On 28/08/2008, at 10:43 PM, Alberto Monteiro wrote: > Charlie Bell wrote: >> >> Really? I'm sure Native Americans, original Australians (especially >> in Tasmania where they were wiped out), the "fuzzywuzzies" who were >> made to build railways in Africa and so on would disagree with >> that. Britain has just as shameful a past in slavery and >> extermination as the French, Dutch, Belgians, Portugese... Maybe >> more. >> > I think we must separate what was deliberate extermination, > accidental extermination and assimilation.
That's fair. > What I mean is that the portuguese genocide of brazilian natives > was either accidental (diseases) ...well, many of the diseases were deliberately spread, but yes, some were inadvertantly introduced too. > or assimilation. Each native > tribe that spontaneously converted to catholicism - and many of > them did, as the technology of the invaders was really > impressive - was immediately accepted in equal terms with the > portuguese colonists. Yep. > They wouldn't be able to conquer such a > vast area in so little time otherwise - just to compare, by > 1580 or so all coastline of Brazil was firmly secured in > Portuguese control, and then they (and here I am almost replacing > "they" by "we"...) began digging to the inside. > > OTOH, there were some episodes of deliberate genocide, with - as > usual (WTG! take note on this! Religion is evil!!!) - a theological > justification. Canibal tribes were considered soulless The irony when (many/most) Catholics believe that they are literally eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ does not escape me, but I'm sure it did them. But yes, the Portuguse may not have been *as* bad as the Spanish, say. But pretty much all of the European colonial powers killed a lot of people in their quest for control of as much land as possible, and it's just a matter of degrees really. Charlie. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
