为什么开发得更早的南美洲，今天远远落后于北美洲的发展

欧洲开启大航海时代后，到达南美地区要早于北美，也就是说，南美洲要早于北美洲被欧洲人开发。但是，为什么今天的北美洲是全世界上最发达的地区之一，而南美洲却没有能够发展成世界发达地区呢？这个问题，要回顾南美和北美各自曾经的宗主国的背景，才能对他们各自后来的发展有所了解。

北美地区大致可以理解为有三个爸爸，先是荷兰，然后主要是英国、次要是法国。南美主要有两个爸爸，一个是葡萄牙、另一个是西班牙。看看爸爸们今天的国际地位，大概也能对子女们的现状理解一二。

大航海时代是葡萄牙人先开启的。葡萄牙于12世纪奠定了大致的国家版图，由于占据了沿海地区，其生产的红酒和盐可以跨海远销英格兰地区。而海上贸易在十四世纪往后越来越重要，葡萄牙王室就开始资助海上冒险的探索，开辟了非洲航线、印度航线、南美洲航线、还到达了中国和日本。

新航线的开辟也让葡萄牙人开启了全球抢地盘的游戏，今天南美洲最大国家巴西就是葡萄牙殖民地，而巴西也是如今世界上为数不多的葡语国家（和西班牙语相比较而言）。而西班牙也紧随其后，占领了南美洲一大票土地，除了巴西和另外几个小地方，基本上都说西班牙语。

当葡萄牙和西班牙占领南美洲以后，母国受益于殖民地的供养、甚至南美洲大银矿的发现，财富剧增，使得整个社会、其实是王室开始骄奢淫逸、不思进取。即便人类科技发展到今天，远洋航海也是一件不那么安全的事情，而放在五六百年前，那简直就是在赌命的冒险。这一点，说明了葡萄牙人和西班牙人的祖先是曾经积极进取过的。

但是钱多了以后，没有想过发展工业、发展当时的尖端科技，而是沉迷于贸易带来的金钱和用金钱买来的各类物质享受之中。而王室对国家的强有力控制，使得社会民众也没有发展科技、发展生产的积极性。因此，买买买的舒服使得西班牙和葡萄牙在生产力的发展上逐渐落后于英国。极具讽刺意味的是，西班牙无敌舰队的船，基本上都是荷兰和英国造的。

荷兰是晚于葡萄牙但早于英国称霸世界的又一个历史超级大国。1626年海上霸主荷兰获得曼哈顿岛，取名为“新阿姆斯特丹”，正式登陆北美。荷兰由于贸易的极度发达，成为了世界的“海上马车夫”，荷兰海军还打败了英国海军。但是，全盛的荷兰犯了和西、葡两国同样的错误：有钱了就骄奢淫逸了，居然炒郁金香炒出了世纪金融泡沫。几百年以后的日本人估计买房子买得过嗨了，也忘了荷兰人的教训。

因此，荷兰迅速地返回了他们原来的位置，一个仅限于欧洲地区的发达强国。荷兰的衰落历史，我在另一篇文章里详细叙述了，过程还是比较复杂的。但是原理实在太讽刺了：荷兰搞的银行业一直都贷款给英国做买卖同时造海军。当然，荷兰搞金融搞得太嗨了不是衰落的唯一原因，其人口体量也注定他们没有持续耗下去的资源。

英国在几位君主的励精图治之下，终于在第一代伊丽莎白女王手上打败了西班牙无敌舰队，开始争霸世界，并于之后没多久就从荷兰人手中抢走了新阿姆斯特丹，并改名为新约克，今天中文翻译成纽约。从此，英国正式成为了北美洲的最大爸爸。

法国如今在北美洲的存在感主要体现在加拿大的魁北克地区主要讲法语，还闹过独立。同时美国的路易斯安娜州名字的来源就是法王路易十四，那时法国殖民者顺着密西西比河南下，声称那条河流经的地区都是法国的土地。结果英法百年战争以英国的压倒性胜利而告终，法国在北美的殖民地尽数被英国获取，从而归于英国治下。

英国露头之后的打法明显和葡、西、荷不一样。那三家除了骄奢淫逸、购物享受，就是炒金融泡沫。英国虽然也干过金融投机倒把（有兴趣的朋友可以搜一搜南海泡沫事件），但是主要精力却放在了家里发展工业大生产、全球抢原料、抢市场的良性循环游戏上了。

结果，英国的工业生产发展，促进了新技术的研发、并使得新科技有应用市场，也就是变现的途径（这是东方大国重返世界之巅的核心底气之一），从而进一步扩大了生产规模、降低了生产成本、并且提高了企业主和员工的收入，对外获得了更强的产品竞争力，对内得到了整个社会加大生产投入的热情。这样的良性循环和资本主义热情言传身教给了北美地区。

英国的崛起道路体现了世间的奋斗真理：对别人狠，对自己更狠。英国人怎么剥削殖民地和其他后发国家的就不用多说了。英国是怎么对自己人的？圈地运动号称羊吃人，把农民赶进了大城市，提供了丰富的劳动力。极低极低的工资保障了资本家有大量资本盈余，可以投入到扩大再生产的过程中。由于企业利润得到保障，就有足够多的投资去干改进生产力的工作，促进了先进技术的研发与诞生，客观上为工业革命创造了基础和条件。有很多研究英国历史的人说，1840年的英国普通人，过得真不如大清朝的普通人，虽然清朝的老百姓已经过得比较苦了。

在1776年美国独立以后，英国干了今天的美帝同样正在干的事情，对亲儿子美国进行技术封锁，当时最先进的纺纱机、棉花机技术一概禁止出国，连懂技术的相关技术人员也要严格登记，不能随便出国。是不是和今天很像！

但是美国通过自身努力，模仿改良加自我创新，居然成功地造出了各种当时先进的机器设备，并从此踏上了争霸科技最高峰的旅程。由此，美国就和英国爸爸一样开始了生产、抢原料、抢市场、贸易挣钱、加大投入生产扩张和技术改良、进一步争夺国际市场的良性循环之中，使得经济能力与科技能力螺旋交替上升。与此同时也带出来一个非常重要的副产品：军事科技的同步发展与军事力量的成长。

北美除了美国还有加拿大，加拿大今天的国家元首还是英国女王，他们的发展路径和思维方式与美国人基本差不多，因此发展到今天也是发达强国。我们不要小看加拿大，觉得他们就是美帝的一个小跟班。加拿大今天的贸易确实严重依赖美国，但是其自身在工业科技研发、互联网产业、生物制药产业等方面的技术积累和发达程度，都远远碾压普通发展中国家。

而同期的南美洲呢？葡萄牙本土面积小、各方面条件不如巴西，因此葡萄牙人大批大批地移民巴西。结果国王感觉事态不对，就禁止了大规模移民，不然本土早晚都没人了。后来时间长了巴西的独立意识就强了，于是便脱离葡萄牙独立了。

1810年阿根廷爆发革命，没几年也脱离西班牙独立了。南美洲毕竟被葡、西统治了那么多年啊！那个思维方式和生产方式就和宗主国没有分别，除了上层阶级的骄奢淫逸，基层就只会干种植园这种低附加值产业，没人有心思去干什么工业大生产或者是技术创新。结果南美各国也就与真正的发达国家地位无缘了。

由于曾经的宗主国们背景的不同，南美和北美在思想和文化上有着根本性的不同，也直接导致了后来发展路径的不同。上面说北美锐意进取搞工业生产，而南美去上层骄奢淫逸、基层只会干低附加值产业，也是思想和文化上的不同所造成的。英国完成资产阶级革命之后，王权就没落了，而资产阶级由于挣了钱就是自己的，而充满奋斗动力，这也同样带到了北美。

而葡、西两国的王权还是很稳固，资产阶级没能占主导地位，因此，社会还是供养性质的，中下层创造的财富，必然被王室剥削，积极性自然就低了一大截。而王室控制能力太大，又没有搞清楚发展方向、没能大权在握的制度优势发挥出来，结果就丢掉了世界争霸的地位。这个弊端也同样遗传到了南美洲。

今天的南美各国是不是贫富差距问题、腐败问题、各类社会矛盾问题很突出呢！是不是看到了曾经的爸爸们的身上的缺点的影子呢。因此，即使阿根廷在20世纪曾经短暂地挤入发达国家行列，也难以保持其发达成果：因为没心思好好干实业啊，干好了也被“王室”剥削了。这就是南美和北美今日差距的原因了。

我们必须清醒地意识到，世界上只有两种发达国家：一种是工业化发达国家，有自主自立的能力，能挺直腰板在国际社会发声。而另一种是资源型发达国家，由于人少资源多，靠卖资源就能让国家富裕并让国民过上发达水平的生活。而这种资源型发达国家由于体量太小，是无法自立于这个复杂的世界上的，因此他们只能选边站队，过着看人眼色的日子。

有人会觉得好吃好喝的过日子，做这种发达国家有什么不好呢？这些国家平时确实挺好的，但是一旦大国之间有矛盾、需要交换利益的时候，往往牺牲的就是这些小国。我们当然不必要去多评论其他国家的选择与发展道路。我们只要清醒地明白和坚持，我们自己只能依靠成为强大的工业国家而迈入发达行列，振兴工业、发展科技，是我们唯一的选择。

Why South America, which was developed earlier, lags far behind the development of North America today
Explore as a guide

After Europe started the Age of Discovery, it reached South America earlier than North America. In other words, South America was developed by Europeans earlier than North America. However, why is it that today North America is one of the most developed regions in the world, but South America has not been able to develop into a developed region in the world? For this question, we need to review the backgrounds of South America and North America's respective former suzerain countries in order to understand their respective subsequent developments.

North America can be roughly understood as having three fathers, first the Netherlands, then mainly the United Kingdom, and secondarily France. There are two main countries in South America, one is Portugal and the other is Spain. Looking at the international status of fathers today, we can probably understand something about the current situation of their children.

The Age of Discovery was first started by the Portuguese. Portugal established a rough national territory in the 12th century. Because it occupied the coastal areas, the red wine and salt it produced could be exported across the sea to England. Maritime trade became more and more important after the 14th century. The Portuguese royal family began to fund maritime adventure exploration, opening up routes to Africa, India, South America, and even reaching China and Japan.

The opening of new routes also allowed the Portuguese to start a global land grab game. Today, Brazil, the largest country in South America, is a Portuguese colony, and Brazil is also one of the few Portuguese-speaking countries in the world (compared to Spanish). Spain followed closely behind and occupied a large area of ​​South America. Except for Brazil and a few other small places, Spanish was basically spoken.

After Portugal and Spain occupied South America, the mother country benefited from the support of the colonies and even the discovery of large silver mines in South America. Its wealth increased dramatically, which made the entire society, and in fact the royal family, start to be extravagant and unwilling to make progress. Even with the development of human science and technology today, ocean navigation is not a safe thing. Five or six hundred years ago, it was simply a life-threatening adventure. This shows that the ancestors of the Portuguese and Spanish were aggressive.

But after having more money, they did not think about developing industry or developing the cutting-edge technology at that time. Instead, they indulged in the money brought by trade and the various material enjoyments bought with money. The royal family's strong control over the country has prevented the public from developing science and technology and production. Therefore, the comfort of buying and selling has caused Spain and Portugal to gradually lag behind the United Kingdom in the development of productivity. Ironically, the ships of the Spanish Armada were basically built in the Netherlands and Britain.

The Netherlands is another historical superpower that dominated the world later than Portugal but earlier than Britain. In 1626, the Dutch, the maritime overlord, acquired Manhattan Island, named it "New Amsterdam", and officially landed in North America. Due to its extremely developed trade, the Netherlands has become the world's "sea coachman". The Dutch navy also defeated the British navy. However, the prosperous Netherlands made the same mistake as Spain and Portugal: when it became rich, it became arrogant and extravagant, and actually speculated on tulips to create the financial bubble of the century. A few hundred years later, the Japanese will probably be overly excited about buying houses and have forgotten the lessons of the Dutch.

As a result, the Netherlands quickly returned to their original position as a developed power limited to the European region. I have described the history of the decline of the Netherlands in detail in another article. The process is quite complicated. But the principle is so ironic: the banking industry in the Netherlands has been lending money to Britain for business and building a navy. Of course, the fact that the Netherlands was too prosperous in finance was not the only reason for its decline. Its population size also meant that they did not have the resources to continue to consume it.

Under the hard work of several monarchs, Britain finally defeated the Spanish Armada at the hands of the first Queen Elizabeth and began to fight for world domination. Not long after, it seized New Amsterdam from the Dutch and renamed it New York. , translated into Chinese today as New York. Since then, Britain has officially become the largest father in North America.

France's current presence in North America is mainly reflected in the Quebec region of Canada, which mainly speaks French and has fought for independence. At the same time, the name of Louisiana in the United States comes from King Louis XIV of France. At that time, French colonists followed the Mississippi River south and claimed that the area through which the river flowed was French land. As a result, the Hundred Years War between England and France ended with Britain's overwhelming victory. All French colonies in North America were acquired by Britain and came under British rule.

After the British emerged, their playing style was obviously different from that of Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands. In addition to being extravagant and enjoying shopping, those three companies are just speculating on financial bubbles. Although the UK has also engaged in financial speculation (interested friends can search for the South China Sea Bubble incident), its main focus is on the virtuous cycle game of developing large-scale industrial production at home and grabbing raw materials and markets globally.

As a result, the development of British industrial production promoted the research and development of new technologies and gave new technologies an application market, that is, a way to realize them (this is one of the core reasons for the Eastern power to return to the top of the world), thus further expanding production. scale, reduce production costs, and increase the income of business owners and employees, gain stronger product competitiveness externally, and gain the enthusiasm of the entire society to increase production investment internally. Such a virtuous cycle and capitalist enthusiasm have been taught by words and deeds to North America.

Britain's rise embodies the truth of struggle in the world: be cruel to others, but even more cruel to yourself. It goes without saying how the British exploited their colonies and other late-developing countries. How does Britain treat its own people? The enclosure movement, known as sheep cannibalism, drove farmers into big cities and provided abundant labor. Extremely low wages ensure that capitalists have a large capital surplus that can be invested in the process of expanding reproduction. Since corporate profits are guaranteed, there will be enough investment to improve productivity, promote the research and development and birth of advanced technologies, and objectively create the foundation and conditions for the industrial revolution. Many people who study British history say that ordinary British people in 1840 were really not as good as ordinary people in the Qing Dynasty, although the people in the Qing Dynasty were already living a more miserable life.

After the United States became independent in 1776, Britain did the same thing that the United States is doing today, imposing a technological blockade on its own son, the United States. The most advanced spinning and cotton machine technologies at the time were prohibited from leaving the country, and even relevant technicians who knew the technology were prohibited. You must also register strictly and cannot leave the country casually. Isn’t it very similar to today?

However, through its own efforts, imitation, improvement and self-innovation, the United States actually succeeded in creating various advanced machines and equipment at the time, and has since embarked on a journey to compete for the highest technological hegemony. Since then, the United States, like its British father, has started a virtuous cycle of production, grabbing raw materials, grabbing markets, making money from trade, increasing investment in production expansion and technological improvement, and further competing for the international market, resulting in a spiral alternation of economic capabilities and technological capabilities. rise. At the same time, it also brought out a very important by-product: the simultaneous development of military technology and the growth of military power.

In addition to the United States, North America also has Canada. The head of state of Canada today is still the Queen of England. Their development path and way of thinking are basically similar to those of the Americans. Therefore, they have developed into a developed and powerful country today. We should not underestimate Canada and think that they are just a small follower of US imperialism. Canada does rely heavily on the United States for its trade today, but its own technology accumulation and development in industrial technology research and development, the Internet industry, and the biopharmaceutical industry far exceed that of ordinary developing countries.

What about South America during the same period? Portugal's mainland area is small and its conditions are not as good as those of Brazil in all aspects. Therefore, Portuguese people immigrated to Brazil in large numbers. As a result, the king felt that something was wrong, so he banned large-scale immigration, otherwise sooner or later there would be no people in the mainland. Later, as time went by, Brazil's awareness of independence became stronger, so it became independent from Portugal.

A revolution broke out in Argentina in 1810, and it became independent from Spain within a few years. After all, South America has been ruled by Portugal and Spain for so many years! The way of thinking and production are no different from those of the sovereign state. Except for the arrogance and licentiousness of the upper class, the grassroots can only engage in low value-added industries such as plantations. No one has the mind to engage in large-scale industrial production or technological innovation. As a result, South American countries have no chance of becoming a truly developed country.

Due to the different backgrounds of the former sovereign states, South America and North America have fundamental differences in ideology and culture, which directly led to different development paths in the future. It is said above that North America is determined to be enterprising and engaged in industrial production, while South America is free of arrogance and licentiousness at the upper levels and only engages in low-value-added industries at the grassroots level. This is also caused by differences in ideology and culture. After the British completed the bourgeois revolution, the royal power declined, and the bourgeoisie was full of motivation to fight because the money they earned was their own, and this was also brought to North America.

However, the royal power in Portugal and Spain is still very stable, and the bourgeoisie does not occupy a dominant position. Therefore, the society is still supportive. The wealth created by the middle and lower classes will inevitably be exploited by the royal family, and their enthusiasm will naturally be greatly reduced. The royal family had too much control, failed to figure out the direction of development, and failed to exert its institutional advantages. As a result, it lost its position as a world hegemon. This drawback has also been inherited in South America.

Isn’t the gap between rich and poor, corruption, and various social contradictions very prominent in South American countries today? Have you seen the shadow of the shortcomings of the fathers of the past? Therefore, even if Argentina briefly squeezed into the ranks of developed countries in the 20th century, it would have been difficult to maintain its development achievements: because it had no intention of doing good business, it was exploited by the "royal family" even if it did. This is the reason for the gap between South America and North America today.

We must be soberly aware that there are only two types of developed countries in the world: one is the industrialized developed country, which has the ability to stand on its own feet and can stand tall and speak out in the international community. The other type is resource-based developed countries. Since they have fewer people and more resources, they can make the country rich and allow their citizens to live a developed life by selling resources. Such resource-based developed countries are too small to stand on their own in this complex world. Therefore, they can only choose sides and live a life of relying on others.

Some people may think that if we live a good and delicious life, what's wrong with being a developed country like this? These countries are indeed doing well in normal times, but when there are conflicts between big countries and they need to exchange interests, it is these small countries that are often sacrificed. Of course, we don’t need to comment too much on other countries’ choices and development paths. As long as we clearly understand and persist, we can only rely on becoming a strong industrial country to enter the ranks of developed countries. Revitalizing industry and developing science and technology are our only choices.