Columbus Makes Way For Indigenous People’s Day, And A Sustainable Future.

Photo: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/11/1044823626/indigenous-peoples-day-native-americans-columbus

For nearly 500 years, Christopher Columbus was hailed as a hero for opening the Americas to European colonization. The “New World” had vast resources and land seemingly for the taking. 

But in the last couple generations, this country and many others have focused on the people who were living here before Columbus sailed across the ocean blue. Columbus Day, Oct. 12, became an official national holiday in 1937, but in more recent years, cities, even states, have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day. 

The cause for the change is clear. A desire to recognize the dignity and importance of those who lived on these lands for centuries before Columbus overcame glorification of explorers that brought with them disease, slavery and even genocide of the native peoples. 

An Entrepreneurial Approach 

Christopher Columbus was born and grew up in Italy. He joined the 15th Century equivalent of the Merchant Marine early in life, and gained a reputation as an excellent navigator. 

He also was educated and adhered to the fairly new concept (back then) that the world was round. He soon hatched a plan to find a quick passage to China and Japan by sailing west instead of the long, dangerous trip around Cape Horn. 

Much like the entrepreneurs of today, he shopped his idea around to find someone willing to finance turning his idea into reality. He was close to despair before Ferdinand and Isabella, the king and queen of Spain, decided to give him a try. 

The rest, as they say, is history. He first landed on one of the Bahamian islands on Oct. 12, 1492. Columbus ultimately made four trips from Spain and back, returning to his original settlement and landing on Cuba, perhaps even the South American mainland. The return trips were financed, at least partially, with treasures he and his crews took from the New World. 

Enslaved natives were a large part of that cargo. 

Living On The Land 

Researchers estimate that there were between 3.8 million and 7 million indigenous people living in 1500 in what is now the United States and Canada. The number of people and tribes were larger in Mexico, the Caribbean Islands and South America, with a total estimate of 54 million. 

Some researchers claim that number dropped to just 6 million in the next 100 years. While that decline might seem extreme, pandemics of smallpox, measles, yellow fever and more decimated tribes who had not had to deal with these European plagues before. 

In the next couple of centuries, civilization marched across the country, often resorting to violence to move natives off lands they had lived with for generations. I emphasize the with here – these were the first ecologists, taking from nature what they needed and no more. They viscerally understood the concept of regeneration – leaving enough, whether that was buffalo or berries, to replenish the supply. 

Making The Connection 

I suspect that we have overly romanticized how the indigenous people lived in harmony with the earth, but I do think that there was a much closer bond than there is today. After all, the natives relied on the land and its bounty to live. Different tribes undoubtedly expressed those feeling in different ways depending on where they lived – relying on seals, or corn, or fish, or buffalo. 

They all had the ability to use what was at hand to survive and thrive. And they all understood that they had to take care of their resources to keep them for the next generation. 

Surely you’ve heard the stories of Native Americans watching with tears in their eyes as white hunters slaughtered whole herds of buffalo, or how they clear-cut forests to create farmland, or took the tribe’s family members to work those fields.  

Can We Go Back? 

On a worldwide, even a nationwide scale, there’s no returning to the days of simply communing with nature. But I firmly believe that we are on the cusp of a revolution to return to the caring for our planet. 

I’ve talked about it before – the Clean Energy Economy. We really have no choice but to make this work if we are going to leave something for our descendants to live on. We have to take the lesson our indigenous people have lived and make it our own. 

That’s worth celebrating with Indigenous People’s Day. And that’s The Sunstone Way! 

And remember, always be a Sunstone! 

John Keisler 

CEO & Managing Partner 

Sunstone Management, Inc. 

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©Sunstone Management, Inc. 2024 

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