“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. The argument that seems to be made (how Columbus
Columbus, who was brave and admiring, had a different route to Asia led the journey west came upon the new yet to be explored American continents. According to Document E, it states, “His conquest of Atlantic the outer space of the fifteenth century - is as meaningful to the Americans of the space age as it was to our forefathers who pushed across the vast expenses of this continent.” This quote shows how Columbus’s conquest was an important milestone in the achievements of people of his time and even today. Despite his famous discovery, one of the main reason to set sail for this conquest was Columbus’s greed for riches and fame. In Document A, it states, “I was very attentive to them, and strove to learn if they had any gold.”
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.
Christopher 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
In the book Zinn, The author gives a point of view of Christopher Columbus that is usually not given. Most of the time the story of Christopher Columbus is told from a historian point of view. They usually tell you of his mission, and of the three ships that he takes in order to find gold and other new riches. Zinn informs us that he is not the hero that, that we all think that he is. It shows us that he tortured, abused, and overwhelmingly embarrasses the Arwark Indians.
1. Zinn had stated that many historians have so far heavily relied on biased views that are influenced by ideological choices on what to present and emphasize in portraying history. However Zinn is not to ‘accuse, judge, condemn Columbus’, but to question against the ‘easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price to pay for progress.’ In other words, Zinn is challenging the prevalent, stereotypical story telling of the American history by demoting the exaggerated heroism, and telling it from the victims and the lessor’s perspective. 2.
Christopher Columbus should not be celebrated because he committed mass genocide, forced slaves, and wiped out an entire population. The first reason for why Christopher Columbus should not be celebrated is because he committed mass genocide against the Native Americans. “Endless testimonies...prove the mild and pacific temperament of the natives…. But our work was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy; small wonder,” -Bartolome Las Casas, 1527.
A 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.
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.
Christopher 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”.
The first chapter of both APeople’s History of the United States (Zinn, 1980) andA Patriot’s History of the United States(Schweikart and Allen, 2004) tells the story of the discovery of the New World. Beginning with the landing of Columbus in the Bahamas, these accounts are told from two separate perspectives. Zinn often refers to the telling of history as a tale between victims and executioners, saying that in the “inevitable taking of sides which comes from selection and emphasis in History” he prefers to stand on the side of the victim, whereas Schweikart and Allen tend to stand behind the executioner. Much of APatriot’s Historyis spent arguing the accuracy of the number of natives murdered by invading European entities, attempting to minimize the blame reflected on these executioners.
In the Non-fiction book, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus, Charles Mann aims to debunk an array of beliefs about Native Americans that most scholars once insisted were true. Mann’s research suggests that the native people of the Americas are more intelligent and sophisticated than previously predicted, live in higher numbers and greatly impact the natural landscape. The book is split into three parts: Numbers from Nowhere, Very Old Bones, and Landscapes with Figures. These parts focus on the population, culture, origins and the environment. Mann builds his arguments by reassessing a myriad of pre-existing views about the Americas prior to 1492. He then uses his new findings to prove his theories. This informative read provides
Many 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
Some 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.
However, it still happened and destroyed a whole population. The Columbian Exchange shows the arrival diseases like whooping cough and many others to the new world ( Document 6). As said, a mass extinction happened. We still should not praise Columbus as a hero because just one thing he did to the natives was “unintentional”. That one “unintentional” thing still doesn't make up for the numerous other accounts of crimes, torture and slavery on the