Columbus And The First Thanksgiving Summary

The first chapter of both A​People’s History of the United States (​Zinn, 1980) and​A 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 A​Patriot’s History​is spent arguing the accuracy of the number of natives murdered by invading European entities, attempting to minimize the blame reflected on these executioners. However, Schweikart and Allen have access to more modern technology and theory seeing as A​Patriot’s History​was

Loewen argues, “The authors of history textbooks have taken us on a trip of their own, away from the facts of history, into the realm of myth.” As historical events regress further into the past, writers may misinterpret facts that they may have studied. A story of discovery and friendship or a tale of conquest, murder, and greed, which of these are Christopher Columbus’ true stories? I believe the best method to teach American high school students about Christopher Columbus’ story is through historiography because historiography teaches students to compare and distinguish different outlooks from different writers’ point of views instead of just remembering misinterpreted facts. Historiography would guide and force students to study and learn history through a diverse set of historians who focused on the same subject and come to different conclusions. Historiography sets a better stage for an understanding of a subject and opens up a boarder class discussion dialog.

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.

“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

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.

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

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer who is well known for “discovering” North America. In reality Christopher was trying to get to China and thought he was in Japan all 4 times he went to North America. He was actually in what is now the Bahamas and Cuba. And really Christopher didn't even discover America. The Native Americans beat Columbus by thousands of years.

When I was younger I was told the Christopher Columbus was a hero. And when I was a child I didn’t know better so I believed it. Because adults would never lie to me, right? Well they didn’t exactly lie they just kept me away from the major details. Like how Christopher Columbus in a way is the reason why slavery began in the Americas. And that is why I am grateful to have learned many details that shine the light on the way that Christopher Columbus actually was like, a villain.

In the first chapter Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your AMerican History Textbook Got Wrong, James Loewen explores the common process of heroification within America’s history. The flaws of many individuals, specifically Woodrow Wilson and Helen Keller in this chapter, are usually overlooked when recounting their achievements. Loewen points outs that when heroes are recognized for certain things it only covers a short person of the person’s life. The media and schools filter out the bad to leave room for inspiration and good.

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 world has glorified many historical people especially early explorers. One such explorer is Christopher Columbus. Historians have discovered that perhaps Columbus Was given honor prematurely.

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.

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.

Evidence: “When resistance mounted a to the Spaniards’ violence, Columbus sent an armed force to ‘spread terror among the Indians to show them how strong and powerful the Christians were,’ according to the Spanish priest Bartolome de las Casas” (Huffington Post).

Christopher 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.