Colonial desires transformed tangible wealth into myths and mystical significance

Evidence

So, while it would be wrong to attempt to reduce their statements to naked self-interest, it is clear that their discourse was molded and influenced by the play of motives and interests across their language. Of course, motives and interests are almost never wholly conscious or rational. The desires which drove the Europeans were powerful, but their power was not always subject to rational calculation. Marco Polo’s “treasures of the East” were tangible enough. But the seductive power which they exerted over generations of Europeans transformed them more and more into a myth. Similarly, the gold that Columbus kept asking the natives for very soon acquired a mystical, quasi-religious significance. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 586

Categorization

• XREF: The material-to-myth transformation anticipates how the Orient becomes an imaginary object — the point Said makes about ‘Orientalizing the Orient.’ — connects to: Conquistador conquest was motivated by unlimited greed for gold; Colonial states museumized sacred sites to legitimize themselves as guardians of tradition — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 673; Shared-origin myths license a kingdom to inherit imperial sovereignty (+2 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The passage shows ideology operating below rational calculation: sincere, mythologizing, structurally motivated yet not cynically deployed — the full density of how hegemonic belief works.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 586

Broader Connections

• Shared-origin myths license a kingdom to inherit imperial sovereignty #exemplifies (0.75)
• Colonial states museumized sacred sites to legitimize themselves as guardians of tradition #corroborates (0.72) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 673