American Holocaust
For four hundred years - from the first Spanish assaults against the Arawak people of Hispaniola in the 1490s to the U.S. Army's massacre of Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee in the 1890s - the indigenous inhabitants of North and South America endured an unending firestorm of violence. During that time the native population of the Western Hemisphere declined by as many as one hundred million people. Indeed, as historian David E. Stannard argues in this stunning new book, the European and white American destruction of the native peoples of the Americas was the most massive act of genocide in the history of the world. Stannard begins with a portrait of the enormous richness and diversity of life in the Americas prior to Columbus's fateful voyage in 1492.^ He then follows the path of genocide from the Indies to Mexico and Central and South America, then north to Florida, Virginia, and New England, and finally out across the Great Plains and Southwest to California and the North Pacific Coast. Stannard reveals that wherever Europeans or white Americans went, the native people were caught between imported plagues and barbarous atrocities, typically resulting in the annihilation of 95 percent of their populations. What kind of people, he asks, do such horrendous things to others? His highly provocative answer: Christians.
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What Hacker News says
- I highly recommend "American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World" if you're interested in learning more about Columbus from a very well documented and sourced non-fiction book.
- There’s a book called American Holocaust by David Stannard which is just devastating to read. That’s where I first learned about the advanced civilizations which existed in the Americas before Columbus.
- American Holocaust by David Stannard was a tough read for sure. I didn't know about the extent to which the genocide of the American Indians was a real deliberate and conscious act. But the book convinced me.
- Read "American Holocaust" The Conquest of the New World by David Stannard. You will have a different conception of that period of history. After reading it I was convinced there was an official policy of wiping out the native inhabitants, which was largely successful. The smallpox may have been accidental, but beyond that it was genocide, in both South and North America.
- It was a relatively minor genocide. Of course it was horrific and notable, but in terms of numbers not that huge. It was dwarfed for instance by the genocidal actions of Leopoldt in Belgium.
Most of the genocides of the 20th century were actually not by Germans, although many are not recognised. Why? Well they were official enemies! The truth is a lot of history is still pretty unknown generally.
Consider the mass murder in Indonesia in 1965, where at least a million were killed, or the genocide of East Timor, which killed a third of the population. Not very well known. Those were under the auspices of the USA and west in general. There are more, like the Mayans of Guatemala ... I learned about lot of these only recently
Really this was just a precursor to a century of genocide globally.
And then the original forgotten genocide, and one of the biggest: the genocide of the native americans. The book American Holocaust was a real eye-opener for me. http://www.amazon.com/American-Holocaust-The-Conquest-World/...
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