Comments by "freeculture" (@freeculture) on "Casual Earth" channel.

@carlrichards5207 South of Lake Maracaibo briefly shown in this video is the phenomenon known as "Catatumbo" which is a place with almost permanent lightning strikes going on. Its unique in the world and considered the Ozone generator of the planet.
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@BernardoPatino I agree with you the schools here (Caracas) did not teach it either, and that was a few decades ago when things were less political indoctrination...
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And Tropico with the bestest ruler of them all: "El Presidente".
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You are wrong, go read Bartolomé de las Casas which is the direct cause (report) to the Spanish Crown of what the Spaniards were doing to the indigenous population. Rape, mutilation, murder and other horrifying things, read if you dare instead of parroting lies. Even after this royal decree, the situation didn't improve that much as some conquistadors didn't care at all. Same rights? Are you kidding me? Do you even know what a monarchy is? Let alone an absolutist one. Nobles could kill not nobles, no questions asked. Get a clue and read some history or at least watch some historical youtubers. And those under "not nobles" were segregated as well, the closer to Spain the better, the more racial mixed less Spain related, the worse, up to the slaves at the nearly bottom (maybe criminals below, unsure about that. Was a Pirate worse than a slave? probably since they were sentenced to death).
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Technically the Paraguaná peninsula is not an island, it is currently connected to the continent by land. It might have not been in the long past.
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That show must be interesting with Venezuelans trying to reach to escape poverty. The human smugglers take them in small boats close enough until they can see the coast of the island, then drop them right there, they have to swim while the boat escapes from said coast guard, or even if caught, they carry no nothing... Well at least they don't do as in Trinidad where they shoot the boat full of people... I guess its less dramatic than Moroccans trying to reach Europe (for the same reasons) so it gets almost no coverage except in some local media. Sometimes the boats are lost, usually mechanic failure (gasoline powered small off board engines) i remember one was found in like Colombia with the people aboard long dead. As you can imagine, its around that area that is closest to Venezuela where the crossing attempts occur. And of course there are also real criminals sometimes doing human/drug trafficking involved.
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Search "Médanos de Coro", then look at the map to see where is that...
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Yes, surprisingly Disney missed filming in the sand dunes Saharan like desert of Venezuela. And yes there are several pirate incursions documented there by the Spaniards who built forts etc along the coast, and were raided many times including Coro, etc.
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Sugar Cane doesn't grow in the desert...
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The X marks the spot. Mind the moving dunes, that's part of the puzzle...
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And yet can see things like Palm / Coconut trees in beaches...
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All three ABC islands are still their colonies.
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Cartels, Guerrilla and Paras still? operate there, and Venezuelan side add corrupt military from the smuggling of heavy state subsidized things into Colombia, originally Gasoline which also aided the economy of all these groups...
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That was easier than knowing why we have the politicians...
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Aside from the tar pit? It was pretty much like many parts of northern Venezuela to me 🙂
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Worldwide climate change produced the now Saharan desert north of Africa, but it was a tropical jungle. Same thing with the desert shown here in Venezuela, there were fossils found for example the largest known turtle, i think its in a museum in Caracas. This is tens of thousands of years of Earth history, the continents moved even what created the gulf of Mexico (asteroid) and the various glacial eras. There were also mass extinction events. BTW that Saharan desert is constantly enriching the soil from the sand dust that is carried across the Atlantic, the phosphates brought from there by the winds ensure blessed crops here.
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They were just killed horribly for fun. Read Bartolomé de las Casas, letter to the then prince to the Spanish crown written around 1500
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Especially after the supply stopped, It was only a thing before inept politicians seized power here. But you are better with tourism anyway, even I want to visit some day when things change and Venezuelans stop being treated like illegal immigrants everywhere...
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You talk in first person like you were there, but you were not. Maybe your ancestors, maybe. The Spaniards treated indigenous people like indentured servants at best, but only if they agreed to baptize as Catholics. The Spaniards did exterminate every single person in what today is known as Haiti/Dominican Rep, This documented genocide was secretly written by Bartolomé de las Casas for the Spanish crown. The conquistadors were savages, i dare you read what he wrote to the then prince in a hopeful plea to change their status (and its why the Crown later made an edict that wasn't exactly followed everywhere faithfully). At least north America had some pilgrims looking for religious freedom... The reason they imported African slaves, was because they were stronger for the manual labor the Spanish wanted. I do want to remind you that slave owners (not just Spaniards) used the very same breeding techniques for "enriching the herd" as they do with cows or horses, like picking the "best male" and make him to breed with the chosen females. It is guesstimated that the Spaniards killed about 80 million people during their conquest of the Americas. Sure they befriended some but only when it was to their favor. Make no mistake those guys were not saints, quite the opposite, the Monarchies would send the unwanted, essentially criminals to the "new world". The only ones that tried "some" (Borg) assimilation was the church with the indentured servant system known as "Encomienda" basically monasteries with "not slaves" but helpers or whatever you want to call them.. Not being slave didn't mean you were the same as the others, oh no. You are very wrong there, they treated even their own descendants less than those born in Spain, don't get me started with those of mixed origins. There was a pyramid with the Spaniards at the top and the slaves at the bottom, and yes it was both social and racial. Don't want to derail this too much but the guy known as Colom was actually a pirate called Piettro Scotto, there is a thesis published online, and his crew was literally pirate crew, they just agreed to embark in a new job of discovery, because who else would dare to. The reason he reached Spain was because his last job escorting some ships failed when a storm smashed them to Portugal, where he was a bit of a wanted individual so he quietly moved into Spain adopting the name of his former (Pirate) friend executed in Italy in 1492 (That Chirstoforus whatever Colom). And yeah they do in fact did privateer / piracy / escort in/around Geneva. They are called conquistadores and not colonos for a reason.
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The pearls were long exhausted by the Spaniards using indigenous slaves, its what that New Cadiz town was about, then without the pearls the town died and at some point was swallowed by the sea, then about half of it surfaced again and its what you can see if you go there taking a boat from either coche or margarita there is nothing there but the very few remains of the town rocks and sand.
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@casualearth-dandavis Which is ironically still north of the Equator
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@jesuscr0011 So much wind, wasted electric generation... Politicians wasted our money, didn't put the things to work. RIP Parque eólico de Paraguaná, "Hecho en Sociaismo" one of the many "white elephants" from the "fifth" republic...
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No need to go to Caracas, fly a bit south and its lush green, or 15m to Trinidad and its also lush green. Actually the whole coast of Venezuela is, except that little part shown in the map red/yellow, Paraguaná/Falcón area where there are actual sand dunes and all, and some of Guajira next Colombia.
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Yes, you technically have deserts and tropical islands, thanks to colonization. While most colonies in the Caribbean went independent ABC islands remains part of the Netherlands. Have you planned your vacations yet? Feed your colonists so they don't revolt... spend there.
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Read Bartolomé de las Casas, The Spaniards mutilated, raped and exterminated every single living person in "La Hispaniola" (Haiti/Dominican Rep). Just because they started some serious settlement in Coro doesn't mean they are the saints you portrait. They would use only those that submit to them, and kill the rest, and they did it again and again and again with such savagery they entered history as conquistadores (conquerors) and not settlers. Go read some history, even north America at least had some real settlers looking for religious freedom unlike these savages often unwanted criminals put to "some use" in the "new world" by the monarchies of the day.
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By the 50ies the number one world producer was in fact Venezuela (by those American companies) because of the light oil in the "Lake" of Maracaibo until the Saudis came later. By now most of this light oil is gone in Venezuela and only Heavy crude exists in vast quantities in the Orinoco basin, which has a much lower market price as it needs much more refining, And, the fact that in the 70ies all petroleum and natural gas / mineral extraction, refining and selling was nationalized (State bought and monopolized), and currently almost ran the the ground by inept politicians who have no business managing companies.
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Tell it to Maduro next time you try going to La Orchila, oh wait, you can't. So much for being "yours". Keep eating the farce...
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Lima, for the same reason: The mountains. But instead nearly 100% humidity, funny place with dark dirt/plants and months without Sun, so gray during "winter". Went to some rural village near Huascarán, nearly 4000m high that was interesting, in a 3hr dirt road combi ride in a small zigzagging road with a permanent precipice that only fits 1 car, fun! No electricity in 2004, hope they got a more permanent solution now, they would just turn on some diesel generator a couple hours a day, and the best part is they kept moving that fuel using the very same road... But the view of the stars at night was the best. At least there i could escape from not seeing the Sun and blue sky in the day 🙂 Yea cuy (guinea pig) tastes like chicken, not a fan of the little bones... I know i know, national dish, pride of peruvians 🙂
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