Before First Contact
The Story of San Diego, Before it was San Diego
Available in Hard Cover, Soft Cover and Ebook. (Click on the links to go and buy the book)
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Before First Contact is a story by Art Fusco about San Diego before it was San Diego. The reader is treated with two stories in one book! The first one tells of the San Diego mainland, how it was formed, and who inhabited it before the Spanish arrived. The second story goes back and tells how the outsiders of the first story, the Spanish, developed their culture out of old Muslim academics, as well as Christian and capitalist motivations. The book goes on to talk about how the Spanish then brought that culture to the Americas and to the future lands of San Diego.
But cultures, like humans, have lifespans of their own. The world the Native Americans had left would prove to be vigilant, as cultures in Europe rose and fell. Clinging to wealth and trade, the kingdoms of Europe began looking for cheaper ways to reach China. The culture travels across the Atlantic to the Americas where the actions of a few still influences the mentality of today. This is the story of San Diego, before it was San Diego. |
Hardcover edition available on Blurb
Softcover edition available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble
Ebook edition available on Blurb, Amazon and Apple Store
Softcover edition available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble
Ebook edition available on Blurb, Amazon and Apple Store
Table of Contents
The Inhumanity of Humanity:
A Trigger Warning
Part One: Ancient History
One - Warring Cultures
Two - Geology
Three - First Peoples
Part Two: Conquering the Americas
Four - Christopher Columbus
Five - First American Adventures
Six - Hernan Cortez
Seven - Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo
List of sources
The Inhumanity of Humanity:
A Trigger Warning
Part One: Ancient History
One - Warring Cultures
Two - Geology
Three - First Peoples
Part Two: Conquering the Americas
Four - Christopher Columbus
Five - First American Adventures
Six - Hernan Cortez
Seven - Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo
List of sources
Background Story:
I'm a father with the unfortunate situation of his daughters living far away from California. As a way for my girls to learn more about where they came from, I created and hosted a YouTube mini-series called "Discovering San Diego" in 2013, where I traveled across the county with my video camera and explored its history. By 2015, I came out of that thirteen episode saga, with so many more San Diego stories that I decided it was time to start writing a book.
I actually started writing this book in 2014 when I realized that thirteen episodes wasn't nearly enough to tell the comprehensive stories I wished to. I finished my first draft by the end of the year, but as soon as I did, I started revising it. One year and three revisions later, I set up a history blog where twice a month I would post a little bit of the book. I gave the internet a chance to respond to my writings and though I didn't pick up a large following in doing so, the response I did get gave me a reason to pause and revise my book for a final time.
The story I wish to tell ends in 1850, but this book ends in 1542. Clearly there is much more ground to cover, which is why I will continue to write more books to cover those times.
To be honest, I've written two books in my deep past. The first was a teenage comic strip, co-created by my best friend Mike, that we put together into a book called "The Flunky and Caveman Comics" which is no longer in print. The second was a poem book called "Know Me". Both books didn't even sell enough to register on a second hand. This new book however was different, I spent countless hours putting it together and making sure it made sense. Hope it teaches.
I'm a father with the unfortunate situation of his daughters living far away from California. As a way for my girls to learn more about where they came from, I created and hosted a YouTube mini-series called "Discovering San Diego" in 2013, where I traveled across the county with my video camera and explored its history. By 2015, I came out of that thirteen episode saga, with so many more San Diego stories that I decided it was time to start writing a book.
I actually started writing this book in 2014 when I realized that thirteen episodes wasn't nearly enough to tell the comprehensive stories I wished to. I finished my first draft by the end of the year, but as soon as I did, I started revising it. One year and three revisions later, I set up a history blog where twice a month I would post a little bit of the book. I gave the internet a chance to respond to my writings and though I didn't pick up a large following in doing so, the response I did get gave me a reason to pause and revise my book for a final time.
The story I wish to tell ends in 1850, but this book ends in 1542. Clearly there is much more ground to cover, which is why I will continue to write more books to cover those times.
To be honest, I've written two books in my deep past. The first was a teenage comic strip, co-created by my best friend Mike, that we put together into a book called "The Flunky and Caveman Comics" which is no longer in print. The second was a poem book called "Know Me". Both books didn't even sell enough to register on a second hand. This new book however was different, I spent countless hours putting it together and making sure it made sense. Hope it teaches.
What this book stands for:
As I completed the first few editions of this book, I began to ask myself what it stood for. It wasn't until after I started posting chapters online, did I realize that I was picking up on a pattern of cruelty. Spanish and Portuguese explorers, as well as other Christian nations, traveled far to meet native Africans and Americans, but because they were different from the Christians, they had no problem displacing, kidnapping or killing native people living on their own lands. The Christians would normally use these outsiders as scapegoats for the worlds problems, as these people were "living in sin". Enslavement of non-Christians was sanctioned by the Pope in two papal bulls: Dum Diversas and the Discovery Doctrine.
There are two clear versions of this lack of compassion in the stories of Columbus and Cortez. I then decided to go back to ancient times and talk about how the name "Saint James" turned into "San Diego" and was reminded that when the Christian faith first spread, they were just as persecuted as the Native Africans were. Just as well, Islam was originally persecuted by the ruling tribes of Mecca, but once Islam became the ruling class, they turned around and beheaded Jews for not converting. As we move onto other volumes, this "darwinism of cultures" continues when the Spanish settle California and slowly begin displacing the natives. Then I remembered seeing the violence being portrayed in North Dakota, as Natives from around the country gathered to peacefully protest the building of a pipeline and was met with the same attitudes and force that I have read about from racist writings, over a hundred years old. It was around this time when I realized what I was doing: I was writing a version of history that I had never fully learned in school, which revealed a pattern of cruelty that had been going on since biblical times and was continuing to this day. I had picked up on what I call, "the inhumanity of humanity".
Fortunately, I believe that human nature is capable of change, if only slightly enough to avoid the occasional existential threat. If there is a larger reason to tell these stories, it is to bring this nature into light in hopes of becoming better humans.
-A.F.
As I completed the first few editions of this book, I began to ask myself what it stood for. It wasn't until after I started posting chapters online, did I realize that I was picking up on a pattern of cruelty. Spanish and Portuguese explorers, as well as other Christian nations, traveled far to meet native Africans and Americans, but because they were different from the Christians, they had no problem displacing, kidnapping or killing native people living on their own lands. The Christians would normally use these outsiders as scapegoats for the worlds problems, as these people were "living in sin". Enslavement of non-Christians was sanctioned by the Pope in two papal bulls: Dum Diversas and the Discovery Doctrine.
There are two clear versions of this lack of compassion in the stories of Columbus and Cortez. I then decided to go back to ancient times and talk about how the name "Saint James" turned into "San Diego" and was reminded that when the Christian faith first spread, they were just as persecuted as the Native Africans were. Just as well, Islam was originally persecuted by the ruling tribes of Mecca, but once Islam became the ruling class, they turned around and beheaded Jews for not converting. As we move onto other volumes, this "darwinism of cultures" continues when the Spanish settle California and slowly begin displacing the natives. Then I remembered seeing the violence being portrayed in North Dakota, as Natives from around the country gathered to peacefully protest the building of a pipeline and was met with the same attitudes and force that I have read about from racist writings, over a hundred years old. It was around this time when I realized what I was doing: I was writing a version of history that I had never fully learned in school, which revealed a pattern of cruelty that had been going on since biblical times and was continuing to this day. I had picked up on what I call, "the inhumanity of humanity".
Fortunately, I believe that human nature is capable of change, if only slightly enough to avoid the occasional existential threat. If there is a larger reason to tell these stories, it is to bring this nature into light in hopes of becoming better humans.
-A.F.