4 ms·

I wonder what the largest cause of this is. Two ideas come to mind: 1. We just don't have access to pre-contact North America. We weren't there to write about

by Swizec 10y ago

I wonder what the largest cause of this is. Two ideas come to mind: 1. We just don't have access to pre-contact North America. We weren't there to write about it, they didn't write about it, and we don't have a lore lineage because we're not part of the culture. 2. Considering what happened, it's more convenient to think that we didn't really destroy anything much and we "brought culture to the savages" and made things better. Afaik much of Africa suffers from the same sort of problem.

neaden 10y ago
I think it is largely the second, after all many of the different nations did have prolonged contact with America or the 13 colonies and have descendants around right now who can tell us stuff. In regards to Africa, let's face it, most of us (and I include myself here) are pretty bad with history. I would have a hard time writing more then a cursory paragraph about the 30 years war for instance even though it is an important part of European history and I can't really tell you anything about the Taiping Rebellion except that the guy on one side thoght he was Jesus' brother even though it happened at the same time as the civil war and killed many many more people. With Native American history though it is the history of where I live. I have spent my whole life living in areas that were previously controlled by the Anishinaabe people but never learned anything about them in class. To me that would be like a German student knowing as little as me about the 30 years war or a Chinese student who can't tell you the basics of the Taiping rebellion.
- aaron-lebo 10y ago
  This is a global issue. History is written by winners. There are a lot of cultures within China or Russia or any other country that have been destroyed over time in the goal of national progress. History unfortunately does that to nations and peoples. The average European is as ignorant about the Sami as the average American is about the Tonkawa.
dpc59 10y ago
At least in Canada, a lot of the cultural lore was destroyed through systematically sending native children to religious schools where they weren't allowed to speak their language or practice their culture.
grkvlt 10y ago
However, point two is somewhat correct - we did make things better for the indigenous population. Imagine if Western Europe had been subjugated by the Native Americans somehow - our standard of living would have declined, we would have lost the chance of the scientific revolutions of the 17th and 18th centuries, let alone the 20th. I don't recall there being universities, or metalworking, sea travel, etc. before Europeans brought them to America. Cultural relativism can also be seen as abuse. Let's leave those stone age islanders alone, who are we to say that our culture is better than theirs? Of course it's better. It's abusive to deny them the hundreds of years of scientific and technical progress. We would see it as abuse if someone had a child and didn't send them to school, instead forcing them to learn how to hunt and fend for themselves... Well, that got off-topic quickly. Sorry!

by Swizec 10y ago

neaden 10y ago

I think it is largely the second, after all many of the different nations did have prolonged contact with America or the 13 colonies and have descendants around right now who can tell us stuff. In regards to Africa, let's face it, most of us (and I include myself here) are pretty bad with history. I would have a hard time writing more then a cursory paragraph about the 30 years war for instance even though it is an important part of European history and I can't really tell you anything about the Taiping Rebellion except that the guy on one side thoght he was Jesus' brother even though it happened at the same time as the civil war and killed many many more people. With Native American history though it is the history of where I live. I have spent my whole life living in areas that were previously controlled by the Anishinaabe people but never learned anything about them in class. To me that would be like a German student knowing as little as me about the 30 years war or a Chinese student who can't tell you the basics of the Taiping rebellion.

aaron-lebo 10y ago
This is a global issue. History is written by winners. There are a lot of cultures within China or Russia or any other country that have been destroyed over time in the goal of national progress. History unfortunately does that to nations and peoples. The average European is as ignorant about the Sami as the average American is about the Tonkawa.

dpc59 10y ago

At least in Canada, a lot of the cultural lore was destroyed through systematically sending native children to religious schools where they weren't allowed to speak their language or practice their culture.

grkvlt 10y ago

However, point two is somewhat correct - we did make things better for the indigenous population. Imagine if Western Europe had been subjugated by the Native Americans somehow - our standard of living would have declined, we would have lost the chance of the scientific revolutions of the 17th and 18th centuries, let alone the 20th. I don't recall there being universities, or metalworking, sea travel, etc. before Europeans brought them to America. Cultural relativism can also be seen as abuse. Let's leave those stone age islanders alone, who are we to say that our culture is better than theirs? Of course it's better. It's abusive to deny them the hundreds of years of scientific and technical progress. We would see it as abuse if someone had a child and didn't send them to school, instead forcing them to learn how to hunt and fend for themselves... Well, that got off-topic quickly. Sorry!