The voyages of Columbus starting from 1492 led the way for European nationals to come to the Americas, which were populated by the same number of people as in Europe at that time, to increase their wealth and broaden their influence on earth. The North and South American mainland fell to the conquistadors with an estimated 8 million deaths of native people making it the first large-scale act of genocide in the modern era. There are now only a few natives left in the USA living a miserable life in the reservations. The first slave voyage direct from Africa to the Americas probably sailed in early 16th century. The majority of enslaved Africans were brought to British North America between 1720 and 1780. Slaves suffered a variety of miserable and often fatal maladies due to the wretched conditions on the ships during the Atlantic voyage and to the inhumane living and working conditions.
Since the end of World War II, more people (civilians and combatants) have suffered unnatural death by USA armaments than any other human activity. In spite of these terrible records, we have been bombarded by the United States on their glorious record on basic humanity, democracy, free speech and freedom of religion. The recent event of journalist Khashoggi’s killing in Istanbul clearly exposes American Values to the world. Every time President Trump has talked about this episode he has not failed to emphasize the fact that how many billions of armaments his country is selling but never mentioned basic humanity or freedom of speech related to the incident. This simply confirms their historical value system is unadulterated greed.
Narsibhai Patel
New Malden
