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Most parts of the world have gone through similarly horrific waves of border expansion and contraction at the cost of human lives and cultures, going back to th
by cs702 7y ago
Most parts of the world have gone through similarly horrific waves of border expansion and contraction at the cost of human lives and cultures, going back to the beginning of civilization.
Take the borders of Europe, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY9P0QSxlnI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY9P0QSxlnI
I doubt the expansion of, say, the Roman Empire in what we now call Europe and Africa was any less violent than the expansion of the English-speaking world in what we now call North America.
Humankind's track record on this earth is full of atrocities.
- protomyth 7y agoOne big difference is Africa and Europe didn't have the one sided die-off from disease that North America did. Africa had sections that were quite dangerous for Europeans, and when Europeans had their plagues it was pretty universal. If Africa had disease outbreaks like North America, then it would have probably gone the same way as North America, even more so really given the shorter distances.
- betterunix2 7y agoWhile there was certainly a mass death from European diseases, it happened long before 1776. The unfortunate and shameful truth is that the United States violated agreements with the Native Americans and repeatedly failed to respect the various tribes' right to rule their territories (not to mention the war crimes and genocidal killing).
- protomyth 7y agoI am well aware of the treaty violations and other ongoing issues between the tribes and the US government since I have been on a reservation for large stretches over many years. What I was saying that Europe didn’t have a mass death of one group but not another. In North America it was the natives who died off, but not the Europeans. Africa had no equivalent of what happened in North America so no colony was capable of having a sea to shining sea manifest destiny.
- javagram 7y agoThe mass death permanently crippled the native nations’ population, reducing their ability to meaningfully resist illegal immigration into their lands
- banku_brougham 7y agoShorter distances?
- protomyth 7y agoAfrica is closer to Europe than North America.
- adamsea 7y agoNo doubt. That is why it is so important to acknowledge and critique the past, to work towards the present and the future being less atrocity-filled.