The Crimes of Christopher Columbus
At 46 years of age my recollection of Christopher Columbus from elementary school years was nothing like what I read in “A People’s History of the United States.” Howard Zinn is forthright in his views and he gives us a controversial look on things we have been led to believe were all in the name of progress. I recall learning about a great man who sailed the seas in the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. He discovered America, traded with the Indians and we all lived happily ever after. Well not really, I do remember there was some conflict amongst Columbus and the Indians but not to the extent I have read in the writings of Zinn’s book. I was appalled by the horrible things I read. It was an excuse for progress and the annihilation of the Indian race.
For hundreds of years, Christopher Columbus has had a special place in the history of the New World. Traditionally, history textbooks have painted him as a kind of daring, enlightened explorer who singlehandedly pulled Europe out of the Dark Ages. The ever increasing controversy surrounding annual Columbus Day celebrations, however treatment of Columbus is largely inaccurate. Most opposition to Columbus Day centers on the way Columbus and those who followed him treated Native Americans. After all, 1492 marked the beginning of the end of the native inhabitants of North America. Most of who did not die from the diseases Europeans brought with them to the New World were killed outright, forced into slavery, or expelled from their homes. The gains Europeans made in the New World were at the expense of the native population. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/411217/the_truth_about_christopher_columbus.com
In 1492 Columbus persuaded Queen Isabel and King Fernando to finance his voyage to sea that made him famous throughout Europe. Columbus greatly miscalculated the size of the earth and landed in the Americas. This was to have enormous consequences for the Indians. He took many onboard as prisoners insisting they be a guide to gold. Columbus was all about the riches he believed to be available in fields of gold. He promised the King and Queen he would return with gold and spices. In return he would receive 10 percent of the profits, fame and a title: Admiral of the Ocean Sea. Columbus greatly exaggerated his reports of his first trip and his second voyage aim was clear: slaves and gold. They went from island to island and gathered Indians as captives taking women and children as slaves for sex and labor. Many slaves died in captivity due to the lack of food, forced labor and disease. From 1494 to 1508 over three million people had perished from war, slavery, and working in the mines. Christopher Columbus has been compared to Hitler calling it the Holocaust of the Indian nation.
The treatment of heroes (Columbus) and their victims (the Arawaks)-the quiet acceptance of conquest and murder in the name of progress-is only one aspect of a certain approach to history, in which the past is told from the point of view of governments, conquerors, diplomats, leaders.
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