Monday

                             Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Time heals all griefs and sorrows, for we change and are no longer the persons we were.”

Pascal

Trivia question of the day:

Who was President of the United States after Lincoln was assassinated? Answer at the end of the blog.

Several times in my life I have spent a great deal of time researching different peoples that interested me such as the Vikings, the Egyptians and the people in the following vignette.

                               The Magnificent Maya

There is evidence that there were settlements on the Pacific coast of Mexico in 1,800 BC. By 1,000 BC there semi-organized city-states beginning to form in what is now the Mexican provinces of Oaxaca (pronounced “wa-sha-ka”) and Chiapas (pronounced Chee-opp-us) and further east into southern parts of the Yucatan Peninsula and on into Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador. These are the Maya. Keep in mind that during the era of 1,300 BC the Egyptians were governed by Pharaoh Ramses II and if you are a believer in the bible, it was the time of Moses and Exodus of the Jews from Egypt and Europe was just a few villages. There were only Native Americans in North America living a primitive and nomadic existence. Only 700 miles south in the Amazon Rain forest the natives were living the most basic of existences and were indeed head-hunters. By in large only the Maya, the Chinese, the Egyptians and Mesopotamia were the only forward thinking civilizations out there. By the era of 200-700 AD the Maya had progressed into well defined city-states like Copan, Palenque and Bonampak among others and had began an explosion of building and the arts. They developed a written language and the concept of zero in mathematics. Their sculptures and wall murals are still breath-taking to this day. It was also during this time that they began building large structures that were larger at the bottom than the top, pyramids in other words. I do not know how the Mayan architects came by the pyramid concept. One would think that they had received guidance from another civilization to come up with the pyramid concept, but there is no evidence that the Maya had ever had contact with anyone other than other city-states so where did the idea come from? As far as I can tell, it is only the Egyptians and the Maya that built them. There are those that believe the Lost Tribe of Israel came to that area after the Exodus and that is when the idea came from, but that is one hell of a reach but it would explain a lot of things. The flood of Mayan civility spread northward into the Yucatan Peninsula resulting in the magnificent city-states of Chichen-Itza, Uxmal, Coba and Tulum among others. I think it is important to remember at this point that the Maya had no draft animals and they did not have the wheel. I went for visit to Coba once and there is a causeway that the Maya built without the wheel and draft animals across a jungle from Coba to a trading post of Yaxuna almost 60 miles away. To think what it took to wade around in that mosquito infested swamp dodging poisonous and constricting snakes along with the jaguars and build that causeway with sweat alone. Not only that, it is not believed that they had neither civil engineering skills nor a compass. How they built that causeway through that jungle straight as an arrow boggles the mind. This advance in civilization came about in the 700-800’s.AD. Think about what was going on in the world during that time. In Europe the Vikings held sway and the Mongolian hordes were threatening Eastern Europe under the leadership of Attila the Hun. I cannot think of any cities in Europe that could even compare with those of the Maya at that time. The Mayan influence spread far and wide and there is evidence of it in the land of the Olmecs or as they were later known, the Aztecs. These two civilizations, the Olmecs and the Maya, were 700 miles apart. As with human nature, as the city-states grew in wealth and stature, the kings of those cities began to look with greed upon the other city-states and widespread warfare and alliances ensued. This turmoil began to tear the city-states apart. This disintegration was not the only cause for the demise of the Maya glory days. There was a drought that was the worst in 7,000 years and the agrarian society of the Maya went down the toilet. The diet of the Maya was based almost entirely on maize or corn and squash. If they had a crop failure, they were in real trouble. The disintegration worked its way from south to north with the last city-states to succumb was those great cities near the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan peninsula. It was in the 1500’s that the last of the Mayan cities fell and were abandoned. The Maya are still with us. They are in those small villages throughout the whole of the ancient Mayan lands. They still have there own rites and customs but all are devout Roman Catholic mixed with some of their gods and idols that they refuse to give up. The all speak a variation of Quechua which was the language of the Maya. An entire civilization is destroyed because of greed and the weather. It just goes to show you how fragile we are. There is no reason for me to tell you that this small treatise covers all of the Mayan presence on the earth. After all, they were here for 3,000 years. We have been here in America for 400 years. We are just papooses in the history of civility.

This Date in History October 15

1966 A 75 year old McKinney, Texas man earned the distinction of the world’s worst driver when he receives 10 traffic tickets in 20 minutes. He was cited for driving on the wrong side of the road four times, hit-and-run four times and causing six accidents. What’s the big deal here, it sounds like the average driver in Greenpatch. Just joking, but it is ironic that a native Texan has this distinction when Texas drivers are known as some of the best in the country especially in the Houston area. I have lived in the Houston area and let me tell ya’ll something; you must be an expert driver just to survive in that town. But, in truth what I observed was that the average person there was not in a real big rush and was polite and friendly and it showed in their driving habits.

1863 The Confederate submarine CSS Hunley sank during a test run in Charleston harbor before a huge crowd of observers taking all aboard to a watery grave. After this disaster it was difficult for a crew to be found but a crew was found with the inventor, Horace Hunley, in command. On one fateful day the Hunley approached the Union blockader USS Housatonic, stuck a torpedo into its side and backed off and lit off the torpedo, sinking the Housatonic. Thus the Hunley became the first submarine in history to sink another ship in combat. The down side of this was that the Hunley sank on its way back in taking yet another crew to their death. The Hunley normally had a crew of eight with one man steering and seven men turning a crankshaft that turned the propeller. In the year 2000 the Hunley was found and raised and now rests in the Charleston Historical Museum. This reminds me of my late sister who was a Civil War historian such as me and was very excited about the raising of the Hunley. I miss her.

1878 On this day Thomas Edison opened the offices of Edison Electric Company. Edison had promised his investors that he would invent an electric light and did so setting off a lot of other small companies trying to feed off of this revolutionary invention. Edison was a brilliant inventor but was lost when it came to big business so big business men such as J.P. Morgan came to his aid and taught him how to be ruthless in the elimination of competition. This was possible because there were no anti-trust laws. Eventually Edison’s company became General Electric and soon thereafter another inventor name George Westinghouse opened his company, and the rest is history.

Answer to the blog:

The President of the United States after the Lincoln assassination was Vice President Andrew Johnson of North Carolina.

                  Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow