I love reading Chapter 2 of STAMPED to my high school sophomores about Vasco de Gama's publicist, who James Reynolds and Ibrahim X Kendi dub "the world's first racist." It's a great way to kick off a unit on European exploration
Faial had and has Dutch background. Horta was actually named after Jose Van Huerta. I only learned this recently when I noticed the traditional dress of Faial looked like the little Dutch girl garb. A friend from Faial confirmed this and said that is why some of the folks from the islands have blue eyes. This also could be from the Norse history . There is also a history of the French settling on the Islands. The Portuguese claimed the islands. I found it interesting that the Azores were once referred to as the Flemish Islands. This is just a little bit of info I picked up living in RI with a sizable Portuguese population, both Azorean and mainland. Thanks for highlighting the Azores.
First thing: my son sent a silly song lyric about sperm whales that made me look up the genus species name. I'm learning something but ... I ended up finding out why they are called sperm whales. Those Captain Ahabs must have been out to sea too long. It is disgusting. If you want to know, look it up. Warning--it will be something that will be hard to forget. Fortunately, no pictures, just the description.
Second thing: in 2009 we went to Hong Kong and took a side trip to Macoa. We had a friend who is a Macoa resident give us a tour. For the most part the place is casinos. She and her family all worked for "Uncle Ho" at one time or another. (BTW, They even have one casino called The Grand Waldo! No relation)
Our friendly tour guide gave us a wonderful tour including a street with the homes of the Portuguese colonists. I asked her if there were hard feeings from the Chinese there about having their island taken over. She told me, "No. Chinese people needed the Portuguese to tell them what to do." OK. I'll let that drop. The people of Macoa put up their casinos before our Indigenous people put up theirs. It is a lot bigger than Las Vegas.
When we visited Macau their revenues were a lot more than Las Vegas. I just looked them up. They took a HUGE hit from Covid-19. They are hotels, casinos, restaurants. All that closed down. In China that meant CLOSED. They don't take deadly flus lightly. They still haven't recovered. Probably, Las Vegas out in a desert had more elbow room.
I just returned from the Azores, saw some of the same things James mentions. It's a delightful place to visit (also Madeira an hour or so flight away.)
That’s my daughter in the feature photo, by the way.
I love reading Chapter 2 of STAMPED to my high school sophomores about Vasco de Gama's publicist, who James Reynolds and Ibrahim X Kendi dub "the world's first racist." It's a great way to kick off a unit on European exploration
Faial had and has Dutch background. Horta was actually named after Jose Van Huerta. I only learned this recently when I noticed the traditional dress of Faial looked like the little Dutch girl garb. A friend from Faial confirmed this and said that is why some of the folks from the islands have blue eyes. This also could be from the Norse history . There is also a history of the French settling on the Islands. The Portuguese claimed the islands. I found it interesting that the Azores were once referred to as the Flemish Islands. This is just a little bit of info I picked up living in RI with a sizable Portuguese population, both Azorean and mainland. Thanks for highlighting the Azores.
First thing: my son sent a silly song lyric about sperm whales that made me look up the genus species name. I'm learning something but ... I ended up finding out why they are called sperm whales. Those Captain Ahabs must have been out to sea too long. It is disgusting. If you want to know, look it up. Warning--it will be something that will be hard to forget. Fortunately, no pictures, just the description.
Second thing: in 2009 we went to Hong Kong and took a side trip to Macoa. We had a friend who is a Macoa resident give us a tour. For the most part the place is casinos. She and her family all worked for "Uncle Ho" at one time or another. (BTW, They even have one casino called The Grand Waldo! No relation)
Our friendly tour guide gave us a wonderful tour including a street with the homes of the Portuguese colonists. I asked her if there were hard feeings from the Chinese there about having their island taken over. She told me, "No. Chinese people needed the Portuguese to tell them what to do." OK. I'll let that drop. The people of Macoa put up their casinos before our Indigenous people put up theirs. It is a lot bigger than Las Vegas.
When we visited Macau their revenues were a lot more than Las Vegas. I just looked them up. They took a HUGE hit from Covid-19. They are hotels, casinos, restaurants. All that closed down. In China that meant CLOSED. They don't take deadly flus lightly. They still haven't recovered. Probably, Las Vegas out in a desert had more elbow room.
Macoa or Macau. One or the other.
Why am I weirdly disappointed that the lava tube looks like an ancient sewer?
Why? It's hot lava: mother earth diarrhea. Same same!
How to learn history while imagining a goat orgy in a steam room. As always, well done!
Will we see a sweary history of the battle of the one and fifty-three?
I just returned from the Azores, saw some of the same things James mentions. It's a delightful place to visit (also Madeira an hour or so flight away.)
Angra is a fascinating place! Did you get the steak cooked on a brick??