🕵️♂️ On the Anniversary of Marco Polo's Death (Jan 18, 1324)
💰 Jewish Financiers & The Eastern "Gold Fever" That Fueled Colonialism
The "river of gold" flowing from the East and the Americas to Spain and Portugal ignited an insatiable thirst across Europe. From royal courts to merchant hubs, the allure of overseas "discovery" and trade became a powerful obsession.
Certain financial families, long-connected to the East, actively fanned these flames. One of their most effective tools? Spreading mesmerizing tales of the endless, easily attainable treasures of the Muslim world and the Orient. 🗺️✨
These legends, reflected in 16th-century European poetry, blended with:
•The fables of the Alhambra's treasures
•The wonders of One Thousand and One Nights
•The (supposed) adventures of Marco Polo
They created an irresistible "gold fever" for the East. Even maps featured symbolic temptations: a naked woman luring Christian knights, or a headless man with a face on his chest! Names given by European "explorers" were equally seductive: "Cape of Good Hope," "Ivory Coast," "Gold Coast."
📜 The Power of the (Questionable) Travelogue
The newly-invented printing press spread these tales far and wide.Key texts that drove European greed and adventure included:
• The Voyage of Nearchus (attributed to Alexander the Great's admiral): This "rediscovered" text reportedly guided Portuguese and English ambitions in the Persian Gulf and India.
• The Travels of Marco Polo (Il Milione): The ultimate medieval best-seller about the Far East. It claimed Polo served Kublai Khan for 17 years. But was it real? 🤔
Modern scholars like Frances Wood argue Polo never went beyond Constantinople! She points out he never mentions the Great Wall of China, and no Chinese records mention him—despite detailed logs of other foreign visitors. Was his book fabricated propaganda to fuel the colonial rush?
• The Travels of Niccolò de' Conti: This Venetian's tale, published under the Pope's order, is filled with sensational (and likely fabricated) claims meant to portray the East as exotic and morally "other," justifying conquest.
⚖️ The Bottom Line
These narratives weren't innocent stories.They were a form of soft power and psychological preparation, crafted and circulated by powerful financial interests to:
1. Stoke the greed of European rulers and adventurers.
2. Dehumanize and "otherp Eastern cultures.
3. Morally justify the coming centuries of brutal colonization and resource extraction.
The quest for Eastern gold was built on a foundation of myths, many of them possibly lies.
🔍 Source (Persian): Excerpt from "Jewish Financiers and British Colonialism" by Abdollah Shahbazi.
https://jscenter.ir/jewish-methods/jews-and-colonialism/1293
---
#History #Colonialism #MarcoPolo #Propaganda #Geopolitics #EastWest #GoldRush #Thread
✅ @rahyafte_en
💰 Jewish Financiers & The Eastern "Gold Fever" That Fueled Colonialism
The "river of gold" flowing from the East and the Americas to Spain and Portugal ignited an insatiable thirst across Europe. From royal courts to merchant hubs, the allure of overseas "discovery" and trade became a powerful obsession.
Certain financial families, long-connected to the East, actively fanned these flames. One of their most effective tools? Spreading mesmerizing tales of the endless, easily attainable treasures of the Muslim world and the Orient. 🗺️✨
These legends, reflected in 16th-century European poetry, blended with:
•The fables of the Alhambra's treasures
•The wonders of One Thousand and One Nights
•The (supposed) adventures of Marco Polo
They created an irresistible "gold fever" for the East. Even maps featured symbolic temptations: a naked woman luring Christian knights, or a headless man with a face on his chest! Names given by European "explorers" were equally seductive: "Cape of Good Hope," "Ivory Coast," "Gold Coast."
📜 The Power of the (Questionable) Travelogue
The newly-invented printing press spread these tales far and wide.Key texts that drove European greed and adventure included:
• The Voyage of Nearchus (attributed to Alexander the Great's admiral): This "rediscovered" text reportedly guided Portuguese and English ambitions in the Persian Gulf and India.
• The Travels of Marco Polo (Il Milione): The ultimate medieval best-seller about the Far East. It claimed Polo served Kublai Khan for 17 years. But was it real? 🤔
Modern scholars like Frances Wood argue Polo never went beyond Constantinople! She points out he never mentions the Great Wall of China, and no Chinese records mention him—despite detailed logs of other foreign visitors. Was his book fabricated propaganda to fuel the colonial rush?
• The Travels of Niccolò de' Conti: This Venetian's tale, published under the Pope's order, is filled with sensational (and likely fabricated) claims meant to portray the East as exotic and morally "other," justifying conquest.
⚖️ The Bottom Line
These narratives weren't innocent stories.They were a form of soft power and psychological preparation, crafted and circulated by powerful financial interests to:
1. Stoke the greed of European rulers and adventurers.
2. Dehumanize and "otherp Eastern cultures.
3. Morally justify the coming centuries of brutal colonization and resource extraction.
The quest for Eastern gold was built on a foundation of myths, many of them possibly lies.
🔍 Source (Persian): Excerpt from "Jewish Financiers and British Colonialism" by Abdollah Shahbazi.
https://jscenter.ir/jewish-methods/jews-and-colonialism/1293
---
#History #Colonialism #MarcoPolo #Propaganda #Geopolitics #EastWest #GoldRush #Thread
✅ @rahyafte_en
اندیشکده مطالعات یهود | Jewish Studies Center
زرسالاران یهودی و تب طلای شرق - اندیشکده مطالعات یهود | Jewish Studies Center
پس از بازگشت کلمب، زرسالاران یهودی گزارش سفر او به هند! را چاپ و در مراکز مهم اروپا پخش کردند. این اقدام در کانونهای سیاسی و تجاری اروپا تأثیری شگرف بخشید.