SECTION TEN
sm
COLUMN
EIGHTY-EIGHT, APRIL 1, 2003
(Copyright © 2003 The Blacklisted Journalist)
LETTER
FROM NASHVILLE:
THE ORIGIN OF DRUGS
Nashville, TN---
Back in The Netherlands' Golden Age, a short period of time which lasted from a
little before 1600 to a little after 1650, during which the money which forms
the basis of the leading families' wealth was made, the Dutch were heavily
involved in the spice trade. Going throughout the Eastern world, Dutch ships
would return to Amsterdam laden with spices, most of which the Dutch have no use
for.
Your basic Dutchperson will use salt, pepper, cinnamon, a
little nutmeg perhaps. Except for the Indonesian and Surinamese food
incorporated into the cuisine mostly after the Golden Age, the Dutch diet
remains rooted in North Sea herring, produce from truck farms, and dairy, with
the occasional meat, wursts leading the pack. So the Dutch didn't bring these
spices back for their own consumption, but for warehousing and subsequent
re-sale.
Anyway, spices: In order to be kept from spoiling, spices must be dried. Most of
the spices coming into port had been dried at their points of origin, making
them easier to transport since they did not weigh so much when dry. But they
picked up some moisture on the trip back, which meant they had to be re-dried.
So, the Dutch in Amsterdam developed a technology to handle just that.
Now, when we think of spices, we think of cinnamon, peppers,
curry, those sorts of things, which the Dutch sailors brought back in large
quantities for re-distribution. And this sea-trade formed the basis of much of
the wealth of today's Netherlands. Among the items brought back was---no
surprise---opium, which also had to be dried.
There were a lot of privateers in those days. Pirates.
English pirates, Spanish pirates, Dutch pirates. And this was the deal: if a
privateer agreed to turn over a substantial amount of his booty to them,
governments were willing to shelter them while they made needed repairs to their
vessels, and came ashore swiving wenches and saying "arrgh? a lot.
The Dutch got real good at the privateering game. So good
that the Spanish--- who were enslaving the populations of the Americas while
ripping off aboriginal gold to ship back to their Royal Person---began to feel
the pinch. The Dutch had to fight an eighty-year war to get their own back.
There was a lot of religiosity thrown in there, too, as the Spanish were
Catholics and the Dutch---at least in the North---were protestants.
And in point of fact, much of the war with the Spanish was
fought during the Golden Age. It was fought, though, in the inland provinces and
to the south of the Maritime Provinces, which are those that include North
Holland, South Holland and Zeeland, where the Golden Age economic action was.
Well, during this time the Spanish were brought into actual more or less honest
seafaring, including the spice (and dope) trade, having pretty much depleted
South America of its Incan gold.
The Spanish picked up some Dutch terms in this process. One of these terms was
the Dutch root word for the process of drying spices. The Dutch word for
"dry" is "Drogen", which later became the Spanish word for
dope, "Drogas". And of course which later would become our word for
dope, "Drugs".
Just thought you'd be mildly interested... ##
CLICK HERE TO GET TO INDEX OF COLUMN EIGHTY-EIGHT
CLICK HERE TO GET TO INDEX
OF COLUMNS
The
Blacklisted Journalist can be contacted at P.O.Box 964, Elizabeth, NJ 07208-0964
The Blacklisted Journalist's E-Mail Address:
info@blacklistedjournalist.com
THE BLACKLISTED JOURNALIST IS A SERVICE MARK OF AL ARONOWITZ