@535pm.bsky.social
Less the fans & more the artists
November 20, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Less the fans & more the artists
Reposted
Drugs defined us! Coffee, tobacco, sugar (rum), tea, spices — this was the original drug economy and drove development of the Western Hemisphere. Columbus started a drug commodity boom that lasted for centuries, made Europeans & colonizers stinking rich, and launched the transatlantic slave trade.🧵
Here’s a talk I gave years ago explaining how Columbus was basically the original trans-Atlantic drug trafficker. You will be never think about the colonization of this hemisphere in the same way again. The “drug” economy powered hemispheric growth (and enslavement) for centuries. Watch:
November 7, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Drugs defined us! Coffee, tobacco, sugar (rum), tea, spices — this was the original drug economy and drove development of the Western Hemisphere. Columbus started a drug commodity boom that lasted for centuries, made Europeans & colonizers stinking rich, and launched the transatlantic slave trade.🧵