An interesting discussion

The kids and I went to San Jose yesterday to pick up our CSA shares. While we were driving Sayer asked if we were in Mountain View (which she knows because that's where Daddy works). I told her, no, this was San Jose. She asked why it was called that, and so we began to talk.

I told her that the name was Spanish, and it translated into Saint Joseph. Then I told her that when the Spanish came to the Americas, they tried to convert the native peoples here so that they would give up their many gods (I related how they were like the Egyptians and Greeks with their beliefs in polythesim) and believe in just the Christian God. As part of this they started many missions - churches and schools as the base for a town, and how they gave those settlements the names of saints. We talked about how San Jose and San Francisco and San Diego were all male saints, and Santa Clara was a female saint.

Sayer then told me that she had a couple questions. Why did the Spanish come to our country, and why did they try to influence the people to worship their god?

(Yes, she used the word influence. I was impressed. When it was reported to Mark he suggested that it was a word from Martha Speaks, which may certainly be true, but I find it no less impressive :)

So we kept talking. I told her that across Europe lots of people were looking for the freedom to follow religion as they saw fit. They came to America to follow different philosophies and religions than were allowed in their homelands. And that other people came to settle to have the chance to own their own land. I explained that laws of inheritance in many European countries favored the first born son, and so other sons may have been eager for the chance to settle somewhere new and build their own estate, since they would get nothing from their parents.

And then we talked about how some came to the Americas hoping to find wealth. I told her that when the first ships sailed from Europe they were looking for a sea-route to China. We discussed how long and how expensive it must have been for a caravan to travel overland to bring silks and spices from China, how dangerous a life it was to be a trader traveling those routes, and how expensive their goods were because of the costs and hardships of the trip. The merchants hoped that they might find a way to sail to China and buy products more cheaply and transport them more quickly back to Europe. So they sailed out and found land and at first thought they'd sailed around the world and found China, but it was the Americas they found. And though they didn't find silk and spices, they did find gold and cocoa and food crops and different spices, and they began trading. Then settling. Then trying to convert the native peoples. Then making war and conquering them. And stretching their settlements up the Pacific coast that is now California, which is why the names of cities are Spanish.

A very hugely oversimplified history lesson. :)