Holidays around the world are celebrated to remember and commemorate certain times in history, and to keep those dates important. For quite some time, Columbus Day has been a questionable holiday. Some people say it should be a holiday because we are acknowledging the fact that he discovered the Americas. In contrast, others disagree because of the ways he treated the original inhabitants of the places he discovered. This paper will argue that Columbus Day should not be a holiday because he exploited, murdered, and enslaved many natives throughout his journeys. The day Christopher Columbus step foot in the Americas, he began to manipulate the natives he saw. While they saw him as a potential friend, Columbus saw them as fine slaves that could lead him to what he really wanted - gold. When he found out how naive and friendly they were being with him, he started to take advantage of that fact. He forced them to show him where the treasure was, for his own selfish reasons. He ultimately did …show more content…
After sending them on a search for gold, the ones who found nothing had their hands cut off, and they ultimately bled to death. If some tried to defy his laws, they were hanged or burned at the stake. Columbus and his men literally had total control over the natives, which led to complete domination. With their lack of weapons, they were unable to fight back. Some of his soldiers were so despicable, they rode on the backs of the natives, like they were horses. Even worse, they beheaded children, for their own amusement. What did Columbus do? Nothing. As a leader, he never stopped his men from committing these crimes, but instead watched as the hundreds of thousands of natives committed suicide, yet, people still glorify his name. A person who can watch the murder of millions without stopping it should not have a holiday that praises his good moments and hides his
Christopher Columbus is not worthy of a recognition of a national holiday. Columbus is not worthy of a national holiday because he threatened and killed people. For example he claimed the indians land as his own. Also he murdered the indians and forced them into hard labor. Also to test how sharp his swords were he cut pieces of of the indians.
Personally, I feel that Columbus Day should not be celebrated because of the fact that he did not actually “discover” the Americas. As well as the cruelty and brutality he had spread through his travels, which had an effect on so many people. It is actually a fact that Columbus never even discovered America as he had never set foot on the North American continent in the first place. Biography.com supports this fact and states: “While he did reach the coasts of what today are Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, as well as explore the Central and South American coasts, he never unfurled a Spanish flag in North America.” This is one reason why I believe Columbus does not exactly “deserve” the title of discovering the
On the second Monday of October, every year children across the country learn about “brave...and..bright” (Marzollo) Christopher Columbus who “In fourteen hundred ninety-two..sailed the ocean blue.” (Marzollo). They’re taught that this Italian explorer and his entourage of curious men befriended the Arakawa natives and genuinely had an all-around good time. Sadly that was not the case. Christopher Columbus should in no way be celebrated, because he was an arrogant man, was the catalyst to slavery in the New World, and committed inhumane acts against the Natives.
“Singularly focused on him mission to find riches and conquer new land, Columbus and his teams treated the indigenous groups they came across as obstacles to their greater mission.” “. . . Columbus and his men enslaved many native inhabitants of the West Indies and subjected them to extreme violence and brutality.” “ In addition to controversy over enslavement and violent rule, the ‘ Age of exploration Columbus led had the additional consequences
Why is a killer, slave trader and rapist honored each year? Columbus is celebrated each year and around the 500th anniversary of Columbus Day many skepticisms were brought to light about Columbus and the terror he brought to the American Indians. Should Columbus Day be abolished and was he a villain? A villain is usually very selfish person that’s purpose is to bring terror to people who are undeserving of that terror. I think columbus day should be abolished because he killed millions of people, he traded slaves, he was a rapist, he was selfish and he forcefully changed cultures but his discoveries shouldn’t be ignored or forgotten because he was important for the exploration of America and the improvement in navigation.
Have you ever met someone who is not who you thought they were? You should not trust just one source. Textbooks often show just one side of the story. New evidence proves that Christopher Columbus is not who he seems. Due to this information, Columbus Day should be changed.
In October of 1492, Portuguese explorer Christopher Columbus landed by ship in the “New World” which is today known as the Americas. Many people believe the holiday that honors him annually in October has great meaning behind it. However, I believe Columbus day should not be celebrated. Christopher Columbus was not the first person ever to discover the Americas, he abused natives on their own land, and the holiday isn’t celebrated in the way it should be. Christopher Columbus was not the first to discover the Americas.
When I was younger I was under the impression that Christopher Columbus was a great man and that he discovered America. We celebrate Columbus day because we honor him for “discovering America”. From this new information that I have learned today, Christopher Columbus is not the man iv have been taught about.
Finally, we should celebrate Columbus Day because he brought value to America. When I say "value" I mean he made America worth something. Not money-wise but more livable through goods and services for citizens here in America. Basically the "west Indies" people lived off natural resources and made shelter from their surroundings. When Christopher Columbus arrived he made businesses for people who wanted to work, and he made trade markets for people who wanted to buy goods from the old world such as jewelry, jewels, spices, perfume, etc; only the wealthy bought such items.
According to Loewen, few textbooks explained how Columbus was involved in the slavery and the exploitation of Indians. Another error that we have learned in schools about Columbus is that he was the first person to “discover” America. However, this is an error because people from other continents had already reached America before 1492. In fact, we forget
Putting aside all the horrible things Columbus did, he did help colonize North America. He opened up a new world where people could go to freely express themselves, it was the land of the free. People could freely practice their religion and many could start a new life. Another reason why people don't want Columbus day to change is because of his Italian background. Many italian americans are proud of Christopher Columbus because of his italian background.
Additionally, Christopher Columbus enslaved and mistreated the natives. Not only did Christopher Columbus change the culture of the natives but actually tortured them. Columbus used the natives for his own use. “Throughout his years in the Americas, Columbus forced natives to work for the sake of profits. Later, he sent thousands of Taino “Indians” to Spain to be sold, and many of them died during the journey.”
Yes we have a holiday that commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the New World on October 12, 1492. But here are some reasons to why he's a evil man. Christopher Columbus mutilated and enslaved native people that he encountered on the Island soon to be called America. He encountered many different Natives when he Started to explore the new land he discovered. There were 60,000 people living on this island.
Bartolome de las Casas is used by Zinn for many of the sources of the cruelty against the natives, but even Zinn admits that "his figures are exaggerations"(). However, Zinn still puts Bartolome under much less criticism than Columbus even though the priest did his share in being cruel to natives; this was most likely because he wanted to make the point that Columbus should not be so heroized. Overall, the monarchy of Europe is truly to blame for sending the greediest men with orders only to extract wealth from the New World. Whether or not America should celebrate Columbus Day is a highly debatable topic, but it should not really be celebrated or called after a relatively cruel man. Columbus just happened to be in charge of the right ship with a gamble that turned out to make him extremely successful, but he did not have anything, besides good seamanship to make him any more exciting than the average
Argumentative Essay Outline I. Claim: Celebration of Columbus Day should be abolished due to Columbus’ harsh treatment toward the Native Americans and fallacies in his exploration. II. Sub-Claims: A) Reason: Columbus’ exploration was not meant to discover America but to conquer and exploit existed American civilizations.