If you feel a bit of anger well up in you at the mention of this power dynamic, know that your response is exactly what your national governing body intended when it labeled you a member of its possessions. That’s right, you are labeled (or branded if you’d like for my fellow marketers) as an extension of a national identity.
This national identity is so powerful that you may find yourself in denial at the notion of being labeled a possession of said nation. You might exclaim, “No! I chose to be a proud American!” But in reality, you didn’t have a choice. You were born inside a boundary, labeled, assigned, and put on a path to integrate an entire nation's identity into your own. For some, this process was so thorough, so convincing, so essential for their sense of self, they will gladly die for their designated nation.
It’s powerful stuff, nationalism.
But where did nationalism come from? When did it officially arrive in the global zeitgeist? And why do people proudly die or kill in the name of a nation that never personally cared for the individual in the first place?
In this episode, we explore the moment when nationalism emerged from the dying imperial era, and with the help of the Enlightenment, overtook the last remaining European dynasties to usher in the modern system of global governance we witness today
Before this Begins
As it is with each episode in this series, the sources and references throughout this article are hyperlinked to source material. Any additional historical commentary is sourced from Benedict Anderson’s book Imagined Communities. It’s a brilliant work of histo cultural mapping and culture studies.
I suggest you buy it and read it immediately.
Now, let us return to 18th century New Spain where a creole community has discovered the world’s most powerful weapon. Oh yeah, if you missed the first two episodes, it’ll make sense to pull those up and listen before you move forward in this episode. We’ll be here when you get back.
Alright, let’s begin.
Newspapers in the New World
In the first half of the 18th century, Mexico City’s first newspaper arrived to support the local commerce in the area. Though the Spanish had brought the first printing-press with them in the early 16th century, it would be another two hundred years before the local colonies began to utilize its power. Mexico City’s early print-journalism was more for the local municipalities rather than the common reader. Early editions of La Gazeta de Mexico consisted of time tables for shipments, import and export percentages, and ship times in specific ports rather than traditional newspaper articles. As the printing press grew in popularity, so did the printing industry, prompting publications to print more human-centric pieces that would have more readers and sell more newspapers.
Print and Time
A murder in Bogota last month, a massacre of tribal children a week ago, and the arrival of imported Merino wool in two days. Three separate events, three separate times. To the modern citizen, this doesn't seem remotely striking for any particular reason. Life happens all around the planet at different times. However, in 18th century New Spain, reading the morning edition newspaper introduced an awareness beyond the daily experience of the individual. An awareness of other populations, other languages, other events, other forms of Spanish oppression. An awareness of new possibilities and ideas creole populations would never have considered had it not been for the morning edition of La Gazeta de Mexico.
Nothing Compares to Comparative History
In the late 17th century, the Enlightenment redefined several cultural, historical and ideological concepts with the reemergence of Humanism. The revisiting of Greek philosophy caused many 18th century Europeans to reconsider the origins of social and hierarchical rule in their societies. Monarchial rule was up for debate and the notion of individual rights entered the cultural discourse throughout Europe.
European intellectuals attempted to align their evolving ideas on power and order with those of antiquity in an attempt to draw a direct line from their own culture to esteemed ancient philosophers. Humanists looked upon the Socratic era with an intellectual and historical reverence while striving to reconcile those philosophies with the newly developed mercantile capitalism spreading throughout the western world. Slowly, the colonial and imperial era was beginning to crumble, replaced with the ideals of rationality, logic, and the notion that people could select their governing bodies through societal contracts.
Of course, those people selecting their governing bodies were wealthy white men…usually in the royal or aristocratic wealth classes that were upheld by colonial taxes from two hundred years of enslaving indigenous populations while stealing resources and indoctrinating their children.
History of Language
With the concepts of antiquity and modernity firmly rooted in the Enlightenment’s humanism-based studies there emerged a revitalized effort to consolidate the vast array of languages logged by explorers and well-traveled naval commanders.
Prior to the Enlightenment, European-centric sacred language was believed to descend from a divine creator reserved for the religious elite and the royal kingdoms they served. As the middle ages transitioned to the Age of Exploration (more accurately the era of imperial colonization) holy languages were replaced by official imperial languages. This imperial language made the process of enslaving and pillaging far more efficient for the imperial colonizers. However, as the Enlightenment took hold of the European academic world, the origin of language was also brought into question.
Though semiotics would develop in the following century, the linguists and historians of the day developed the foundations of linguistic research and lexiconic translations. For the first time in history, non-European languages were being studied with the same diligence as their European counterparts. With every language translated, a clearer picture of that non-European culture emerged, revealing complex belief systems, traditions, and advanced understanding of government rule that Europeans had entirely ignored during their imperial colonization. The sanctity of European languages was removed and with it, the mythos of its divine nature and the superiority of European rule.
A major, humbling, realization washed over European rulers: language did not come from their chosen divine belief systems.
Instead, language evolved based on the communities that utilized it over time. This conclusion led the modern European world to assert language was not a holy gift, but an extension of each culture that utilized it.
Found in Translation
Linguists began to translate non-European languages into their own vernacular, opening up an entirely new part of the world’s civilization for legitimate academic study. The power of language erupted in the 18th century with lexicon translation volumes appearing on the shelves of anyone wealthy enough to afford them. The multi-volume translation materials were expensive, and as any discerning educated wealthy European might need a set (to impress their friends or merely appear educated at dinner parties), these volumes found their way into the upper-class social tradition.
As the Enlightenment moved into the mid-to-late 18th century, the academic tradition of higher education flourished among the upper class European citizens. Centuries old universities now required their own sets of lexicon volumes that granted access to understanding other cultures, history, traditions, and belief systems by their students.
It’s important to note that these translations were European-defined ethnocentric views of non-European cultures. The inherent bias of European imperial colonization firmly ingrained itself during this era of academic tradition in the materials curated for higher learning amongst the wealth class of Europe.
Speak My Language
Recall from episode two in this series that it was quite common for different medieval rulers from different kingdoms to rule over entire populaces and not speak the same language or even be from the area. Spain was ruled by the Habsburg’s (a dynasty from Austria) and then the Bourbons of France. It was only until the national adoption of the Spanish vernacular in the late 1700’s did the Spanish ruler of Spain become officially known as…Spanish.
The imperial era came to an end as entire populations chosen vernaculars determined the official language of the empire that dominated them. It wasn’t kings who would determine the languages spoken in their colonial borders but the language most spoken in their colonies and territories that determined the king’s nationality. This shift from imperial-defined identity to language-defined nationality happened across the major European powers at the time. Spain’s colonies mostly spoke Spanish, so Spainards became Spanish. German territories mostly spoke German, and thus its inhabitants became Germans. The French mostly spoke French and well, you get the idea…
This is how language became a key factor in determining one's identity in a world of nations.
The Spanish Center for Nobility Who Can’t Read Good: Old Money and New Models
An early 18th century Spanish nobleman gets married to a Spanish noblewoman in order to accrue power in their familial alliance. The Spanish nobleman gains more power than he started with but is limited by the Spanish Empire’s rule. His status and inherited land is limited to the authority of the Spanish Crown. Additionally, the married Spanish noble couple are illiterate. For their entire lives’ both Spanish nobles had no reason to learn how to read or write since their wealth was inherited. Spanish nobility were tax exempt from their inherited wealth and relied entirely on New Spain’s colonial theft to fund their leisures. This was a rather common scenario prior to the Enlightenment era of the late 17th and early 18th century.
An 18th century wealthy creole ship manufacturer doesn’t have to marry a competing shipbuilder in order to amass more wealth. He simply has to build a better ship than his competitor. His wealth grows based on the market and isn’t limited to land territories or marriage alliances. The wealthy creole ship manufacturer reads the morning edition of the local newspaper and learns of a potential business opportunity in Chile and Portugal. He uses his lexicon translation volumes (purchased from the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico) to translate a business deal between Chile and Portugal. The creole ship manufacturer becomes an international mogul making money from Chilean exports to Portugal. Two weeks later, he reads of another opportunity and continues to expand his wealth. However, with each new deal, the illiterate Spanish nobles receive a bit of his taxes, merely for being in the elite wealth class of the kingdom.
Real Money and Fake Politics
Let’s return to the emerging creole communities of New Spain from the previous episode.
Spain’s colonial bureaucracy and creole wealthclass created limited regional power in an attempt to temporarily assuage the creole communities' emerging identity. As an empire, Spain was relying on the pacifying power of money and faux-governmental authority to keep the creole populations distracted from realizing how big of a threat they were becoming to its reign. Ironically, it was this effort to pacify its colonized populations that empowered them with the tools necessary to overthrow their oppressor. Bureaucratic print-languages, expanded local vernacular lexicons, and the acquisition of wealth by the creole communities established the foundation of a newly coalesced cultural identity.
Throughout the 17th century, bureaucratic colonial proceedings grew more complex; the Spanish Crown required formally educated bilingual speakers to maintain its official political and financial operations. Creole bureaucrats spoke their native creole-vernacular Spanish as well as the government mandated Castilian Spanish of the Crown. Furthermore, the creole wealth communities' adoption of mercantile capitalism led to a massive economic boom in exports and imports across New Spain’s ports. This adoption of mercantile capitalism was fully supported by the Spanish Crown since it meant more royal taxes for global colonization campaigns. However, the royal leadership did not realize it had just exposed a major weakness in its centuries-old tradition of power.
Crazy Rich Mexicans
During the early 19th century, New Spain’s creole communities began to outpace their Spanish colonizers efforts to control their cultural identities. Politically, economically, culturally, and intellectually more adept than their imperial Spanish colonizers, the descendent creole classes of New Spain began to explore new ideas about power brought to them by the Enlightenment movement in Europe.
Politically, the creole communities had an advantage over their Spanish-born counterparts in their fluency of New Spain’s colonial politics. King Philp the V’s new Bourbon Reforms were initiated at the start of the 18th century. These sweeping consolidations of power among Spain and its colonies was an effort to streamline the empire’s operations. At the time, French and British empires were utilizing more efficient ways of using their political, military, and economic powers to secure their positions in the world. To remain a relevant empire, King Philip V’s reforms would revoke a large amount of legitimacy in the previous empires hierarchical frameworks and replace them with newly assigned power players in colonial government. For the Spanish government official, the Bourbon Reforms could be seen as modern day downsizing. Hundreds of New Spain, and neighboring colonial governors, were removed and replaced by even more racist, extreme, and disgruntled outside consultants that wanted to cut costs and make more money for the Spanish empire.
Suddenly, the Spanish-born citizens of New Spain, who were used to legitimate governing power, found themselves just as powerless as the creole viceroys. Sensing this dejection, the creole viceroys would leverage these disillusioned Spanish politicians to add momentum to a future revolution.
Economically, the creole communities of New Spain were amassing more wealth than their Spanish middle class counterparts. Multigenerational wealth and property inheritance,created from the early years of New Spain’s port cities, enabled the creole wealth classes to expand in the market. Creole-owned businesses dominated port cities with privately owned docks, ships, suppliers, and distributors. In stark contrast, Spain’s middle class citizens, did not have access to the expansive land and private ownership of New Spain and would experience the consolidation of their remaining European wealth with the Bourbon Reforms started by King Philip V.
Culturally, the creole communities were discovering new ways of expressing their identity as a whole. Unbound by old world traditions, creole communities were free to redefine their traditions by incorporating regional beliefs, medicines, languages, and practices that led to a colonial acculturation of indigenous tribes and creole populations. The result was a self-reinforcing sense of identity among a huge population of creoles that were quickly expanding across New Spain’s territories.
Intellectually, the creole communities were acutely aware of the Enlightenment happening throughout Europe. In academic circles and educational institutions throughout Mexico City, Spanish-born creole citizens and academic creole educators were teaching new ideas emerging from the Enlightenment movement. These new ideas were then published in regional newspapers for eager readers willing to pay for every edition printed. Article after article, book after book, was mass produced spreading the ideologies of Socratic rationality, logic, and the questioning of social hierarchy, monarchies, and divine rulers.
Here we see the apex of timing, economics, and irony: the printing press created a publishing industry powered by mercantile capitalism. Creole readers became more aware of the external world than ever. Publishers, eager to increase sales, printed new ideologies from the Enlightenment teachings in Europe. Creole readers, infused with the support of a growing alliance of recently-fired, dejected Spanish-born government officials, begin to consider the idea that kings have no power and that revolution is up for consideration.
The creole populations of the Spanish Empire were not the only ones coming to these conclusions. All across the world, oppressed creole populations began to unite in their shared historical experiences and beliefs. A chain-reaction of revolutions would remove the heads of kings, aristocracy, and nobility and replace them with newly elected officials.
A New Oppression Called Nationalism
As the 19th century dynasties became nations, the remaining imperial elite turned their attention away from national hierarchical restructuring to their colonial subjects. A newly developed concept of nationhood had replaced their old-world empires and a new tool of manipulation replaced royal edicts with national agendas.
Each newly christened nation moved to integrate as much of their colonial populations as they could into their national agendas. The previous centuries revolutions had shown the dangers of allowing any enslaved person the freedom of maintaining their cultural heritage. If the emerging nations wanted to avoid additional revolutions, all populations would need to be indoctrinated under the guise of national pride.
The British kingdom began this process of national indoctrination by implementing a sizable investment in their Indian colonies with the Committee of Public Instruction, established in 1834. Headed by Thomas Babington Macaulay, the Committee was explicit in their goals: to educate Indians in the English culture with such fervent efforts, Indians would be as English as the English, removing their Indian culture and religious practices in lieu of the British crown. By indoctrinating the generational descendents of their enslaved populations, the British would infuse a sense of national pride so strong, it would remove any sense of identity their enslaved subjects would have to their ethnic heritage.
The same efforts were being made by the American government on the remaining populations of indigenous tribes scattered across the midwest colonies. Just as the British sought to indoctrinate their Indian colonial subjects, the newly-invented white Americans, former British subjects themselves, sought to indoctrinate the indigenous populations of North America with “civil” American culture.
The end result was the same throughout any other colonial culture facing national indoctrination. Entire indigenous and creole generations had their indigenous heritage systematically removed in the name of nationalism. The following generations were born into a world without any direct memories or ties to where they had come from. Their identities, since birth, were now labeled by the nation that enslaved their ancestors and replaced them with a racist and constructed identity founded on national pride.
It was during the start of the 20th century that powerful nations began to emerge from former empires. As American, British, Japanese, and German nations solidified their economic and military strength, the remaining powers of the world felt the pressure to claim a national identity. Revolutions and rebellions gave way to new nations that modeled their own governments, systems, institutions, and culture after their colonial oppressors; afterall, nationalism was a powerful tool that could unite anyone that spoke the same language.
Thus, a world of competing nations would find themselves with no new territory to exploit. All of the resources had been claimed, labeled, indoctrinated, and exploited, in full. In a world armed with nationalism, it was only a matter of time before a great war was to erupt on the planet, solidifying the legacy of nations while obliterating entire populations all in the name of national pride.
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