Everyone has heard the story of how Christopher Columbus discovered America. Almost every child is taught to think this from kindergarten. There's even a day every year dedicated to him. The thing is, not everyone knows the whole story. Christopher Columbus isn't quite the hero people make him out to be. He is responsible for almost all of the deaths of the 1-3 million Taínos Indians. Columbus was the one to ask for the money to explore. He was the one to claim the land for Spain. It was him who gave to order to kill everyone. He's obviously completely guilty, right? Well, not exactly. Christopher Columbus is definitely at least partly guilty for the genocide of the Taínos, but not completely. There are a few other parties who also carry …show more content…
They were the ones who sent Columbus on his expeditions, and who gave him the resources to do the things he did. Although they were mostly unaware of the occurrences that were happening overseas, there were definite hints in the letters and updates Columbus sent them. They also should have taken into consideration that lots of countries before had refused to sponsor him. That could have been an indicator that Columbus wasn't a good choice to send. The king and queen did end up removing him from his position, but they took action too late. The king and queen deserve 20 percent of the …show more content…
Each could have taken steps to prevent what happened, yet no one did until it was too late. The damage had been done, with no way to undo it. Not all groups were equal in their level of guilt, yet each one made a large impact on the fate of the Taínos. The choices made by each one ended up leading to a mass murdering of 1-3 million innocent Taíno people. The Taínos caused no harm to the Europeans, yet the Europeans wreaked havoc on their society and popultion. Therefore together, Christopher Columbus, his men, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, and the System of Empire and the Age of Exploration are to blame for the genocide of 1-3 millions Taíno
...lumbus’ treatment of the people he found when he finally landed the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria was atrocious, and should not be ignored when talking about his great accomplishments. Zinn sheds a clear light on who Columbus really was, and what his main objectives were in the New World. Though Columbus is a hero, and the United States would not exist without his contribution to history, he was accountable for thousands of deaths, and that should not be forgotten.
For more than five centuries Americans have lifted Christopher Columbus to heights of greatness and god-like. We celebrate his life as though he was a man that had done us a great favor. In resent years Christopher Columbus has come under scrutiny, his life and works being questioned more than celebrated. There have be many great men and women that contributed to the building of our great nation but they do not receive anywhere as much recognition as Columbus. When a person begins to study the actual accounts of the "finding of the New World" they begin to wonder if Columbus should adored or hated for his actions. As a child I was taught that Columbus was a great man that had accomplished great things for the sake of humanity, but in reality his agenda was not to better humanity but to better himself. He found the Americas by mere chance and he did not even know of what he found. We give him credit for "finding" the Americas but history tells of the people, that he called Indians, already inhabiting the foreign land. So you decide whether or not Christopher Columbus should be revered a hero.
My personal opinion? Villain. Christopher Columbus was a nasty man who was motivated by greed. “The information that Columbus wanted most was: Where is the Gold” (Zinn 4)? He logged in his journal his first encounter with the Arawak people, stating “As soon as I arrived in the Indies, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might give me information of whatever there is in these parts” (Zinn 4). Their crime? “They wore tiny gold ornaments in their ears” (Zinn 5). Columbus would stop at nothing to gain what he most desired. Horrible as he was, he ultimately paved the way for America as we know it. All things happen for a reason, right?
I didn?t know much about Columbus, but when it was taught to us as a class, which was rarely, the lessons were brief and covered only the ?positive? things that he did. That is, from the eyes of those who believe Columbus was a noble man. It wasn?t until 6th grade when my teacher showed my class the book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen that we opened our eyes and saw reality. We had been deceived. Deceived by videos. Deceived by books. Deceived by teachers. But at least it felt good to know the truth-finally.
Columbus killed and enslaved many native americans. What he did was evil and selfish, and the native americans did not do anything wrong to have deserved those harmful things."By celebrating it, we're silently saying that this is ok and it's not. This is not someone that we should be looking up to, that we should be teaching our children he's a hero" (Franklin). Christopher Columbus shouldn’t be someone people can look up too. He isn’t worthy of being honored, even all the good that he did will never make up for the injustices that he created. Our school’s shouldn’t be teaching children that he was a “hero”, instead we should talk about other people who have impacted the world in a good way. “To me, the bottom line is this is public education. And if people find it offensive — even if the people who use it don’t think it is or don’t mean it to be — the public is paying for public education, and no one should be put in an uncomfortable position. My kids were uncomfortable”(Franklin). Nobody deserves to feel uncomfortable by a subject like this, which is why I find that Columbus shouldn’t be talked about, or at least teach people what he really did. We have the opportunity to reveal historical truths about the genocide and oppression of Indigenous peoples in the americas, and make society a bit
Lies. That’s what is being coaxed into the brains of America’s children every single year near October 12th. Although Christopher Columbus may have sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and landed in the Bahamas, he was not the first European to cross the Atlantic and the noble hero he is depicted as in elementary schools across America is distant from the true reality of his character. Moreover, the course of American education retaining to Christopher Columbus must be shifted. The education curriculum should not mention him at all during the usual first and fifth grade years, but rather wait until tenth grade when students can fully comprehend the facts around his not so gallant nature. Ultimately, the deeds of the genuine Christopher Columbus
When people hear the name Columbus they think of hero who discovered the new world but he was really a thief, a villain, rapist, torturer, and a murderer of millions. Christopher Columbus was not some innocent hero, he was a barbarian. Even though Columbus is celebrated all across the United States, he never came to the USA, he ended up landing in Haiti. Columbus was sent to find a shorter route from spain to India, he landed somewhere else already taken by millions of people and claimed he discovered it. When Columbus found out the people were not from India, he still decided to name them Indians, even though their real name was Tainos. Columbus killed 250,000 Indians, and after 50 years none were left. The Indians greeted Columbus well but
The colonist were taking and forcing the Natives to be slaves, they stole from them, they raped, and they beat them. “The Admiral found the island in a pitiful state, with most of the Christians commiting innumerable outrages for which they were mortally hated by the Indians, who refused to obey them.”, Fernando (Columbus’ son) later wrote. The Native people began to realize that the arrival of the Spanish was going to be the end them, so they began to organize armies and work together to drive the Spanish out of Hispaniola. Columbus didn’t like this and he took drastic measures to make sure no one could drive him and his people out. He and his brother (Batholomeo) attacked the tribes in March of 1495. The Spanish had 220 soldiers with full armor, horses, weapons (European) and 20 dogs. They defeated the Natives of Hispaniola. Eventually, the Natives were gone, killed by that hand the diseases of the settlers. The Spaniards brought many diseases that were unknown to the natives. Hispaniolas bad news was beginning to arrive to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Very little gold was making its way to Spain, the colonist were complaining, and little to none of the Natives had been converted to Christianity. Columbus was then forced to return to Spain to explain what was occuring. In 1496. The king and queen began to doubt Columbus and
When Columbus and his crew first met the Taino people and other natives they traded items and showed acceptance in one another. The Taino people were known for being peaceful individuals. Everyone got along fine but over time Columbus
Despite popular belief, when Columbus set sail, the Earth was already proven round. His goal was not to prove that the Earth was round. Most countries wouldn't even fund this voyage, either. England, France, and Portugal all refused to give him funding. Most people believe that he sailed over in the Pinta, Nina and the Santa Maria. This is wrong. The Nina was actually named the Santa Clara. The name of the Pinta is currently unknown, but it is Spanish for “prostitute.” The Santa Maria got destroyed on the coral reefs around Hispaniola and the crew was never seen again. He also made four journeys not just one. Unknown to most is that Columbus was a tyrannical maniac. He forced the natives to pay him in gold for being there. If the natives didn't give him enough gold, he cut off their hands. He was buried in Spain, after death, but later was moved to Hispaniola. After the death of Columbus, his heirs fought with the crown until 1790 over not getting enough money for Columbus’ work. This all proves that present Americans altered the facts to make it seem that Columbus was a hero, not a
Christopher Columbus, a name that almost everyone knows. It's common knowledge on who he is as he is depicted as the first to discover America. Yet, he is also known to have done terrible things that not many people know- well, children- due to their young age. Many controversies have been made over this one person due to his actions and the events that occurred after. Humans like to know the truth in everything and do not want to be lied to, so one must be careful on how people teach in order to tell the whole story, especially in history. Sure, at a young age, learning things such as genocide, slavery, torture are too gruesome for children, there must be a compromise in how to teach who Christopher Columbus really was. Thus, being that Christopher
Christopher Columbus should not be celebrated as he exploited the natives and carried out acts of murder. Christopher Columbus is not just the “hero” who discovered the New World. His actions following his discovery of the Americas were cruel and unjust. As governor in 1495, Columbus instituted a tribute taxation system, requiring every native that exceeded the age of fourteen to fill a small hawks bell with gold (Freeland and Tinker 31). Those who did not fulfil the Spaniards expectations regarding tribute were punished with the severing of one's hands causing them to die a slow painful death from the excessive bleeding (Freeland and Tinker 26) . About 10,000 were killed from this system alone (Churchill). This was a brutal, yet simple way for Columbus to obtain riches and gold, by using the people who knew the land best. This allowed Columbus to obtain great riches, as it ensured great wealth for both Spain and himself. The natives were given the choice between death or attending to the spaniards physical or financial desires and needs. Columbus was responsible for his very own army that was free to rape the native
The image we are given of Columbus is an image of bravery and leadership. He became well-known and had a noble title, but eventually lost his glory and was arrested because he was a bad leader in the Hispaniola settlement. Maybe he was brave. But he was a neglectful leader and immoral, twisted man. Columbus ruined the lives of the Natives. He invaded their territory and dehumanized them. However, his conquest gave rise to years of exploration and exploitation in the Americas. Regardless of how one feels about Columbus - hero or villain - his voyages cannot be dismissed as unimportant. Unlike all who came before him, Columbus opened a floodgate of follow-on explorers, armed forces and, eventually, permanent immigrants. They all helped create the United States. National origins stories are funny things. They are designed to make us feel good about ourselves, to make us feel special and to give us a shared unity and identity - but they rarely bear much resemblance to historical reality. No one person "discovered"
In 1492 Columbus set sail from spain, in 1493 he was the first european to discover the Western Hemisphere. He arrived in the Bahamas or, as he called it, San Salvador. He came across the Arawaks and he was treated with much respect and received gifts, blessings and was seen as a god. Columbus, Pizarro, Cortez and many other Spaniard Commanders accepted the warm welcome all over America, but when the Natives couldn’t provide all the gold, which was their primary goal, the Spaniards needed they were killed, tortured and beaten. Villages, pillaged, ransacked and burned to the ground. Women and children chopped to pieces and the spaniards did not show the slightest bit of mercy. Columbus and his fellow Spaniards massacred the native population of the Americas; showing no mercy and leaving an everlasting hole in the native population. The voyages destroyed the Western Hemisphere as a whole, by; destroying cultures and populations while the Eastern Hemisphere gained a newfound source of exploitable people and rare resources. Later throughout history Columbus is seen as a hero who lead to creations of new countries, colonies and new cultures, but his intentions were quite the opposite. He was a dark and cynical “explorer” set on murdering and exploiting innocents.
We all know the old rhyme "in 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue," and discovered America. However, most neglect the fact that Columbus is predominantly responsible for the genocide of Native Americans. From 1492, to present day, Native Americans have been attacked causing millions to loose their lives at the hands of the British that followed Columbus to colonize the "new land." From diseases intentionally forced upon the Natives, to countless legal issues, to the Natives being taken from their land, and finally most of the Natives brutally murdered, Native Americans have faced a terrible genocide for centuries.