That is a really nice bit of information communication. Hat's off! I feel like I learned a lot and that always makes me happy.
One quibble. At the end it mentions why Mexico's west was of interest to the Spanish, but neglects possibly the most important part - it was where the Spanish galleons from the Philippines first landed after the grueling trip across the Pacific as detailed beautifully in Neal Stephenson's "Baroque Cycle".
Clavell wanted to write a second novel because "that separates the men from the boys".[21] The money from King Rat enabled him to spend two years researching and then writing what became Tai-Pan (1966). It was a huge best-seller, and Clavell sold the film rights for a sizeable amount (although the film would not be made until 1986).[22]
Interesting. I’ve had a pet research project that had a lot of anomalous cultural data points pointing into ancient Japanese pollination in places where many would be surprised by today’s “standard history.” It seems there’s deep connections across South America to Japan.
I was recently watching some YouTube videos about early contact between Europeans and Japanese. A lot of that was contact with Portugal, and from there they had contact with Spain and Italy, so they did go to Iberian colonies in the new world.
Just under 2000 Spaniards have this surname, and to this day they primarily reside in Seville province, which was long the only allowed port of entry to peninsular Spain for imported goods from Spanish overseas territories.
i'm pretty sure there are aztecs and mayas who go to the philippines and southeast asia to fight today (to fight drug lords and the dictatorship of myanmar, respectively)
I'm also wondering if the Andes are steeper than the Rocky mountains? Some quick Googling suggests that might be the case but I'm not getting a definitive answer.
Gradual elevation is certainly easier to build roads across than a cliff, and might be another reason there's less east-west divide in North America.
Basically, going east<->west is nearly impossible at scale, so moving an army is not going to happen if there is any resistance.
And going north<->south is so easy, that anyone doing it could likely cover the whole country pretty quick. So odds are, if there were two countries in that area, there would be just one pretty quickly.
Definitely one of those ‘geography defines the culture and the borders’ situations.
One quibble. At the end it mentions why Mexico's west was of interest to the Spanish, but neglects possibly the most important part - it was where the Spanish galleons from the Philippines first landed after the grueling trip across the Pacific as detailed beautifully in Neal Stephenson's "Baroque Cycle".