Compare Christopher Columbus And The History Of Colonization

Columbus and the History of Colonization

Everyone has heard the phrase, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” We were taught that Christopher Columbus was a great and courageous man who sailed across the ocean looking for the Indies, and instead came across the Americas. Therefore, Columbus was credited with the discovery of the New World. We celebrate Columbus Day, read his journal accounts, and some speak highly in his honor. Yet, are we missing something here? When one reads only one side of the story, we miss important information; information that can totally change one’s outlook on Columbus’ story. The truth is that after Columbus made his discovery and observed the natives, he considered the Taino people as innocents who were kind and sweet people that he thought would be easy to manipulate; however, that did not stop his quest for fortune

The native communities thrived on kin, politics, and culture to sustain the peace. They also relied on trading and creating alliances (Burnett et al., 2017). However, after ravishing the lands and bringing disease to the natives, Columbus, still looking for that wealth, noted that the natives wore gold ornaments and he set his men to find the source of the gold (Burnett et al., 2017). Columbus and his men enslaved, tortured, and wiped out an entire group of natives. They put them under dangerous work conditions and families were separated from each other. Columbus had promised the King and Queen of Spain gold and slaves (Burnett et al.); therefore, the natives that were spared were captured and thrown onto ships, where they would contract diseases, have nothing to eat, and possibly die before ever reaching Spain. At this point, it is very clear that the story we grew up hearing, is not quite as heroic as it seemed. While it may have been a huge step forward for the rest of the world, Columbus’