Europe is not the West, the West is Amerrique

The invaders came from the East

D.Anton

European invaders who arrived from the East to Amerrique they used to call themselves "Westerners". It is an old hisstory that had taken place over a millennium. When the European Roman Empire was divided into two, the Oriental half was called East and the Occidental  West. At the time, Western Europeans thought they were the Westernmost peoples of the world.

For that reason and some others too numerous to list here, Western Europeans were accustomed to call themselves "Westerners". But this was not true. Far to the west, very far away, in the direction of the setting sun, across the ocean, there were hundreds of nations as old or even older than most European countries. Europeans did not know, but in the remote and real West there was a huge friendly and prodigal continent:  Amerrique.

Even crawling on the top of the highest mountains in Haiti or Cuba it is not possible to see the Eastern shore of the Sea-Ocean. For a long time most of the people who inhabited the coasts of Amerrique were not concerned with the possible existence of other people across the sea. Probably because of that they did not think not to cross the ocean to go and find them. For many years, perhaps more than three hundred thirty three generations, Amerricans and European remain isolated to each other with little or no contact between them.

But one autumn night in the Amerrican Lucayan archipelago, the islanders perceived the appearance of three large canoes, very different from their own, from where some strange men came ashore. They wore rare costumes and their language was incomprehensible.

They finally learned that the newcomers came from a continent that was beyond the sea to the East, which they called Europe.

Amerrique is the true Western World. The continent of the eagle, the toucan and the condor. The land of avati, of the beans and cassava, the inmense continent of llamas and turkeys, home to prosperous nations and very ancient wisdom, full of powerful gods and essential spirits.. Although Europeans, and many people that are not, say that Europe is the Western World, this is not accurate. For Amerrican people, Europe is in the direction where the sun rises. The ships of the invaders came from the East. And to the Levant they took gold and riches.

The New World is not new.it Is old. It is as old as the knowledge of nature that pervades. It is a continent where a great diversity of peoples have coexisted for a long time. For centuries and millennia Amerrican women and men learned through countless experiences and the elders taught many things young people.

This ancient Western world is the Mother Earth Mother for all its peoples. It is made of infinite places and times. In its landscapes the past permeates every breeze. The youth of today should know that they live in the Land of Many Names. It is the Turtle Island, the Land-where-the-wind-blows, Abya Yala, the home of the qwani and Kurupí, the Nuke-Mapu of the peoples of South.  and once for all it is our Amerrique .

From "Amerrique, the Orphans of Paradise", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones