Keith Wheeler
Member
Obviously you don't live near a reservation.
Columbus Day!
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Obviously you don't live near a reservation.
Sailors from Portugal also fished the area which is most likely Nova Scotia long before Colombus.
Colombus, however, was not nearly as stupid as some of you would make him out to be. He was armed with better intel that most of you give him credit for also. There is evidence that he had several maps in his possession indicating land masses in this region. His own journals make reference to this.
The main thing about Colombus is not that he discovered anything, but that he was the man that threw open the gate to European colonization of the new world. Whether you think that is a good thing or not doesn't really matter. His actions are one of the main things that have created the world we live in today.
Tons of other people discovered North America first, but Colombus made it into a business. Capitalism at its finest.
Heck, I'm one of those people that think the book 1421 makes a good case that the Chinese even managed to hit North America. (Yes, I know the author got several things wrong, but I think the arguments are plausible)
As for the thing about being a conquistador, killing the natives, whatever. That is human nature, and was the culture of the time. It is always convenient to sit back in our comfy air-conditioned rooms, in our society where our greatest health risk is that we have too much food to eat, and complain about the actions of our ancestors.
I'm more than likely descended from Gaspar Correia, historian, who sailed with Vasco De Gama. Vasco and a couple hundred Portagees managed to kill tens of thousands of Indians (not North American, the real ones). They were rough, violent, ambitious, and meaner than hell.
Good for them. History wasn't written by nice guys.
I think that the 1400-1500s were one of the most fascinating periods of history.
Colombus, however, was not nearly as stupid as some of you would make him out to be. He was armed with better intel that most of you give him credit for also. There is evidence that he had several maps in his possession indicating land masses in this region. His own journals make reference to this.
The main thing about Colombus is not that he discovered anything, but that he was the man that threw open the gate to European colonization of the new world. Whether you think that is a good thing or not doesn't really matter. His actions are one of the main things that have created the world we live in today.
Tons of other people discovered North America first, but Colombus made it into a business. Capitalism at its finest.
Heck, I'm one of those people that think the book 1421 makes a good case that the Chinese even managed to hit North America. (Yes, I know the author got several things wrong, but I think the arguments are plausible)
As for the thing about being a conquistador, killing the natives, whatever. That is human nature, and was the culture of the time. It is always convenient to sit back in our comfy air-conditioned rooms, in our society where our greatest health risk is that we have too much food to eat, and complain about the actions of our ancestors.
I'm more than likely descended from Gaspar Correia, historian, who sailed with Vasco De Gama. Vasco and a couple hundred Portagees managed to kill tens of thousands of Indians (not North American, the real ones). They were rough, violent, ambitious, and meaner than hell.
Good for them. History wasn't written by nice guys.
I think that the 1400-1500s were one of the most fascinating periods of history.
Stauble
Member
i believe it was Juan Ponce de Leon. who set sail from puerto rico i think and landed in Florida
in columbus' defence im glad he found this hemisphere so i dont have too live in Europe
El Tejon
Member
tellner, there is another excellent history of how fishing drove history that I just finished a couple of months ago. It is entitled Fish on Friday.
Great book, I highly recommend it: http://www.amazon.com/Fish-Friday-Brian-M-Fagan/dp/0465022847
Great book, I highly recommend it: http://www.amazon.com/Fish-Friday-Brian-M-Fagan/dp/0465022847
Axman
Member
Who discovered North America? Probably a neandrethal named Og Mogwog who went out hunting sabre-toothed tigers and got lost. He then continued across the ice floe and found Can-uh-duh where he decided to settle down in Toe-ron-toe. The food was plentiful but there was something missing so he relocated to Cah-net-tee-cut, then he invented the gun. The rest is history!
(Disclaimer: The above story is purely fiction and in no way based on a real caveman!) LOL
(Disclaimer: The above story is purely fiction and in no way based on a real caveman!) LOL
El Tejon, it looks very interesting. I'll be sure to tell my wife that it's not just fishing. I'm out on the river Sunday afternoon building civilization. That's much more important than cleaning the doggie land mines out of the back yard
I do.
The ancestors of the inhabitants thereof whacked someone to get the land they live on, just like the ancestors of the "Native Hawaiians" whacked the inhabitants of their islands. But that's another story.
Anyway, our reservations are a fine example of Capitalism at work, and the White Trash descendents of the Cowboys are busy giving their wealth back to the descendants of Indians they once displaced, as fast as they can take it. We've got Vegas West here now. More power to 'em.
In all of Biology (we are biological organisms, remember) there are the quick and the dead. The game changes, and people change places on occasion.
Either way, I don't give a crap about Columbus. As I said, we celebrate the arrival of firearms in the Western Hemisphere. The Vikings didn't have any.
DRZinn
Member
Thread drift alert!
Book idea: a fully equipped European ship washes up, intact, on the shores of North America and the Indians figure out how to copy all that cool stuff. Then when the colonists arrive they have a problem....
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