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What Are The Ethical Issues Of Columbus The Indians And Human Progress

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The first chapter in Howard Zinn’s book is Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress. In this chapter, Zinn begins by putting a lot of focus on Europeans and the way they mistreated the indigenous peoples. He starts off by giving a description of Native Americans known as the Arawak. The ethical dilemma that can be found in this chapter is whether or not it is ethical for Columbus to kill and harm the natives the way he did. One of the questions that can be drawn from this story is this; would Columbus be found guilty in a court of law because of his systematic killings of Indians? My thesis on this matter is this; if Columbus were alive in the current world, he would be found guilty on crimes against humanity and would be jailed. Before the …show more content…

The lives of the natives changed forever and to the worse on the arrival of Columbus and his people. The natives began living in slavery because the Columbus saw an opportunity for gold and slaves. The natives were overwhelmingly enslaved by Columbus and his team. They were forced to carry around the people from Spain. Since the main objective of his was to obtain gold, Columbus killed and overworked the natives, coming up with rules that led to the death of half the Indians within a period of two years. As a result of this, many people committed suicide and even killed their children in order to protect them from the Spaniards. As time went by, the population of Arawak’s declined significantly, and an innocent race just vanish like that. Although he is normally portrayed as a hero by most teachers for discovering America, my thesis gives a revelation of the lesser known of Columbus and this is the one I strongly side with in this …show more content…

These factors include; authority figures, personal experiences, parents, books, revelation, and imagination. My belief is true due to the fact that it makes me understand things around me and gives me a sense of direction. Generally, the development of my personal belief is because of my life experiences as well as education. Most of the things I believe are right as I was taught by my parents. Also, teachers taught me lessons and through reading and interacting with friends even from an early age, I began to know how people are supposed to relate to each other. One thing I have valued throughout my entire life is peace and harmony. Throughout my entire life, I have never faced war or violence directly even though I have heard and read about war in books and newspapers. Having lived a life of peace and calmness in my entire life, I believe that whenever I faced with a situation of ethical dilemma, I have to make a decision that will ensure there is peace. This is the reason why even though the majority portray Columbus as a hero because of the mere fact that he helped discover America, I find a lot of ethical issues in what he did to the natives. His intentions of reaching gold and slaves brought about confusion and tensions among the indigenous. Killings, harming, toucher and slavery are the things that met the natives when Columbus and his team

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