Before the arrival of Christo Columbo in 1492, the New World was filled with empires, confederations, republics, city-states, and tribal lands. These diverse peoples represented a broad scattering of cultures. Cities peopled in greater numbers than Paris, Rome, or Madrid. Kanokia had over 50,000 inhabitants. The population of the two connected continents has been estimated by modern historians to be approximately twenty-five million people from the Bering Straits to the tip of South America.
Fifty years after the Spanish 'discovered' America, 75% of the natives had been eliminated by disease, war, or slavery.
The Spanish, English, French, and Dutch had almost succeeded in exterminating the original inhabitants of America. The 'Indians' survived the slaughter, which is why many Indians seek to celebrate Oct. 12 as Native American Day rather than Columbus Day. Both Seattle and Minneapolis altered the holiday to honor the survivors of the Great Extermination.
Italian-Americans were insulted by the slight, as they were when the City of Boston planted Leif Erickson's statue at the end of Commonwealth Avenue's promenade rather than the Admiral of the Oceans.
Personally, I honor the greatest of his voyages, while recognizing the savage havoc wrought by his arrival in ‘the New World’.
I am a Son of the Colonial Wars.
My people conquered New England.
It was a bloody time, and sometimes as a young man I hiked through the hills south of the Boston. I felt the bones of warriors buried in the woods. The Blue Hills, so named for the Riebeckite stone found on their slopes. THe hills had once belonged to the Massachusett tribe thanks to the abundant springs. Massawchusetts were the people of the Big Hill. I had nothing to do with their deaths, but that is a sin white people all live with, although most never think about it ever. Shame.
To read more about Boston's decision on Leif Erickson, please go to this URL
http://needhamhistory.org/features/articles/vikings/
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