bit.ly/2IHYl1PSee Forest Peoples, “Kahuzi-Biega follow-up letter,” available at: http://bit.ly/2IRHIk2See Forest Peoples, “WHW Resolution on Kahuzi-Biega National Park,” available at http://bit.ly/2IFPoWQSee Enviro News, “FIPA 2018 : Voici les engagements ministériels en faveur des peuples autochtones pygmies,” available at: http://bit.ly/2IG7yHVSee International Rescue Committee (IRC), “A silent crisis in Congo: The Bantu and the Twa in Tanganyika,” available at: A silent crisis in Congo: The Bantu and the Twa in TanganyikaSee Media Terre, “RDC : les affres humanitaires des conflits Pygmées et Bantou,” available at: RDC : les affres humanitaires des conflits Pygmées et BantouIWGIA Indigenous World 2017, available at: http://bit.ly/2EkcFrASee Enviro News, “Environnement: Loi sur le droit des peuples autochtones en RDC, où en sommes-nous 4 ans après?” Available at: http://bit.ly/2IQFxh0See the DRC, Decree no. 13/M on 31 May 2013. Available at http://bit.ly/2IRIduqSee IMCongo, available at: http://bit.ly/2IGnOZeSee Digital Congo, “Réformes foncières : les pygmées sollicitent leur prise en compte dans la loi en cours de revision,” available at: http://bit.ly/2IHN6q8See Digital Congo, “L’Ambassadeur des peuples autochtones auprès de la CEEAC salue l’engagement du Gouvernement à restaurer l’équité,” available at: http://bit.ly/2IIf84VPatrick Kulesza is the Executive Director of GITPA, Groupe International de Travail pour les Peuples Autochtones Groupe International de Travail pour les Peuples Autochtones, he has recently published a book with Marine Robillard: Quel avenir pour les peuples pygmées a l’orée du XXI eme siecle? [What future for the Pygmy peoples at the dawn of the 21st century?] L’Harmattan, 467p [L'Harmattan : livres, revues, articles, DVD - fond numérique j=livre&no=61891]………………………………………….‘It’s our home’: Pygmies fight for recognition as forest protectors in new filmA recent short film, Pygmy Peoples of the DRC: A Rising Movement, tracks the push for the recognition of indigenous land rights in the DRC.The film catalogs the importance of the forest to pygmy groups, as well as their role as stewards of the forest.A raft of recent research has shown that indigenous groups around the world often do a better job of protecting forests than parks and reserves.The word “pygmy” conjures images of hunter-gatherers living deep in the Congo rainforest, far removed from the modern world. But that modern world is closing in on them, as the forests in which they live fall to provide the rest of the world with timber and make way for huge industrial farms.Now, the pygmies of the Democratic Republic of Congo are coming together to demonstrate both the value of the forest to their society and their role as stewards of this resource.“It’s the place of spirits, invocations, incantations and reincarnation,” says Marie Lisenga in a recent short film, Pygmy Peoples of the DRC: A Rising Movement. “It’s our home.”The documentary is part of the If Not Us, Then Who? project, with its mission to showcase how communities are critical in protecting forests and tackling issues such as climate change. Like many indigenous groups around the world, the DRC’s pygmies are struggling to hold onto the lands they have tended for generations.“No indigenous are recognized,” says Kapupu Diwa Mutimanwa, a leader of the Twa ethnic group and president of the League of Indigenous Pygmy Associations of Congo, known by the French acronym LINAPYCO. “There are customary indigenous laws, but they are not recognized by others. So we must change this.”The way the pygmies say they’re treated harkens back to racist beliefs dating to colonial times about who they are.“We are considered as ‘sub-human’ as an inferior race, people who cannot even think,” says Joseph Itongwa Mukumo, a member of the Walikale group in the DRC’s North Kivu province and a coordinator of REPALEF, the Network of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities for the Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems.In fact, a growing body of research has demonstrated that indigenous groups are remarkably effective protectors of standing forest, in many cases, better than traditional protected areas like parks and reserves.As Lisenga points out medicinal and edible plants during the film, she explains how her forest-dependent people make sustainable use of the land.“We do not cut the trees,” Lisenga says. “We protect the forest, we take only what falls.”A Batwa man. Photo [CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons.The international community is awakening to the pygmies’ critical role in protecting forests in the DRC. Now, the groups led by Itongwa and Diwa are arguing for the legal protection of pygmy land in the form of land tenure reform, because, as they see it, these indigenous groups provide a service not just for the DRC, but the whole world.“The indigenous traditional knowledge is recognized as efficient for tackling climate change situations,” Itongwa says. “We are proud, because we build and protect what is important to humanity.”Banner image of Batwa women by Doublearc [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons.Follow John Cannon on Twitter: @johnccannon…………………….Congo’s pygmies turn to technologyCongo’s pygmies turn to technologyGPS satellite tracking helps to preserve traditional lands.Commercial logging is big business in the Congo BasinPygmies in the world’s second largest rainforest are turning to modern technology to preserve their lands.While the world’s rainforests are a rich source of raw materials, they’re also home to many indigenous people, and for the hunter-gatherer pygmies of Africa’s Congo Basin, the forest is crucial to their way of life.Al Jazeera’s Gladys Njoroge has been finding out how global positioning satellites are now being used to protect the pygmies’ traditional way of life:Pygmies and commercial loggers areworking together [Al Jazeera]The Basin is the world’s second-largest rainforest, covering six countries from Cameroon to the Democratic Republic of Congo.The growth and spread of commercial logging has long been seen as a threat to the indigenous tribes, cutting through hunting grounds and sacred areas that have been used by them for centuries.About 80 per cent of the timber removed from the Congo Basin will end up in China and the European Union.Until now the growing commercial activity threatens to wipe out the livelihood and culture of the pygmies who are traditionally hunters and gatherers.Now though, these indigenous tribes are hoping that a marriage of tradition and technology may hold the answer.Hand-held satellite tracking devices are being used to mark areas of forest that should be left untouched.One of the Juslin Independent people demonstrated the new system to Al Jazeera: “The images you can see on the GPS are of the sacred tree of the spirit of the woman, the sacred city of men for Eteni culture, also the cemeteries are marked there.“It’s a win-win situation for both parties.“Lucas van der VeltLogging company representative“So the vehicles must not drive around these areas. There’s also the Mengoulou, which indicates the location of hunting grounds and settlements.”The GPS maps are also being used by a Danish-run company to guide their logging activities in the same area.In the past, such companies were considered a threat; few employed pygmies and their traditional lifestyles were at risk from the bulldozers of the loggers, while decades of civil war also opened up the forest to illegal logging.This new scheme ensures that forest areas critical to the pygmies’ survival are left standing – irrespective of the timber business.Tribes are using wind-up radios tospread the word on technologyLucas van der Walt, the Environment Manager at Congolaise Industrialle Des Bois told us: “It’s a win-win situation for both parties.“The communities who live in these forests have the reassurance and the guarantee that their livelihoods will be protected and not be damaged by our operation and there’s an independent group of people making sure that we adhere to this.“On our side there’s also benefit of having a good relation with these communities,” he said.This conservation message is now being transmitted through the airwaves to communities living near the forest, using other technology such as clockwork-driven radios.Modern technology is slowly creeping in among the pygmies – and instead of killing their ancient traditions, it’s helping preserve them.SOURCE : AL JAZEERA……..

In short: Events in EuropeThe (slightly) longer version: This little chap who would later gain the name le Roi SoleilNow I don’t want to simplify too much but during his reign of France as Louis XIV from 1643 to 1715 the policy of his Kingdom was largely centred around three (geo)political issues.Here is what they thought;Continental France would look a lot better if the borders just shifted one or two hundred kilometers in the direction of the the Netherlands and GermanyThe economy of France and high end manufacture is pretty awful compared to most of our neighbouring countriesThese other guys around France all have these neat things called colonies and generally tend to run them more successfully than usThe second and third issue was rather interestingly addressed by Jean-Baptiste Colbert who used bribes, corporate espionage and methods that would make the Chinese blush to get several high end industries to France and improve existing ones. Think of Venetian mirrors, Dutch shipbuilding, Flemish tapestries and more. Aside from that a mixture of tariffs and infrastructure projects were introduced to help the French economy.In a way Colbert was acutely aware of something that up until that point not many rulers across the world fully realised; the better your economy, financial system and industry the more money and technology you’ll have to built and army with and kill other people.In 1670, Colbert made one of his most important single policy statements, in his famous memoire on finances. They can be expressed as follows: the object of economic statesmanship is to provide the monarch with the funds he needs for order and glory. Colonies can be planted and nurtured, home manufacturing improved in quality, internal transportation strengthened, the shipping industry expanded and the idle forced to work. Budgetary control must be put on a sound basis and the dominant revenues must be built up as much as possible. At the heart of this policy was the effort to increase royal revenues indirectly, through economic improvements. The universal rule according to Colbert is to control the economy and the fiscal system so that a sufficient quantity of cash will circulate in every corner of the country, giving all French the opportunity to make profits and pay taxes. His idea on how to lighten taxes was to "increase the cash available for general commerce [that is, all transactions] by attracting cash from other countries, keeping it inside the kingdom, and hindering its export, thus giving men the means to profit from it" ColbertismThe whole mercantilism part of his policy has been relegated to the dustbin of economic theories but the rest was more on point.Now Colberts policies and those of his successors immediately put the French on a bad footing with the Dutch who were some of the more commercial and industrial people around and generally espoused free trade rather than protectionism. France also had lingering animosity toward the Hapsburg controlled Spain and Austria/HRE.Relations with England varied with time and occasionally switched if England thought allying with France aided it in attacking the Dutch and when a certain Catholic monarch found his way to the English throne. Though in the late 17th century the Dutch invaded England and put England in a firm anti-French camp that would last until WWI.Now despite previous hostility between the Hapsburg rulers and Dutch Republic they realised quite early on that both would be in the anti-French camp from the get go. The Spanish Netherlands were sandwiched between the Dutch Republic and France and pretty far away from the Iberian Peninsula which meant defending it could prove to be a challenge. Luckily for the Spaniards the Dutch considered the Spanish Netherlands to be something of a buffer state between them and the French and were willing to defend it from French aggression. In fact the Dutch army would later go on to simply garrison forts and cities in the Spanish Netherlands in a sort of advance Maginot line defence of the Republic.The Hapsburg rulers in Austria generally had hostile relations with regards to the French ever since the late 15th century but they often had their hands full fighting off their own nominal vassals, Turks and whatnot.It can however be said that France managed to get most of the surrounding countries to oppose it.The War of Devolution from 1667 to 1668 marked the start of almost fifty years of France fighting the rest of Europe. Getting an assurance that the bordering states of the Holy Roman would remain neutral and having jurists cook up some French claim Louis invaded the Spanish Netherlands. French diplomats also managed to get the Holy Roman Emperor to stay out of it.For various reasons Spain didn’t actually get to send a relief army to the Spanish Netherlands.The Dutch were increasingly worried about becoming neighbours of the French so they ended their ongoing Second Anglo-Dutch War with a treaty and then joined together with the English six months later in an anti-French coalition. They also got Sweden to join the alliance by paying them lots of money. The alliance managed to halt French expansion into the Spanish Netherlands but left lingering resentment on all sides.Just four years after a treaty ended the War of Devolution the French set on invading the Dutch Republic to teach them a lesson.This Franco-Dutch War 1672 to 1678 was fought in a different set of alliances than the previous one.For one the French got the English on their side which led to a joint Franco-English attack of the Dutch Republic in what is now called the Third Anglo-Dutch War which ran from 1672 to 1674. Louis XIV had also convinced the Bishopric of Munster and Electorate of Cologne which bordered the eastern flank of the Dutch Republic to attack. In addition to this the French paid a handsome sum to the Swedes to avoid them joining the Dutch like they had done earlier and attack Brandenburg-Prussia if this Protestant state came to help the Dutch.The famed Voltaire would later write some of his insights in his typical biting manner;It is somewhat singular and worthy of remark that of all the enemies who were about to fall upon this petty state, there was not one that could allege a lawful pretext for entering into the war. This was much such an undertaking as the league between Louis XII., the emperor Maximilian, and the king of Spain, who entered into a covenant to destroy the republic of Venice, only for being rich and haughty.The first year of the war was an absolute disaster for the Dutch as the largest army in Europe and the largest combined navy in Europe attacked them. Diplomacy, inundating parts of the country and hard fighting is what saved the country but only by the skin of its teeth.Again Voltaire;All that the efforts of ambition and human foresight could devise for the destruction of a nation was put in practice by Louis XIV. The history of mankind hardly furnishes us with an instance of such formidable preparations being made for so small an expedition. Of all the different conquerors that have invaded a part of the world, not one ever began the career of conquest with so many regular troops and so much money as Louis employed in subduing the petty state of the United Provinces. No less than fifty millions, which were worth ninety-seven millions of our present currency, were expended in these pompous preparations. Thirty men of war, of fifty guns each, joined the English fleet, consisting of a hundred sail. The king, accompanied by his brother, the duke of Orleans, marched at the head of one hundred and twelve thousand men toward Maestricht and Charleroi, on the frontiers of Spanish Flanders and Holland. The bishop of Münster and the elector of Cologne had about twenty thousand more. Prince Condé and Marshal Turenne were the generals of the king’s army, and the duke of Luxembourg commanded under them. Vauban had the direction of the sieges. Louvois was present in all places, with his customary vigilance. Never was there an army so magnificent, and at the same time so well disciplined; but the king’s household troops, which were newly reformed, made a most glorious spectacle. They consisted of four companies of gardes du corps, or body-guards, each company composed of three hundred gentlemen, among whom were a considerable number of young cadets, who served without pay, but were equally subject to strict military discipline with the rest; two hundred gendarmes of the guard, two hundred light horse, five hundred musketeers, three hundred chosen gentlemen remarkable for their youth and handsome appearance, twelve companies of gendarmerie*Aside from the famed French generals this war also saw William III and Raimondo Montecuccoli which brought the tally of monumental generals to a pretty high levelThe Dutch fought the English to a standstill on the seas until the political sentiment in England forced the English king to sign a peace treaty with the Dutch.The battle of Schooneveld, facing an Anglo-French fleet with sixty percent more manpower and twice the firepower Admiral de Ruyter managed to fight off the allied fleet until they fled back up the ThamesDuring this war the Dutch Stadhouder William III who had been exiled in England returned to the Dutch Republic and stabilised the front at the Dutch water line. He was aged around 23 around this time.The French actions caused concern to the Hapsburg and Brandenburg-Prussia which led to both the King of Spain, the Holy Roman Emperor and the Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia joining the Dutch in fighting the French. The latter joining the war of course triggered the agreement between France and Sweden and led to the Swedes invading Brandenburg-Prussia. In turn this led to another war engulfing parts Northern Europe, the so called Scanian War. This war led to Denmark joining the anti-French and anti-Swedish sphere while Munster and Cologne left the French side after just one year of support.The rest of the war between 1674 and 1678 essentially saw France and the Anti-French coalition battle it out in the Low Countries. The war drew to a close when the recently returned Dutch Stadhouder William III married the English Mary II of England and drew England into the war on the Dutch side.The war was ended with the Treaties of Nijmegen which brought about some territorial changes in the north and eastern border of France such as Alsace and Franche comté.Five years later France was at it again.Between 1683 and 1684 France fought the short War of the Reunions against Spain and the Holy Roman Empire/Austrians. In 1681 just a few years after the Treaties of Nijmegen the French armies simply marched into Strasbourg, the Principality of Orange and Luxembourg.Now the Austrian capital of Vienna was also under siege during this war so there was a brief lull in the fighting;The summer of 1683 was the peak of War of the Holy League, in which the eastern flank of the Holy Roman Empire underwent the greatest offensive ever by the Ottoman Empire. The war on the eastern front of the Holy Roman Empire broke the momentum of Louis' confrontation with the Empire over Luxembourg. Louis decided that it would be impolitic for him to attack another Christian kingdom while that kingdom was under attack from the infidel Turk.Accordingly, in March 1682, Louis ordered a halt to the bombardment of Luxembourg and withdrew his troops. On 12 September 1683, combined Imperial, German and Polish troops defeated the Turks before the walls of Vienna, ending the Turkish threatHaving Polish winged Hussars and Germans drive the Ottomans out of Austria and later the Balkans allowed the Austrian Emperors to get back to fighting the French again. Aside from bombing Genoa and Luxembourg however not much happened and in the summer of 1684 the Truce of Ratisbon was concluded which gave France Strasbourg and Luxembourg.The twenty years truce of Ratisbon was terminated after just four years.Now it was obvious to most observers that Louis XIV was going to start another war sooner or later as the previous ones had no really resolved anythingReason for another Anti-French coalition to emerge. This time it was to prove a more durable one with stadhouder William III and Leopold I of Austria forming the linchpin. Work already started in the immediate aftermath of the Franco-Dutch war.William of Orange III at the age of 27…International Politics and Warfare in the Age of Louis XIV and Peter the GreatOn the far Western end of this coalition sat the Dutch Republic.Early in the year 1685 the old English king Charles II kicked the bucket without heirs. This left England, Scotland and Ireland to his brother James II of England.Now James II of England was a Catholic but this did not immediately lead to extreme resentment. After all his oldest child was Mary who was raised as a Protestant and had married the Protestant Dutch Stadhouder William III in 1677. Since James and his wife had an absolutely terrible time getting a male heir (who would have taken precedence over Mary) everyone was pretty sure that the throne would go to the Protestant Marry when James died. However James II was still alive and many feared he harboured pro-French feelings.By the year 1688 tensions were once again at an all time high.Louis XIV feared losing influence in the German lands due to the growing Anti-French coalition. In January 1688 there was a new election of the Bishop of Cologne and he made sure to meddle in the election to get a pro-French bishop installed. This worried the Protestant princes and the Holy Roman Empire but especially the Dutch because the French had used the Bishopric of Cologne in 1672 as a corridor to invade the Dutch Republic.But there was more bad news.The second wife of James II had gotten pregnant in November and by the early months of 1688 it looked like it was going to result in a birth. Furthermore in April James II concluded a treaty with Louis XIV regarding naval support in the English Channel and potential support of an invasion of the Rhineland should the election of the Bishop of Cologne not end in French favour.The Protestants who had to worry most were the Dutch. If anything this Catholic succession and the previous actions of James alerted them to his pro-French tendencies. What they feared most was a repeat of the year 1672 when the French and English navies and French armies attacked the Republic. Such a repeat or a ‘fourth’ Anglo-Dutch war they judged, could potentially topple the Dutch Republic before the rest of the Anti-French league even had time to react.Stadhouder William III then managed to convince the Dutch government to launch an audacious attack. He would take the Dutch army to invade the British Isles in an effort to avoid a Fourth Anglo-Dutch war and in doing so planned to have the English armed forces join the Anti-French coalition.England, unlike the borders in Europe, was more or less unfortified and the bulk of the population was not necessarily in favour of a Catholic Monarch. He had been in contact with English dissidents for years but never really committed to anything. This changed when the Dutch government agreed to his plan and started planning an invasion in April 1688.The baby so feared by Protestant and Anti-French Europe was born on the 10th of June 1688 and named James Francis Edward Stuart. Much of Protestant England started off with wild conspiracy theories when this happened.Some charged that the boy was "supposititious", having been secretly smuggled into the Queen's room in a bed-warming pan as a substitute for her stillborn baby. Seeking information, Mary sent a pointed list of questions to her sister, Anne, regarding the circumstances of the birth. Anne's reply, and continued gossip, seemed to confirm Mary's suspicions that the child was not her natural brother, and that her father was conspiring to secure a Catholic successionWilliam also had contacts in England including several notables. He had send them a request to write an invitation that he could use to justify his invasion. They duly complied and on the 30th of June 1688 William III received an invitation signed by the ‘immortal seven’ asking him to invade England and get James to acknowledge his newborn son was indeed illegitimate and that Mary would be the heir presumptive. The fact that the invasion fleet of 500 ships, 20.000 sailors and 21.000 crack troops had already started assembling before this invitation was send seems to have not mattered much to anyone.On the 9th of September the French ambassador in the Hague did warn the Dutch government that Louis XIV would consider an invasion of England an act of war against France, some pro French elements in the Dutch government still believed war with France could be averted but this soon changed.The Anglo-Dutch MomentJust to be sure though 14.000 Germany mercenaries were send to the Lower Rhine to defend the Southern Frontier of the Dutch republic and a further 16.000 were recruited to bolster it later on.The opening of this grand new war started when the Anti-French pope intervened in the Election in Cologne and installed an Anti-French bishop in early September. Louis responded by sending an army which crossed the Rhine at the recently conquered Strasbourg on the 24th of September 1688 commencing an invasion of the German lands.Bad weather held up the Dutch fleet but by Early November the troops were disembarking in England.William III embarking at Hellevoetsluis before sailing to EnglandMeanwhile several parts of the German anti-French coalition had swung into action and mobilised to attack the French who had already captured several cities by the end of October 1688. The Dutch Republic officially only became part of this effort in November after they had landed an army in England but would not formally declare war against France until march 1689. Earlier in January 1689 the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire declared war against France and after being crowned co-monarch William III and Mary II together with Parliament declared war on France in May 1689.This monumental conflict whose duration can be judged by its name Nine Years' War pitted the majority of Europe against France. Because of the Glorious revolution causing England to join the Anti-French league it also pitted the Catholic Irish against the English and the colonial possessions of England against those of France. The result of this were wars known as the Williamite War in Ireland and the King William's War in North America.Various European colonies in North America in 1650, note that Sweden and the Netherlands would lose their possessions to the English due to events of the wars prior to the Nine Years WarThe Nine Years war devolved into a war of attrition that neither side could win effectively. It is a very interesting war in many ways but I will spare you the details. Suffice it to say that both sides got tired and concluded the Peace of Ryswick of September 1697.As usual this Treaty saw some shuffling of territories to the point that modern historians are not really comfortable proclaiming either side a victory. At best it seems a stalemate slightly in favour of the Grand Alliance.At least us modern Europeans did get something out of it besides the English Bill of Rights.The war prompted Marc-Antoine Charpentier to compose Te Deumthe instrumental prelude, Marche en rondeau, was chosen in 1954 as the theme music preceding the broadcasts of the European Broadcasting Union. After over sixty years of use notably before EBU programs such as the popular Eurovision Song Contest and Jeux Sans Frontières, the prelude, as arranged by Guy Lambert and directed by Louis Martini, has become Charpentier's best-known work.This warlike song is not quite Beethoven’s Ode to Joy but I suppose nothing illustrates European unity better than a piece composed to celebrate decades of war.Europe after the Nine Years warOne of the key issues left unresolved was that of Spain.The severely inbred and mentally handicapped king of Spain, Charles II of Spain, died childless on the first of November 1700.In 1698 William III and Louis XIV already tried to solve this succession issue Treaty of The Hague (1698). It basically consisted of the two major Western power blocks, being France and the Anglo-Dutch union partitioning the whole lot. Crucially though this treaty did not involve the Spanish themselves who protested at two foreign powers basically carving up their empire in anticipation of the Spanish king dying. Furthermore the guy who would receive much of what was Spain died of smallpox prompting a second treaty in March 1700 called the Treaty of London (1700).The main change from the First Treaty was to replace Joseph Ferdinand with Archduke Charles heir to the Spanish throne, retaining Spain, its overseas Empire and the Spanish Netherlands. France received Naples, Sicily and the Spanish province of Gipuzkoa as well as the Duchy of Milan, which it would exchange for the Duchy of Lorraine.France would also transfer Naples and Sicily to Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy in exchange for the Counties of Nice and Savoy. While Leopold now accepted the principle of dividing the Spanish Empire, he objected to France being granted Spanish possessions in Italy, particularly Milan, which was considered essential to the security of Austria's southern borders. In addition, Lorraine was an imperial state occupied by France in 1670 and only returned in 1697, whose recently restored hereditary Duke of Lorraine was Leopold's nephew. Therefore, neither Leopold or Victor Amadeus had agreed the territorial exchanges required by the treaty, and Spain would not even accept the principle.Archduke Charles mentioned above was the son of Leopold I of Austria, a Hapsburg and distant family of Charles II of Spain.However when Charles II died in November some seven months after the treaty of London made Leopold’s son heir to the bulk of Spain it was found the will of (the severely handicapped) Charles stipulated he should be succeeded by Phillip of Anjou, the grandson of Louis XIV.In early 1701, Louis registered Philip's [Of Anjou] claim to the French throne with the Paris Parlement, raising the possibility of union with Spain, contrary to Charles' will. In February, the Spanish-controlled Duchies of Milan and Mantua in Northern Italy announced their support for Philip and accepted French troops. Combined with efforts to build an alliance between France and Imperial German states in Swabia and Franconia, these were challenges Leopold could not ignore.Antwerp and the frozen Scheldt estuary; French moves against this vital area threatened both England and the Dutch Republic.At the same time, French garrisons took over Dutch-held 'Barrier' fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands, helped by the Spanish Viceroy and French ally Max Emanuel of Bavaria. This undid Dutch gains made at Ryswick and threatened their lucrative monopoly over the Scheldtgranted by the 1648 Peace of Münster. It was also a concern to English merchants since control of the ports of Antwerp and Ostend allowed France to blockade the Channel at will. Combined with other French actions potentially damaging to English trade, this produced a clear majority for war and in May 1701, Parliament urged William to negotiate an anti-French alliance.On 7 September, Leopold, the Dutch Republic and Britain signed the Treaty of The Hague renewing the 1689 Grand Alliance. Its provisions included securing the Dutch Barrier in the Spanish Netherlands, the Protestant succession in England and Scotland and an independent Spain but made no reference to placing Archduke Charles on the Spanish throne.War became inevitable when the exiled James II of England died on 16 September and Louis reneged on his earlier recognition of the Protestant William III as his successor to the thrones of England and Scotland. Instead Louis supported the claim of the Catholic James Francis Edward Stuart. When William died in March 1702, his successor Queen Anne confirmed her continuation of the Protestant succession. The Dutch did the same and on 15 May the Grand Alliance declared war on France, followed by the Imperial Diet on 30 SeptemberA little more than three years respite after the Nine Years war and the leading nations of Europe were at it again; War of the Spanish Succession 1701–1714 AD.Neither William III, who died in 1702, nor Leopold I, who died in 1705, would live to see the end of this war. Only Louis XIV who lived to the age of 76 and died in 1715 saw the conclusion.William III died childless so he was succeeded by Anne, the younger sister of his wife Mary. She in turn would lend her name to another spillover European conflict, the Queen Anne's War which saw English and French colonial together with Native Americans fight as part of the War of Spanish succession.The Peace of Utrecht would settle the conflict and almost half a century of war.The United Kingdom had been born and surpassed the Dutch Republic as a great power. The Dutch republic had a war debt that it still carried by the time Napoleon invaded it. It was more than its GDP and essentially broke the back of its military power resulting in a massive reduction of its army and downgrading of its navy to a second rate one. France emerged with an enlarged territory and generally more modern state and the Austrians were gobbling up parts of the Ottoman Empire.In the Americas further wars such as the War of Jenkins' Ear, King George's War and the French and Indian War were brought fourth by a particularly nasty Spanish coast guard, the War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years war. The middle one following a rather common inheritance dispute that got out of hand while the latter commenced because the treaty ending the former war didn’t fully resolve all issues.And they say politics is boring.PS, I think Europeans also learned never to trust a bald Frenchman.

Spain was the hegemonic power of the world from 1500 to 1800, only 300 years…Personalities from other countries and from other languages ​​and cultures spoke and wrote about Spanish America.Intellectuals, scientists, historians, politicians, and others who had the luck and the opportunity to find out what was the discovery, exploration and conquest of America by the Spanish.And deepening and comparing the facts in the context of their time, they verified that the American indigenous populations had another fate, depending on whether they had fallen in the Spanish zone or on the contrary they had done it in the English, French, Portuguese, Dutch or later zones North American.Of these facts and of the enormity of the Spanish company they spoke and wrote:Sir Walter Raleigh (Devonshire 1552-London 1618), sailor, politician and writer during the reign of Elizabeth I.World History Book, 1617:“I cannot but praise the patient virtue of the Spanish. Few nations, or perhaps none, have endured so much misery and suffering as the Spaniards during their discovery of the Indies. And yet, persisting in their endeavors, with indomitable constancy, they have annexed so many extraordinary provinces to their kingdom as to bury the memory of the dangers faced. Storms and shipwrecks, hunger, overthrows, riots, cold and heat, plague and all kinds of diseases, old and new, together with extreme poverty and lack of what is most necessary, have been the enemies they have had to face, at one time or another, each and every one of his noblest discoveries ”.————–Alexander von Humboldt (Berlin 1769-1859), geographer, astronomer and naturalist. Father of universal modern geography.Book: Political essay on the kingdom of New Spain, 1811:He is surprised that four hundred leagues from Mexico City, in Durango, pianos and harpsichords were made and that as early as the 16th century the Spanish had introduced water-wheel mills.Letter dated 8-11-1803, addressed to Manuel Espinosa and Tello. Published in: Moheit, Ulrike (ed.), Humboldt. Briefe aus Amerika. 1799-1804. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1993, p. 253:“Mexico is one of the most beautiful cities that Europeans have founded in both hemispheres, clearly surpassing Washington. None of the governors of Mexico can be accused of corruption or lack of integrity.“The most remote posterity will thank the Spanish sailors for the immense and important work that they have been able to collect in the last 20 years. At least I don't know of another nation that has advanced nautical astronomy further and published more exact maps in such a short time ”.Letter dated 2-3-1800 from Caracas to Philippe de Forell. Published in: Minguet, Charles (ed.), Alejandro de Humboldt. American letters. Venezuela: Ayacucho, 1980, p. 44.“I admire among the inhabitants of these distant places that loyalty, that simplicity of character, that mixture of authority and bonhomie, which has always been characteristic of the Spanish nation. If the lights are not widespread, much less is immorality. (…) The more I live in the Spanish colonies, the more I like them. Upon returning to Europe I will de-Spanishize with great regret ”."The paternalistic Spanish regime is preferable to the relentless destruction that is taking place in the North in the name of progress."————-Walter Whitman (New York 1819-New Jersey 1892) American poet, essayist, journalist and humanist:“We Americans still have a lot to learn from our past. Until now, dazzled by New England writers and teachers, we have tacitly abandoned ourselves to the idea that only the British Isles gave birth to the United States, essentially forming a second England, which is a huge mistake.For the complex American identity of the future, it will be the Hispanic character that contributes its most necessary aspects. No legacy exhibits a greater historical burden, nor is it comparable with its religiosity and loyalty, or with its patriotism, courage, decorum, seriousness and honor ”.————Hippolyte Taine (Vouziers 1828-París1893), historiador y philósofo. In “Hippolyte Taine, his life and his correspondence (1903-1907):"There was a strange and superior moment in the human species, with a mixture of monomania and exaltation: Spain from 1500 to 1700".————-Eliseo Reclus (France 1830-Belgium 1905), geographer and writer:“Spain and Portugal occupy the first place in the history of geographical knowledge. The importance of the discovery of the New World is such and so great that the beginning of the modern age must be set on the date that such a momentous event took place ”.“The discovery of the New World has exercised and does exercise on the destinies of humanity an influence far superior to anything that could be imagined in theoretical disquisitions, because not only has this discovery produced its immediate and natural consequences in the progress of geographical science and science. astronomical, but has reached other spheres of human life, such as religion, philosophy and politics, which due to their spiritual nature, let's put it this way, seemed far removed from the terrain in which the facts of the purely physical order are verified ”.————-Edgar Sanderson (Nottingham 1838-England 1907), professor at the University of Cambridge.Book: Out Lines of the World´s History, History of Civilization, 1885."The honor of giving America to the world, the consequent aggrandizement of Spain, from now on with new territorial contributions at the cost of a secular exploration unmatched by any other nation in any region and which together constitutes the most wonderful series of courageous feats recorded in history, eventually aroused animosity in most of the European nations and no means was spared to counteract the greatness of the glorious people who, led by their intrepidity to the other side of the "Dark Sea" ... had found and was colonizing a new world. Such an anti-Spanish colonial legend, however, has not been able to resist the glow of truth brought by new and dispassionate investigations, which has illuminated and continues to clarify the background of crass ignorance and sometimes bad faith that existed,————–Theodore Roosvelt (New York 1858-1919), 26th President of the USA:Speech in defense of Catholicism and Spain delivered in Baltimore in 1912. Revista Razón Española, nº 133, September-October 2005, p. 132:“The Spaniards with the transmission of their blood, their life and their faith, implanted in our soil a civilization very different from that of other conquering peoples. More humanitarian than that which kills and enslaves races, as the French, the English and ourselves did with the Indians in North America ”.————-Charles Fletcher Lummis (Lynn, Massachusetts 1859-Los Angeles 1928), journalist, historian and activist in favor of American Indians. Founder of the Southwest Museum in 1914 in the city of Los Angeles.Book: The Spanish pioneers, The Spanish explorers of the 16th century, 1920:“The honor of giving America to the world fell to Spain; the credit not only of discovery, but of centuries of pioneering work such that no other nation in any other country can match it. Virtually a single nation had the glory of discovering and exploring America, of changing the world's ideas about geography, and of carrying knowledge and trade alone for a century and a half. And that nation is Spain ”.Los Angeles, 1916: “Because I believe that every young American loves justice and admires heroism as much as I do, I have decided to write this book. The reason we have not done justice to the Spanish explorers is simply because we have been misinformed. His story is unparalleled, and yet our textbooks have not recognized the truth, although now they dare not discuss it. […] In this country of free and brave men, racial prejudice, the most supine of all human ignorances, must disappear. […] The facts that humanity raises do not come from a single race. […] We love bravery, and the exploration of the Americas by the Spanish was the greatest, the longest, and the most wonderful series of brave feats in history. In my youth it was not possible for an Anglo-Saxon boy to learn that truth and even today it is extremely difficult, since it is possible.Convinced that the task of searching, in one or all the English textbooks, for an exact account of the Spanish heroes of the New World is futile, I decided that no other young American lover of heroism and justice would need to walk to you grope in the dark as it has happened to me […] ”.“Not only were the Spanish the first conquerors of the New World, but also its first civilizers. They built the first cities, the first churches, schools and universities, set up the first printing presses and published the first books; they wrote the first dictionaries, histories, and geographies, and brought the first teachers and missionaries. One of the most amazing things about the Spanish is the humanitarian and progressive spirit that from the beginning to the end characterized their institutions ”.“Some stories have painted this heroic nation as cruel to the Indians; but the truth is that the conduct of Spain in this regard should embarrass us. Spanish legislation concerning Indians everywhere was incomparably more extensive, comprehensive, systematic, and humane than that of Great Britain, the Colonies, and the United States combined.————Edward Gaylord Bourne (New York 1860-1908), Professor of History and writer at Yale University:Libro: Spain in America (1450-1580). New York.-Hasper&brothrs publihers.- 1904."The behavior of Spain in America, offers one of the most important examples of the transmission of culture by sovereign rule, preferable to that exercised in particular by groups of emigrants on their own impulse, as happened to the English who arrived in the United States. ”."Each mission was a school of religion, arts, industry, languages, as well as reading and writing for the natives, who were taught all the trades used in Spain.""Spain undertook the enormous, if not impossible task of bringing an entire race of millions of people into the sphere of European thought, life and religion."————Herbert Eugene Bolton (Wisconsin 1870-Berkeley 1953), historian and professor at the Universities of Berkeley and Wisconsin-Milwaukee:Libro: The Colonization of North America. 1492-1783. New York. Mac Millan Company 1920."It must be admitted that Spain's success remains a force that made the preservation of the Indians possible, as opposed to their destruction that was so characteristic of the Anglo-American frontier."————Lesley Byrd Simpson (Missouri 1891-Berkeley 1984), historian and university professor:Books: a) Many Mexicos, University California Berkeley 1941, 1946, 1957, 1960, 1967 (spanish: Mexicoo / Madrid 1977)b) The Encomienda in New Spain. The Beginning of Spanish Mexico, The University of California Press, 1950. Primera edición 1929.a) “I consider that the average capacity of the viceroys of New Spain was so great that no country, in my opinion, was more fortunate with its rulers. New Spain had many things against it ... but it enjoyed a long life (300 years!) Of relative peace, stability and prosperity, in stark contrast to the quarrelsome nations of Europe. Some of the men who made this possible deserve to be known.b) "The hatred provoked by the Aztecs among their vassal states is what made the conquest of an empire by a mere handful of Spaniards possible."————-Arthur Scott Aiton (California 1894-1955), Professor of History at the University of Michigan:Libro: Antonio de Mendoza, First Viceroy of New Spain. Duke University Press, 1927“Americans have been given a false and incomplete view of the Spanish conquest and colonization of America. The first century of the Spanish effort in America witnessed the most extraordinary events of exploration and conquest in the American continent that, in all probability, can be remembered in any other period of history. ”“ Readers are satisfied with the old fable that the Spaniards, attracted by gold, only explored and conquered but did not found, and ignore the equally spectacular story of the transplantation of European culture to America. In that (16th) century Spain had a civilization equal to or superior to that of any other European power ”.————-John Tate Lanning (North Carolina 1902-1976), Professor of History at Duke University:Libro: Academia Culture in the Spanish colonies. N. Y. y Londres Oxford University Press, 1940. Roland Denis Hussei, H.A.H.R.“The exchange of ideas and the trade of books was constant between Europe and Hispanic America, and university life there was no different from what existed in the old continent. Until a generation ago the theory that every European intellectual product was excluded from America by a jealous monarch and the Inquisition, was accepted without question. But now, no prestigious researcher would pronounce on the abundance of books that existed in America based exclusively on the appreciable "Recopilacion de Indias" or on the "Index of Prohibited Books." The arrival of the European Enlightenment in Latin America was never so hampered as can be deduced from regulations and catalogs ... A great and tenacious injustice,————–Ronal Syme (New Zealand 1903-Oxford (UK) 1989, historian and university professor at the University of Oxford:Book: Colonial Elites. Rome, Spain and the Americas. Oxford University. London 1958.Despite the geographical disadvantages and distances, Spain was able to maintain its extensive dominions for three centuries, and gave them the indelible stamp of its language, thought and institutions. That feat deserves more honor than it is commonly awarded, and a thorough investigation. "————-Lewis U. Hanke (Oregon 1905-Massachusetts 1993), Professor of History at Harvard, Columbia and Texas Universities.Book: The Struggle for Justice in the Spanish Conquest of America, La lucha española por la Justicia en la Conquista de América, 1949:“This book sets out to demonstrate that the conquest of America by the Spanish was not only an extraordinary military feat in which a handful of conquerors subdued an entire continent in a surprisingly short period of time, but, at the same time, one of the greatest attempts the world has seen to enforce justice and Christian standards in a brutal and bloody age.————–Sverker Arnoldsson (Sundsvall, Sweden 1908-Gothenburg 1959), researcher and historian:Book: The Black Legend. Study on its origins, 1960:"The Black Legend in truth, was for two centuries one of the most significant collective hallucinations in the West and precisely for this reason the most eagerly disclosed and assimilated by all.""Its origins were located in the tensions for the dominance of the Mediterranean between the Crown of Aragon and the Italian city-states." He also conducts a study of the oldest German sources. In this way, "when it comes to the ideological combat against the empire of the Hispanic monarchy, its enemies will preferably use these sources in their particular combat in the field of mentalities."————–Philip Wayne Powell (California 1913-Santa Barbara 1987), historian, writer and professor at the Universities of Berkeley, Pennsylvania and Northwestern.Book: Tree of Hate, The Tree of Hate, 1972:“There is nothing in all of Spanish history that proves that the Spaniards of then or now can be classified as more cruel, more ambitious or more corrupt than other peoples. I do not believe in the existence of any respectable intellectual who, free from racial and religious prejudices, can contradict this statement.“From the study of contemporary Europe (16th century), the universal pattern of cruelty, intolerance and inhumanity that characterized the social, religious and economic life of the continent is clearly evident. Humanism was at that time, a simple concept of human relations still in a latent and undeveloped state, being on the contrary universal the disregard of the rights inherent to the individual. For a conqueror, to behave in a compassionate way towards the conquered, was still generally considered, as a sign of weakness ”.“The possibility is rarely considered that the Spaniards set out on the route to America out of a simple desire to improve their fortune, or that they might be animated by sincere religious zeal or a mere desire to establish homes and colonize, or that they were interested in starting industry. cattle, commercial, agricultural or that will execute any form of service to the Crown. It is logical and evident that the majority of those who emigrated did so guided by reasons of a similar nature and diversity ”.“In contrast to its English counterpart, the Spanish Crown spared no reinforcement to prevent criminals and other socially undesirable elements from emigrating to America. The Spanish, unlike many Englishmen, did not feel the need to go to America to escape religious or other persecutions.“The Spanish conquest of America was more an achievement of diplomacy than of war. It had to be this way since the forces of exploration and invasion were so small that they could not have otherwise survived and conquered. Compared to shrewd Spanish diplomacy, firearms, horses, and steel swords were often less effective ”.“The Spanish interest in the riches of the new world seems entirely logical, entirely normal and nothing unique. In contrast to the pride, efficient performance, and interest with which the English, French, Dutch, Jews, Germans, Anglo, or Italian-Americans seek material wealth, the Spanish generally appears less preoccupied with, and even contemptuous of, such goals. He has and had a greater inclination to achieve other objectives, risking his life and his property at the chance of a letter or a war conflict, adjusting to wealth and poverty (perénnemente the latter), with an equanimity that surprises most of the foreign".“The fact that Spain seriously ruled a huge part of the New World with a deep sense of responsibility for some three centuries is usually overlooked in our textbooks. And in popular literature ”.“The norms of legality and application of the laws were in force as in other civilized societies. In general, the Crown did not try to impose on America something strange or inferior to what was in force in the peninsula. Taxes, municipal ordinances, university statutes, criminal and civil legislation, justice, promotion of the arts, charities, commercial practices, etc. were, mutatis mutandis, very similar to Spanish usage and the norms of European states. In governmental and private practices concerning the public welfare, there is abundant evidence that the actions of the Spaniards demonstrated a very advanced consideration for their time ”.————–John F. Kennedy (Massachusetts 1917-Dallas 1963), 35th president of the USA:International Archives Seminar: Reception Speech at the White House December 24, 1961.“I have always thought that one of the great needs of the Americans of this country in their knowledge of the past has been their ignorance of the Spanish influence, its exploration and development throughout the 16th century in the southwestern United States, which it is a tremendous story. Unfortunately too, Americans think that America was discovered in 1620 when the pilgrims came to my own state and they forget the tremendous adventure of the 16th and early 17th centuries in the South and Southwest of the USA ”.————–Arthur M. Schelinger (Ohio 1917-New York 2007), historian of the Universities of Ohio and Harvard. Pulitzer Prize.“Anti-Catholicism is the deepest prejudice in the history of the American people. I forgive all Protestants for crucifying the history of Europe with its insidious and indecorous black legend, which poisoned the minds of hundreds of millions of people, who prefer to believe the lies about the Inquisition rather than take the risk of reading a book about it " .————-Jean Dumont (Lyon 1923-2001), historian and editor:“If unfortunately Spain had gone to reform, it would have become a puritan and would have applied the same principles as North America (“ the Bible says it, the Indian is an inferior being, a son of Satan ”), an immense genocide it would have eliminated all indigenous peoples from South America. Today, when visiting the few "reserves" of Mexico to Tierra del Fuego, tourists would take photos of the survivors, witnesses to the racial slaughter, carried out also on the basis of "biblical" motivations.————-Pierre Chaunu (France 1923-2009), historian and writer at the University of Paris:Libro: “The Black Anti-Hispanic Legend”, Journal of People's Psychology. 1964.“The anti-Hispanic legend in its American (North American) version has played a healthy role of escape valve. The alleged massacre of the Indians by the Spanish in the 16th century covered up the North American massacre on the western frontier, which took place in the 19th century. Protestant America thus managed to free itself of its crime by launching it anew on Catholic America ”.————-John H. Elliot (UK 1930), Professor of History at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge:Book: Empires of the Atlantic world. Spain and Great Britain in America (1492-1830). 2006."The worldwide projection of those exploits more than justifies the identification of his name with that of an entire era: that of the Spanish Empire, since it revealed with such a formidable undertaking its true dimension in the history of humanity."————-Joseph Pérez (Laroque-dÓlmes, France 1931), University professor of History and writer:“At an academic level, all historians, whether Spanish or not, agree to underline that the accusations contained in the Black Legend are false, in bad faith and greatly exaggerated. There is unanimity in this regard. "————-Stanley George Payne (Texas 1934), Professor of History at Columbia and Wisconsin-Madison Universities and writer.Book: In defense of Spain, 2017."The black legend of Spain has been believed more by Spaniards than foreigners."“The miracle of the Spanish Empire is amazing. In 40 years the Spanish conquered in America what it cost the English a century and a half. However, the Spanish know very little about its history. Most of the population was loyal to Spain. It was essentially the minority of Spaniards who revealed themselves while the Indians and blacks wanted the King ”."The struggle to treat the Indians fairly in Spain took on larger dimensions than in any other transoceanic empire."————–Hugh Thomas (Windsor 1931-London 2017), Professor of History, politician and writer:“The Indians of North America have practically disappeared and those of South America, although it is true that decimated, still exist. There was also a great miscegenation between the Spanish and the Indians that was not seen in North America, with some exceptions such as the famous John Smith in Virginia. The very idea of ​​miscegenation was a great scandal in England ”."No woman in the era of feminism has achieved such great achievements as those of Isabel la Católica.""It is true that the Spanish had interests in the slave trade, but until the 19th century slaves were sold by the Portuguese, French and English, who in turn bought them from the Africans themselves."————–William S. Maltby (United States 1940), Professor of History at the University of Missouri, St. Louis.Book: The Black Legend in England, 1971. The Black Legend in England: development of anti-Hispanic sentiment, 1558-1660:“The misrepresentations and exaggerations of Bartolomé de las Casas are so serious that they cast doubt on his entire thesis. That this generally has not happened is a tribute to the fanaticism of its foreign readers. "“The creation of national stereotypes implies a standard of comparison with one's own country, and in practice such comparisons usually produced envy. For a nation conscious of its own dignity, contemplating the exaltation of a supposedly inferior rival is humiliating, and Spanish power was continually exalted in the 16th century.“The English encouraged such grotesque exaggerations, while the Spanish, as a rule, did not. A completely conclusive solution cannot be given to such a problem, but it may have to do with the different internal conditions of the two countries. Spain, for once in its long and eventful history, was relatively free from religious or ideological strife, while its rival had a sizeable Catholic minority, an enthusiastic community of more or less violent Puritans, and a large mass of citizens whose beliefs ranged from a firm Anglicanism to a complete indifference ”.————–Harm der Boer (Holland 1960), professor at the Universities of Amsterdam and Basel:“The most powerful weapon of the Netherlands and England against the Hispanic Monarchy was defamation. The enemies of the Empire attacked the Spanish on three fronts: a) the king's tyranny, b) the horrors of the Inquisition, the antithesis of tolerance and Protestant progress, and c) the atrocities committed in America ”.“The printing press played a fundamental role. The Dutch discovered the value of the pamphlet in wartime.“The image that was released publicly of Felipe II, the Spanish army and the Inquisition is based on a pure and simple forgery. Especially significant was the use of bloody (false) illustrations with which the books published in Holland, France and England were adorned. In these drawings, children appear grilled or tortured in the presence of the secretary of a court of the Inquisition ”.————– Niall Ferguson (Glasgow 1964), Professor of History and writer at Harvard and New York Universities.Book: Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World, The British Empire. How Britain forged the world order, 2003:Honestly acknowledge more than one of those mistakes / horrors. In the first place, the British Empire would have been born on the indiscriminate plunder and looting of the Spanish Empire at the hands of pirates and criminals (also precursors of mercenaries), encouraged and protected by the English king on duty, with “a gale of robbery and violence maritime ”and by an unhealthy envy of the Spanish."The English were aware that they could not defeat the Spanish in a formal war, according to the rules established by knights, and they feared that with the resources it was obtaining in America, Spain would be invincible for many centuries."————–Robert Goodwin (London 1968), historian:Book: Spain. The center of the world, 1519-1682, Spain, center of the world, 1519-1682. 2016:“It is an image of Spain as the center of a world created by the Spanish in the 16th century. My intention has not been to offer a positive or negative image, but rather an image of the Spain of the time. And that encompasses both the Inquisition and the Golden Age. Of course, comparing it with the classic image of the black legend, it is a positive image. But that's because the black legend is, precisely, a black legend "“A magnificent story, an imperial story, always has the good and the bad. But with such an impressive history there are many reasons to be proud of being Spanish. Come on, there are many more reasons to be proud of being Spanish than of being British, or even French. Today's Spaniard has many reasons to be proud of his people, of his people, and of all Spaniards. The political world is another matter ”.————–