See also post above by Shambhu.
Article about the Americas. <i>Infuriating</i>, difficult reading. But nothing you didn't already have a hint of/suspect.
I am pasting excerpts here over this and next few posts. But would suggest reading the whole article: it's long but astounding. History of Americas summarised and a good deal about christianism, because - ultimately - that's what it's about.
http://www.dickshovel.com/500.html - works now, but if it doesn't, then try:
Alternate link
My comments in purple.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>500 YEARS OF INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE</span>
(Photo on the page of Native Americans' protest of 'columBoo day' in 1992. People carrying a banner with the title of this article.)
- reprinted from Oh-Toh-Kin, Vol. 1 No. 1, Winter/Spring 1992
<b>This article is intended as a basic history of the colonization of the Americas since 1492, and the Indigenous resistance to this colonization continuing into 1992.</b> The author admits to not having a full understanding of the traditions of his own people, the Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw); as such the article lacks an analysis based in an authentic Indigenous philosophy and is instead more of a historical chronology.
Numbers in brackets indicate footnotes, fully documented at the end of this article.
INTRODUCTION
Throughout the year 1992, the various states which have profited from the colonization of the Americas will be conducting lavish <b>celebrations of the "Discovery of the Americas"</b>. Spain has spent billion of dollars for celebrations in conjunction with Expo `92 in Seville. In Columbus, Ohio, a $100 million quincentennial celebration plans on entertaining several million tourists. <b>CELAM, the association of South America's Catholic bishops, has organized a gathering to celebrate the "fifth centenary of the evangelization of the Americas" to be presided over by the Pope.</b> As well, there is a wide selection of museum exhibits, films, TV shows, books and many other products and activities focusing on Columbus and the "Discovery", all presenting one interpretation of the 500 years following 1492. The main thrust of this interpretation being that the colonization process -- a process of genocide -- has, with a few "bad spots", been overall a mutually beneficial process. <b>The "greatness" of European religions and cultures was brought to the Indigenous peoples, who in return shared the lands and after "accidentally" being introduced to European disease, simply died off and whose descendants now fill the urban ghettos as alcoholics and welfare recipients. Of course, a few "remnants" of Indian cultures was retained,</b> and there are even a few "professional" Indian politicians running around.
<b>That was no "Discovery" -- it was an American Indian Holocaust!</b>
<b>Until recently, commonly accepted population levels of the indigenous peoples on the eve of 1492 were around 10-15 million. This number continues to be accepted by individuals and groups who see 1492 as a "discovery" in which only a few million Indians died -- and then mostly from diseases. More recent demographic studies place the Indigenous population at between 70 to 100 million peoples, with some 10 million in North America, 30 million in Mesoamerica, and around 50 to 70 million in South America.</b>
(This shows how genocidal christianism plays down the number they murdered - they have only admitted to extermination because *that* could not be denied. So they've done the next best thing: they've been lying about the extent of the genocide! Not that that's something new for them.)
Today, in spite of 500 years of a genocidal colonization, there is an estimated 40 million Indigenous peoples in the Americas. In Guatemala, the Mayan peoples make up 60.3 percent of the population, and in Bolivia Indians comprise over 70 percent of the total population. Despite this, these Indigenous peoples lack any control over their own lands and comprise the most exploited and oppressed layers of the population; characteristics that are found also in other Indigenous populations in the settler states of the Americas (and throughout the world).
THE PRE-COLUMBIAN WORLD
Before the European colonization of the Americas, in that time of life scholars refer to as "Pre-history" or "Pre-Columbian", the Western hemisphere was a densely populated land. A land with its own peoples and ways of life, as varied and diverse as any of the other lands in the world.
<b>In fact, it was not even called "America" by those peoples. If there was any reference to the land as a whole it was as Turtle Island, or Cuscatlan, or Abya-Yala.</b>
The First Peoples inhabited every region of the Americas, living within the diversity of the land and developing cultural lifeways dependent on the land. Their numbers approached 70-100 million peoples prior to the European colonization.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->And much more on the different Native peoples there.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->THE GENOCIDE BEGINS
"Their bodies swelled with greed, and their hunger was ravenous."
- Aztec testimonial
[...]
In a final reference to Colombo's (Cristoforo Colombo) log, one can also find the dual mission Colombo undertook,
"...Your Highnesses must resolve to make them (the Taino - Oh-Toh-Kin ed.) Christians. I believe that if this effort commences, in a short time a multitude of peoples will be converted to our Holy Faith, and Spain will acquire great domains and riches and all of their villages. Beyond doubt there is a very great amount of gold in this country... Also, there are precious stones and pearls, and an infinite quantity of spices" (Colombo's log, November 11, 1492) [3].
<b>The duality of Colombo's mission, and the subsequent European invasion that followed, was the Christianization of non-Europeans and the expropriation of their lands. The two goals are not unconnected; "Christianization" was not merely a program for European religious indoctrination, it was an attack on non-European culture (one barrier to colonization) and a legally and morally sanctioned form of war for conquest.</b> "Even his name was prophetic to the world he encountered -- <i>Christopher Columbus translates to `Christ-bearer Colonizer'"</i> [4].[/b]
(Man, native American people see through it brilliantly. I hope us Hindus will also figure it out.)
[...]
Colombo died in 1506, but following his initial voyage to the Americas, wave upon wave of first Spanish, then Portuguese, Dutch, French and British expeditions followed, carrying with them conquistadors, mercenaries, merchants, and Christian missionaries.
Hispaniola served as the first beachhead, used by the Spanish as a staging ground for armed incursions and reconnaissance missions, <b>justified through the `Christianization' program</b>; one year after Colombo's first voyage, Pope Alexander VI in his inter cetera divina papal bull granted Spain all the world not already possessed by Christian states, excepting the region of Brazil, which went to Portugal.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->This is interesting:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In 1675 the Narragansetts, Nipmucs, and Wapanoags, led in part by Metacom (also known as King Philip by the Europeans) rebelled against the colonies of New England following <b>the English arrest and execution of three Wapanoags for the alleged killing of a Christianized Native, believed to be a traitor.</b> The war ended in 1676 after [b]the English colonialists -- making use of Native allies and informers -- were able to defeat the rebellion[b]. Metacom was killed, and his family and hundreds of others sold to slavers in the West Indies. The military campaign carried out by the colonial forces decimated the Narragansett, Nipmuc, and Wapanoag nations.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Has any research been done on the stats of how many Native informers/allies were christians. Because this seems to be a recurring pattern the world over.
Article about the Americas. <i>Infuriating</i>, difficult reading. But nothing you didn't already have a hint of/suspect.
I am pasting excerpts here over this and next few posts. But would suggest reading the whole article: it's long but astounding. History of Americas summarised and a good deal about christianism, because - ultimately - that's what it's about.
http://www.dickshovel.com/500.html - works now, but if it doesn't, then try:
Alternate link
My comments in purple.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>500 YEARS OF INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE</span>
(Photo on the page of Native Americans' protest of 'columBoo day' in 1992. People carrying a banner with the title of this article.)
- reprinted from Oh-Toh-Kin, Vol. 1 No. 1, Winter/Spring 1992
<b>This article is intended as a basic history of the colonization of the Americas since 1492, and the Indigenous resistance to this colonization continuing into 1992.</b> The author admits to not having a full understanding of the traditions of his own people, the Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw); as such the article lacks an analysis based in an authentic Indigenous philosophy and is instead more of a historical chronology.
Numbers in brackets indicate footnotes, fully documented at the end of this article.
INTRODUCTION
Throughout the year 1992, the various states which have profited from the colonization of the Americas will be conducting lavish <b>celebrations of the "Discovery of the Americas"</b>. Spain has spent billion of dollars for celebrations in conjunction with Expo `92 in Seville. In Columbus, Ohio, a $100 million quincentennial celebration plans on entertaining several million tourists. <b>CELAM, the association of South America's Catholic bishops, has organized a gathering to celebrate the "fifth centenary of the evangelization of the Americas" to be presided over by the Pope.</b> As well, there is a wide selection of museum exhibits, films, TV shows, books and many other products and activities focusing on Columbus and the "Discovery", all presenting one interpretation of the 500 years following 1492. The main thrust of this interpretation being that the colonization process -- a process of genocide -- has, with a few "bad spots", been overall a mutually beneficial process. <b>The "greatness" of European religions and cultures was brought to the Indigenous peoples, who in return shared the lands and after "accidentally" being introduced to European disease, simply died off and whose descendants now fill the urban ghettos as alcoholics and welfare recipients. Of course, a few "remnants" of Indian cultures was retained,</b> and there are even a few "professional" Indian politicians running around.
<b>That was no "Discovery" -- it was an American Indian Holocaust!</b>
<b>Until recently, commonly accepted population levels of the indigenous peoples on the eve of 1492 were around 10-15 million. This number continues to be accepted by individuals and groups who see 1492 as a "discovery" in which only a few million Indians died -- and then mostly from diseases. More recent demographic studies place the Indigenous population at between 70 to 100 million peoples, with some 10 million in North America, 30 million in Mesoamerica, and around 50 to 70 million in South America.</b>
(This shows how genocidal christianism plays down the number they murdered - they have only admitted to extermination because *that* could not be denied. So they've done the next best thing: they've been lying about the extent of the genocide! Not that that's something new for them.)
Today, in spite of 500 years of a genocidal colonization, there is an estimated 40 million Indigenous peoples in the Americas. In Guatemala, the Mayan peoples make up 60.3 percent of the population, and in Bolivia Indians comprise over 70 percent of the total population. Despite this, these Indigenous peoples lack any control over their own lands and comprise the most exploited and oppressed layers of the population; characteristics that are found also in other Indigenous populations in the settler states of the Americas (and throughout the world).
THE PRE-COLUMBIAN WORLD
Before the European colonization of the Americas, in that time of life scholars refer to as "Pre-history" or "Pre-Columbian", the Western hemisphere was a densely populated land. A land with its own peoples and ways of life, as varied and diverse as any of the other lands in the world.
<b>In fact, it was not even called "America" by those peoples. If there was any reference to the land as a whole it was as Turtle Island, or Cuscatlan, or Abya-Yala.</b>
The First Peoples inhabited every region of the Americas, living within the diversity of the land and developing cultural lifeways dependent on the land. Their numbers approached 70-100 million peoples prior to the European colonization.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->And much more on the different Native peoples there.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->THE GENOCIDE BEGINS
"Their bodies swelled with greed, and their hunger was ravenous."
- Aztec testimonial
[...]
In a final reference to Colombo's (Cristoforo Colombo) log, one can also find the dual mission Colombo undertook,
"...Your Highnesses must resolve to make them (the Taino - Oh-Toh-Kin ed.) Christians. I believe that if this effort commences, in a short time a multitude of peoples will be converted to our Holy Faith, and Spain will acquire great domains and riches and all of their villages. Beyond doubt there is a very great amount of gold in this country... Also, there are precious stones and pearls, and an infinite quantity of spices" (Colombo's log, November 11, 1492) [3].
<b>The duality of Colombo's mission, and the subsequent European invasion that followed, was the Christianization of non-Europeans and the expropriation of their lands. The two goals are not unconnected; "Christianization" was not merely a program for European religious indoctrination, it was an attack on non-European culture (one barrier to colonization) and a legally and morally sanctioned form of war for conquest.</b> "Even his name was prophetic to the world he encountered -- <i>Christopher Columbus translates to `Christ-bearer Colonizer'"</i> [4].[/b]
(Man, native American people see through it brilliantly. I hope us Hindus will also figure it out.)
[...]
Colombo died in 1506, but following his initial voyage to the Americas, wave upon wave of first Spanish, then Portuguese, Dutch, French and British expeditions followed, carrying with them conquistadors, mercenaries, merchants, and Christian missionaries.
Hispaniola served as the first beachhead, used by the Spanish as a staging ground for armed incursions and reconnaissance missions, <b>justified through the `Christianization' program</b>; one year after Colombo's first voyage, Pope Alexander VI in his inter cetera divina papal bull granted Spain all the world not already possessed by Christian states, excepting the region of Brazil, which went to Portugal.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->This is interesting:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In 1675 the Narragansetts, Nipmucs, and Wapanoags, led in part by Metacom (also known as King Philip by the Europeans) rebelled against the colonies of New England following <b>the English arrest and execution of three Wapanoags for the alleged killing of a Christianized Native, believed to be a traitor.</b> The war ended in 1676 after [b]the English colonialists -- making use of Native allies and informers -- were able to defeat the rebellion[b]. Metacom was killed, and his family and hundreds of others sold to slavers in the West Indies. The military campaign carried out by the colonial forces decimated the Narragansett, Nipmuc, and Wapanoag nations.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Has any research been done on the stats of how many Native informers/allies were christians. Because this seems to be a recurring pattern the world over.