Isn't that how Columbus got the natives to cooperate?
Something like they didn't want to resupply or help him. So he said his God is better than their God and if they don't help him his God would take the sun away. He told them that because he knew there would be a solar eclipse soon so he gave them that long to comply.
So the eclipse happens natives, lose their shit rightfully so, and give him whatever he wanted.
A solar eclipse happens in 2-5 times a year in America, it did back then, too. I don't see how this could be true, tbh. Even the full ones happen around once every 18 months
Total eclipses are only seen in an area though, with other parts of the world getting partial eclipses or not seeing it at all, so it's likely most or all of the natives hadn't seen one before.
Plus even if they knew of eclipses they'd probably still freak if a strange invader told them a god was going to take the sun away if they don't comply by a certain time, and then when that time was up the sun went away.
Writing is important but many non writing cultures have complex oral histories sometimes going back hundreds of years so it's not like knowledge is lost.
Columbus was an idiot and thought he was 12,000 miles from where he was. Even if he had known about an eclipse and could predict it to the day, thay eclipse would have had to have been seen equally in China and in San Salvador.
Definitely woulda been wild. It was pretty crazy even knowing what would happen, watching as everything started getting darker even though the sun still seemed to be shining just as bright, and then suddenly the sun goes out for a little bit.
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u/Jibber_Fight 16h ago
I always think of how utterly terrifying a total eclipse would’ve been for primitive people. No wonder religion was invented.