burned head

So much of the world's "riches" came from Latin America that it really makes the mind dizzy. You see all those palaces in Austria and you would think they are as far from Bolivia as possible and then you remember that the Austrian Habsburgs ruled the Spanish Empire and partook of the loot of the silver and gold from the Americas. You see the cuisine of Europe, Asia and Africa completely changed by American crops to the point that many don't even remember where they came from. Silver from Potosí found its way from China to Sweden. All the world was enriched, directly or not, while the Americas were plundered. When you really realize the scale of it, the entire line of history bends around it.