A People's History Of The United States Chapter 1 Summary

A People’s History of the U.S. begins by describing Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the Americas. In past history courses, I have always learned about Columbus and his expedition for gold and discovery, but not the naked truth of how he truly treated the Indians upon his arrival to the Americas and the nearby islands. Howard Zinn goes into great detail about how evil and destructive Columbus and the Spaniards were during their expeditions. Zinn claims that when Columbus first arrives to the Bahama Islands, the Arawak Indians were very kind, essentially “running” to Columbus and his men to offer them gifts upon their arrival. Instead of accepting their gifts with gratitude, Columbus and his men take the Indians as prisoners in order

While some choose to celebrate, seeing Columbus as a hero, others believe Columbus was far from a good, gracious man. Zinn talks of how stingy Columbus and the Spaniards were when it came to gold. They took advantage of the Indians. Zinn includes writings from Columbus, in which he speaks about how vulnerable and non-resistant the Indians were, claiming they would never say no when Columbus asked them to hand over their resources. It has always been taught to me in history that Columbus and his men did take advantage of the Indians, but Zinn seems to take it into much more detail in comparison to the Patriots History textbook, which seems to lack the amount of gruesome detail from A People’s History. In past history courses, it seems to always be taught that we should be thankful for Columbus and his discoveries, without going into detail about how he actually treated the Native Americans. As time went on, Zinn begins describing how the Indians went from prisoners to becoming enslaved. Indian women started to become sex slaves against their will, and used for hard labor. When Indians tried to escape, Columbus would have them killed. Zinn also includes writings about Columbus that were written by a man named Las Casas. Las Casas describes Columbus and the Spaniards’ greed, and their lack of compassion for the Indians, claiming they made the enslaved Indians “shade them with giant leaves