ENG 3U1

July 9, 2016

Christopher Columbus

Context

Christopher Columbus is an explorer who discovered the New World (known today as

America) in the late fifteenth century. Columbus is considered to be a hero and role model by

many people in the world. He is depicted in schools across America as a man of courage and

bravery. Americans even went as far to make a national holiday in his honor. History tells the

masses that Columbus was a courageous explorer, but the grim truth is that Columbus was a

brutal Tyrant.

Unchanged History

When Christopher Columbus first arrived at the New World he found the natives of the

land called the Lucayans, Tanos and Arawaks. When the explorers first arrived the natives were

kind and friendly. Columbus wrote in his diary that: They offered to share with anyone and

when you ask for something, they never say no. (Kasum 2) The natives even spent hours to fix

one of Columbus boats that were shipwrecked. Columbus saw potential in these natives, so he

used them as slaves to mine gold. Many of the natives worked until they dies of exhaustion. If

deadlines werent met, Columbus would cut off the natives hands. Because of Columbus greed

for gold, many of the natives committed suicide in order to escape the horror. The increased

exponentially among the natives: Within only two years, 125,000 (half of the population) of the
original natives on the island were dead. (Kasum 3) The brutality did not stop there; Columbus

was in charge of selling young native girls as sex slaves. In Columbus log he said: A hundred

castellanoes are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm, and it is very general and there are

plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand.

From what he says in his log it is clear that Columbus was involved in human trafficking of

young girls. The second of Columbus expeditions was even worse. Columbus brought dogs in

order to torture the native slaves. The dogs would be ordered to hunt down escaping natives and

bite off their arms and legs. Sometimes the slaves would be burned alive for disobedience. Little

native babies were slaughtered and used as dog food, when the explorers ran out of meat.

Columbus actions were so terrible that even during his time, he was arrested and sent back to

Spain in order to answer for his acts of injustice. The monarchs of Spain however let him go

since they had amassed a lot of gold. The men who served under Columbus were just as bad as

Columbus himself. One of his previous men Bartolome De Las Casa spoke of the atrocities:

The men made bets as to who, with one sweep of his sword, could cut a person in half. He says

that Columbus men poured people full of boiling soap. (Kasum 3) De Las Casas also wrote:

My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature that now I tremble as I write. (Kasum

3) The natives had a population of approximately three million before Columbus came; within

twenty years there was only twenty thousand natives left. From the true historical evidence it is

obvious that Columbus and his men were not heroes of any kind, but instead terrible villains.

Altered History

Today in society Columbus is remembered as an adventurous hero. In the American

school system Columbus is praised for his so called actions of bravery. He is compared to some

of the American fore fathers Some historians may argue that several natives were killed from the
new diseases that the explorers brought along with them, but it is evident that many were killed

by unnatural causes as said by Bartolome De Las Casa. In the history books across America

there is no information on the bloodshed and turmoil that Columbus imposed on the native

people. Christopher Columbus is so idolized by Americans that a national holiday was created to

commemorate him. Every year on the second Monday of October, Columbus Day is celebrated.

Many Catholics today still believe and preach that Columbus was in fact a hero, but the true

history shows that he was not.

Why It Was Changed

In the nineteen thirties the Knights of Columbus were in search of a catholic hero.

Christopher Columbus was a perfect candidate for the position because he braved the seas to

discover the New World. Columbus also happened to be Christian so then he could be looked up

to by children across America. The Knights of Columbus permanently created a catholic hero

when the president signed a national holiday to commemorate Columbus: After President

Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the day into law as a federal holiday in 1937, the rest has been

history. (Schilling 1)
 Works Cited

"Christopher Columbus: The Untold Story." Christopher Columbus: The Untold Story. N.p., n.d.
Web. 10 July 2016.

Kasum, Eric. "Columbus Day? True Legacy: Cruelty and Slavery." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 Nov. 2010. Web. 9 July 2016.

Schilling, Vincent. "8 Myths and Atrocities About Christopher Columbus and Columbus Day."
Indian Country Today Media Network.com. N.p., 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 July 2016

Zinn, Howard. "Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress." Columbus Peoples Hx Zinn. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 10 July 2016.