When the number of myths taught to schoolchildren about the founding of America are taken into account, one has to wonder about the objective of U.S. institutions of learning. The consistent distortion of the historical records has painted a false picture of the process of building the nation, resulting in widespread miseducation of the population.
Here are six of the biggest myths and the truthful accounts on the founding of America, according to historical records.
The first Enslaved Africans Were Brought to America Long Before 1619
The Myth:
From history textbooks used in the United States, it is taught that slavery in North America began when the Dutch brought the first kidnapped Africans to the colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619.
What Really Happened:
According to the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, slavery in North America began with the first Spanish settlement in what is now South Carolina in 1526, 93 years before Africans were brought to Jamestown.
In the early summer of 1526, a Spanish conquistador, Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon, sailed from Hispaniola to found a settlement called San Miguel de Guadalupe, probably at the mouth of the Pee Dee River (Winyah Bay), in South Carolina.
This settlement housed 500 Spaniards and 100 enslaved Africans but lasted only about three months after an outbreak of disease killed Ayllon and many of his men.
In November, the Africans captives revolted, killing the Spanish and escaping to Native Americans. Only 150 colonizers returned to Hispaniola in December 1526.
