17.7. 7. Of Africa and America.
This is what I had to say of Asia and Europe. Africa is in a climate like that of
the south of Asia, and is in the same servitude. America,
[9]
being lately destroyed and repeopled
by the nations of Europe and Africa, can now scarcely display its genuine spirit; but
what we know of its ancient history is very conformable to our principles.
8. Of the Capital of the Empire. One of the consequences of what we
have been mentioning is, that it is of the utmost importance to a great
prince to make a proper choice of the seat of his empire. He who places
it to the southward will be in danger of losing the north; but he who
fixes it on the north may easily preserve the south. I do not speak of
particular cases. In mechanics there are frictions by which the effects
of the theory are frequently changed or retarded; and policy has also
its frictions.
Footnotes
[9]
The petty barbarous nations of America are called by the
Spaniards "Indios Bravos" and are much more difficult to subdue than the great empires of Mexico and Peru.
