ROFL! This is priceless! It puts me in mind of the North American Indigenous when the Spaniards, Dutch, and French showed up. Things might have gone differently. But then again, probably not. It will always depend on superior numbers and weaponry.
What really wiped out vast numbers of Native Americans? Disease more than violence but really their fate was inevitable because they were living in a perpetual Stone Age culture.
The Americas are a very large land mass - given the technologically advanced European cultures it was only a matter of time before the Explorers would discover North and South America.
It's not that there is Blame to be placed anywhere.
I do not believe that anyone set out to intentionally wipe out the peoples who were "here first". Sure there were violent interactions between Europeans and Native Americans but by far most of the death in the Native population was caused by Small pox and influenza.
A great book to read on this subject is "Germs, Guns, and Steel." By Jared Diamond.
@iThink, absolutely. We actually studied this in high school back in the 60s. Smallpox blankets were intentionally used as trade items. The whole of human history is violent, invasive, and "all hail the conquerers" mentality.
@PamelaSteele I never believed the "small pox" infested blankets" story. I'm no medial professional but I have serious doubts about the efficacy to transmit small pox on soft fabrics like wool and cotton.
No, the small pox just like the influenza was transmitted by normal human contact. It spread rampantly through the native population because there was no "herd immunity".
While it is likely that some dark hearted White person(s) dreamed up that idea it was NOT effective. Not only was there lack of immunity I don't believe the natives had any workable ideas as to how to manage a pandemic much less care for individuals who became infected.
I was a facilities manager for a Pharma Research company. Among the staff there were at leas a dozen men and women who were credentialed MDs, Pharmacologists, Pharma co-keneticists, etc. I believe there were more Drs. and PHds per square foot of office space than you'd find in some hospitals.
There was some casual mention of the myth about small pox infested blankets and I asked one of the Doctors there about that.
I asked him point blank - "is it even possible to transmit small pox that way". His initial answer was - "well I can believe they tried that". I asked him again and I could tell he did NOT want to admit that my suspicions about it were correct. He simply repeated - "I believe they tried it".