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The Meaning of Columbus Day - Columbus's Population Bomb!

US Politics & Gov't (tags: americans, abuse, crime, ethics, freedoms or lack of! )

David
- 42 days ago - worldwatch.org

Columbus arrived... This Encounter of Two Worlds, as it is often called, was the first step in a process that led, in short order, to the conquest and European subjugation of the native peoples of this newly found continent... Time for change?

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David Buchan (116)

Thursday October 9, 2008, 2:51 pm

Columbus's Population Bomb...

Columbus Day, celebrated in many parts of the Americas this month, commemorates the most catastrophic population disaster in human history, writes Mac Chapin in the latest issue of World Watch magazine. Scholars estimate that 90 to 95 percent of the native population died during the first century after contact with the Europeans, and more than 500 years later, many of the native groups that survived remain mired in chronic poverty and face new threats in the form of multinational oil and mining companies, soybean farmers, and cattle ranchers.

Grow up America!...Australia too!

Past Member (0)

Thursday October 9, 2008, 3:31 pm
it is a day for mourning NOT celebration!!!

David Gould (104)

Thursday October 9, 2008, 5:56 pm
In 1492 Columbus 'discovered' America.

I thought it was already there.

Raymond M Burton (161)

Thursday October 9, 2008, 6:34 pm
Wow, thanks David. This is from the end of Mac Chapin's piece

"I would like to suggest an alternative image, one that better represents what really occurred when the two halves of the world came together on the morning of October 12, 1492:

Four horsemen spur their steeds off the Spanish ships and make their way up the beach to high ground. The first horseman is Pestilence, and he is the most formidable of the lot. His companions are Famine, War, and Death. They pause briefly to survey the landscape stretching out before them, then set off in the direction of the nearest community. The natives come out, tentatively at first, to greet them. They are healthy and well formed, and they invite the strangers to share their food and whatever else they might desire.

And that was the beginning of their long and terrifying journey through the heartland of the New World... "

Mac Chapin is an anthropologist who has worked with indigenous peoples in Latin America for over four decades. He is the co-founder and director of the Center for the Support of Native Lands, a non-profit organization based in Arlington, Virginia.

honeysucklebarb Liebowitz (563)

Thursday October 9, 2008, 7:09 pm
we need a celebration in this dull world

David Buchan (116)

Thursday October 9, 2008, 8:31 pm
http://www.carnaval.com/columbus/parade.htm

Thanks Debbie (again) XO

Debbie Hogan (219)

Thursday October 9, 2008, 10:11 pm
No worries, David. xo....Unfortunately, the past can't be changed....but there are lessons to be learned if we all just take off the blinders and clear out all that waxy buildup of time from our ears.

Marion Y. (241)

Friday October 10, 2008, 1:52 pm
Raymond...Chilling!

Thanks David.

Marion Y. (241)

Friday October 10, 2008, 1:53 pm
Forgot to track...

Sandra C. (14)

Wednesday October 15, 2008, 7:30 am
Mae B,I couldn't agree more,it's indeed a very sad day for all the indigenous population,all over the world,the day white people come to their shores...