By Juan Montoya
Five hundred and twenty seven years ago, natives of a Caribbean island woke up to find three boatloads of hungry (and lost) Europeans announcing to them that they had been discovered. What’s more, they said the land now belonged to them and their king.
The next five centuries would be devastating for the natives, who shared their food and resources with the new arrivals. From the very start, no matter how generous the natives (whom the Europeans called Indians in the mistaken belief they had reached India) were, the white visitors always seemed to want more.
Over time, the leader, one Christopher Columbus, not only took their food and shelter, but he also implemented a system of tribute. The natives were perplexed at why the Europeans were so greedy for the yellow shiny metal they used as decorations.
As the Europeans become more avaricious in the quest for gold, they started demanding that the natives dedicate their entire days working in mines and river beds to search for the shiny metal.
As time went on, the natives begin dying off from over work, new diseases against which they had no immunity, and at the hands of their cruel new masters.
Needing more labor as the gentle tribes were decimated at the hands of the avaricious conquistadores, they persuaded Queen Isabella to issue a writ ordering that any so-called carabs, or cannibals, could be used as slave labor in their mines. Any native who resisted, it turned out, could be classified as a carab.
Columbus died convinced he had discovered India and that China was not too far over the next mountain range. Subsequent conquistadores spread across the face of a land they called America and laid waste to entire tribes looking for treasure and plunder. The annals of the conquista are full of narratives where natives were torn apart by war dogs or burned alive when Spaniards thought they were holding out on gold deposits.
In one relato, a burial area that was on a platform was torn apart and the remains relieved of their gold burial ornaments.
Mexico City was leveled, as was the Inca nation. Unspeakable cruelty was perpetrated in the name of God, King, and civilization.
The so-called “Columbian Exchange” was a lopsided affair. The Old World got the riches of these nations, and “America” got disease and slaughter in return. The Old World got unimaginable wealth in the form of foodstuffs that saved entire European nations from famine (potatoes), and gave humanity a crop that would in time become the most important addition to the world’s granary – corn.
Today, corn, a wild grass domesticated by the natives some 15,000 years ago, is now the biggest cash crop in the United States, if not the world.
The United States, in turn, also adopted a policy of genocide against its natives. Those it could not kill outright, were dispossessed of their ancestral lands and forcibly moved across the country to unimaginably uninhabitable terrain.
The Cherokees and Seminoles were moved from the semitropical Southeast to the arid plains of Oklahoma. The eastern tribes were moved into the Black Hills and plains of South Dakota. The rest were packed into squalid reservations.
To this day, some Native activists will not accept a $20 bill because it bears the face of Andrew Jackson, the president who defied the U.S. Supreme Court and removed the people from their lands in Florida and Georgia under the infamous Indian Removal Act at a huge cost in human live of the old and young alike.
Somehow, the native people have been able to survive and their Great Spirit looked over them.
The Cherokees in Oklahoma found out that their reservations lay atop underground oceans of oil. And in the Black Hills, uranium and gold were discovered. And, as they were sovereign nations in treaty with the United States, they could have gaming on their squalid reservations. And they built casinos, and the people came. And they are still coming.
Next time you’re in Indian country and have a chance to visit one of their pow-wows, do yourself a favor and go. The beat of the drum and the chanting of the dancers resonate as one with the very rhythm of their Mother Earth just as it has since long before Columbus stumbled upon this continent and made his “discovery."
10 comments:
Syphilis was a "new world' diease taken to Europe by the men who sailed with Columbus. So, there was some pay back in the Columbian Exchange.
BTW: You can be counted on to bring up this old clap trap every Columbus Day. Get over it, it is far distance history. From your crap, I take it you would rather be sitting on a log, picking flies out of your nose and dying young, that living to your ripe age and swilling beer with the vatos. You have received much benefit from the ass hole Columbus, as have all of your whiney ass la raza types.
syphilis already existed in Europe before Columbus and his explorers returned from America In 1495, an epidemic of the disease broke out among the soldiers of Charles VIII of France. An army of 50,000 soldiers and their cooks, medical attendants, and prostitutes marched from France to Naples, Italy to initiate a takeover. Shortly after occupying Naples, it became evident that many of the soldiers were afflicted by a horrible disease.
COCKROACH EUROPE IS WHAT IT IS GRINGO FAIRY TALES TELL THE TRUTH WHICH IS DIFFICULT FOR YOU MONKEYS TO DO.
Gringos just can't tell the truth even it it looks them in the eye must be in their dna or something, and good at coming up with some wild whoopers
2020 Vision Monday: Polls show a 17-point swing toward impeaching Trump, which could drag down his reelection bid - bye bye guay
To the previous comment: If you're so triggered by this blog, I can only imagine how insecure you must feel watching your beloved "Columbus Day" slowly wither away as more and more cities and states rightfully recognize "Indigenous Peoples Day." Nobody is denying the brutal white-washed history of your child raping, murdering hero. What is happening is he is being exposed for the atrocities that were committed that are conveniently left out of history. As stated in the blog, Indigenous People are "getting over it" by exercising their sovereignty and reclaiming what the colonizers unsuccessfully tried to take away. The attempts of Columbus and other colonizers was futile. Indigenous Nations and People continue to live and thrive.
Indigenous Pioneers You Need to Know
Today is Indigenous People's Day, and we're taking the opportunity to celebrate the work of indigenous scientists, engineers, and inventors who have shaped our world and the USA.
Mary Golda Ross
Occupation: Mathematician and Engineer
Native Affiliation: Cherokee Nation
Bertha Parker
Occupation: Archaeologist
Native Affiliation: Seneca Nation
John Herrington
Occupation: NASA Astronaut
Native Affiliation: Chickasaw Nation
Susan La Flesche Picotte
Occupation: Physician
Native Affiliation: Omaha Nation
Aaron Yazzie
Occupation: NASA Mechanical Engineer
Native Affiliation: Diné (Navajo Nation)
Xiye Bastida
Occupation: Climate Activist
Native Affiliation: Otomi-Toltec Nation in Mexico Bastida
Thomas David Petite
Occupation: Inventor
Native Affiliation: Fond du Lac Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Nation Petite
What a great tragidy that the white people set foot on the shores of the "New World". They destroyed the world of the peaceful natives that lived in harmony with nature and their fellows. Without the white man, they could have continued to practice genocidal warfare against other tribes, ripped the hearts from living captives, by the hundreds and stuff the still beating hearts into the mouth of their stone god. The priests could continue to flay their victims alive and wear their skins in their rituals. The people could continue to feast on the choice cuts of the sacrificed captives. The men could continue to beat their multiple wives and cut off their noses as punishment. Unwanted babies could have their brains bashed out.
The white man brought inhumanity, violence and greed to the peaceful people of the Americas.
You speak with a fork tongue Kimasabe of course the whites never execute no body, abortion and std are unknown to the whites, slavery and hangings to steal lands is something they have never done. Corrption scams lies robbery white slavery bootleg and of course your favorite coke in coke whites have never heard or done anything bad to themselves. WHAT A RACE...
we are so fortunate to have a white race to save the universe ha
12:36.....You espeekee English? If you do, better lay off the booze before posting a comment.
fairy tales or not kimasabe? Can't hide anymore
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