5 Most Disastrous Accounts of First Contact in History

the seed and origin of all the ruin and various disasters putting in turmoil all places with unwanted fires we have found to be this the people of the Huns but little known from ancient records dwelling Beyond the maotic Sea near the icebound ocean exceeding every degree of savagery the cheeks of the children are deeply furrowed with the steel from their very birth in order that the growth of hair when it appears at the proper time may be checked by the wrinkled scars they grow old without beards and without any beauty like eunuchs they will have compact Strong Limbs and thick necks and are so monstrously ugly and misshapen that one might take them for two legged beasts although they have the form of men however ugly they are so hardy in their mode of life that they have no need of fire nor of savory food but eat the roots of wild plants and the half raw flesh of any kind of animal whatsoever which they put between their thighs and the backs of their horses and thus warm it a little they are never protected by any buildings but they avoid these like tombs roaming at large amid the mountains and woods they learned from the cradle to endure cold hunger and thirst no one in their country ever plows a field or touches a plow handle none of their offspring when asked can tell you where he comes from since he was conceived in one place born far from there and brought up still further away so when the reports spread widely among the other Gothic peoples that a race of men hitherto unknown had now Arisen from a hidden Nook of the earth like a tempest of Snows from the high mountains and was seizing or destroying everything in its way the greater part of the people looking for a home removed from all knowledge of the Savages and after long deliberation what a boat to choose they thought that Thrace offered them a convenient Refuge but the Goths joined with the Huns and the halani exceedingly warlike and brave peoples hardened to the difficulties of severe toils and set up their camp near parenthus and reduced to utter ruin the fertile fields which extended far and wide about it killing or capturing those who dwelt there from there they hastened in Rapid March took Constantinople greedy for its vast heaps of treasure Marching In Square formations for fear of ambushes and intending to make many mighty efforts to destroy the famous city but as they went on their courage was broken when they beheld The Oblong Circuit of the walls the blocks of houses covering a vast space the beauties of the city beyond their reach the vast population inhabiting it and the Straits nearby that separates the pontus from the Aegean so the Goths destroyed the factories of warlike materials which they were preparing and after suffering greater losses than they had inflicted they then departed and spread everywhere over the northern provinces in war events of importance are the result of trivial causes so said Julius Caesar misunderstandings when two cultures meet for the first time can quickly turn to battle and so our sponsor today is War Thunder the most comprehensive vehicle combat game out there and won the transports you back in time to battles from the 1920s to the present day with a choice of more than 2 000 super detailed tanks planes helicopters and ships placing you in frantic player versus player action it's available on PC Xbox series X and S PS5 and previous generations and whether you want a super accurate simulation or some wild fun there were loads of immersion levels available my personal favorite part is how customizable the vehicles are I've been enjoying immersing myself in the different time periods and the thousands of different customizations on offer join me as I crash my favorite Spitfire again and again and receive a free bonus pack with a premium account Vehicles boosters and lots more by clicking on the link in the description to War Thunder for supporting history content on YouTube a few days later a common man came to the city from miklau no one had sent him none of the officials he came of his own accord he went directly to the Palace of Montague Zuma and said to him our Lord and King forgive my boldness I am from Midtown when I went to the shores of the great sea there was a mountain range or small Mountain floating in the midst of the water and moving here and there without touching the shore my Lord we have never seen the like of this although we guard the coast and are always on watch matukuzuma thanked him and said you may rest now the man who brought the news had no ears if they had been cut off and no toes for they had also been cut off Montague Zuma said take him to the prison and guard him well then he called for a priest and appointed him his Grand Emissary he said to him go to quit latzlan and tell the official in charge of the village that it is true strange things have appeared in the great sea tell him to investigate these things himself so as to learn what they may signify tell him to do this as quickly as he can and take the Ambassador with you when they arrived the envoys spoke with the official in charge there a man named pinotel he listened to them with great attention and then said my lords rest here with me and send your attendance out to the shore the attendance went out and came back in great haste to report that it was true they had seen two towers or small mountains floating on the waves of the sea the grand Emissary said to penottle I wish to see these things in person in order to learn what they are for I must testify to our Lord as an eyewitness I will be satisfied with this and will report to him exactly what I see therefore he went out to the shore and they saw what was floating there beyond the edges of the water they also saw that seven or eight of the strangers had left in a small boat and were fishing with hooks and lines the grand Emissary climbed up into a broad limbed tree from there he saw how the strangers were catching fish and how when they were done they returned to the ship in their small boat they returned as swiftly as possible to the great city of Tenochtitlan had reported to motagazuma what they had observed our Lord and King it is true that strange people have come to the shores of the great sea they were fishing from a small boat some with rods and others with a net they fished until late and then they went back to their two great towers and climbed up into them there are about 15 of these people some with Blue Jackets others with red others with black or green and still others with jackets of a soiled color very ugly they're also a few without jackets on their heads they wore red handkerchiefs or Bonnets of a fine scarlet color and some wore large round hats which must have been sun shades they have very light skin much lighter than ours they all have long beards and their hair only comes to their ears Montague Zuma was downcast when he heard this report and did not speak a word in my other account most excellent Prince I told your majesty of all the cities and towns which until then had offered themselves to your Royal Service and which I held subjugated and conquered for you I also mentioned that I had information of a great Lord called Montezuma of whom the natives of this country had told me and who lived according to their computation of distances about 90 or 100 leagues from the coast and Port where I had disembarked and that confiding in the greatness of God and relying to the power of your highness's Royal name I had decided to go and see him wherever he might be I even remember that I offered to accomplish the impossible for I vowed to your Royal Highness that I would have him prisoner or dead or subject to the Royal crown of your majesty about one thousand of the principal citizens came out to meet me from the city and speak to me who all richly dressed alike according to their fashion there is a wooden bridge 10 pieces Broad in the very outskirts of the city across an opening in the causeway where the water May flow in and out as it rises and falls having passed this bridge we were received by that Lord Montezuma with about 200 Chiefs all barefooted and dressed in a kind of Livery very rich according to their custom and some more than others they approached in two processions near the walls of the street which is very Broad and straight and beautiful and very uniform from one end to the other being about two-thirds of a league long and having on both sides very large houses both Dwelling Places and mosques Montezuma came in the middle of the street with two Lords one on the right side and the other on the left all were dressed in the same manner except that Montezuma was short and the other Lords were Barefoot each supported him below his arms and as we approached each other I descended from my horse and was about to embrace him but the two Lords in attendance prevented me with their hands that I might not touch him and they and he also made the ceremony of kissing the ground we went on through the streets until we came to a large and handsome house which he had prepared for our reception there he took me by the hand and led me to a spacious room in front of the court where we had entered where he made me sit on a very rich platform we have known for a long time from The Chronicles of our forefathers that neither I nor those who inhabit this country are descendants from the Aborigines of it but from strangers who came to it from very distant parts and we also hold that our race was brought to these parts by a lord whose vassals they all were and who returned to his native country and we have always held that those who descended from him would come to subjugate this country and us as his vassals and according to the direction from which you say you come which is where the sun rises and from what you tell us of your great Lord or King who has sent you here we believe and hold for certain that he is our rightful Sovereign especially as you tell us that since many days he has had news of us since you are in your rightful place and in your own homes rejoice and rest free from all the trouble of the journey and Wars which you have had do not believe more than you see with your own eyes especially from those who are my enemies and who are my vassals yet rebelled against me on your coming as they say in order to help you I know that they have told you that I have houses with walls of gold and that the furniture of my halls and the other things of my service were also of gold and that I am or make myself a God and many other things the houses you have seen are of lime and stone and Earth and then he held up his robes and showing me his body he said to me look at me and see that I am Flesh and Bones the same as you and everybody and that I am mortal and tangible and touching his arms and body with his hands look how they have lied to you I answered all he said certifying that which seemed to be suitable after this he took his leave and when he had gone we were well provided with chickens and bread and fruits and other necessities especially such as were required thus I passed six days well provided with everything necessary and visited by many of the Lords six days having passed most Invincible Prince after I had arrived in the city of temix Titan and having seen something of it although little in proportion to the amount there is to be seen and noted it appeared to me even from what I had seen of it and the country that it would be conducive to your Royal highnesses Service and to our security that Montezuma should be in my power and not at his entire Liberty so that he might not relax his intention and disposition to serve your highness thought this especially because we Spaniards are somewhat touchy and importunate and if he should happen to become angry he could do a such injury with his great power that they would remain no recollection of us and so I determined to seize him and confine him in my quarters which are very strong I stationed sufficient guards on the cross streets and went to the Palace of Montezuma as I heard at other times gone to see him and after conversing with him likely on Pleasant subjects and after he had given me some valuables in gold and one of his daughters and some Daughters of other Lords to some of my companions I told him that I had learned of what had happened in the city of nautical or Al Maria and about the Spaniards whom they had killed there and that Quail papoca gave them his excuse that all he had done had been by Montezuma's order and that as his vessel he could not have done otherwise I said that he ought to send for him and the other Chiefs who had helped him in the murder of the Spaniards so that the truth might be known and they'd be punished and your majesty might clearly perceive his good disposition otherwise the reports of these wicked men might provoke your highness to anger against him from which instead of the favors your highness would Now Grant him evil would result for I was convinced that the truth was contrary to what they declared he immediately sent for certain of his people to whom he gave a small Stone figure like a seal which he wore tied to his arm ordering them to go to the city of Almeria which is about 60 or 70 leagues from that of muxtidan and bring the said qualpoka these men immediately left and after they had gone I told Montezuma that I was very grateful to him for the diligence he had used in the imprisonment of these men for I must render an account to your Royal Highness for those murdered Spaniards to enable me to give this it now only remains that he should stop in my quarters until the truth was established and it was known that he was blameless I earnestly prayed him not to feel pained at this because he would not be kept a prisoner but would have entire Liberty well assured that he should suffer no annoyance or unpleasantness but rather that in addition to his own attendance my companions would also obey his commands we had much conversation and argument about this which would be too lengthy to write as well as little bearing on the case hence I will not say more than that he finally agreed to come with me thus we went to my quarters without causing any commotion in the city although some had begun but when Montezuma heard of it he ordered it to be stopped and thus all was completely quiet as though nothing had happened and this continued all the time I kept Montezuma prisoner those who had been sent for qual papoca and the others who had killed the Spaniards returned bringing the third qual papoca and one of his sons and with them 15 other persons and afterwards they confessed that they had killed the Spaniards and so I had them interrogated as to whether they were vassals of Montezuma qualpapoka answered asking if there existed any other Lord of whom he might be vassal as much as to say there was no other unlikewise asked them if what had been done there was by Montezuma's order and they answered no when the sentence that they should be burned was carried into execution all with one voice said it was true that Montezuma had ordered them to do it and that they had obeyed his command so they were burned publicly in one of the squares without occasioning any commotion and the day when they were burned as soon as they confessed that Montezuma commanded them to kill the Spaniards I ordered him to be put in Chains which frightened him [Music] 13th of December towards noon we saw a large high-lying land bearing southeast of us at about 15 miles distance we turned our course to the southeast making straight for this land we're about two miles off the coast which showed us a very high double land but we could not see the Summits of the mountains owing to the clouds 18th of December at Sunset when it fell calm we dropped anchor about an hour after Sunset we saw a number of lights on Shore and four boats close in Shore two of which came towards us the men in the two prowls began to call out to us in a Rough Hollow Royce but we could not understand a word of what they said we however called out to them in answer upon which they repeated their cries several times but came no nearer than a stone shot they also blew several times on an instrument of which the sound was like that of a Moorish trumpet we then ordered one of our Sailors who had knowledge of trumpet blowing to play them some tunes in answer those on board the zhan ordered their second mate who had come out to India as a Trumpeter to do the same after this had been repeated several times on both sides and as it was getting more and more dark those in the native prowse had last ceased and paddled off for more security and to be on guard against all accidents we ordered our men to keep double watches as we are want to do when out at Sea and to keep in Readiness all necessaries of War such as muskets Pikes and cutlasses December the 19th early in the morning a boat Demand with 13 natives approached to about a stone's cast from our ships they cooled out several times but we did not understand them their speech not bearing any resemblance to the vocabulary given us by The Honorable governor general and councilors of India as far as we could observe these people were of ordinary height they had rough voices and strong Bones the color of their skin being brown and yellow they wore Tufts of black hair right upon the top of their heads tied fast in the manner of the Japanese at the back of their heads for clothing as it seemed to us some of them wore mats others cotton stuffs almost all of them were naked from the shoulders to the waist we repeatedly made signs for them to come on board with us showing them some white linen and some knives that formed part of our cargo they did not come nearer however but at last paddled back to shore in the meantime we convened a council and resolved to go as near to the shore as we could since there was good anchoring around here and these people apparently sought our friendship shortly after we had drawn up this resolution we saw seven more boats put off from the shore one of which high and pointed in front manned with 17 natives paddled round behind the zhan while another the 13 able-bodied men in her approached to within half a stone's throw of our ship the men in these two boats now then called out to each other we held up and showed them as before white linens but they remained where they were the skipper of the zihan now sent out to them his quartermaster with her boat with six paddlers in it with orders for the second mates that if these people should offer to come alongside the zihan they should not allow too many of them on board of her but just as the cockpot of the zhan had put off those in the prowl before us between the two ships began to paddle so furiously towards it that when they're about halfway slightly nearer to our ship they struck the zhan's boat so violently alongside with the stem of their prowl that it got a violent Lurch upon which the foremost man in this proud villains with a long blunt Pike thrust the quartermaster in the neck several times with so much force that the poor man fell overboard upon this the other natives with short thick clubs and with their paddles fell upon the men in the boat and overcame them by main force in which Frey three of our men were killed and a fourth got mortally wounded through the heavy blows the quartermaster and two Sailors swam to our ship which they got into alive after this outrageous and detestable crime the murderers sent the cockpot adrift having taken one of the dead bodies into their prowl and thrown another into the sea ourselves and those on board the sea hands seeing this diligently fired our muskets and guns and although we did not hit any of them the two prowls made haste to the shore where they were Out Of Reach of shot we now weighed anchor and set sail since we could not hope to enter into any friendly relations with these people or to be able to get water or Refreshments here having weighed anchor and being under sale we saw 22 prowls near the shore of which 11 swarming with people were making for our ships we kept quiet until some of the foremost were Within Reach of our guns and then fired one or two shots from The Gun Room without pieces without however doing them any harm those on board the zhan also fired and in the largest prowl hit a man who held a small white flag in his hand who fell down as soon as they had got this volley they paddled back to shore with great speed they remained lying near the shore without visiting us any further seeing that the detestable deed of these natives against four men of the zhan's crew perpetrated this morning must teach us to consider the inhabitants of this country as enemies although this land seems to be a very fine country and we trust that this is the mainland coast of the unknown South land You O King live beyond the confines of many seas nevertheless impelled by your humble desire to partake of the benefits of our civilization you have dispatched a mission respectfully bearing your Memorial your Envoy has crossed the Seas and paid his respects at my court on the anniversary of my birthday to show your devotion you have also sent offerings of your country's produce in consideration of the fact that your Ambassador and his Deputy have come a long way with your Memorial and tribute I have shown them high favor and have allowed them to be introduced into my presence as to you're in treaty to send one of your Nationals to be accredited to my Celestial court and to be in control of your country's trade with China this request is contrary to all usage of my Dynasty and cannot possibly be entertained Europe consists of many other nations besides your own if each and all determined to be represented at our court how could we possibly consent the thing is utterly impracticable how can our Dynasty alter its whole procedure and system of etiquette established for more than a century in order to meet your individual views our Dynasty's Majestic virtue has penetrated unto every country under heaven and kings of all Nations have offered their costly tribute by land and sea as your Ambassador can see for himself we possess all things I set no value on objects strange or ingenious and I have no use for your country's manufactures there was therefore no need to import the manufacturers of outside Barbarians in exchange for our own produce but as the tea silk and porcer then which the celestial Empire produces are absolute Necessities to European nations and to yourselves we have permitted as a signal Mark of favor that foreign hongs should be established at Canton moreover our Dynasty swaying the Myriad races of the globe extends the same benevolence towards all your England is not the only nation trading at Canton if other nations following your bad example wrongfully impotune my ear with further impossible requests how will it be possible for me to treat them with easy Indulgence nevertheless I do not forget the lonely remoteness of your Island cut off from the World by intervening wastes of sea nor do I overlook your excusable ignorance of the usages of our Celestial Empire regarding your nation's worship of the Lord of Heaven it is the same religion as the other European nations ever since the beginning of History Sage Emperors and Hawaii's rulers have bestowed on China a moral system and inculcated a code there has been no hankering after heterodox doctrines the distinction between Chinese and Barbarian is most strict and your ambassador's request that barbarians shall be given full Liberty to disseminate their religion is utterly unreasonable it may be O King that the above proposals have been wantonly made by your Ambassador on his own responsibility or you yourself are ignorant of the dynastic regulations and had no intention of transgressing them when you expressed these wild ideas and hopes and so if after the receipt of this explicit decree you will likely give ear to the representations of your subordinates and allow your Barbarian Merchants to proceed the ordinances of the celestial Empire restrict in the extreme your Merchants will assuredly never be permitted to land or to reside there but will be subject to instant expulsion in that event your Barbarian merchants would have had a very long journey for nothing do not say that you are not warned in due time trembling the obey and show no negligence [Music] remember to follow the link in the description to dive into the chaotic World of War Thunder and enjoy over 100 Years of vehicles clicking the link will also give you premium vehicles and boosters [Music]

Channel: Voices of the Past

Views: 1,477,907

Keywords:

Id: CptgGaIEeLw

Length: 27min 38sec (1658 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 29 2022