We Indians weren't all peace and love, ya know.
We almost matched white men blow for blow, and our occasional cruelty makes the CIA's torture look like a slap on the wrist.
Don't victimize my ancestors, and don't blame yourself for the crimes of your own ancestors.
PS: I don't mean you in particular, just American apologists in general.
That's the problem though. He didn't discover the Americas, he got lost. Leif Ericsson was the first European to land in North America some 500 years before Columbus *almost* did. He even established the colony Vinland, which is believed to be Newfoundland.
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I say almost because it was the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespuci that "discovered" the mainland and demonstrated that it wasn't the West Indies, but a continent that was previously unknown to Europe.
Vespucci never made is to North America. (Well, never north of Central America) He, like Columbus, thought he was in Asia the first time he made it to the Americas. It is unclear if he traveled here 5 times or once or somewhere in the middle. Columbus landed in the Bahamas, which are part of the Americas. The continents were named after Vespucci by accident by another explorer. Ericsson may have been first, but his accomplishment was not known to Europeans as he was here before writing became popular and the oral traditions were not spread into the Mediterranean region.
We almost matched white men blow for blow, and our occasional cruelty makes the CIA's torture look like a slap on the wrist.
Don't victimize my ancestors, and don't blame yourself for the crimes of your own ancestors.
PS: I don't mean you in particular, just American apologists in general.
Many of us don't care about addressing ourselves by the politically correct phrases.
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I say almost because it was the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespuci that "discovered" the mainland and demonstrated that it wasn't the West Indies, but a continent that was previously unknown to Europe.