Chapters 14 & 15

As a child, I remember learning about the Native American Indians and how Columbus “discovered” America. I also remember learning what a smart man he was for making such a great “discovery”. Many years later, I understood the above was incorrect—how can someone make the claim of discovering something when others had, in this case the American Indians, inhibited the area way before Columbus’s arrival? At the beginning of chapter 14, Strayer points out that in 1992, many Native Americans objected to any celebration of the 500^th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the Americas (Strayer 403). In my opinion, I too would resist to celebrate with the simple fact that Columbus didn’t make any significant discoveries and therefore should not be credited or be honored for such false statements. Also, if I were of Native American decent, although, I am of Mexican descent, I wouldn’t want to celebrate in honor of a person who opened the gates to so much devastation and suffering to the human race. In addition, the President of the Indigenous Women’s Network, Winona LaDuke, powerfully declared, “Columbus was a perpetrator of genocide…a slave trader, a thief, a pirate, and most certainly not a hero. To celebrate Columbus is to congratulate the process and history of the invasion” (Strayer 403). With the European’s entry into the Americas, old societies that had already been established were soon destroyed and new ones created. Columbus undoubtedly was seen as a bad person and for all a good reason. What surprised me the most was the vast death toll of the American Indians. Strayer points out that in pre-Columbus time, the population of the Western Hemisphere was around 60-80 million (Strayer 407). As Europeans continued to make their mark in the Americas, they brought with them new diseases that the Western Hemisphere had never been exposed to and as a result, a staggering 90% of Native American Indians died. Not only was there a devastating decline with the Native Americans, but also with those in Central Mexico where the population stood at 10 million before the arrival of Europeans and then declined to 1 million by 1650 (Strayer 407). How sad to learn that the Native Americans and Central Mexicans died innocently all because of other peoples greed to take over more land. My question is, what would life be like if the Europeans didn’t make it to the Americas? Would this world devastation still exist?

               To add insult to injury, as the decline of population continued, it created room for immigrants and African slaves to come to the Americas and continue the brutality of human kind. Not only did the Native Americans and the Mesoamerican population suffer, but now Europeans turned to Africa and began human trafficking over the Atlantic Ocean. In chapter 15, although I have learned this in other history classes, learned about the power the Europeans had over Africa and also the Philippines. It seems as if the more we discover and advance, the more savage we become as a human race. Will there ever be an end to all the madness in the world?