May 16, 2012

This piece explains how everything you were taught about Native Americans and the First Europeans in America is wrong. Unfortunately, it's in Cracked.com's highly annoying "listicle' format. But if you can get past that, you WILL learn a thing or six.

For all of its lists, page breaking, sarcasm and failed attempts at funny, Cracked.com is becoming one of the most genuinely informative sites on the Web. How depressing is THAT?

posted by oneswellfoop 12 years ago
  • The Amerindians were still pretty cool to see in the late 1800's - even with precious few of them left.
  • Holy shit. That article was awesome. Also, I feel dumb now.
  • Everything I know is wrong!
  • I would have liked more information on the plague. Do we know exactly what disease it was? Was it more than one? Who exactly brought it to America?
  • In Jim Jarmush's Deadman movie they said small pox was dusted into the blankets sold to Indians. Probably also spread in less genocidal ways too, but it makes for more drama to emphasize the worst cases.
  • But according to the article, the Native American population shrunk substantially before they met any Europeans. So you can't blame us for everything (one out of 4,372 ain't bad?).
  • :)
  • I say blame it on the Vikings!