“The US honors 2 people with holidays bearing their names. Martin Luther King Jr, who gave his life combatting the legacy of slavery, and Christopher Columbus, who initiated it in the first place. (Confronting Columbus)”. Christopher Columbus, often known as a brave adventurer, was actually a perpetrator of genocide. Columbus Day should not be celebrated because of the horrendous behavior Columbus showed off, between the atrocities committed against the Natives and the self-absorption Columbus had, shows that he is not in fact a hero, but instead a villain.
Christopher Columbus was born on October 31, in about 1450 to a weaver and a housewife to a moderately rich family. Columbus knew from a young age that he wanted to pursue a higher education
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Thousands of Natives died at the hands of Columbus and his men. They found their way into settlements and slaughtered just about anyone who got in their way. about 40,000 natives died on the first expedition, mostly from being thrown to wild dogs, being forced into slavery, or being subjected to torture. Columbus’ main goal in all of this? He wanted to be as rich as possible, cutting off their hands if they didn’t comply with his orders to find him gold. 7,000 native children died from starvation in the 3-4 months after Columbus and his men arrived at the island. They collected pregnant women from all over the island, wagered the genders of their babies, then sliced open their bellies. It didn’t even matter if they were right or wrong about the gender of the baby, because either way the mothers were killed and the babies were thrown aside. The men also split apart Taino families into slave groups. Each white man had a posse of slaves to do work for them, and in a “fair trade” taught them all about Christianity. While many people argue that Columbus was just a man of his time, we live in the present, and in the present it is believed that one must be punished for the crimes he commits. In addition, the evidence about Columbus’ murders, rapes, slavery, and kidnapping of Native Americans show that this man was never good, and that he only really “discovered” Hispaniola for his own
What is Christopher Columbus day? Christopher Columbus day is when people of America celebrate the day Columbus discovered America in 1492 every October and call him a hero. Many historians have honored him and called him a hero as they learned more. (“Columbus Controversy”). However, what society does not know is what he had done to the Natives and their culture.
Although Christopher Columbus marked a turning point in history, he was not the hero he’s said to be. For one, he enslaved countless amounts of natives after his arrival in the “New World”. He believed they’d make good servants and put them to work finding gold for him. He also mutilated these enslaved people if they did not find enough gold for him. They were usually punished by the loss of a limb and, on occasion, by death.
He enforced unfair slavery and harsh commands onto the Taino tribes. He forced adults above the age of fourteen to mine for gold. This mining was so harsh that many died from exhaustion. Columbus penalized many innocent people because of their religion, he was on a mission to spread Christianity. One day a Spaniard went through the hills terrorizing the Indians and stealing their food.
While Columbus was the first European to sail to America he set a path that others will follow. One of these being slavery. While Columbus was killing the Natives he then forced labor upon them. “ The people of Haiti, where Columbus established a colony in 1493, were almost completely exterminated within one generation, due directly or indirectly to Columbus’ actions” ( Source 4). This caused suffering to the Africans and once they died out he brought in Natives to finish their work.
Columbus day is a celebration of the discovery of a new world that grew to be the one of the most powerful countries in the world. Columbus never gave up when trying to get funding to sail to across the Atlantic. He traveled back and forth multiple time is his determination to create a wealthy colony. Though, like every person, had a flaw, and that was that he was a man of his time. Yet, he was also one of the most motivated and independent people of his time.
Have you ever thought about the origins of our holidays? Columbus day in particular has recently been controversial. Maybe the textbook version isn’t the same as the truth. The truth about Christopher Columbus provides evidence that Columbus day should be abolished. First off, he didn’t even care about any of the Native Americans.
The United States admires Christopher Columbus for the things people think he did, but his “accomplishments” and “discoveries” may have been false. Columbus day should not be celebrated because he didn’t do the things he said he did, he did terrible things, and he caused problems to happen. Christopher Columbus didn’t do the things he said he did like discovering America, having knowledge, and he never actually meant to find the Americas. Columbus did terrible things such as encouraging men to rape girls, having harsh punishments for people with minor offenses, and he lead hunting dogs to tear the Indians apart. He caused many problems like death, slavery, and destroying culture.
I believe that Columbus is -----(great ,bad) person and he should ------(should,should not) have there own holiday. that is the format of this answer. Thank you for staying tuned for this essay now I got find something else to
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.
Do you believe that we should celebrate Columbus Day as a national holiday? Do you believe he is a hero? or a Villain? Some people have different points of view when it comes to a question like this; sometimes, their opinion may reflect their religious beliefs or because of all the terrible acts against humanity in the New World. We also do have to remember that he did discover America; he started the Columbian Exchange,and brought many different values to this new world he just discovered. Even though I believe that he is a hero and we should celebrate him through a national holiday, I want to give you a chance to decide whether you think he is a hero or a Villain and choose if we should celebrate him as a national holiday.
Every year on October 8 millions of Americans stay home and celebrate the “discovery” of our great nation, but most people are misinformed about Christopher Columbus. Many people believe that Christopher Columbus was the first person to discover North America; however, it is quite the contrary. There were many explorers that came to North America, and also there were permanent settlers that moved to North America during the ice age when the land bridge connecting Asia to North America existed. All things considered, the Columbus Day holiday should not be celebrated in the United States, because Columbus was not the first person to discover America, and he tried to enslave the Native Americans, also, he believed the Native Americans were a barbaric, primitive, and unintelligent race, who were beneath his European standards.
Columbus Day is one of the most controversial holidays in America. Columbus Day is celebrated in many of the countries in the Americas for the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival to the New World on October 12, 1492. He originally set out for sail for India under Kind Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. He made a total of four voyages between 1492 and 1498 where he explored Caribbean islands and areas of Central and South America. There is no argument that his “discovery” was a turning point in history, however many argue that his accomplishments have been oversimplified and glorified.
All national holidays in our calendars celebrate some sort of special occasion, that's why their holidays after all. Whether it be Valentines Day for love, Easter a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, or if non Christian spring spirit, Christmas the birth of Jesus for Christians, or a time of giving and joy, and etc. There are even holidays for great people like Martin Luther, Cesar Chavez, and Abraham Lincoln, that commemorate their great achievements. But, one seems to stick out like a sore thumb; Columbus Day.
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.
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