[A film still from The Last of the Mohicans. I thought this was appropriate.]

European "discovery"? More like invasion....

Things I've been reading about inthe book I purchased, "Native American History: A chronology of a culture's vast achievements and their links to world events" by Judith Nies, is unbelievable with our knowledge today. I'm only to the late 1700's. I still have through to 1996 to read about! From the beginning of this book, it's clear to me how the US has been shaped and molded into the nation we know now. The sheer cruelty and barbaric behavior thrust upon, not only the First Peoples [aka Native Americans], but of other Europeans and African Natives by the Spanish and English is astonishing in the least. I'm not necessarily rooting for the "darker" people here. The Irish, the French [I know what some of you may think or say, but that's not what this is about], Native Americans, Africans, and Jamaicans along with the other Caribbean Natives were thrown into slavery by the Spanish and English without a care or worry. If these people refused to serve them, they died. All because these several different cultures didn't "fit" with what the Spanish and English thought were proper. They were considered ignorant savages. These people were not of Catholic faith. Or in the case of the French they were allies of those that did not have the Catholic faith [though, some of the French Jesuit missionaries had a mindset similar to the English]. Many of the Iroquois were the first to accept conversion [which I think is because their belief structure was very similar], but it still didn't end well in their case. Most First Peoples were slaughtered, enslaved, or died off from disease brought to them. All of the Europeans brought disease with them that the First People had no immunity to. Smallpox, Scarlet Fever, Measles, and Chicken pox were the main players in the diseases spread. The worst horrifying thing that French Jesuit Missionaries did to the Huron, who refused to convert to Catholicism, were given gifts of smallpox infected blankets Yes, that is bad enough, in my opinion. However, the Spanish and English did far more cruel things than that.

I guess what amazes me is these are not the things taught in our American History books in school. The things taught in our History classes were very different from what I remember. The English were seen as "saviors" and "heroes". At least that's how it read to me 15yrs ago. I may have been more interested in my History classes if I'd gotten to see the other side, so to speak. For example, Columbus didn't "discover" anything. He took land that was occupied by others. Lied, saying he was respectable to the Arawaks. He was a cruel bastard that tortured and enslaved other human beings. He had even been tried for excessive cruelty in his homeland. That of course, didn't stop him from repeating those offences nor from others from doing the very same thing. The first of a handful of people that had a heart for the First People was Fray Bartolome de Las Casas, a priest that had traveled with Columbus on his 2nd voyage to America. He'd written about the horrifying things he'd seen Columbus and his men do to the Natives of American soil. He was the one to report Columbus's cruelty to Spain. That didn't keep Columbus from traveling to America two more times. His "punishment" was short-lived.

Both the Spanish and English just kept claiming lands that were not theirs to claim. , kicking the occupants off of the land, making false treaties, and enslaving or murdering those who did not comply. The French worked with the Natives [most often] by trading with them and forming mission, but no claiming of land with false treaties and slaughter or slavery. The First People didn't understand the cruel way of thinking. Sure, they had their wars amongst one another. People died. But it wasn't over land and to be of higher power. It was commonly about honor. It was an eye for an eye. Even if a death was accidental, it was to be punished by death. It took two men of different Nations to come together and begin peace amongst the Haudenosaunee, later known as the Iroquois Confederacy. The two men were Deganawidah, "The Peacemaker" and Hiawatha. Deganawidah was born within the Huron tribe. It was after watching a Mohawk be tortured by some of the Huron people when he had met up with Hiawatha [known to be an eloquent orator], an Onondaga, and told him of his vision of peace. It wasn't until the [misnamed] French and Indian War that the Iroquois Confederacy was torn apart. [pg 55-56 of "Native American History", by Judith Nies]

I just cannot comprehend the brutality the First People endured, "All in the name of Jesus Christ". I think that Jesus [if he's actually the man he was said to be] would be horrified at the torture and death in this nation, especially "in His name" by His followers/worshipers. The "Son of God" [again, based on the belief] would want peace, would He not? We've come a long way, but I personally feel not far enough. There are still far too many seeking power, money, and land. There are far too many hang-ups of man, generally speaking, to have it quite right yet. I'm not sure that feat is even possible. We humans are a selfish animal.