Has anyone ever thought about what the world would be like if Christopher Columbus hadn't sailed the ocean blue? What would life be like if Columbus had no desire to explore the seas? What would the world be like if Christopher Columbus was never born? Seriously! Think about it!
I began thinking about the answers to these questions in class while talking about the "what if's" with American Indians. Okay, well maybe that's not what we were talking about in class, but it sure as heck was what my mind was stuck on.
So, what if those questions were reality? What if Christopher Columbus had no desire to explore or what if he was never born? As much as I would like to say that the "United States of America" (I use quotes because hypothetically speaking, our country might never have been found) would have an enormous population of indigenous people and that Europe would most likely be overcrowded, I can't help but think that someone else would come along and find the land that we, today, call home.
Who would that other person be? Let's think about what would happen to the indigenous people living on this land with someone other than Christopher Columbus to deal with. Here are some mind blowing questions to think about: What's that persons attitude on indigenous people? Would the be accepting to sharing the land? Or would they leave in total respect for trespassing on someone else's territory?
It is pretty scary to think about what the world would be like if Christopher Columbus had no desire to explore or if he were never born. But think if we think of it in the eyes of an indigenous person, would we be happy? Would an indigenous person look different than they do today?
