ThirstyFish

In the year 1291, Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi, the Vivaldi Brothers, set sail from Genoa through Gibraltar to the Atlantic Ocean with the intention of reaching India by sea. They were never seen again. 200 years later, on October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas. Had the Vivaldi Brother been successful, the suffering of the indigenous peoples of the Americas in the hands of European colonists would have begun 200 years sooner. Epidemics of smallpox, typhus, influenza, diphtheria and measles, introduced by European settlers, wiped out up to 95% of the indigenous population of the Americas. Those who survived the epidemics of disease were slaughtered, exploited and displaced. They were robbed of their wealth, livelihoods, culture and freedoms for centuries to come. Only now we are beginning to appreciate the complex cultures of Indigenous Americans and their innovations and inventions: Advances in architecture, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, writing, calendars, fine arts, intensive agriculture, engineering, and complex theology. Unfortunately most of this is forever lost.

With their failure, the Vivaldi Brothers in effect allowed the indigenous cultures of the Americas to flourish for another two hundred years. Fortunately, there are no more lands left on Earth to exploit like the Americas. But unfortunately, the culture of imperialism and colonialism is still alive. Since there are no more Americas left on earth to exploit, neocolonialism will exploit The Earth itself until final exhaustion. Just like the indigenous Americans could not fully realize their culture, in the hands of the neocolonialists, we human beings will never be able to fully realize our humanity to its full potential...

What does a lady on a bicycle exploring DUMBO have to do with the Vivaldi Brothers, indigenous peoples of the Americas, or neocolonialism? Funny, I was asking myself the same thing: Ubuntu, "I am what I am because of who we all are". I wish that we could explore places, cultures, ideas and the world as this lady is exploring DUMBO.

Song of the Day: Wild World - Yusuf Islam & Peter Gabriel (2003)