The world didn't have such a massive number of fools across the globe who can communicate with each other at the speed of light, back then.
People today are more gullible and wealthier now than they were in the 17th century.
Best wishes with your land investments. Not sure how you will spend dirt at Amazon or take it with you if you have to flee the country (personally I prefer the portability of Bitcoin). And don't expect it to gain value against other ordinary goods, it will merely hold value at best. In fact given the global population collapse* I wouldn't expect there to be as much demand for land usage in the future. So that's something to consider. *If you want to depress yourself, type in "Demographics of (country)" at wikipedia and study the resulting pyramid chart - or what should be a pyramid but isn't for every developed or semi-developed country I've checked...