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To: blam
"The Portuguese were obsessed with secrecy because of their rivalry
with Spain," Mr Trickett said. "They didn't colonise Australia
because they didn't have the manpower or the resources, and then
their empire started to collapse."


IMHO, the Portuguese just didn't have the genius of the British.

Use hardened convicts to tame a tough land so that it could become
a fairly civilized country.

(I'm not knocking the Portugese...but in retrospect that could
be one version of what this history teaches us. Besides, the
Portugese were busy with Brazil and other far-flung outposts.)
4 posted on 03/20/2007 5:37:29 PM PDT by VOA
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To: VOA
"Use hardened convicts to tame a tough land so that it could become a fairly civilized country." and by the "Genius of the British", you mean like stealing a loaf of bread or corn to stay alive? Guess those starving women were tough... of course sending American Indians there was a way to conquer the continent as well.
38 posted on 03/22/2007 5:42:27 AM PDT by Sam Ketcham (Amnesty means vote dilution, & increased taxes to bring us down to the world poverty level.)
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To: VOA
"IMHO, the Portuguese just didn't have the genius of the British."

IMHO, the Portuguese and the Spanish were constrained from certain innovations because of their ultimate subordination to the Vatican.

49 posted on 03/23/2007 3:39:05 PM PDT by Radix (Time served in the Congress should be reason enough to disallow a person from the Presidency)
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