Oppression, abuse, and enslavement of indigenous people across continents

History is replete with examples of wars – tribe against tribe, nation against nation, and the winner subduing and imposing cultural, economic, and other rules on the conquered, often with the tragic consequences observable today in indigenous cultures. The contemporary scene of these conquests – aided and abetted by missionaries over decades, even hundreds of years – includes the imposition of values and beliefs about women together with the introduction of alcohol to colonized people. Colonization is the term representing this process across continents. Significantly, the United States – once “colonies” themselves subject to the British Crown – waged war against the indigenous people who welcomed them, and developed the “reservation” system where these Native Americans comprise some of the poorest and most isolated of the country’s population of 300 million. All this was done while building the newly independent nation’s wealth on the backs of African slave labor, the remnants of which still linger. Similar conditions exist among other indigenous groups across continents.