Columbus Toppled as Indigenous People Rise Up after Five Centuries

Columbus Toppled as Indigenous People Rise Up after Five Centuries

www.guardian.co.uk

Now, however, a counter-attack is under way. After centuries as underdogs, indigenous people are rising up - peacefully - to seize political power and assert their heritage.

The so-called pink tide of leftwing governments has surged on the back of indigenous movements intent on dismantling the region's eurocentric legacy - starting with Columbus.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 12-10-2007 by UM_Gazz]

Today it is 515 years ago Columbus (re)discovered America. But really what is to celebrate?

The worst genocide in known history of mankind?
The opening up of a new continent to the cramped masses of a war ridden Europe?
A new world free of bigotry for the surpressed masses?

Really it was the opening up of continent of riches waiting to be plundered we are celebrating. The history of the conquistadores applauded.

Under the influence of the pink revolutions of South America the indignious people want that history rewritten. They've started by topling statues of Columbus and change place names called after him.

I think it's about time this happens.

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Any of these past atrocities should be exposed as the deplorable actions they were, not sugar-coated and celebrated.

The people natural to the Americas were treated unjustly. I will be waiting to hear from those justifiers ... who will bash Hitler, but, excuse someone such as columbus who didn't even have the same vision as hitler ... as whacked as his methods were.

Genocide, rape, pillage. You are not like us, so you do not matter. You don't use the same words as us, so you don't own anything that you have lived on for centuries. Sad excuses for shameless men.

I may be here and living a decent life because of the horrible acts of the past, but, that doesn't mean I should blindly agree and support them. It was just wrong ... and I support clearing up history and teaching people the real truth ... for any time period on any event.

I agree. He was vicious towards alot of the native peoples and got ran off from Santo Domingo because of his actions.

All he was really after was gold and a short cut to China and Japan.

I sometimes wonder why the "real stories" of historical people like Columbus were not taught to us when I was in highschool. It sometimes angers me to think about the fairy tales I was taught by my history teachers.

[edit on 11-10-2007 by elaine]

reply to post by FreeThinkerIdealist


What culture hasn't been [insert your choice of abuse here] by one culture or another. Now, I am not condoning any atrocities but people also need to be realistic about history. Why do people pick and choose what to remember? Sure, sure, history is written by winners but that will only work so long, obviously. I love PC words like Indigenous. We all are from some where, what proof is there that these people were ALWAYS there?

I guess my point is, no one is innocent.

I never cared much for Columbus because it was always my personal endeavor to educate people on the fact that the Vikings were here long before.

However, in Columbus's defense, a good number of native tribes were not exactly the peace loving people they're made out to be today. Many tribes were war like and took pride in having the strongest warriors. Hell, much of pre Columbian South American history is that of war and conquest.

What's my point? The world is a vicious F'ed up place no matter when, where or who.

EDIT to add: In fact, one of the main reasons the vikings went back home is because the natives gave them so much trouble

[edit on 12-10-2007 by Shadowflux]

Aw, come on, if the Native Americans were more advanced than the Europeans, they would have done the exact same thing. Tribes fought each other for power in grisly wars not unlike what was typical for Europe at the time.

reply to post by elaine


Actually it was India he was looking for. Columbus thought it was India he sat foot on. That's why American natives today are called Indians.

Winners write the History. Imagine if the neocons keep holding power, what 100 years from now will be taught about the GWB administration and its wars. It'll all be fair and rosy, I'm afraid.

The Vikings, maybe the Phoenicians and Egyptians were there before, but they didn't commit any genocide, they went back home -or were assimilated- cause the natives gave them so much trouble, as Shadowflux
puts it.

But what about the genocide the Europeans allegedly did commit, how bad was it?

Some sources put the number as high as 100 millions. In the other end of the spectrum a book by amateur historian William M. Osborn: "The Wild Frontier: Atrocities during the American-Indian War from Jamestown Colony to Wounded Knee" claims that 9,156 people died from atrocities perpetrated by Native Americans, and 7,193 people died from atrocities perpetrated by Europeans, tallied from recorded atrocity in the area that would eventually become the continental United States.

I bet they didn't record everything, and in the 100 millions, far the majority would have died from diseases like measels and smalpox brought from the old world. In fact that's how the West was won, by WMDs.

The setlers gave gifts such as blankets to the natives, to show their 'good will' and secure peace with them. An eternal peace, you might say. They deliberately infested those gifts with germs of diseases the natives had no immune defense against.

An ancient old stategy known from the medieval wars of Europe, where plague infested corpses were slinged into besieged cities.