JCC Violence, invasion, racism, genocide, terrorism; Happy Columbus Day everyone!

Yeah, not all it's cracked up to be but at least banks get the day off

 

Well, one doesn't need necessarily to see it through the lens of all the later events that it led to, but just as a celebration of that discovery.

 

To be honest the only thing Columbus discovered was just how damn lost he was....

 

What discovery? We should be celebrating Leif Ericson Day.

 

Well, this is well known and funny, but it was a discovery(-ish) nonetheless, even though it was accidental. Hardly to his credit, though, being that it was coincidental, I'll give you that.

 

History.com

"Contrary to popular belief, most educated Europeans in Columbus' day understood that the world was round, but they did not yet know that the Pacific Ocean existed. As a result, Columbus and his contemporaries assumed that only the Atlantic lay between Europe and the riches of the East Indies."

I found that remakable and had to know who is credited in that era with "discovering" the Pacific. It was THIS GUY

Damn he had a bad death: Pedrarias observed the execution, hidden behind a platform. The executioner beheaded Balboa and his four friends with an axe. Balboa's head did not come off clean on the first try; it took three.

That sucks!

 

So, even though Columbus didn't "discover America" - it was discovered by the first humans to cross it, Columbus' voyage was a discovery for Europe and he initiated a new era of trade, interaction, and conquest. I think that's memorable.

It is unfortunate, though, that it led to the deaths of 98% of the 120 million or so people living there at the time. And realize that the majority of those deaths were accidental.

 

Well the worst part about him is that he selectively cited ancient mathematicians who did bad math in order to prove that the earth was smaller than it actually was and one could sail from Spain to the Indies that way. He was wrong, and very lucky that there was another landmass.

 

Seriously, sometimes I think people do not read my posts. I said, "It is unfortunate, though, that it led to the deaths of 98% of the 120 million or so people living there at the time. And realize that the majority of those deaths were accidental." "It" being Columbus' voyage and the initiation of a new era. I didn't say that Columbus didn't kill natives. I said that the new era led to a dramatic loss of life for Native Americans, the vast majority of which was due to disease.

The number of Native Americans I stated is the high estimate that I was taught in my history classes.

http://books.google.com/books?id=NP...ge&q=pre-Columbian population million&f=false

Here's one credible source stating 100 million as a high end estimate.

As to most of it being disease? You'll have a hard time convincing me that European settlers killed on the order of 100 million people over two centuries. Epidemics were widespread and entire tribes and cities were wiped out because of them. European diseases destroyed the Native American population. It wasn't European's fault, anymore than the bubonic plague was anyone's fault. It's an unfortunate happenstance of history.

 

Thank you for attempting to derail this thread with my schtick (lol).

The Europeans who colonized the Americas did not circumcise or practice any form of genital mutilation, and neither did the natives they colonized.

 

Wrong head.

 

Didn't disease kill 80% of the natives?

 

Europeans did not know how diseases were transmitted, much less how immunity really worked, and yes, the accidental exposure of the Native Americans to "Old World" diseases was responsible for as much as over 90% of the depopulation. In many cases the diseases reached communities before explorers and conquerors did.

That said, us white folks didn't exactly try to make up for the terrible accident.

 

You should not be allowed to use the word genocide unless you know what it means. I get that it gives you a cheap thrill to lather it up in hyperbole and bandy it about with unbridled joy; I just think that the net cost, i.e. cheapening it, isn't worth it.

 

Speaking of geonocide..I was organizing a protest in my town. Next year they were going to rename a part of Florida Ponce DeLeon Island in observance of some craptastic anniversary of his landing and the King of Spain was coming and whatnot, but someone realized it was a stupid idea and cancelled it. My work here is done.

 

I feel like the only people who care about Columbus day at all are the sassy people who freak out about how much of a jerk he was.

 

Is that why I didn't have any mail today?