Note: this topic is from 10/11/2010. Thanks Libloather.
Posted on 10/11/2010 3:55:41 PM PDT by Libloather
The mixed legacy of 1492
By James Carroll
October 11, 2010
IT IS commonly observed that 1492, in addition to being the year of Christopher Columbus, was also the year of the Jews — their expulsion from Spain by the same Ferdinand and Isabella who sponsored the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. But the overlap of events (actually, Columbus set sail in the very week of the banishment) has historic significance, for it was in Iberia that ancient Christian anti-Judaism had recently morphed into genetic anti-Semitism — the idea that Jews are contemptible not because of their religion, but because of their “blood impurity.’’ This notion of a group’s innate biological inferiority tragically gripped the European imagination just as the encounter with the New World occurred. It was a decisive factor in the creation of modern racism that determined so much of what came in the wake of Christopher Columbus. Contempt for Jews was practice for contempt for aboriginal peoples.
The racist myth of European superiority still shapes the story of the colonial conquest — starting with how the Caribs, Mayans, and Aztecs are remembered as never having had a chance against Spanish steel and gun powder. But it wasn’t technological genius that led to the dominance of the newcomers, nor was it their courageous soldiering, intellectual heritage, or moral superiority — much less the favor of God.
By far, the most decisive factor in the quick establishment of European control was the accident of disease. The immune systems of Western Hemisphere indigenous peoples were overwhelmed by pathogens that accompanied the Europeans, with the result that populations of so-called Amerindians were almost instantly decimated. The population of Mexico, to take one example, fell from 25 million in 1517, when Europeans first came there, to 1.5 million a century later.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
No so obvious, I wasn’t aware that we had any of that history, that was a weird story for you to make up.
Another “high count” fantasy. It is highly unlikely that what was a culture barely removed from the stone-age in Mexico supported a population of 25 million. Leftist academics have deliberately been distorting the aborinal population numbers for North and South America to create a “narrative” of “evil” Europeans creating a “holocaust” (every official “victim” group wants a “holocaust” “narrative” to obtain economic and psychological rents (unearned benefits) from peoples who are more successful than they are).
The Aztecs were defeated militarily, only in part because of the superior weapons and martial ferocity of the Spaniards (who may have been the toughest troops in Europe at the time). A larger factor was that the Indians subjugated by the Aztecs hated the Aztecs and joined the Spaniards, not least of all because the Aztecs were cannibals and the other Indians were tired of being “the other white meat”.
The story in Peru was even more dramatic - and it wasn’t disease that broke the Incan Army - it was the collectivist mentality that caused paralysis among the Incan warriors when their leader was killed.
Invaders with weaker immune systems tended not to write home boasting of their glorious deeds and inviting their friends and family to join in the enterprise. The European Colonization of Africa is a Good example, The trading posts on the coast predate Columbus, but the European Empires did not divide the land up until after 1850. The only Country today with a demographically significant White European population is South Africa, where according to Jared Diamond in Guns, Germ and Steel, the Disease pressure was significantly lower.
Maybe. There are some indications on skeletons from 12th Century Britain and Ancient Rome of bone damage consistent with syphilis. One theory is that what was called "leprosy" back in the day was actually syphilis. Another theory is that there were two forms of the disease--a bad but hard to catch one in Europe and an easy to catch but not particularly bad one in the Americas. Originally there had been one back in Bering land bridge days, but they'd diverged, then reunited after European contact. One of the backing arguments for this is that little evidence of tertiary syphilis has been found in pre-Columbian American skeletons.
There is also the matter of the discover of Native American / Mayan / Inca toys with wheels, but no one realized it had any value on the roads they did build.
Was that because much of that nation is non-tropical?
How on earth do they know this? Were there any censuses? This is all estimates based on useless data. Also, we recently learned that syphilis for example, had arrived here before Columbus or the Vikings for that matter arrived on these shores. We know so because we have Inca tombs with pre-colombian cadavers that had syphilis. Granted it wasn't all roses, the coming of the pink man to these shores. But a great deal of all this stuff is mere propaganda and embellishment to justify a political outlook and judge our ancestors by twentieth century standards.
In some ways, it already happened. The Vikings tried and failed. If it wasn’t for very little contact between Vikings and Inuits, the viral decimation easily could have happened 400 years sooner - and North America would have been Viking colonized before Columbus’ era.
I saw that show too...I would not call any of that “evidence” conclusive.
the japanese link was weak
the polys maybe but so far zero DNA links...ditto with japs
that poly chicken bone link on the Chile coast could be from birds
who knows
science today exists in this area to try to prove anyone non caucasian got here first after Mongolioids
but the blame for anything bad sits squarely with whites
White Christian Civilization gets all the blame and none of the glory today
100% opposite of when I was a kid and we could be proud
and I see the same shite here from so called conservatives day in and day out
it disgusts me
there were not 25 million Mexicans in 1512
that is such poor utter rubbish
ridiculous
If you would read the book you would find that the answer to your question is in large part yes.
Oh, yeah, I forgot about those. Wait tho, Independence Day was a manufactured virus, does that count?
Well, that’s interesting!
I was reading something in my latest Science News about robots and the robotics guy made a comment, when asked about “evil robots” that robots couldn’t become evil, but they could be infected with a virus like a computer. I had never thought of that. Hmmm....
Note: this topic is from 10/11/2010. Thanks Libloather.
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