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?
I think this is a very interesting "what if." I wish I knew the answer! Truly, based on what I know of explorers at the time, it seemed as though one of them would have been sent over than and effed shit up either way, with or without Columbus. But I think the idea of the USA never being discovered is something we can't really wrap our heads around. I guess we would just be British...which wouldn't be so bad. We'd get to hang out with sheep and have it rain every day and be classy (speaking of stereotypes). I enjoyed your post!
ReplyDeleteTaylor, the thing that most do not know is that other races from the around the world (Africans for example) sailed those same seas, and traded with the Indigenous people of this so-called country before Christopher Columbus came over here effin' things up. So the answer is, the Indigenous people would still have their piece of mind, identities and their LAND. It's funny how they've kept all of that, with other travelers before Columbus came over to "visit".
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