Columbus Blog #8

-Should Christopher Columbus be considered a hero or a villain?

While he was thought to have 'discovered' the Americas in the year 1492 -despite the fact that there were already people leaving there- Christopher Columbus' character was not without flaws. Granted, no one man is perfect, but there are some actions or traits are a bit more than unnecessary in a person.

Upon his arrival to the Caribbean isles, Columbus encountered a great deal of people native to these lands, and despite appearances, this event seemed to throw him off a bit, though he had expected to arrive in India or China. The initial response between the two was fairly warm, as trade was prosperous, yet took a turn when Columbus began demanding gold. Due to the short supply of the desired metal, Columbus and his men quickly began enslaving the Indian people, shipping them back to Spain as compensation for failing to find gold. What little gold was acquired was by the labor of the slaves held captive back in the Caribbean, and even then, those who failed to do so were either bled to death or killed. Columbus used religion a great deal to defend their pursuit in the islands, and due to the desire for gold and glory furthered by Columbus, Indians died by the thousands at the hands of Spaniards. Any of their attempts to flee resulted in their demise. While his conquest was not as gruesome as that of Hernando Cortes toward the Aztecs Columbus did establish a pattern of bloodshed and ignorance toward the Natives that was followed all through the development of the Spanish, English, and American colonies.

Contrary to information taught to children in elementary schools and the celebration of the so-called 'Columbus Day', Christopher Columbus was not the hero he was made out to be. As Howard Zinn even questioned, "Was all this bloodshed and deceit a necessity for the human race to progress from savagery to civilization?" It is a misfortune that this appears to have been the thought during Columbus' initial discovery, and although he was not the only man to wage violence against the Indians, he definitely did little to stop it.