Over a thousand known languages were spoken by various peoples in North and South America prior to their first contact with Europeans.Before European contact, hundreds of distinct Native American languages were spoken across the Americas, organized into various language families.Native American languages are very old, with some linguistic evidence suggesting their roots extend back thousands of years. Archaeological and genetic evidence indicates that humans have inhabited the Americas for at least 23,000 years, and possibly as long as 30,000 years. This means that the languages spoken by these early inhabitants have deep roots in time. (google)
When Columbus encountered indigenous cultures for the first time he reported back to his royal sponsors that he never met such refined, good-natured, generous people and followed that up with the caveat that, because they are fulfilled and content, that they wouldn't make good workers (slaves), and that they would have to be taught how to work like a European. In other words, he knew they were better than him, but not as ambitious or driven and, basically, he realized they had no reason to go along with his agenda, so brutal force and indoctrination were inevitable.
My point is that he was dealing with well-established cultures who had learned how to co-exist with each other and the planet. The fact that there were so many cultures each with its own language was proof that they had much to teach the newcomers. The newcomers just weren't interested.
The rest is our shameful history and traumatic karma, which is playing out in our inability to stop killing each other off and not "seeing" each other.
(Article changed on Jan 17, 2025 at 3:20 PM EST)
(Article changed on Jan 17, 2025 at 3:25 PM EST)
