Christopher Columbus Crimes
Christopher Columbus was a thief. The “discoverer” of the New World was not just a mere pickpocket or purse snatcher. Columbus stole land, people, and rights from the innocent. These actions harmed for hundreds of years beyond his lifetime. Therefore, by definition, Columbus is guilty of crimes against humanity. From the first trading post built to the sprawling colonies that would come to the country known as America today, land was stolen from the Native Americans. Who would start this massive misappropriation? Columbus, of course. On his first voyage in 1492 he built a stockade on “Hispaniola” (modern day Haiti). He constructed this on stolen land with forced native labor. (Encyclopedia Britannica). Besides eventually occupying miles of …show more content…
Three basic human entitlements as found in America’s Declaration of Independence: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. First, life. The freedom to continue inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. Apparently the natives such as the Taino and Arawaks were not entitled to this. Within four years of arriving on Hispaniola, Columbus and his crew had murdered one third of the original 300,000. (Examining the Reputation). On top of killing one hundred thousand people in the time it takes to earn a diploma, Columbus stripped the natives of their liberty. The innocent were subjected to mining gold for the explorers. If they did not reach their quarterly quota, their hands were chopped off. (Discovering Columbus.) Certainly when working under these conditions the natives did not have liberty. Finally, the pursuit of happiness. Although it seems somewhat self-evident, the people Columbus enslaved in their homeland and abroad probably weren’t cheerful. In addition to their bodies being put to work, their minds and spirituality were also taken by jolly old Genoan mariners. The indigenous people were converted against their will to Christianity. (The Untold Story). In summation, Columbus ironically took from the inhabitants of America its three most near and dear rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of
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647 Words | 3 PagesLike most, he also took his life and experiences for granted. With all of this in mind, there is simply not enough information to conclude if Christopher Columbus was good or bad, or whether he should be honoured or disgraced. Although Christopher Columbus committed various crimes, he also
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87 Words | 1 PagesChristopher Columbus is a man who is known in society simultaneously as a hero and a villain of his time. What if the world had to pick only one, what would it be? Many new studies and scholars believe that Columbus was the villain of his story not a hero as past information would lead us to believe. Past documents were all written from the Europe’s point of view, this would lead to extremely biased documents because Europe was the side to profit unlike the Native
Christopher Columbus: A Hero Or Hero?
414 Words | 2 PagesMany people when they were younger, including myself, were taught that Columbus is a hero and an amazing person who discover the New World. We were all told that Columbus’s purpose for sailing thousands of miles across the Atlantic was to come here in search of undiscovered land. Columbus DID want land but he was expecting to get that land from
Christopher Columbus Hero Or Villain Essay
742 Words | 3 PagesA heavily debated topic in this day and age is if Christopher Columbus was really a hero or a mass murderer. On one hand, he opened up access to the New World and created trade routes, on the other, he primarily unintentionally almost wiped out a population and abused Native Americans. I believe that Columbus was more of a hero than he was a villain because he had a normal mindset and goal for Spaniards during the time period, many things he is blamed for happened completely unintentionally or by accident, and Columbus wasn’t the only one who had servants and took Natives captive. Often when looking back into history, we unintentionally judge events, people, and actions based off of our current mindset, and Christopher Columbus was no exception.
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Columbus And The First Thanksgiving Summary
841 Words | 4 PagesAccording 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
How Should We Celebrate Columbus Day
598 Words | 3 PagesThroughout many historical interpretations of the explorer, Christopher Columbus, many included his voyage of seeking for a new route from Europe to the land of the riches, Asia. Although Columbus never set foot in Asia, he had traveled west and discovered the New World, and led many influential impacts. From Columbus’s exploration, it created several questionings along with controversies, debating whether people should celebrate Columbus Day. Nevertheless, Columbus Day should not be a national holiday, because the honor presented by the holiday does not suit many of Columbus’s despicable actions. Columbus had received the wrong title for his journey, his discovery lead to massive amounts of murders, and his greed for valuables and fame was also part of Columbus’s
Christopher Columbus's Negative Impact On The World
503 Words | 3 PagesSome say Christopher Columbus was a hero because he was the explorer that discovered America. In reality, Christopher Columbus had an incredibly negative impact on the world because he enslaved the Native Americans, didn’t help the kind Natives when they got infected by diseases that the Spaniards had brought to America, and killed off most of the Native American population. The tactics he chose to use were violent and destructive by the standards back then and now. First, Columbus treated the Native Americans like uncivilized people by enslaving them and forcing them to work for him although they greeted him and his crew peacefully. ” They could make fine servants,”(document 2) he wrote in his journal,”I took them by force.
Why Is Christopher Columbus Bad
453 Words | 2 PagesChristopher Columbus Hero or Villain ? Christopher Columbus is a Villain. On some accounts he can be a Hero. But on many other accounts he's a vicious Villain. Yes he discovered America ;
Howard Zinn's The Cruelty Of Christopher Columbus
455 Words | 2 PagesHoward Zinn takes the perspective that Christopher Columbus is not the hero that many people perceive him to be. He views him as a cruel and greedy leader who went to the Americas causes death in his wake for his unquenchable search for gold. Columbus took advantage of the Native Americans because at first they were "so naive and so free with their possessions"() by forcing them to collect gold for him else face the punishment of death. While Columbus may or may have not been as heartless as he is made out to be, he is not truly the one to blame for the harsh treatment of the natives on the Caribbean Islands. Almost every other European (at that time) that could have been in his position would have undoubtedly done the same things as Columbus.
Argumentative Essay Outline Of Columbus
469 Words | 2 PagesArgumentative 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.
How Did Christopher Columbus Affect America
309 Words | 2 PagesChristopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen hundred ninety-two. When one hears the name Christopher Columbus, they tend to think about his discovery of America. What they don’t consider is how his discovery changed and affected America. First of all, Columbus’ discovery provided the start of a long term colonization, which created what we know today as America. People, who immigrated from another country, traveled all over the world to make it to America in hopes of getting land in “The New World”.
Argumentative Essay: Should Columbus Day Be A Holiday?
757 Words | 4 PagesHolidays 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.
Negative Effects Of Christopher Columbus
854 Words | 4 PagesChristopher Columbus is a man who is commonly depicted as a hero and great explorer who discovered our modern day America, but many of the so called “facts” are not all completely true as people would like to believe. Columbus was undoubtedly a courageous explorer who brought many new ideas, cultures, and resources to be exchanged between the New World and Europe. While this is true, it is not uncommon for people to forget the harmful effects brought along with the voyages made by Columbus and the darker details of his times in America. Columbus started from humble middle class family. Columbus was born in 1451 in the Republic of Genoa as the oldest of his four siblings.
Analysis Of Columbus The Indians And Human Progress
251 Words | 2 Pages“Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”, chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States”, written by professor and historian Howard Zinn, concentrates on a different perspective of major events in American history. It begins with the native Bahamian tribe of Arawaks welcoming the Spanish to their shores with gifts and kindness, only then for the reader to be disturbed by a log from Columbus himself – “They willingly traded everything they owned… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Zinn pg.1) In the work, Zinn continues explaining the unnecessary evils Columbus and his men committed unto the unsuspecting natives.
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