Cortés' Inter caetera & the Spanish American Revolutions

The Maya and Aztec civilizations represent two major eras in Mesoamerican history, though their peaks were separated by centuries. The Maya civilization, one of the most advanced in the ancient Americas, spanned several periods but experienced a significant decline during the Terminal Classic period. This collapse primarily affected the southern lowlands of the Maya region (modern-day Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Mexico) around the 8th to 10th centuries AD, with many cities abandoned by approximately 900 AD. Historians attribute this to a combination of factors, including overpopulation, environmental degradation (such as deforestation and drought), intense warfare, and social unrest leading to the breakdown of trade networks and political structures. However, Maya culture did not vanish entirely; the Post-Classic period (roughly 900–1519 AD) saw continued development in the northern Yucatán Peninsula, with cities like Chichen Itza and Mayapan rising to prominence until the Spanish arrival in the early 16th century.

In contrast, the Aztec (or Mexica) civilization emerged much later, rising to power in the Post-Classic period. The Aztecs migrated into central Mexico around the 13th century AD, founding their capital, Tenochtitlan, in 1325 on an island in Lake Texcoco. Their empire truly expanded after forming the Triple Alliance in 1428 with the city-states of Texcoco and Tlacopan, allowing them to conquer much of central Mexico through military campaigns, tribute systems, and strategic alliances. By the early 16th century, the Aztec Empire controlled a vast territory with a population of 5–6 million, sustained by advanced agriculture, engineering (like chinampas, or floating gardens), and a complex religious and social hierarchy. The Aztecs and remaining Maya groups had limited direct interaction due to geographical and temporal separation, though trade existed; the Aztecs never fully conquered the fragmented Post-Classic Maya polities.

The early 16th century, when the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs occurred (1519–1521), was a turbulent time for the Catholic Church in Europe, marked by internal challenges and the defense against what was perceived as heresy. This period coincided with the onset of the Protestant Reformation, initiated by Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517, which criticized Church practices like indulgences and papal authority—viewed by Catholics as heretical threats to doctrinal unity. In Spain, the political landscape was dominated by the Catholic Monarchs (Isabella I and Ferdinand II until 1516) and later Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (who ruled Spain as Charles I from 1516), who positioned themselves as defenders of Catholicism. The Spanish Inquisition, established in 1478, was a key institution for rooting out heresy, initially targeting converted Jews (conversos) and Muslims, but expanding to enforce religious orthodoxy amid growing Protestant influences.

Inter caetera (1493) decreed by Pope Alexander VI granted Spain dominion over newly discovered lands. The conquest of the Aztecs was planned and intelligence's assuredly indicated biological weaponry could become the most effective method for plundering of American wealth, and indeed half the populations rapid decay proved a superior strategy by the Spanish.(1) Post-conquest, 1571, Inquisitors should be said to have enforced apartheid on New Spain's Mexicans through concentrated suppression of heresy amid the interspersion of settlers and converts. Leaning on soft conversion after native immunity to the rare and devastating disease brought to the Americas; obligatory baptism was coupled with oppression of any indigenous religious rites and belief.

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, the governor of Cuba, in 1518, appointed Cortés to lead an expedition to explore and trade with the Mexican mainland, but grew suspicious of Cortés' ambitions and revoked his commission just before departure in February 1519. Cortés had already prepared 11 ships, about 500 men, horses, and cannons, so defied the stay order and sailed from Santiago de Cuba. The act of insubordination that set the stage for the conquest saw Hernán Cortés defy Governor Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, but later seeking King Charles V's clemency. Under the Patronato Real, Pope Leo X (r. 1513–1521) vested the Spanish crown with control over Church affairs in the Americas, enabling missionaries to impose Christianity while enforcing a rigid social order. This mandate not only fueled cultural suppression but institutionalized racial segregation through the casta system, a hierarchical framework with Spaniard elite over-ruling their indigenous converts; often relegating natives to marginalized roles despite baptism, with the Church upholding "limpieza de sangre" (purity of blood) to bar them from priesthood or full societal integration. Amid this segregation, missionaries pursued conversion by destroying indigenous religious texts, such as Bishop Diego de Landa's infamous 1560s burning of Maya codices in Yucatán to eradicate "idolatry," yet some clergy facilitated the preservation of certain texts transcribed by educated converts such as the Popol Vuh—a K'iche' Maya creation epic—around 1554–1558, later copied by Dominican Francisco Ximénez in 1701–1704, and the Chilam Balam books, which blended Maya prophecies with Christian lore.

Pope Paul III's 1537 bull Sublimis Deus, condemned the apartheid. Official ratification from the Vatican and Spain never came however and the popular decree was slavery. Spain reaped a staggering windfall from the conquest, much of which didn’t make the Crown ledger over losses from shipwrecks like the 1715 fleet disaster or claims by pirates and rivals at sea.

The story of Hernán Cortés' conquest of the Aztec Empire unfolded from 1519 to 1521 amid the backdrop of European exploration and indigenous rivalries. Born in 1485 in Spain, Cortés was a minor noble who arrived in the New World in 1504, participating in the conquest of Cuba. In 1519, defying Governor Velázquez, he led his small force to the Yucatán coast, where he encountered Mayan groups and acquired a Nahuan interpreter; Malintzin (La Malinche).

Founding Veracruz as a base, Cortés scuttled his ships to prevent retreat, declaring loyalty to King Charles V. Marching inland, he forged alliances with Aztec tributaries resentful of tribute demands and human sacrifices, notably defeating and then allying with the Tlaxcalans after fierce battles. In November 1519, Cortés entered Tenochtitlan unopposed, welcomed by Emperor Moctezuma II, who may have seen the Spaniards as fulfilling prophecies (possibly linked to the god Quetzalcoatl). Tensions rose; Cortés took Moctezuma hostage to control the city. In 1520, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar sent Pánfilo de Narváez to arrest Cortés for pursuing the quest and defying the stay order. Leaving Pedro de Alvarado in charge, Cortés ambushed and defeated Narváez at Cempoala, acquiescing Narváez's men into his ranks. Returning to Tenochtitlan, he found chaos as Alvarado who he'd left in charge had massacred Aztec nobles after disagreement during a festival. A rebellion was underway and Moctezuma had died (likely killed by his own people). On June 30, 1520 during the Noche Triste (Night of Sorrows) Cortés' forces fled the capital, suffering heavy losses.

Regrouping in Tlaxcala, Cortés built brigantines for a siege. Smallpox however now took its toll on the Azteca, having been delivered (incidentally) by Narváez. The Florentine Codex detailed the disease’s horror (called “hueyzahuatl” or “great leprosy”). Smallpox (Variola major) was endemic in Europe by the 16th century, with frequent outbreaks recorded since the Middle Ages.(2) Francisco Eguía is identified in multiple primary and secondary sources as the primary carrier, an enslaved African. Spanish chroniclers, including Bernal Díaz del Castillo in The True History of the Conquest of New Spain and Francisco López de Gómara in Historia de la Conquista de México, reference him as being visibly ill upon arrival. Smallpox was already in the Caribbean, upon Hispaniola (Dominican Republic/Haiti) and Cuba, where it first decimated indigenous Taíno and other groups after arrival on Spanish ships from Seville and the Canary Islands in late 1518. Seville, in the early 16th century, was Spain’s primary port for transatlantic voyages, managed by the Casa de Contratación (established 1503), which oversaw trade and exploration. Its port, along the Guadalquivir River, was a melting pot of populations from across Spain, Europe, North Africa, and West Africa, due to its role in the burgeoning African slave trade and commerce with the Mediterranean.

From May to August 1521, Cortés amassed over 100,000 indigenous allies among the satraps, and raised a blockade for the final assault on Tenochtitlan. The last ever Aztec emperor, Cuauhtémoc, surrendered on August 13, 1521.

Modern Equivalent Value of the horde seized as loot is so: ~3.2–6.4 million oz gold * $4,200/oz = ~$13.4–26.9 billion; silver minor (~16 million oz * $50/oz = ~$800 million). Total ~$14.2–27.7 billion at the present exchange rate. The Crown's share at 20% tax was only: ~$2.8–5.5 billion USD so under Charles III, the Bourbon Reforms restructured colonial administration to curb corruption and boost crown revenue. The quinto real was reduced to a décimo (10%) to discourage smuggling, and intendancies replaced corrupt officials to oversee mines. Free labor was encouraged, but mita persisted in reduced form. The New Laws (1542), Sublimis Deus (1537), Bourbon Reforms (1760s–1780s), and Independence (1810–1825) progressively reduced or ended forced labor and crown control.

Silver from mines like Potosí (Bolivia) and Zacatecas (Mexico) comprised 85% of colonial wealth extracted from Spanish America. Slaves (indigenous mita labor, African imports) and miners (often forced) worked for companies like the Real Hacienda, or private enterprises under royal licenses. Total estimated mineral resources extracted are: ~150 tons gold and 150,000–200,000 tons silver, equivalent to ~170–190 million pesos. Peaking at 16,000 tons silver 1503–1660, expanding to full period totals. Modern equivalent values of gold are: ~4.8 million oz * $4,200/oz = ~$20.2 billion; silver ~4.8–6.4 billion oz * $50/oz = ~$240–320 billion. Totaling ~$260–340 billion with the Crown's share at: ~$52–68 billion USD.

Latin American Independence Movements,1810–1825, were buoyed by colonial grievances, and by the late 18th century, Spanish America’s economic exploitation, racial hierarchies (casta system), and restricted trade under the Spanish Crown’s monopolies reached boiling point. The Bourbon Reforms (1760s–1780s) increased taxes and tightened control, alienating criollos (American-born Spaniards) who sought political power. The primary catalyst was Napoleon’s 1808 invasion of Spain and the abdication of Ferdinand VII, creating a power vacuum, as colonial juntas questioned loyalty to the French-installed Joseph Bonaparte. Enlightenment ideas and the American/French Revolutions inspired criollo elites to demand autonomy likewise. Mexico in 1810 saw Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a priest, launch the independence movement with the Grito de Dolores (September 16), rallying indigenous and mestizo peasants against Spanish rule. His revolt, though defeated in 1811, ignited widespread rebellion. By 1813–1815 José María Morelos continued the fight, pushing for racial equality and land reform, but he was captured and executed. Guerrilla warfare persisted under leaders like Vicente Guerrero, and by 1821 Agustín de Iturbide, a royalist-turned-rebel, allied with Guerrero under the Plan of Iguala, promising independence, equality, and Catholicism. The Treaty of Córdoba secured Mexico’s independence, but in ending Spanish control over Zacatecas’s silver mines output plummeted as the mita labor collapsed and infrastructure decayed; letting foreign companies take over. Across South America Juntas in Caracas, Buenos Aires, and Bogotá declared autonomy, inspired by Spain’s crisis. Early revolts (e.g., Venezuela under Francisco de Miranda) faltered against royalist counterattacks. Simón Bolívars, El Libertador campaigns across Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, won key battles like Boyacá (1819) and Carabobo (1821). José de San Martín in turn liberated Argentina and Chile (1817–1818) and met Bolívar in 1822 to plan Peru’s liberation. From 1824–1825 the Battle of Ayacucho crushed Spanish forces in Peru, freeing Potosí’s silver mines. Bolivia gained independence in 1825, named after Bolívar. Paraguay (1811) and Uruguay (1825) make up the list of over one dozen liberated Spanish colonial territories..

Footnotes:

1. The earliest documented attempts at biological warfare involving smallpox date to the 18th century, such as during the French and Indian War (1754–1763), where British forces allegedly distributed contaminated blankets to Native American tribes. In the 16th century, no such tactics are recorded in the Americas; Spanish chroniclers like Francisco de Aguilar viewed the Aztec outbreak as "God seeing fit to send the Indians smallpox". Variolation (inoculation with smallpox material) existed in parts of Asia and Africa but wasn't practiced in Europe until the 18th century and indicatively wasn't weaponized, leaving historians no choice but to accept the biological contamination as an accident.

2. Variola major is highly contagious (R0 3–6), spreading via respiratory droplets, direct contact, or fomites (e.g., scabs, bedding). Scabs from infected individuals could remain infectious for weeks to months in cool, dry conditions, without needing freezing. In theory, by collecting frozen scabs from a smallpox victim alchemists could deliberately spread the deadly disease.

Buddhism & the Devaraja: India's Indonesian legacy

The Srivijaya Empire (Indonesian Java) was a Maritime Buddhist hegemonic power that strategically used lucrative foreign interests through trade agreements with China, lasting from the Tang to the Song dynasty. Reaching the Islamic Caliphate the empires naval strategy became punitive, coercing trading ships into port, which resulted in emerging raider fleets. Srivijaya’s rival was the Sanjaya dynasty and in frequent conflict was ultimately subjugated by the Javanese kingdoms of Singhasari and, later, Majapahit. Khmer king, Jayavarman II, spent years in the court of Sailendra in Java before returning to Cambodia to rule around 790. Influenced by the Javanese culture of the Sailendran-Srivijayan mandala (and likely eager to emulate the Javanese model in his court), he proclaimed Cambodian independence from Java and ruled as devaraja, establishing the Khmer Empire and starting the Angkor era.

From 11th to the 13th centuries, Angkor was the most extensive pre-industrial urban complex in the world. Utilizing land based trade with China to the North and India to the West, established Maritime trade routes between India and Southeast Asia thrived but carried religious reformations too. Theravada Buddhism from the West dominated the Brahmanic (syncretic) and Mahayana Buddhists. Theravada, traditional to Myanmar with a strict caste based system was less popular in China and still today approximately half of all Buddhists pertain to Mahāyāna (the "Great Vehicle") the original honorary synonym for Bodhisattvayāna. The religions (of Buddha) may be considered essentially insider and outsider methodologies supporting either the elite governance system or alternatively the rankophiles' monastic stability. It’s a controversial disparity commonly diffused with descriptions of left or right political centers from the ever natural in and out material dichotomy of those with everything, and those with nothing. 

Theravada Buddhism by emphasizing individual enlightenment applies the original teachings of the Buddha (Pali Canon) to let individuals attain liberation (nirvana) through one's own self (self-love, pride etc). Mahayana Buddhism alternatively emphasizes the bodhisattva path (helping others achieve enlightenment with teachings) as a modicum of public servants and as sophists will incorporate wider ranges of texts and practices. Brahmanic Hinduism as the alternative can be expected to hold virtue in the Supreme Brahman, an unchanging ultimate reality. Using rituals to sanctify practices, and putting duty and responsibility on individuals in return, the source of devaraja in the Brahman's code (political leadership) is contentious...

The Nalanda inscription records that Maharaja Balaputra, the Srivijayan visitant to India, built a monastery in Pala. Srivijaya and the Indian Chola dynasty were close religious-trading partners, then during the reign of Raja Raja Chola I. In 1006, a Srivijayan Maharaja from the Sailendra dynasty, King Maravijayattungavarman, constructed the Chudamani Vihara in the port town of Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu. However, Rajendra Chola I brought an end to the peace commencing maritime actions against Srivijayan cities. Suggestions that Khmer king, Suryavarman I of the Khmer Empire, had requested aid from Emperor Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty against Tambralinga. The Tambralingans (Indian Malaysia) were well aware of this and likewise requested aid from the Srivijaya king, Sangrama Vijayatungavarman. Heavy losses ensued for Srivijaya during the Chola raid and occupation of Sangramavijayottungavarman in 1025. The large-scale naval expedition boasted superior weaponry on the ground through transporting War-elephants for land assault. This was India’s last and largest invasion and colonization of modern-day Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. 

The Siege of Angkor, or the Fall of Angkor in 1431 was caused by Ayutthaya forces, led by King Borommarachathirat II, who captured Angkor, which was then ruled by Devaraja Ponhea Yat. Considered to have gained popularity in Thailand as a result of the war, the source of God-King (devaraja) worship within the Buddhist cannon's considerable. Considerably China’s mostly Mahayanese influence shifted from Angkor toward Ayutthaya before the war, which suggests the tribute system was partly responsible for the schism in service to the Brahman with self-fulfillment toward Nirvana. On the outside Angkor was refusing to recognize Ayutthaya, but inside this was necessary in consolidated authority of the individual 'God' King. The final invasion of Angkor Wat, was preceded by the Ayutthayan Uthong dynasty's attempt, when Ramathibodi I seized Angkor only for an Angkorian Khmer prince to reclaim the heartland in 1358. The Suphannaphum dynasty of Ayutthaya first lay siege on Angkor Wat in 1370, failing before their second attempt succeeded sixty years later. Considering the influence of Jayavarman who ruled Angkor for nearly forty years while orchestrating a grand program of construction, and who converted to Mahayana Buddhism, is to reconsider the relative success of proponents of either branch of Buddhism. Jayavarman was declared as dedicated to alleviating the suffering of his people. Surviving inscriptions relay that "He suffered from the [afflictions] of his subjects more than from his own; the pain that affected men's bodies was for him a spiritual pain, and thus more piercing.".

Dzungaria, Tibet, Qing, & the British Raj

The Ganden Phodrang was first famed by the 5th Dalai Lama (r. 1642–1682), known for unifying the Tibetan heartland under the control of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, and after defeating the rival Kagyu and Jonang sects, along with the secular ruling Tsangpa prince. All efforts of Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso were successful because of aid from Güshi Khan, the Oirat leader who established the Khoshut Khanate. Güshi Khan independently bestowed supreme authority on Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso the 5th Dalai Lama for the whole of Tibet at a ceremony at Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse, such that all power and authority lay in the hands of the Dalai Lama right up to his death and no other would forcibly interfere in the administration and its policies. The Tibetan Mongol alliance was keen such that at the age of 7, Galdan Boshugtu Khan was sent to Lhasa to be educated as a lama under the 5th Dalai Lama at Tashilhunpo Monastery. He spent 20 years studying Buddhist canons, philosophy, astronomy, astrology and basics of medicine and pharmacology. In this sense, he was one of the best educated kings of Mongolian history. In 1678, Galdan received from the Dalai Lama the title of Boshogtu Khan, making the Dzungars the leading tribe within the Oirats.

 

The Dzungar rulers used the title of Khong Tayiji or Crown Prince, and between 1680 and 1688, the Dzungars conquered the Tarim Basin, which is now Southern Xinjiang, and defeated the Eastern Khalkha Mongols. In 1696, Galdan was defeated by the Qing dynasty and lost Outer Mongolia. In 1705, the Qing conspired with a Dzungar faction to kidnap and murder the 6th Dalai Lama, his regent and government officials. In 1717 Tsewang Rabtan returned to claim Tibet by deposing the 7th Dalai Lama, and Lha-bzang Khan became the last ruler of the Khoshut Khanate. Lha-bzang Khan and his entire family were executed prior to the Battle of the Salween River, though this matter may be considered conjecture or propaganda. In response, an expedition sent by the Kangxi Emperor, together with Tibetan forces under Polhané Sönam Topgyé of Tsang and Kangchennas, the governor of Western Tibet, expelled the Dzungars from Tibet by 1720 which initiated Qing rule of Tibet. China additionally took advantage of a Dzungar civil war to conquer Dzungaria with ambitions for total genocide of the Dzungar people. Estimates are that about 80% of the Dzungar population, or around 500,000 to 800,000 people, were killed by a combination of warfare and disease during or after the Qing conquest in 1755–1757. After wiping out the native population of Dzungaria (children, women, and the elderly were reported spared for enslavement as bondservants ), the Qing government then resettled Han, Hui, Uyghur, and Sibe people on State farms in Dzungaria, along with Manchu Bannermen to repopulate the area under the Xinjiang political administrative unit.

 

The Great Game is a term ascribed to rivalry between the 19th-century British and Russian Empires over influence in Central Asia, primarily in Afghanistan, Persia, and Tibet. By the early 20th century, a line of independent states, tribes, and monarchies from the shore of the Caspian Sea to the Eastern Himalayas were made into protectorates and territories of the two empires. The British moved in fear that the Qing Dynasty had reached a secret understanding with the Russians over Tibet, and that Russia was providing arms and fighting forces to Tibet. If it were the case that Russia had a direct route to British India it would break the chain of quasi-autonomous buffer-states which separated the British Raj from the Russian Empire. Their fears were fueled by Russian explorers and the courtier Agvan Dorjiyev who had met with the Dalai Lama and acted as ambassador for the Tsar. All the while the Dalai Lama declined British courtiers in full. Even the possibility of a Tibet authority under Russian protection was a situation the British would retaliate against most vehemently.

 

Under the Governor-General Curzon's belief that the Dalai Lama intended to place Tibet firmly within a sphere of Russian influence and end its neutrality, he unofficially issued an ultimatum In 1903. This was a request by the British Raj to the Ganden Phodrang for negotiations to be held at Khampa Dzong, a tiny Tibetan village north of Sikkim. The Chinese ambans were willing to accept this meeting with the British, however, the Dalai Lama refused, and also denied transport for the Palace’s Chinese official You Tai, to attend. The Tibet Frontier Commission heading the British expedition to Tibet in 1903–04 thus trumped up charges for a ground invasion into Tibet across the occupied territory of Sikkim, the trump rumored to be herdsmans cattle ranging over the border.

The Dalai Lama summoned a military contingency in response to the troops marching on his capital but British military might was far superior. In 1904 the British soldiers caused the Massacre of Chumik Shenko, killing 700 Tibetans outright with less than a dozen British casualties. Another 200 Tibetans were murdered at Red Idol Gorge soon thereafter. For three months skirmishes continued by British forces as they marched on Lhasa applying scorched earth policy in decimating the people, land and infrastructure on the way. At Lhasa on 3 August 1904 the thirteenth Dalai Lama had fled to Urga, the capital of Outer Mongolia. Chinese officials to the city issued a writ for their Emperor to depose the Dalai Lama hence, since the Chinese Qing bore no actual powers of law in Tibet. Whence arriving, the British expedition forced a brutal treaty with the Regent and Assembly of Lhasa such that the British had exclusive trading rights in Yatung, Gyantse, and Gartok, all while Tibet was to pay indemnity of 7,500,000 rupees. This fine was later reduced by two-thirds, with the Chumbi Valley ceded to Britain.

George Curzon the Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905 had fulfilled his Geo-political strategic agenda in averting potential Russian threats in the East and by dealing a crippling blow to Tibet. The full extent of the British game regarding suzerainty of China and potential for Russian expansion was such that;

1. "No portion of Tibetan territory shall be ceded, sold, leased, mortgaged or otherwise given for occupation, to any foreign Power;

2. "No such Power shall be permitted to intervene in Tibetan affairs;

3. "No Representatives or Agents of any foreign Power shall be admitted to Tibet;

4. "No concessions for railways, roads, telegraphs, mining or other rights, shall be granted to any foreign Power, or the subject of any foreign Power. In the event of consent to such concessions being granted, similar or equivalent concessions shall be granted to the British Government;

5. "No Tibetan revenues, whether in kind or in cash, shall be pledged or assigned to any foreign Power, or to the subject of any foreign Power."

 

After the fall of the Qing empire in 1912, the Ganden Phodrang government lasted until the 1950s, when Tibet was again occupied by China’s PRC. During most of the time from the early Qing period until the end of Ganden Phodrang rule, a governing council known as the Kashag (established by the Qing in 1721) had operated Qhinese authority within the Ganden Phodrang. Ganden (དགའ་ལྡན) is the Tibetan name for the Tushita heaven, which, according to Buddhist cosmology, is where the future Buddha Maitreya resides. Tuṣita (Sanskrit) or Tusita (Pāli) is one of the six deva-worlds of the Desire Realm (Kāmadhātu), located between the Yāma heaven and the Nirmāṇarati heaven.

 

Tibet & the Tang

Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an average elevation of 4,380 m (14,000 ft). Located in the Himalayas, the highest elevation surrounding the Tibetan plateau is Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain, rising 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft) above sea level. The Alexandrian known as Claudius Ptolemy, 100 – c. 170 AD identified the country Batai at an Eastern perimeter in his seminal work Geographia. Proceeding Ptolemy the Egyptian-Greek work Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (1st century CE) identifies Batai as a prospective trading partner. The regional "Bhutan" is derived from the Sanskrit term "Bhotanta," which means "the end of Tibet" or "the land of the Tibetans", however the country is identified in Dzongkha language as "Brug-yul" which translates as The Land of the Thunder Dragon. Bhauṭṭa is the Sanskrit geopolitical equivalent for the modern Bod (བོད་) or ‘Tibet’ in English. The earliest Chinese record pertains to the 7th C. onward and under the name "Tǔfān" (吐蕃) meaning Western Barbarians, or seminally Xīfān (西番) pertaining to the expansion period. Thus the etymology is formally a Tibeto-Burman language of the Sino-Tibetan language family, of which Sino-Tibetan, and that through it Tibetan and Burmese are mere distant cousins of Chinese.

The earliest Tibetan historical texts identify the Zhang Zhung culture as a people who migrated from the Amdo region into what is now the region of Guge in western Tibet. Zhang Zhung is considered to be the original home of the Bön religion, and according to Rolf Alfred Stein’s Tibetan Civilization, the area of Shang Shung was not historically a part of Tibet and was a distinctly foreign territory to the Tibetans: 

"... then further west, the Tibetans encountered a distinctly foreign nation. – Shangshung, with its capital at Khyunglung. Mt. Kailāśa (Tise) and Lake Manasarovar formed part of this country., whose language has come down to us through early documents. Though still unidentified, it seems to be Indo European .... Geographically the country was certainly open to India, both through Nepal and by way of Kashmir and Ladakh. Kailāśa is a holy place for the Indians, who make pilgrimages to it. No one knows how long they have done so, but the cult may well go back to the times when Shangshung was still independent of Tibet. How far Shangshung stretched to the north, east and west is a mystery .... We have already had an occasion to remark that Shangshung, embracing Kailāśa sacred Mount of the Hindus, may once have had a religion largely borrowed from Hinduism. The situation may even have lasted for quite a long time. In fact, about 950, the Hindu King of Kabul had a statue of Vişņu, of the Kashmiri type (with three heads), which he claimed had been given him by the king of the Bhota (Tibetans) who, in turn had obtained it from Kailāśa."

By the 1st Century BCE a neighbouring Kingdom arose in the Yarlung valley. The Yarlung King Drigum Tsenpo attempted to remove the influence of the Zhang Zhung by expelling the Zhang's Bön priests from Yarlung. He was assassinated and Zhang Zhung continued its dominance of the region. Great Tibet then became centred on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of imperial expansion under the mythological Yarlung dynastic rulers heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. Songtsen Gampo 569–649 [sroŋpʦan zɡampo], The 33rd King and founder of the Tibetan Empire is accredited with the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet after ascending at age 13 according to the Old Book of Tang. Later influenced by his Nepali consort Bhrikuti, of Nepal's Licchavi dynasty, as well as with the unification of what had previously been several Tibetan kingdoms, he is regarded as responsible for the creation of the Tibetan script and therefore the establishment of Classical Tibetan, although this must remain a contested matter and it’s mostly likely he only adopted Mādhyamaka philosophy not the Buddhist religion. Perhaps mythically thus he is said to have issued the order for minister Thonmi Sambhota to travel to India to devise a script for Classical Tibetan, this led to the creation of the first Tibetan literary works and translations, court records and constitution, and so relocated his Capital from the Yarlung Valley to the Kyichu Valley, the site of the future city of Lhasa. According to sources, during the reign of Songtsen Gampo, examples of Handicrafts and Astrological systems were imported from China and the Western Xia; the Dharma and the Art of Writing came from India; material wealth and treasures from the Nepalis and the lands of the Mongols, while Model laws and Administration were imported from the Uyghurs of the Second Turkic Khaganate. 

The Old Tibetan Annals, are composed of two wholly secular manuscripts written in Old Tibetan language found in the early 20th century in a hidden library within the Mogao Grottoes near Dunhuang in northwestern Gansu province, believed to have been sealed in the 11th century CE, they form Tibet's earliest extant history. The libraries Old Tibetan Chronicle alternatively was probably compiled between 800-840 CE, whilst the Annals begin with a very brief account of the early events of the reign of Songtsen Gampo and from a time the Chinese Princess Wencheng arrived in 643 CE until Songtsen Gampo's death in 650, following with year-by-year précis of important events from 650 to 764 CE. The Old Tibetan Chronicle maintains that during the reign of King Trisong Detsen (755 to 797 or 804 CE), "The incomparable religion of the Buddha had been received and there were viharas (monasteries) in the centre as well as the borderlands of the country", an advent much later than the military conquests of Songtsen Gampo between Indian and Chinese borders 200 years prior.

Since the Kings Tagri Nyensig and Namri Songtsen (570-620) the struggle to unify ‘’Tibet’’ was thwarted with difficulties. The empire further expanded under its 38th king, Trisong Detsen, and expanded to its greatest extent under the 41st King Rapalchen in the 780s to 790s spanning territory across modern-day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan. The Kingdom of Nanzhao (in Yunnan and neighbouring regions) remained under Tibetan control from 750 to 794, when they turned on their Tibetan overlords and helped the Chinese inflict a serious defeat on the Tibetans.

In 747, the hold of Tibet was first loosened by the campaign of the Tang general Gao Xianzhi, who tried to re-open the direct communications between Central Asia and Kashmir. By 750, the Tibetans had lost almost all of their central Asian possessions to the Chinese. However, after Gao Xianzhi's defeat by the Arabs and Qarluqs at the Battle of Talas (751) and the subsequent civil war known as the An Lushan Rebellion (755), Chinese influence decreased rapidly and the Tibetans resumed regional superiority. As a part of the Muslim Conquest the Abbasid Caliphate  who were allied with the Tibetans, co-opted the Karluk Turks 20,000 strong force who defected, betraying the Tang forces (only 10,000 soldiers) and in joining the Caliphate, the battle within the valley of the Talas River which vied for control over the Syr Darya had assured the Caliphate’s control over Transoxiana for the next 400 years ending the Chinese expansion West by the Imperial Tang Dynasty (618 to 907). Emperor Rapalchen’s 821–823 treaty concluded conflicts between the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty. The terms of this treaty, including the fixed borders between the two countries, are recorded in a bilingual inscription on a stone pillar outside the Jokhang temple in Lhasa.

Greece; Laconophilia & the Thirty Tyrants

Several dynasties claimed descent from Heracles, such as the Agiads and Eurypontids of Sparta, or the Temenids of Macedonia. Of pre-classical dialects and traditions in southern Greece, the ones that prevailed in Classical Greece followed. According to Herodotus, Macedonian tribes called Dorians charged South [from the mountains of Epirus] to reclaim their ancestral territories en mass within the Peloponnese, where they subjugated the local tribes before commencing territorial expansions. The Return of the Heracleidae was orchestrated by the brothers Kresphontes and Temenos, as well as the twins Eurysthenes and Prokles who accordingly divided the Peloponnese into three parts: Kresphontes took Messenia, Temenos the north-east, and the twins Laconia, thus becoming the first dual kings of Sparta.

Siam; the Haw & the Indochinese Federation

The widespread colonization in the Orient by the Dutch, French, Portuguese, British and Spanish Europeans, wasn't universal in practice as the different political maneuvers enacted in Thailand ensured sovereignty was maintained irrespective of the technological superiority Europeans exercised. The French were the primary antagonists for King Chulalongkornin through which his prince Maha Vajirunhis, Crown Prince of Siam would die of Typhoid fever. The Indochinese Union and after 1947 as the Indochinese Federation, was a grouping of French colonial territories in Southeast Asia until its demise in 1954. It comprised Cambodia, Laos (from 1899), the Chinese territory of Guangzhouwan (from 1898 until 1945), and the Vietnamese regions of Tonkin in the north, Annam in the centre, and Cochinchina in the south. The capital for most of its history (1902–45) was Hanoi; Saigon was the capital from 1887 to 1902 and again from 1945 to 1954.

King Chulalongkorn's coronation was in 1868 at age 16, as the 5th monarch of the House of Chakri. The King mitigated the Eastern threat by building three new forts on the Chao Phraya and bolstering the garrison at the gulf port of Chantaburi (Chantaboon). Also by forming a professional standing army and dismantling the feudal territories in favor of a constituted national government with strict borders. Additionally abolishing slavery (33% of Thai people), liberating free speech, religious practice, enshrining tax collection and generally aligning the nations administration with Europe and America. The young Chulalongkorn visited Singapore and Java in 1870 and British India during 1870–1872 to study the administration of British colonies. He toured the administrative centers of Calcutta, Delhi, Bombay, and back to Calcutta in early-1872. Chulalongkorn would provide aid to the British in their occupation of Burma.  

In the northern Laotian lands bordering China, insurgents of the Taiping Rebellion had taken refuge since the reign of King Mongkut. The Haw were generally bandits and pillagers, but had consolidated banners and drew a serious response from Chao Oun Kham, the ruling prince of Luang Prabang in 1874. The Prince appealed to Siam for aid when in 1875 Chulalongkorn sent troops from Bangkok to crush the rebellious Haw who had ravaged as far as Vientiane by the time. In 1868 Liu Yongfu abandoned Wu Yuanqing's rebels as new Chinese national forces were routing the nations rebels, and crossed into Vietnam with a force of 200 loyal soldiers. He feigned to be the famous 'General of the Black Tiger', and branded his Black Flag Army, heiqi jun (hei-ch'i chun, 黑旗軍). The Black Flags marched slowly through northern Tonkin, engaging the local montagnards after which attaining recognition and rank as a Vietnamese military governor. Recruiting men to their standard as they went, the Haw set up camp just outside Son Tay, on the northern bank of the Red River, before taking over Lao Cai and centralizing there as now forming the modern border of Vietnam and China.

In 1869, having conciliated the Vietnamese, Liu also won favor with the Chinese authorities by committing the Black Flag Army to a Chinese punitive campaign against the Yellow Flags, the other insurgent offshoot of the Yunan province. A Chinese expedition into the region was commanded by the veteran general Feng Zicai, who would later win fame during the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885) by defeating a French column at the Battle of Zhennan Pass (24 March 1885). 'The storming of the thirteen passes' ensued when Liu's Black Flags fought their way through the mountains and attacked Huang Chongying's headquarters at Hayang, a town on the Clear River near the border with Yunnan, forcing the Yellow Flag leader to take refuge with his montagnard allies. Although the Chinese and Black Flags failed to annihilate the Yellow Flags, they taught them a severe lesson, and Feng rewarded Liu for his help by offering him an honorary commission in the Chinese army.

In the next few years Liu Yongfu established a profitable protection racket on commerce on the Red River between Son Tay and Lao Cai. Traders were taxed at the rate of 10% of the value of their goods. The profits that accrued from this extortion were so great that Liu's army swelled in numbers during the 1870s, attracting to its ranks adventurers from all over the world. Although most of the soldiers were Chinese, many mercenaries were American or European expats, some of whom had fought in the Taiping Rebellion. Liu used their western expertise to transform the Black Flag Army into a formidable fighting force. Liu now commanded 7,000 Black Flag soldiers from Guangdong and Guangxi around Tonkin. 

What would be Thailand's last military expeditions into the region, Chulalongkorn's forces marched to capture a supposed Haw stronghold at Chiangkham in spring of 1875. Siamese forces crossed the River Mekong at Nong Khai, and after suffering losses against the proxy militia retreated all the way to Isan in 1885. New, modernized forces were next sent along with the British James McCarthy who accounted for the Haw's demoralizing tactics, trapping territories and guerilla warfare. This force was divided into two groups attacking the Haw from both Chiang Kam and Pichai. The Haw were defeated only as much as scattering into the hills and mountains, many taking to Vietnam.

In 1893 Auguste Pavie, the French vice-consul of Luang Prabang, requested the cession of all Laotian lands east of the Mekong River which was Siam's suzerain. Siam resented the demand, embarking on the Franco–Siamese War of 1893. Governor-General Jean de Lanessan sent three military columns into the disputed region to assert French control in April. Eight small Siamese garrisons west of the Mekong withdrew upon the arrival of the central column, but the advance of the other columns met with resistance. The French came under siege on the island of Khoung, with the capture of an officer, Thoreaux. The occupation proceeded smoothly until an ambush by the Siamese on the village of Keng Ker.

The column was at first successful in evicting the Siamese commissioner at Khammuan by 25 May. Shortly afterward on 5 June, the Siamese commissioner organized a surprise ambush on the village of Kien Ket, where Grosgurin, confined to his sickbed, had encamped with his militia. The commissioner had apparently been instructed by Siamese government representatives to "compel their [French troops] retirement, by fighting, if necessary, to the utmost of their strength". The ambush resulted in the razing of the village and the killing of Grosgurin and 17 Vietnamese.

Conflict climaxed when the French Navy aviso Inconstant and the gunboat Comete arrived on July 13 at Paknam with the intention of crossing the bar into the Chao Phraya River and join the French gunboat Lutin already anchored off the French embassy in Bangkok. Makut Ratchakuman and Coronation led the Siamese fleet but were ill-equipped with weaponry compared to the more modern French flotilla. 

The French gunboat Le Lutin entered the Chao Phraya en route for the French consulate to ready a full assault. Fighting between French and Siamese forces were underway on the Eastern frontier. The French Foreign Minister, Jules Develle, ordered Admiral Edgar Humann, the commander of the French Far Eastern Naval Division, to concentrate his nine warships off Saigon on Siam maintaining the need to "round off our Indochinese empire", with the most optimal means of technological superiority. The French in Bangkok believed that the Siamese were well-prepared for battle however in tutelage of the Dutch. Chulachomklao Fort had just been modernized with seven 6-inch Armstrong Whitworth disappearing guns and was under the command of Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu, a Danish naval officer granted the noble title of Phraya Chonlayutyothin. Further upriver at Paknam Island, the smaller Phi Seua Samut fortress had also been fitted with three of the same guns. The Siamese had placed a sorte of water traps from below the Fort to the center of the river. Above this, two chain and stake barrages plus several sunken vessels off both banks caused a bottle neck.

The Phra Chulachomklao Fort opened fire with two blank rounds but the French continued on, so a third, live, warning shot was fired and hit the water in front of the Jean Baptiste Say. When this warning was ignored, a fourth shot was fired so the gunboats Makhut Ratchakuman and Coronation opened up at 18:50. Inconstant returned fire on the fort while the Comete engaged the gunboats. At least two shots from the fortress hit the Inconstant but coordinated strikes lacked on both side. After firing two shots the carriage of the 70-pound gun aboard the Coronation broke through the deck and could no longer be fired. In the ensuing confusion the Coronation was nearly rammed by the Inconstant which fired two shells into the Coronation. The Jean Baptiste Say was hit several times by cannon fire and the Captain was forced to ground her on Laem Lamphu Rai. No shells hit the Phra Chulachomklao Fort. Within 25 minutes the Inconstant and the Comete had broken through the line of Siamese defenses at a cost of fifteen Siamese and two French lives. A short time later the ships passed the Phi Seua fortress at Paknam with ineffective retaliation, and one report of civilian casualties by the Port.

By the break of day the Siamese captured the steamer Jean Baptiste Say taking hostages, and were unable to sink the vessel. The French gunboat Forfait shortly arrived at Paknam but was repelled attempting to board Jean Baptiste Say. This was a minor victory for the Siamese since Captain Borey had anchored off the French Embassy in Bangkok at around 22:00 on July 13 his ships' guns were targeted on the Royal palace. Forced negotiations ensued when the French sent an ultimatum: an indemnity of three million francs, as well as the cession of and withdrawal from Laos, lest a full attack ensue on the capital Bangkok. Siam did not accept the ultimatum evacuating where required and setting course for prolonged war. French troops then blockaded the Gulf of Siam and occupied Chantaburi and Trat.

King Chulalongkorn sent Rolin-Jacquemyns to negotiate and appealed to Britain for assistance likewise. Britain proposed an agreement with France in arbitration guaranteeing the integrity of the rest of Siam. In exchange, Siam needed to surrender any territorial claim on the Thai-speaking Shan region as north-eastern Burma to the British, and cede Laos to France.

The Siamese agreed to cede Laos to France, significantly expanding French Indochina. In 1896, France signed a treaty with Britain defining the border between Laos and British territory in Upper Burma. The Kingdom of Laos became a protectorate, initially placed under the Governor General of Indochina in Hanoi. French vice-consul Pavie, who almost single-handedly brought Laos under French administration, saw to the officialization in Hanoi.

The French and British both had strong interests in controlling parts of Indochina and Thailand as a middle-ground bode well for the region. Twice in the 1890s, the two superpowers were on the verge of war over two different routes leading to Yunnan. But several difficulties discouraged them from war. The geography of the land made troop movements difficult, and any warfare far more costly and less effective. Both countries were fighting a difficult conflict within their respective colonies likewise and troop consignment was impossibly forthcoming. Malaria was common and deadly too. Ultimately, the imagined trade routes never really came into use and the economic results of the colonization in entirety remains dubious. In 1904, the French and the British put aside their many differences with the Entente Cordiale, ending their own disputes waged in southeastern Asia.

Zoroaster & the Throne of Solomon

The three monotheistic religions of Christianity/Catholicism, Islam and Judaism, referred to as Abrahamic, are claimed under the Takht-e-Sulaiman which is both atop a mountain in Pakistan (Takht-e-Sulaiman) and by a thermal pool at Iran’s Takht-e Soleyman (also known as the Azar Goshnasp Fire Temple). The literal meaning of Takht-e-Sulaiman, the Throne of Solomon is discerned against it’s metonymy alluding to such an idea of a supernatural holding as well as where Zoroastrians originated and may claim a birthplace of Zoroaster in West Azerbaijan Provinces Nosratabad circa seventeen century BCE. The Zoroastrians continue to practice the maintenance of the eternal flame in the fire temple to this day, such as at Yazd Atash Behram. The myth of this particular fire temple at Takht-e-Sulaiman as the origin of world religions is based on the story of the three wise men (Magi), which includes the practice of astrology, magic, and idol worship particularly of course also practically instills the three things fire truly serves in good living; warmth, light and cooking.

  

 

If conducting transnational trade in the ancient world the obstacles to financial success were complicated, it was identifiably less so for Zoroastrians. From the mountain in Pakistan surrounded by olive groves and pine nut forests, which at its peak of 3,487 meters (11,440 ft) the general zenith for living; the prophet Solomon didn’t transgress this distance east, rather overlooked India to see it’s cover of darkness, before returning west. Choreography of a journey across such regions, often covered in snow, is of course the trepidation surrounding such allegory, when merchants seek both to secure the route in good living standards, and avoid the impasse of many kinds including banditry. The basis of the Silk road for instance; it’s trail from east to west and vice-a-versa hence is between stationed securities which requires some obligatory measure of standards, easily enforced under the certainty of Zoroaster when potentially the traders on the lucrative trade routes from East and Southern Asia to the West weren’t privy to accept intoxications of a classical Indo-Iranian religious belief system (such as soma and haoma).

Zoroastrianism or Mazdayasna the State religion of Iran from 600 BCE to 650 CE, has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil and an eschatology, predicting the ultimate conquest of evil by good. Zoroastrianism exalts the uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda. Featuring monotheism, messianism, judgment after death, heaven and hell, and free will all which was adopted by other religious and philosophical systems, including Second Temple Judaism, Gnosticism, Greek philosophy, Christianity, Islam, the Baháʼí Faith, and Buddhism. The Avesta is it’s central writing (of Zoroaster) composing Gathas, with 17 Hymns, in Gathic or Old Avestan, of the old Iranian language group that is a sub-group of Eastern families of the Indo-European languages. Also the Yasna, the constituent chapters of which define the ceremony and function to strengthen the orderly spiritual and material creations of Ahura Mazda against the assault of the destructive forces of Angra Mainyu, and via a lengthy eulogy which culminates in an offering and or strengthening of the waters. 
The historical identity of Zoroaster isn’t well discerned and potentially for good reason. For example while the birthplace of Buddha, or Jesus acts to centralize these faiths, the Gathas means both the teaching of Zoroaster and the community that accepts that teaching. As origins go, magic itself is such an illusion more often than not, of multiple meanings, which either so entertained, seeks to embellish or deceive, and so acquire uncertainty for recompense. As such the Avestan maga- and the Sanskrit magha-, should confer while there is no reason to suppose something, that thing rather as belief acts in force, on what may be, and however is, which is what is known as faith. The Magi, the priests of Zoroaster first appear in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the Behistun Inscription. Old Persian texts, predating the Hellenistic period, refer to a magus as a Zurvanic, and presumably Zoroastrian, priest. Such accounts of course defy the nature of the Magus, which necessarily imparts undefined methodology, superstitions perhaps, and so often regarded, but the mystical life, which is often embellished with the motivation to aspire to greatness.

The creation of fable as designed to expel indignity, generate positivity and endure generations is the essential contribution we should expect from those in deep discussions cloistered around an eternal flame. The so called source of Zoroaster, for instance, his said birthplace by the Azar Goshnasp Fire Temple, imbues the sanctity of the best potential where the harshest climate can still be reveled in. So riding the trade route along the Silk road one caravan traveling day in and day out, holds that in the whitest winter when reaching the thermal lake at Nosratabad, those may bathe, and dry at it’s temple fire. Indulgence hence in remoteness is so sought, but not only to just receive sustenance in good company, but availing profit in security whilst too securing the opportunity to wed.