Re: Amerind an offensive term (was: Early Amerind assimilation

Mark K. Bilbo (102217.121@compuserve.com)
Fri, 23 Aug 1996 10:46:30 -0600

In article <4v7uqn$sao@mtinsc01-mgt.ops.worldnet.att.net>,
HR57JazzandBlues.@worldnet.att.net wrote:

>The indigenous people here were and still are
>not Indians. Another -news flash- The great "discoverer" of the new
>world, Columbus, was wrong!!! He did not reach India-did not even
>come close to India therefore the people he met were not Indians. I
>think it is time for us to accept this fact and move on.

It's also fairly clear from the diary excerpts I've seen (anybody know of
any available English translations of the diaries and Prophecies anyway?),
that Columbus didn't think he was in India and the whole naming of the area
as "the Indies" was a dodge to protect what he knew (or had strong reason
to believe) was previously unknown territory, the "discovery" of which he
thought was going to make him rich.

I think he didn't want competitors snooping around too soon.

In _Prophecies_ where he goes right off the deep end and has conversations
with "anglic beings" that laud him as being up there with King David and
other Biblical personalities, he is quite clear he believed that "god"
allowed him to discover new territories. Not a new route to "the Indies."

Mark