Posts tagged indigenous

On October 12, 1492, (Over 500 years ago) Christoper Columbus set foot on the American Continent. The Caribbean more accurately. Columbus has been celebrated for this achievement for over five hundred years. Columbus Day is a National Holiday in many parts around the globe. When I first heard about this man named Christopher Columbus he was shown to me in a very honored light. I learned that he was the man that “found” the “New World” and its thanks to him that America is here… Well at least that was my knowledge of him that I received through my schooling up to High school.

But things took a wild twist when I began to look into the history of Columbus…the true history on Columbus. It is tough to come grips with the reality of things… The day Columbus set eyes on America changed the world. Columbus was not on a mission to befriend his fellow human being, he was there for the Gold, and the Spices, and anything else he could turn a profit on including enslaving the Indigenous peoples that lay in his path.

Columbus Day Illustration Stage 2

Columbus Day illustration Stage 1

“Gold is a wonderful thing! Whoever owns it is lord of all he wants. With gold it is even possible to open for souls the way to paradise!”   – Christopher Columbus, 1503

A fact I never heard in my public education was how Columbus systematically murdered, raped, enslaved, and pillaged most of the islands in the Caribbean.

Not only was Columbus the first to make an impact on the indigenous peoples of America but he laid down the critical element that was to decided the fate of this continent. Smallpox.

When indigenous peoples first encountered Columbus they offered him gifts of gold, foods, and animals and in return Columbus gave them blankets covered with the small pox disease which indigenous peoples of this continent did not have any immunity against.

When the Conquistadores arrived in the Americas the indigenous population had already suffered a continent wide pandemic that took a substantial toll on their population and societies. Cortez, Pizarro an others used the same tactics of Germ Warfare to subdue the remaining population.

By the end of the biggest Genocide in human history the indigenous peoples of this continent are thought to have lost over 85% of their population to the Small Pox disease . Another 5-7% were eradicated by the Colonization of America by the many European Imperial powers including Spain, Portugal, England, France, and others…

Excerpt from a Sixteenth Century Mayan Book:

” There was then no sickness; They had then no aching bones; They had then no high fever; They had then no smallpox; They had then no burning chest… They had then no consumption… At that time the course of humanity was orderly. The foreigners made it otherwise when they arrived here.”

Why should we celebrate the history of a man who committed such despicable crimes against his fellow man? I unite with those who are trying to re-brand this day as “World Indigenous People Day” in an effort to bring awareness of the true history of this continent.

What began on that day of October 12th, 1492 is not yet done. The Colonization of this continent is ongoing and has not ceased. While it may not be called Colonization a more developed and evolved plan of Globalization has taken root world wide. It is important to understand that indigenous people still exits in this continent and while some are slowly recovering from their colonization  there are some small groups that are still fighting for their autonomy and the effects of globalization throughout the continent.

It is up to us as a society to come to grips with our history, we need to try to understand the tragic events that have happened on this American Continent so that we may never allow it happen again.  This history should not be omitted out of our history books and we should not honor villains as continental heroes.

There is a space on this earth for everyone. Once we are all thought the values of human life and dignity and understand the everyone else deserves the same rights, we can then move on ahead to forge a much more united society. But before this happens  all of our collective histories have to be truthfully shared with us so that we can fully understand ourselves and each other.

“History is a set of lies agreed upon.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

“History begins for us with murder and enslavement, not with discovery.” – William Carlos Williams

Please join us in re imagening this day as “Indigenous Peoples Day” in symbolic revocation of the Colonial history that has been handed down to us by the imperial powers.

-Vico