Columbus- not a man to be celebrated
Columbus did not discover America, we all know that. But do we know what he really did? In 5th grade I checked out a few books on Columbus from the library, one of those books changed the way I think about him forever….
Columbus did not set sail to prove the world was round. Many educated people knew the earth was round thousands of years before Columbus. He set sail to find gold, spices, and silks, and other riches in Asia. Columbus landed on an island between Florida and Cuba, though no one is sure exactly what island it was. Columbus believed he was in Asia even after three voyages to America and more than a decade of study, Columbus still believed that Cuba was a part of the continent of Asia, South America was a island, and the coast of Central America was close to the Ganges River.
Columbus was not even the first white man to settle in the Americans Scandinavian Vikings already had settlements here in the eleventh century, and British fisherman most likely fished in Canada decades before Columbus. The first European explorer to thoroughly document his visit to North America was the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) arrived in 1497.
So he wasn’t very bright and he didn’t really discover anything. What did he do? Well He seized 1,200 Taino Indians crammed as many onto his ships as would fit and sent them to Spain and sold them as slaves. His marauding band hunted Indians for sport and profit - beating, raping, torturing, killing, and then using the Indian bodies as food for their hunting dogs. Only after four years of Columbus' arrival his men had killed or exported one-third of the original Indian population of 300,000. Within another 50 years, the Taino people had been made extinct.
Therefore by celebrating Columbus day we are celebrating a man who committed genocide, was a slave trader, and a very bad person, personally I think that we should celebrate Indigenous People's Day instead of Columbus day, therefore people can use it to be more educated about Columbus day and pay respect to the Indigenous People of America.
Columbus did not set sail to prove the world was round. Many educated people knew the earth was round thousands of years before Columbus. He set sail to find gold, spices, and silks, and other riches in Asia. Columbus landed on an island between Florida and Cuba, though no one is sure exactly what island it was. Columbus believed he was in Asia even after three voyages to America and more than a decade of study, Columbus still believed that Cuba was a part of the continent of Asia, South America was a island, and the coast of Central America was close to the Ganges River.
Columbus was not even the first white man to settle in the Americans Scandinavian Vikings already had settlements here in the eleventh century, and British fisherman most likely fished in Canada decades before Columbus. The first European explorer to thoroughly document his visit to North America was the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) arrived in 1497.
So he wasn’t very bright and he didn’t really discover anything. What did he do? Well He seized 1,200 Taino Indians crammed as many onto his ships as would fit and sent them to Spain and sold them as slaves. His marauding band hunted Indians for sport and profit - beating, raping, torturing, killing, and then using the Indian bodies as food for their hunting dogs. Only after four years of Columbus' arrival his men had killed or exported one-third of the original Indian population of 300,000. Within another 50 years, the Taino people had been made extinct.
Therefore by celebrating Columbus day we are celebrating a man who committed genocide, was a slave trader, and a very bad person, personally I think that we should celebrate Indigenous People's Day instead of Columbus day, therefore people can use it to be more educated about Columbus day and pay respect to the Indigenous People of America.
HISTORY IS WRITTEN BY THE VICTORS. :cassie:
Sherlock, October 10th, 2007 at 01:34:47pm
I just recently learned this.
And it's incredibly idiotic.
People suck.
vivalarorya, October 9th, 2007 at 02:59:08am
We just wrote a report on this 3 weeks ago or so. :]
I would like day off from school though. :con: We were the ONLY district in our area to have to go to school today hahaha.
High Fidelity, October 9th, 2007 at 12:11:04am
I knew that. But I also know that a big part of the deaths were caused by spreading of European illnesses to aboriginal people, whose imunition systems weren't acustomed to these viruses.
To me, the real ''forgotten-bad guy'' of the explorations was Amerigo Vespucci. Pfft. Changing the name of a continent to his own, when he was far from the first to go there, how very self-centered. :)
stilinski, October 7th, 2007 at 12:54:18am
yah It's pretty screwed eh
FaLlEn _ AnGeL, October 6th, 2007 at 11:26:39pm
I concur
captain america, October 6th, 2007 at 09:19:37pm
People celebrate tons of things for the wrong reasons anyway. Besides he didn't even know he discovered it, he thought it was India.
And wasn't it Magellan's travel that proved that the Earth was round?
edit: oh apparently, that fact is wrong, I did some research.
worn-out astronaut., October 6th, 2007 at 06:25:19pm
wow, i never knew that.
Vegemite, October 6th, 2007 at 06:07:04pm
WHO CARES IT GIVES US A DAY OFF OF SCHOOL \o/
ancient, October 6th, 2007 at 06:06:22pm
I knew that.
That's why I disagree with Americans celebrating that day.
brompton cocktail., October 6th, 2007 at 05:13:49pm