![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() East Coast tribes physically resembled European or Middle Eastern populations more than Far Eastern ones, while the reverse was usually true on the West Coast. It seemed obvious to most early European explorers that Americans varied widely in physical appearance, language, and life-style, and represented various amalgamations of people. Rephrased in today’s terms, the question meant: had Americans migrated here primarily from Europe, Africa, or Asia? ![]() But the question of American origins remained vivid for churchmen and scholars. Julius left open another issue: from which son of Noah-Shem, Ham, or Japheth-had Americans descended? This question hardly bothered merchants, soldiers, soldiers of fortune, colonists, and slaves arriving in this hemisphere, eventually by the millions. When Columbus refound America for Europe in 1492, he believed that the Bahamas, Haiti, and Cuba were parts of the East Indies in eastern Asia so naturally he named the people whom he encountered on that initial voyage “Indians.” His and subsequent Spanish trips caused the church this curious problem: were native Americans humans or not? In 1512 at the Fifth Lateran Council, Pope Julius II declared that Americans had descended from Adam and Eve, and thus are humans-as well as candidates for conversion to the Christian faith. Norman Totten was chairman of the History Department at Bentley College when this was published. ![]()
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