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Tuesday, July 12, 2016

The Latinization of the West - by Mike Konrad

The term seems absurd. Weren't the Latins a Western people? Yes, at one time they were. Two millennia later their culture is awash around the globe, primarily as an example of poor governance, corruption, and quasi-military rule. America and Europe are headed in that direction.
The Latini were an Indo-European (IE) people (read "White") who migrated into the Italian Peninsula around 1000 BC.  We first take notice of them when the Latins overthrew their monarchy to set up Rome, as an aristocratic Republic -- a common government structure among IE tribes.  In 509 BC, the monarchy was overthrown, with a preliminary Republic being set up.
The Republic was initially weighted in favor of noble families, but over time rights were extended to the common man.
At that time, were one in Rome, one would have found an Indo-European (IE) people at every point. Yes, there were some non-European elements in the local Italian populations. Early Phoenician settlers had left their DNA all over the Mediterranean basin, but ancient Rome was, to put it bluntly, white. Let us not devolve into debate whether the nobles were untainted Nordics -- as some claim -- or generic Europeans.  What is clear is that Rome and its early days were European……….