Manifest Destiny

Sioux Center is a tranquil little town in the west of Iowa. The fields of corn transform almost imperceptibly into streets bordered by closely cut lawns and tall trees.

Two thirds of the population are of Dutch origin, the highest proportion in the United States. Orange City, a half hour distance away by car, is also a place of decided Dutch predominance. Under the welcome sign, a series of posts in the form of a wooden shoe point the visitor in several directions. On one corner, you are surprised by a telephone booth in the form of a perfectly detailed windmill. At the wooden shoe shop in the town center, in addition to selling cinnamon cookies and their own products, they give certificates of authenticity to accompany the purchase of Delft pottery from Holland.

I take a look at the Wikipedia entry about Dutch enclaves in the United States. Reading about Holland, Michigan - a place that I visited last year - I notice an entry that speaks about the "cultural clash" between the activist Calvinists who settled there in the middle of the 19th century and the original inhabitants, the Ottawa Indians. I can't imagine that a dialogue about customs and world visions led to the "displacement of the latter towards the north". We should agree to speak about this "clash" without adjectives, using its literal meaning. The same goes for the Sioux Indians of Iowa and other Indians around the country.

The European newcomers continued to widen the frontier in their realization of the "Manifest Destiny" that they had been promised, the acquisition of territories between the Atlantic and the Pacific masquerading as a "civilizing" mission of liberty and democracy. By the twentieth century this had probably turned into a global mission, once those territories had been exhausted.

For almost 150 years, some of these communities have continued to nourish their original European idiosyncrasies, either by the arrival of compatriots from their homeland, or by intermarriage and through the maintenance of their own universities, schools and churches.

You shouldn't be reminded of the movie "Witness" or the Amish: they've got nothing in common. These are communities that participate in all of US culture and lifestyle, while keeping this traditional bond strong, which is disconcerting for the European observer of today. But like so many other secular realities, it may become more and more diluted.