Annihilation

If we talk about Native American literature, then that leads inexorably (in this writer’s opinion) to a broader discussion of Native American culture. Once we take that road, it quickly turns from pavement to dirt, from dirt to a trail, and then even the trail becomes lost and obscured. The native people inhabiting the Americas had their own share of wars and intra-cultural conquests, most notably from what is now Mexico and through South America. There was the usual ebb and flow of civilizations one sees when looking back through history: The Olmec faded, the Zapotec rose and fell, the Myans flourished for a time, and finally the Aztecs dominated the region. Not to mention all the vast tribes of North America, and the native Taino/Arawak people of Hispaniola and other regional islands.

The people of the Americas had incredibly rich, vibrant cultures, which were dynamic and diverse. They thrived for several millennia, and developed complex, prosperous civilizations. They spoke dozens of different languages, and developed unique art and religions. All of this happened over the course of thousands of years. But within a few generations of their first contact with Europeans, entire peoples were eradicated. It was genocide and ethnic cleansing on a scale never seen before or since.

One tiny part of that epic, mind-blowing tragedy is the destruction of the literature of the Americas. Not necessarily the written word, but even the loss of the oral traditions, the histories and stories gone forever. Those who survived disease or avoided slaughter were often enslaved; their cultural heritage pillaged, burned, melted down, and shipped away.

Can we point to any parallel in modern times? Can we even imagine the world today if things had gone differently 500 years ago, if Columbus had never sailed to the New World? How would events have differed if we change the countries that explored and settled the region?