Columbus Exposed Even though some people claim that Columbus Day is for the purpose of Columbus founding the New World and not what he did to the people that live there. Columbus did much more than that, not only did he falsify documents to get what he wanted, but he also was responsible for the genocide of countless native people. Furthermore, how could Americans celebrate a man who was responsible for such despicable things? Every October in America, the death of seven and a half million people is marked with a "celebration," a day off of work, and quite possibly a parade. Reading about Columbus’s voyages to the New World brings a sense of agitation and sorrow. His naivety and flat out lies are frustrating as a whole. Columbus wrote of a …show more content…
The King and Queen were not convinced by the amount that he brought back with him. Besides, the doubts the King and Queen had they once again financed Columbus’s second voyage back to the New World. We need to remember that Columbus’s so-called "second voyage," albeit innocuous sounding language was in actuality an all-out invasion of the islands and particularly of Espanola. Equipped for the military adventure by the Spanish monarchs, Columbus sailed on October 7, 1493, with seventeen ships fully armed with more than a thousand men. (Freeland) This leaves one to wonder if the “so called” exploration to find new trade routes had alternative meaning all along. Not only was his second voyage an all out invasion but Freeland states, There would not be need in any event, since his army would be free to rape Indian women as they pleased. It was this invasion that initiated this vicious and murderous cycle of conquest, murder, thievery, and …show more content…
(Freeland) Columbus had to have known this was unreasonable, because he knew that most men were coming back with little to no gold. This was clearly not the case at all though. Freeland states, If they failed in this duty they would be severely punished, up to and including having their hands cut off which surely meant bleeding to death. Punishing these distressed Indians with this kind of cruelty puts a whole new meaning to psychopath. Columbus’s brutality would soon come to an end. Freeland describes, Because of Colon 's reckless murder of native peoples, along with the devastation of European diseases introduced to the already weakened Indian population, the tribute system quickly began to break down by 1496 due to a shortage of native labor. Basically to sum it up Columbus killed all his slaves, and this was not a quick death either. These indigenous people suffered dearly at the hands of this “Conqueror” as we like to call
Many books have led children to believe Columbus discovered America. Myint discovers “Leif Eriksson is the first European believed to have sailed to North America, having reached Canada 500 years before Columbus set sail to the west.” (Myint, 2015, Para. 2). Columbus did not plan to reach America; the voyage was to reach Asia. It is also believed Columbus set sail to prove the world was round. This is dismissed by Myint as “it was an idea that had been established by the Ancient Greeks in the 5th Century BC.” (Myint, 2015, Para. 4). Historians fail to provide these facts; this creates a false image of Columbus in a child’s
For instance, he and his men brought with him a very cruel action of rape. It is believed that, “he encouraged his men to rape Native woman as young as nine or ten” (Source 4). Which is very unethical, and unacceptable in today's society. Moreover, he also killed many Natives in horrific ways. Him and his men used hunting dogs to kill hundred of natives for pleasure and later for dog food (Sources 2 & 4). More importantly this greatly shows how indifferent and inhumanly his treatment was towards natives. Additionally, some of the punishments he brought to the natives are truly awful. He would have natives’ hands cut off for just failing to bring him gold (Sources 1 & 4). Columbus Day should not only stop being celebrated because of the terrible actions of Columbus, but also because of the legacy he left behind because of these
In 1492, Christopher Columbus was a self-made man who worked his way up to being the Captain of a merchant vessel. He gained the support of the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, for an expedition to the Indies. With the support of the Spanish monarchy, he set off to find a new and faster trade route to the Indies. Upon the arrival of his first voyage, Columbus wrote a letter to Luis de Santangel, a “royal official and an early supporter of his venture,” in February 1493 (35). The epistle, letter, entitled “Letter to Luis de Santangel Regarding the First Voyage” was copied and then distributed in Spain before being translated and spread throughout Europe. The Letter is held in such regard with the people as it is considered the first printed description of the new world. Through his description of the nature of the islands, Columbus decided the future fate of the islands. His description of the vast beauty of the nature around him, declares both the economic and nationalistic motivations for colonizing the new world.
His legacy serves as a cautionary tale on the horrors that ethnocentrism and indifference towards the welfare of others can bring. Christopher Columbus’ reverence as a hero in the present day would allow for the acceptance of practices that are incompatible with Western values and
This voyage and all that Columbus wrote seems to have been done in greed. Columbus flattered the King and Queen repeatedly to win them over for his desired future endeavors. The first letter written to the King and Queen of Spain began immediately with overly exaggerated praise. In this matter, he could have directly addressed them with one endearing term rather than “Most Christian, High, Excellent, and Powerful Princes, King and Queen of Spain” (Halsall). He then describes his intent to “perform the embassy…discharge the orders… [and] keep an account…Sovereign Princes” as he prepares to write his journal. With this in mind, the demand of writing a journal and keeping track of his journey will keep him from sleeping and cause “many trials” all for “Your Highness.” When land was found, Columbus was the one who “bore the royal standard” when he went to shore and “took possession…for the King and Queen.
While discovering the New World he brought smallpox with them that wiped out most of the native people living there. Although, Columbus did never mean to do that intentionally, he did basically kill hundreds of people. In the article “Columbus Doesn’t Deserve a Holiday” the author says “Within 70 years of his arrival, of the hundreds of thousands of Arawak Indians on the Bahama Islands only hundreds remained.” Even with the small number of native’s left after the smallpox, Columbus brought them back and put them on sale. They started with 500 native’s, but 200 died on the way there. Not only did Columbus kill hundreds, he also destroyed a natural, peaceful place. He just took people out of there land and called it his. After reading this one might not believe Columbus is the hero we all think of.
In some respects, we can attribute the founding of America and all its subsequent impacts to Christopher Columbus. Columbus a hero in the United States, has his own holiday and we view as the one who paved the way for America to be colonized. However, people tend to forget the other side of Columbus, the side that lusted after gold and resources that often belonged to the native inhabitants he came across in his exploration. In his insatiable greed, he and his crew committed countless atrocities, such as torture and killing of defenseless natives. Columbus’s discovery of these new lands contributes profound and negative effects as future colonists arrived. “Zinn estimates that perhaps 3 million people perished in the Caribbean alone from raids, forced labor and disease” (Zinn, 1980). Columbus was seen as a cruel man, who saw the peaceful inhabitants as right for the conquering and lead to the devastation of the native population, yet is celebrated every October.
Columbus enslaved the Native Americans in two ways. The first was “[enslaving] them to work in his brutal gold mines. Within only two years, 125,000 (half of the population) of the original natives on the island were dead” (Kasum). The other type of enslavement was “the selling of native girls into sexual slavery. Young girls of the ages 9 to 10 were the most desired by his men” (Kasum). If slavery was not bad enough, “In the early years of Columbus’ conquests there were butcher shops throughout the Caribbean where Indian bodies were sold as dog food. There was also a practice known as the montería infernal, the infernal chase, or manhunt, in which Indians were hunted by war-dogs” (Schilling). There is absolutely no way any person could be considered a hero after seizing, enslaving, and causing the deaths of hundreds of people, especially if these people were so innocent and friendly. Even “Bartolome De Las Casas, a former slave owner who became Bishop of Chiapas, described these exploits. ‘Such inhumanities and barbarisms were committed in my sight as no age can parallel,’ he wrote. ‘My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature that now I tremble as I write’” (Schilling) Columbus must be a villain in our own
Thru history studies in grade school and secondary school students are taught of the great explorer who discovered America, Christopher Columbus. Tales of his many voyages and the names of his ships the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria are engrained into the minds of children through rhyme and song. For many years the history written in text books have been regard as fact however information provided by Howard Zinn excerpt has shed new light on the shadowy past of Christopher Columbus.
Columbus was not the first to discover America, Native Americans discovered America about 14,000 years before Columbus was even born. Second, when Columbus discovered the Bahamas, he found that the people living there were friendly and peaceful, these people were called the Lucayans, Taínos and Arawaks. They even helped save a ship and its cargo after a storm. So of course from this Columbus was so “impressed” with their work, he seized the land for Spain, and then enslaved the islanders. He made them work in his brutal gold mines. With that two years after this took place half of the original natives from the island were dead. Also, Columbus was a part of sexual slavery at this time. Girls at the ages of 9 and ten were wanted by their men. Columbus used his powers any way that he could, and on of the things he used it for was
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. However, even after centuries later, little is truly known of the mysterious voyage and findings of the new world.1 By examining “Letter from Columbus to Luis Santangel”, one can further contextualize the events of Columbus' exploration of the New World. The letter uncovers Columbus' subtle hints of his true intentions and exposes his exaggerated tone that catered to his lavish demands with Spain. Likewise, The Columbian Voyage Map read in accordance with the letter helps the reader track Columbus' first, second, third, and fourth voyage to the New World carefully and conveniently. Thus, the letter and map's rarity and description render invaluable insight into Columbus' intentionality of the New World and its indigenous inhabitants.
On the second Monday of October, Columbus Day is a holiday that is celebrated in the United States, Spain, etc. This holiday signifies the discovery of the new world; however, this may not be the case. Since the day President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced Columbus day to be an official federal holiday, there has been a lot of controversy whether people should or should not celebrate the holiday. Many people do not believe that this holiday is significant enough to be celebrated. So the question is, should Columbus day be celebrated? The answer is no. Columbus day is a holiday that celebrates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the new world.1 It glorifies Columbus being the first European to discover North America. This is all not entirely true and that is one of the many
Since Elementary School, the epic tale of Columbus’s harrowing journey that ultimately lead to the discovery of America has been recited to us time and again. However, as more information has been unearthed about Columbus, his status as an American hero has been put into question. Not unlike most European explorers, Columbus came across many Native American tribes on his journeys. Since Columbus was under pressure to find new lands and amass large amounts of gold, he and his team of explorers viewed the indigenous people as nothing more than a means to an end. Columbus forced much of the native population to convert to Christianity, as well as using extremely harsh and often brutal methods to keep the Native American people in line. Since Columbus’s voyage also took place during a time where slavery and human trafficking was practiced, Columbus and his men enslaved many native inhabitants of the West Indies and subjected them to arduous work for the sake of profit. On his first day in the New World, Columbus had six natives enslaved because he thought they would be adequate workers. Appallingly, Columbus oversaw the selling of native girls into sexual slavery. Young girls aged 9-10 were in the highest demand Columbus even references this in his personal journals stating, “A hundred Castellanos are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand.” (Columbus). The Spaniards subjected the natives to work in the gold mines until they died of exhaustion. If a Native American worker did not deliver their complete quota of gold dust by Columbus' deadline, soldiers would cut off the man's hands and tie them around...
“More than a year after his arrival in 1492, Columbus returned to the Americas with 17 ships and 1,200 men, enslaving the natives in search of gold. With his expedition also came disease, decimating the population. By 1555, some claim that two million natives on the island of Hispaniola were nearly reduced to extinction. And for this cruelty, America awards Columbus
In 1493, Christopher Columbus writes the “Report of the First Voyage” (Perkins 28). In this letter to the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Columbus explains the events that took place during his first exploration of the New World. The significance of Columbus’s letter to Ferdinand and Isabella was that it set the tone for how writers described the New World. The historical impact of the “Report of the First Voyage” is insurmountable as it paved the way for future settlers, writers, and explores of the New World. Once published, Columbus’s letter to the King and Queen enabled all of Europe with a destiny to head towards the New World in search of exploration, conquest, and settlement.