Views of the World, San Nichola, Cebu, P.I.

Cebu is an island in the Philippines.  I looked up San Nichola, but couldn't find it.  There is a neighborhood called San Nicholas in Cebu City.  If this card is from that neighborhood then it doesn't look like this anymore.  Cebu City isn't the second largest city in the country, but it's sometimes called the second city of the Philippines, and it's densely populated.  I doubt there are any huts and wide dirt roads anymore.

So this is it.  The final card in this series.  If I ever find the few missing images, or if I run across any cards numbered higher than 48, I'll buy them and post them here.  But, I wouldn't hold my breath.  Click on Views of the World in labels at the bottom of the post to see the whole lot.

Views of the World, Old Gateway, Manila, P.I.

File this one under, you learn something everyday.  I knew that before the U.S. took the Philippines, it had been a Spanish colony.  What I didn't know was that the Spaniards launched their invasion of the islands from Mexico.

I'm surprised, considering the United State's long history in the Philippines, that I don't have more photos of the islands in my collection.  This image of the old gateway is one of several entrances into Fort Santiago, the original Spanish military outpost in Manila.  Today, Manila is the most densely populated cities in the world.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see more from the collection.  Only one more to go.

Views of the World, Street Scene, Tokyo, Japan

I promised I'd finish this collection by the end of the year, so, it's time for the last three of the lot.  (Click on Views of the World in labels to see more.)

Needless to say, there's far too much information about Tokyo, on line, to type it all up.  So, don't be lazy, look it up.  In a nutshell, Tokyo started out as a small fishing village known as Edo.  It was first fortified by the Edo clan in the late 12th century.  Edo Castle, now the sight of the Imperial Palace, was built in 1457.  In 1868, Edo became the capital of Japan, and it's name was changed to Tokyo, which means eastern capital.  Today, Tokyo is the largest metropolitan area in the world.

Views of the World, Across the Lake From Island, Peking, China

At the end of The Second Opium War, a joint Anglo-French force, under the leadership of James Bruce the 8th Earl of Elgin, High Commissioner to China, burned and looted the old and new Summer palaces just outside the city walls of Peking.  James Bruce's father was Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, the man who looted the marble friezes from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.  I guess vandalism ran in the family.

Peking is now known as Beijing, and means northern capital.

I've got three more cards in this series, but I'm going to hold off on posting them for another month or so.  Click on Views of the World in labels to see other cards in the series.

Views of the World, General View of Canton, China

We'll be staying in China for a bit.  Canton is actually the city of Guangzhou.  Canton was a name used by European traders and likely comes from the Portuguese.  The Canton System was an attempt by the Chinese government to limit contact with the European colonial powers that funneled all trade through the city.  There were thirteen factories, not places of manufacture, but foreign quarters built outside the city walls for the use of the various western trading interests.  The Canton System ended in 1842 with the Treaty of Nanking, now Nanjing, which ended The First Opium War.  In addition to opening up a number of other Chinese ports for trade, it also  required the Chinese government to pay all the costs of being invaded.

As always, click on Views of the World in labels at the bottom of the post to see other cards int he collection.

Views of the World, Nankin Road, Shanghai, China

It's time to return to The First Opium War.  In addition to their acquisition of Hong Kong, the British also secured a number of concessions, essentially giving them control over a number of port cities, including Shanghai.  Eventually, a number of other countries, including France, the United States, Japan, Germany,  Russia, Norway, and even The Congo Free State got their fingers in the pie, getting  concessions of their own.  Shanghai itself would have three main foreign enclaves controlled by Britain, France, and the U.S.  What's really amazing, the foreign concessions all had extraterritorial status. Essentially, they were all exempt from Chinese law.

Today, Shanghai is, by population, the largest city in the world.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see other cards in the series.

Views of the World, Harbor of Hong Kong, China

For those of you who were waiting for a continuation of this series, you are in luck.  Views of the World (Click in labels for the others.) is back!

Anyway, I'm not going to go into too much detail about the history of Hong Kong.  There's plenty of info available on line, and quite frankly, it would take way too long to type it all up.  In a nutshell, Hong Kong Island wasn't much until the First Opium War.  The freebooters of The British East India Company were making lots of cash addicting the people of China to opium.  When the Chinese Emperor objected to seeing his people all zoned out, and decided to end the opium trade, the British invaded, won, and forced China to cede the island to them in perpetuity.  After the Second Opium War, the Brits added the Kowloon Peninsula to their colonial empire.  In the end, China wanted it's territory back, England wasn't in a position to stop a takeover by force, so, after all the diplomatic niceties were observed, China got it's land back.  Technically, the Chinese dictatorship is supposed to recognize the democratic rights of Hong Kong's citizens, but that's an iffy thing.

Views of the World, Market Day, Daijeeling, India

First of all, it's Darjeeling, not Daijeeling.  Whether it's a misprint, or the postcard's publisher didn't know the difference....well, who knows.

 As communities in India go, Darjeeling is a fairly recent one.  It started out as a hill station in the mid nineteenth century.  In a nutshell, India can be a pretty hot place, and it wasn't uncommon for the British occupiers to come up sick from heat, malaria, and a whole host of other nasty stuff that significantly shortened their lives.  So, build mini resorts with English architecture, gardens, food, fun, and drink.  Build them high enough in the Himalayan foothills so that things were cool enough to recall an English autumn, and with any luck, fewer soldiers and diplomats dropping dead.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see more cards from the series.  

Views of the World, Bengali Girls In Eden Garden, Calcutta India

Coincidentally, I've just finished reading Calcutta, by the Indian author, Amit Chaudhuri.  It's a wonderful book that I highly recommend.  And by the way, Chaudhuri rejects the new spelling, Kolkata.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see more cards in the series.

Views of the World, Over Battlefields, Liaoyang, Manchuria

There have been a lot of wars in Manchuria.  It just seems to be one of those areas that people are willing to kill and die for, for no real reason that I can see.  The battlefields depicted on this card are from the Russo-Japanese War.  Technically speaking the Russians lost, since they were forced to withdraw, but the Japanese had incurred such heavy losses that they were unable to chase down the retreating Russians and finish the job.  The battle was fought from August 24 through September 3 1904.  The Russo-Japanese War was famous for being the first war where an Asian power was able to defeat a European power.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see more cards from this series.

Views of the World, Imperial Mausoleum Mukden, Manchuria

It's time to return to The Views of the World postcard collection.  I promise, done by the new year.

Manchuria is an area in northeast China.  Mukden, now known as Shenyang, was the imperial seat of the Qing Dynasty.  The imeprial mausoleum is in Dongling Park, and is the final resting place of Nurlach and Xiaoci Gao Yehenala, Emperor and Empress of Manchuria from 1559-1626.  Nice stone elephant.

Click on Views of the World in labels to bring up other cards in the series.

Views of the World, Rock Temple at Abu Simbel, Egypt

The  temples at Abu Simbel were carved along the upper Nile, in the province of Nubia, during the rein of Ramses the Great.  It took around 24 years and is thought to have been finished around 1265 B.C.   Eventually, it would disappear, buried by blowing desert sand.  It was rediscovered during an 1813 expedition led by Swiss Orientalist, Jean-Louis Burkhardt.  With the construction of the Asswan High Dam, the temples at Abu Simbel were in danger of being lost under the waters of Lake Nasser.  An international team of engineers disassembled the temples, and reassembled them under  artificial hills.  Work was finished in 1968.

I'll be leaving these cards for the next month or so.  Click on Views of the World in labels to see more cards from the series.

Views of the World, Boats on the Nile, Egypt

Just for the hell of it, I thought I'd scan one of this series in grey scale.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see other cards in the series.

Views of the World, The Casino, Monte Carlo

When I first moved west, I would make occasional runs to Las Vegas.  I stopped going  when I realized a few things.  1. I always lost. 2. I was bored by gambling. 3. Casinos were full of cigarette smoke, and second hand smoke gave me headaches.  I imagine that the Casino in Monte Carlo is kind of like Las Vegas but for rich Euro trash.  Anyway, the Casino was built when the Grimaldis, the ruling family of Monaco, was facing bankruptcy and needed an out from their financial problems.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see more cards from this series.

Views of the World, General View of Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo is a district in Monaco, the second smallest and most densely populated country on Earth.  Fun fact, in 1963 Monaco abolished the death penalty and granted women the right to vote.  I don't know what that says about the place, but hey, for what it's worth.

Click on Views of the World in labels at the bottom of the post to more cards.

Views of the World, Christiania, Showing Royal Palace, Norway

File this one under, you learn something everyday.  Oslo, the capital of Norway was founded in 1050.  It was heavily damaged by fire in 1624, and rebuilt by King Christian IV.  Impressed with himself he renamed the city in his own honor.  And so, Oslo became Christiana.  In 1925, the city was renamed Oslo.  As someone who is not impressed with Kings, Queens, Princes, and Potentates, good for you, Norway.

As usual, click on Views of the World in labels to see other cards in the series.

Views of the World, Street Scene, Copenhagen, Denmark

Well, it's back to this collection for a few days.  Anyone wishing to see others from this lot as well as catching up on the backstory, click on Views of the World in labels at the bottom of the post.  I think something must have been going on in Copenhagen on the day when this photograph was taken.  Look at the bottom of the image.  One woman is holding on to her hat and another is shielding her eyes.

Views of the World, Canal, Amsterdam, Holland

Think Holland and you think canals or tulips.  I suspect it would have been too hard for some poor colorist to go in and do thousands of tulips.

I'll return to more postcards from this collection in about a month,give or take.  In the mean time, click on Views of the World in labels at the bottom of the post to see more.

Views of the World, Falls of the Rhine, Switzerland

The Falls of the Rhine, the upper Rhine, is near the town of Schaffausen,Switzerland.  It's 450 feet wide, 75 feet wide, and the highest plain falls in Europe.  Now I have no idea what a plain falls is.  I tried looking it up, and believe it or not, I didn't find an answer.  Of course, I only scrolled back through the first four pages of the Google search.  Not very ambitious, but hey, I was just too lazy to keep searching.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see more cards from this collection.

Views of the World, Cologne Cathedral, Germany

The postcards in this series were made for the American market, and I have to wonder, when  people looked at these cards, did it make them want to travel and see the real thing, or did they say, "Hey, I've seen a picture, that's good enough."

Construction began on Cologne Cathedral in 1248, and was abandoned in 1473.  Construction resumed in the nineteenth century and was completed 1880.  During World War 2, the Cathedral was hit, by bombs, fourteen times.  Repairs began as early as 1944 and those repairs were completed in 1956.  In 2007, a new stained glass window was installed.  It was designed by German artist Gerhard Richter, whose work spans  pure abstraction to photo-realism.

Click on Views of the World to see other cards in the series.