The other day I was watching an interesting documentary on the Barbary Pirates.
The reporter explained very simply that Spain was occupied by Muslims
who lived there 800 years. Then The Christians got upset with them and said go back
to your own lands and threw them out.
The Muslims then got mad and became pirates capturing many ships and
enslaving the captives and still do to this day.
They also mentioned that this took place in 1492 when Columbus sailed to find the North West Passage to the Indies probably because piracy affected commercial business.
During that time Spain was multicultural. So its not like we were the first to develop such nations in North America and it didn't work.
Not only were the Muslims told to leave but so were the Jews.
It resulted in having the Muslims and Jews go into the pirate business .The Barbary Pirates are famous to this day. Some piracy is still going on off the African Coast.
The Muslims were basically found in Andelusia, in Southern Spain, and they did very well there as the period was called the golden age of learning
The Christians and Jews had conditions under which they lived
They
1)acknowledged Islamic superiority and power
2) payed taxes to the rulers sometimes higher than most folk
3)could not blaspheme or convert Muslims into their religion
4)wore badges and had clothing restrictions
5)could not build many synagogues and churches
6)couldn't carry weapons
7)could not get an inheritance from a muslim
8) couldn't marry a muslim woman but muslim men could marry from other religions
9) Could not own muslim slaves
10) got lower compensations in face of injuries.,were restrictions on practicing one's faith too obviously.
Christian and Jews assimilated into the Muslim culture, learning Arabic and wearing their garbs inclusive of veils but they were still looked down upon as the bottom of society
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/spain_1.shtml)
Sorta like the same how they treat people today in modern Islam
But not all Muslim leaders were nice. Some became very intolerant and as a result trouble began.
The Muslims finally lost all power in Spain in 1492. By 1502 the Christian rulers issued an order requiring all Muslims to convert to Christianity, and when this didn't work, they imposed brutal restrictions on the remaining Spanish Muslims.
And so Piracy began and it was difficult for anyone to get to India via the Meditteranean.
(http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Topics/history/American_and_Military/Barbary_Pirates/Britannica_1911*.html)
The first half of the 17th century may be described as the flowering time of the Barbary pirates. More than 20,000 captives were said to be imprisoned in Algiers alone. The rich were allowed to redeem themselves, but the poor were condemned to slavery.
The chief sufferers were the inhabitants of the coasts of Sicily, Naples and Spain. But all traders belonging to nations which did not pay blackmail in order to secure immunity were liable to be taken at sea. The payment of blackmail, disguised as presents or ransoms, did not always secure safety with these faithless barbarians. The most powerful states in Europe condescended to make payments to them and to tolerate their insults.
Religious orders — the Redemptionists and Lazarites — were engaged in working for the redemption of captives and large legacies were left for that purpose in many countries. The continued existence of this African piracy was indeed a disgrace to Europe, for it was due to the jealousies of the powers themselves.
France encouraged them during her rivalry with Spain; and when, she had no further need of them they were supported against her by Great Britain and Holland. In the 18th century British public men were not ashamed to say that Barbary piracy was a useful check on the competition of the weaker Mediterranean nations in the carrying trade.
Kirkus Review: Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean
(http://edkritzler.com/edreviews.htm)
There is little-known history of some unintended consequences of the Spanish Inquisition.
At the dawn of the Age of Discovery, writes Jamaica-based historian Kritzler in his debut, Jews had been compelled by the Inquisition to convert to Christianity or suffer the auto-da-fé, but many of these conversos secretly maintained their ancient faith. By the 17th century, some headstrong descendants of the Jews banished by Spain in 1492 emerged as navigators, corsairs and pirates. These adventuresome Hebrews were an interesting lot. They were politicians, international adventurers and licensed privateers in geopolitical competition as much as mere robbers on the high seas. Covert Jews who never really converted, code-named "Portugals" by those with whom they dealt, sailed with Columbus and da Gama and plundered with Cortés and Pizarro.
Under Barbarossa, a Portugal named Sinan commanded a fleet of 100 ships. Rabbi Palache kept a kosher cuisine aboard his privateer. Seafaring Jews operated from Holland in its Golden Age and practiced international intrigue from Jamaica, where religion was of no consequence. They settled in Curaçao and New Amsterdam (to the consternation of Peter Stuyvesant. Portugal conquistadores looted Mexico, and converso traders connived with Cromwell and the King of Spain at the same time. Cutlasses at the ready together with the occasional holy text, they traded in the sugar of Brazil and the silver of Peru, with some intentions noble and other motives base. Kritzler ….believes that the fabled gold mine of Columbus is actually on the island of Jamaica, and he and a sponsor have already staked a preemptive mining claim.
Surprising adventures on the high seas with some rogues of the Diaspora.
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CNN reported Congressman King trying to open dialogue with respect to Muslims in America and the need for them to work within America, to keep peace, by reporting anyone who was being recruited by Al Qaida even if it meant going against the Imam.
Well, There is a huge difference between Islam is Peace and God is love
There is a huge difference with our democracy and Constitution protecting minorities and theirs, which have a Koran which basically demands Islamic laws, inclusive of Sharia laws, be obeyed.
There is a huge difference in our Bible which teaches forgiveness and love as opposed to the Koran which calls everyone out side the faith, infidels who are there to serve.
It's on the first page of the Koran and they are not allowed to change a word of this book nor discussing changing their religion to some other or dropping it altogether. Islam is the law and way of life.
Once they Democratically elect their politicians and become people of power, elections, as we know them, will be over, as will the freedom we worked so hard to develop on this continent.
The North American continent was a safe haven where people ran to free themselves of such things and here it is creeping into new lands.
To open doors to have this all happen again, like it did in Spain and like it is doing today in Europe and England, is not something Canada and America can afford to dismiss as trivial.
The Koran is not a North American problem,.
It is an Islamic problem.
Islam maybe Peace but Islam is not Love.
That's only found in Christianity.
The only options we have, is to support the freeing of Muslim people in the Middle East so they can govern themselves.
Watching from the side lines we can then determine if democracy can assert itself between their own people and if not, then how is democracy to work with them and other people?
I give Congressman King kudoos for trying but I wouldn't smoke any cigars yet. So far anything and everything having to do with Islam, has not been about peace but constant war , poverty piracy and terrorism.
For peace, Islam requires people of the same mind and man was not born that way.
Those who know what living with a soul, that is alive and vibrant, would die, if they had to live stifled as they do in Islamic countries.
Religion was meant to be between man and God and practiced privately at home, not to force man to obey one ideology where there is no other way but one way.
We know that life has many roads people may take to get to the same place.
Thanks
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qML-Y46daFA&NR=1
This young man is ab solutely amazing. lol Enjoy Gals :)
Well everything is happening in one shot.
Japan had an 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Tokyo and they are expecting tsunamis every where ranging from Taiwan all the way down to Hawaii and even Australia. They tell us how safe Nuclear power is and here Japan is worrying about her plant withstanding such forces from Mother Nature This basically
makes everyone realize that the nuclear way is not the way to go. The risks out weigh the advantages.
We are way overdue for our big one in British Columbia and our newest bridge is only ready for a 7.5 magnitude earthquake. The rest might topple into the water.
They did recently say it was supposed to be happening more from California all the way up to the state of Washington.
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