Sublime

What singled out the two great pre-Columbian empires was the very sophistication of their centralized political systems, pivoted upon an omnipotent, godlike emperor whose sudden capture disabled the whole imperial mechanism.

Perhaps any of the great Eurasian states would have enjoyed a similar success: Tamerlane would have made short work of Montezuma. It was the Occident’s good fortune that its geographical position – closest to the Caribbean antechamber of the pre-Columbian empires – gave it a decisive lead in the acquisition of new lands in the Outer World.

On Europe’s Inner Asian frontier, demographic expansion long seemed as hobbled as it was in mainland North America until the 1750s.