[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: chicken in America: from Asia? (cont.)
This guy, Jose Acosta, wasn't only interested in chickens. I quote Brian
Fagan in 'Kingdoms of Gold, Kingdoms of Jade'
"It was a Jesuit missionary, Jose de Acosta, who first argued that the
Native Americans came from Asia. It was entirely possible, he wrote in
1589, that American Indians had followed the exotic beasts across Asia to
the New world at least 2000 years before Cortes gazed on Tenochitlan.
There were, he said, "only short stretches of navigation" a remarkable
statement considering that the Bering Strait was only discovered in 1725"
Acosta was the first to put forth the 'land bridge theory', but that is
not his only impact on history. From a book from the University of Notre
Dame Press titled 'Generation of Giants', we come upon this..
"The views of Sanchez prompted a fellow Jesuit in Mexico, Jose de
Acosta, to write a tract proving that war against China for the purpose
of forcing the Middle Kingdom to grant freedom of action to missionaries
would be an unjust war. Its very title, "Opinion on War with China," and
its publication in far off Mexico is clear evidence that the tempting
thought of a "holy war" against China enjoyed wide diffusion."
Jose de Acosta was a major player when China turned over her Jade
mining colony (New World) to the Holy Roman Empire, in exchange for a
non-agression pact.
References: