The Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas

The Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas. HemisFair'68. , There is something in the nature of man that will not tolerate the unexplored. Always he finds his perimeter of ground too small, and restless stirrings prod his feet until he has gazed from every peak., Following this elusive music hundreds of centuries past, daring peoples from the East spread in wandering migrations across the earth., In time they found the Americas., From Asia they came across the Bering Strait into the Northern Lands; from Polynesia, pressed by Pacific winds to Colombian and Californian coasts; and from Australia, through the ice of Antarctica to the tropics of South America., Here were men of courage and strength to master a wild but fertile land, and from their seeds grew the Pre-Columbian American civilizations, cultures finally to bloom as brilliantly as any on Earth, with the Mayas, the Incas, and the Aztecs., While the civilizations of the Americas matured, Europeans brought a Western wisdom and technology nurtured by the ages. Crossing the same ocean, seeking the same adventure and independence, they came first to conquer and eventually to share. Then came the African, who, bearing not hopes but chains, poured his desolation into an art never seen outside this hemisphere., From this vast confluence of civilizations were born the American cultures. Their parents and their dowry were the Old World; the New World was their home., This new land held forth a promise of abundance and freedom. In return, it threw down a challenge of hard work and idealism. Brave men took up the challenge and fulfilled the promise. Such is the growth of this bold land that the challenge and the promise will continue to grow greater, and such is the mettle of these people that the potential will be realized., In celebration of this common history of the Americas, in appreciation of the legacy of four continents, and in reaffirmation of these natal ties, the International Exposition of 1968 was conceived.