October 12: Christopher Columbus Day in the United States of America

Sepulcro de Cristóbal Colón en Sevilla.
Sepulcro de Cristóbal Colón en Sevilla

 "Columbus Day" in the USA has been commemorated since 1792, 300 years after the  discovery of America in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. It has been celebrated nationwide since 1937.

October 12: Christopher Columbus Day in the United States of America

The Italians consider that Columbus was born in Genoa. Because of this New York is decorated with Italian flags to celebrate the discovery. The fact that the crown of Castile, Spain, undertook the feat and the expense of the discovery is unknown to most North Americans. Today in many American cities Columbus Day has been renamed and is now called  "the Indigenous People Day"

Curiously enough, Christopher Columbus did not set foot in North American soil on any of his 4 trips to America. The one  who did so was the Spaniard Ponce de León in 1513. He was the first European to set foot in Florida. Later from the north came the French, Dutch and English colonizers.

Last Friday President Joe Biden acknowledged " the painful history of grievances and atrocities committed by many European explorers against North American tribal nations".

A curious way to put it by the President. While the French and the Dutch engaged in trade in the north, Spain  integrated the Indians into the missions (except for one episode with the Pueblo Indians) down south and all the way over to California.

Meanwhile, William Bradford, an Englishman of the so-called Pilgrim Fathers, described the enthusiasm of the extermination of the Indians who had helped them survive upon their arrival in North America: - “It was a terrible sight to see how the Indians roasted 0n the stake, the rivers of blood, the smell of burning, frying, but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice and God was thanked for having acted in their favor, giving them a victory over an insolent people ”-.

England carried out a violent policy of Christianization and education by eliminating indigenous names, prohibiting speaking the native languages ​​and practicing other tribal customs. The Indians were expelled from their lands. 15 million inhabitants in their day are today reduced to 574 known tribes after the massacre and theft of land by the English  and later by their descendants. They overlooked all the treaties between the Indian tribes and the government in Washington. - "Beware of the English" - still say  the Amish descendants of the Dutch and Germans today.

We must remember the massacres, the wars, and the displacements to other territories of the Indian tribes by the North American army during the 19th and 20th centuries, paying no attention at all to the treaties between the tribes and the government with expropriations and relocations or separating 150,000 children from their parents in schools where 40,000 children died.

However, the tribes, called the First Nation in the US, represent the current 5 million Native Americans who continue to claim their lands and historic rights. @mundiario 

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