"Interesting article on "colonising" of Americas….." Topic

……amongst other things. It challenges some of the attitudes currently fashionable:
link

DBDD

He is probably being canceled as we speak.

I read this in grad school; it is well worth the read.

link

Good point

I have to say I find much of the current academic discourse on native versus settler unhelpful – as someone whose family is part native Canadian and part European/American I think the idea is too binary; in the case of my grandparents, I don't think they were settlers – they were running from the Czar's dragoons (which turned out be the best decision grandpa ever made, given his home village was in the direct path of the current Russian invasion of Ukraine)

Interesting read. Thanks for the link!

Most of the points I have been trying to make in all these renaming threads on TMP.

Only two thing I will add, 1) there are no Native Americans. Just those who happened to migrate first, if we are to believe Archeologists. 2) Most of the worst plagues of the world, originated in Asia. Small pox did not start in Europe, it originated in Africa or India.

"Somebody would have done it" is not a good argument.

I think the original migrants, into a land empty of other hominids, can reasonably claim to be native.
Yes, it's a complicated matter that changes over time. I know a little more about colonial New Zealand than I do about the Americas (though to be honest, precious little about either) but I'm prepared to bet that in both places the first settlers were welcomed as a potential resource by those original peoples, who then became concerned as more and more colonists arrived.
There is also a major difference between what might reasonably be argued as historical movements, as opposed to the myriad of individual interactions. It's hard to argue such movements are either good or bad.
But many of the individual interactions were clearly not positive – and I'm prepared to guess that if you could balance out such things then the expansionist culture is going to have more negative actions, not least because they are the ones moving into new areas.

OK, so emckinney said it more succinctly…

Not sure I agree as somebody, somewhere would've eventually come to the shores of North America and South America again. Either from Asia, or Europe. They had on other occasions, it just did not stick. The Northmen for instance. Even the "Native Americans" came at one point.

Good article!
The whole issue of historical guilt has always seemed bizarre to me. I didn't send smallpox blankets to anyone, so I don't feel guilty. I don't go forth and distribute disease ridden blankets to others. I know better.

Grelber
Who is amused by the concept of "wonton adventurers" wickedly spreading Chinese cuisine across Mexico and the American Southwest.

The claim of the use of smallpox blankets being given to Indians is bogus. During the siege of Fort Pitt during Pontiac's rebellion the commander of the fort tried to send out blankets with smallpox. It failed. It didn't work. That is the ONLY time this was done. It has become this huge myth when discussing Native Americans.

Yes, no one believes the smallpox story except dumbs•• college professors and their duped students.

But…but…but it was on TV, it must be true! 😢 😉

Which …. professors would that be? Sweeping biased generalizations don't help any discussion.

Ward Churchill of Colorado. He also claimed Native American status and was fired for plagiarism. Definitely qualifies as dumbs•• professor.

Good article, well worth the reading time. Thanks for the link.

Definitely qualifies. An isolated kook, exposed and fired by the university for his false claims. There will always be isolated examples of idiots on any side of an argument. They deserve to be ignored.