Ruminations about American History

I must admit that I know very little American History. Before our trip, I had a vague notion of the pioneers who headed west in the 19th century, but I hardly knew what the Oregon Trail was. Hence, I was very happy to learn a lot about this period in the history, for example in an excellent interpretive museum in eastern Oregon. The details are fascinating – those pioneers walked more than 2000 miles, over a 6 month period. Remember all those famous wagons you’ve seen in many movies? We learned that they were for the luggage and sick ones only. People usually walked all the way!
It’s interesting to compare these journeys to modern day hikers, walking the Pacific Crest Trail (the western counterpart of The Appalachian Trail, though probably much more beautiful). Obviously, the recreational motivation is very different from the pioneers’, as well as the constant safety net etc., but the distances are similar. We’ve met a hiker on the trail, and the distances are shocking. Hikers cover 2500 miles, from Mexico to Canada, through extremely mountainous terrain. Due to weather constraints, there is a very narrow window every year, during which you can start. Typically, hikers walk an average of almost 25 miles a day(!!!), for several months. Personally, I strongly doubt if I have ever been fit enough for something so difficult.

A less glorious aspect of American history has to do with Indians. I once heard a Native American insisting that he was an Indian, so I’ll drop the PC terminology...
We got to learn a lot about several Indian cultures in our current travels. We learned that in the 13th century, South West Colorado’s population amounted to 30,000 people, more than today! We consulted the web and were astonished to find out that in 1492, about 50 million people already lived in the Americas! (however, the vast majority were in South America).
We visited the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona, and clearly saw its evident neglect. More than anything else, it reminded me of the Bedouins in the Israeli Negev. We couldn’t forget the facts we know about some other Indian reservations and their extreme poverty. And we couldn’t help noticing that in the aforementioned Oregon Trail interpretive museum, the fate of Indians who already inhabited the lands was practically ignored.
I’m not trying to be a saint or to claim that one side was the ultimate evil. However, when looking from the outside on the history, it’s pretty sad to see.

Giora