2000-6-24 12:00:00
Larry writes:
(6) We are told that Israel is composed of "desolate places that are now inhabited". This is again an amazing description of America, for before Columbus it was a desolate place, but it is now inhabited lk: I do not see this correspondence. My understanding is that the Americas were highly inhabited before Columbus discovered the New World. I could see a correspondence to the North and South American continents being "desolate places" prior to their colonization by the ancestors of the current "native Americans." i.e., various Indian tribes. The exact time of that colonization is however uncertain.
JJ
There were about 20,000,000 Indians in both North and South America when Columbus came by most estimates, but only about 850,000 lived in what is now the United States making this country a quite desolate place compared to the rest of the world at that time. The United States now has over 300 times the population compared to the native estimate in 1492.
Copyright 2000 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved