We
travel all over the U.S. and we see all these places. And each place has
a name. New England. New York. St. Louis. Denver.
Longs Peak. Pikes Peak. San Francisco. All these places were
“discovered” and named by “explorers” in the last few hundred years.
So
we, the people of European descent, “explore” our way across an entire
continent, which is already populated. (The pre-“discovery” population of
the Americas is estimated to be about 50 million to 100 million.) And
when we roll into town and encounter a distinctive place or feature, what do we
do? Do we ask the people who have been here for ten thousand years, “Hey,
what’s the name of this place?” Not often. We say “Wow, look what
we discovered”, and make up a name for it.
Does
that make any sense?
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