The Beautiful Americas

There are many different types of Americas. North America, South America, Trump’s America, but largely forgotten is the original Americas, which some call Turtle Island or the Turtles Back.

There are millions of people who mean well yet are unable to see why President Elect Donald Trump is accused of racism. These types can’t understand it. They like his no-nonsense attitude.

Two can play that game. If the new president wants to make America great again we need to understand how great it really was – and the academics agree it was best before colonization. Here are some very basic truths about the history of real America.

  1. Indigenous people say they have been here “since time immemorial” – science suggests 30,000 to perhaps 100,000 years ago. Many American Republicans believe the universe is only 6,000 years old.
  2. In the year 1491 there were more humans in the Americas than in Europe. (1) Many schools even today teach the “Pristine Myth”, that the Americas were mostly uninhabited before Columbus sailed the Atlantic.
  3. James Mooney, a “distinguished” ethnographer at the Smithsonian Institution concluded the pre-contact population of the Americas was only one million in 1910 and because of his reputation the scientific community accepted his findings without question. This disinformation is still being taught in some American Republican states.
  4. In 1967 researcher Henry F. Dobyns estimated the Americas had a 1491 population of 110 million. He published his article Estimating Aboriginal American Population: An Appraisal of Techniques With a New Hemispheric Estimate, in the journal Current Anthropology. This assessment coincides with accounts such as one by 16th century sailor, Giovanni da Verrazzano, who sailed up the whole east coast of the Americas from Florida to Newfoundland and described it as “densely populated” and so “smoky with Indian bonfires” that you could smell them burning hundreds of miles out at sea.

We need to press pause here to explore why these population estimates matter. Lower numbers massage American guilt. Logically, displacing a few small tribes doesn’t weigh on the conscience as much as being responsible for the destruction of three continents filled with super-populous countries. University of Saskatchewan Indigenous Education Specialist Lenore Stiffarm says “It’s perfectly acceptable to move into unoccupied land, and land with only a few ‘savages’ is the next best thing.”

  1. In 1539 The Crown of Spain sent Hernando de Soto to the Americas, to literally conquer indigenous (a.k.a. heathen) nations. Soto brought with him 200 horses, 600 soldiers, and 300 pigs. This began the greatest biological warfare campaign of all time.
  2. Indigenous people of the Americas had zero immunity to smallpox and the other diseases which mutated from livestock. Europeans had many centuries to adapt. Americas did not have any horses, cattle or pigs until that moment in history. Indigenous people generally did not domesticate animals, or live in close quarters to them. Ask your indigenous friends if they are lactose intolerant. Important facts.
  3. Ph.d Henry F. Dobyns estimated that in the first 130 years of contact about 95 per cent of the people in the Americas died—the worst demographic calamity in recorded history.

This means the first European immigrants to explore many parts of the Americas probably found places that had already been depopulated. The house was empty but the stove was still warm.

Imagine how horrible it would be for Europeans to discover that their ancestors were responsible for the annihilation of millions lives and even worse — they were rich lives.

  1. There is convincing evidence that shows Indigenous people were extremely busy and cultivated vast gardens, some say the Amazon was designed. Mayan and Incan pyramids are still not fully understood today. The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlandazzled Hernán Cortés in 1519; it was bigger than Paris, Europe’s greatest metropolis.
  2. Our cities were absolutely huge, the Cahokia’s mound pyramid in Ohio contains 2.16 billion pounds of soil, unprecedented in history. Located in what is now modern day East St. Louis. In 1250, it was bigger than London, and featured a sophisticated society with an urban centre, satellite villages and thatched-roof houses lining the central plazas. (3)
  3. Indigenous people were (and still are!) intellectually sharp and physically beautiful. Let’s let these ancient accolades ring true once more.

“As beautiful in stature and build as I can possibly describe,” – Verrazzano

“More amiable to behold, than … an English dandy in the newest fashion.” – British fisherman William Wood

“They are artless and generous with what they have, to such a degree as no one would believe but him who had seen it. Of anything they have, if it be asked for, they never sa no, but do rather invite the person to accept it, and show as much lovingness as though they would give their hearts.”-Luis de Santangel, 1493

Sources

  1. “The Story Of… Smallpox – and other Deadly Eurasian Germs”. Pbs.org. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  2. “1491” The Atlantic. Published March 2002
  3. “6 Ridiculous Lies You Believe About the Founding of America” Cracked Online. Published May 15, 2012.

Related Posts