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Goodbye Columbus Research Paper

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Goodbye Columbus: The Real Meaning Behind The Holiday Some see Christopher Columbus as an iconic explorer, who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to prove a simple point of a round Earth. Even more people see Columbus as the heartfelt founder of the New World. However, there are few that see Columbus as an invader, liar and murderer. This large genocide that took place, should not be celebrated as a prideful holiday, but more a mourning for the lives lost. Over 2,000 year ago, Eratosthenes, an Ancient Greek mathematician, calculated the circumference of the Earth. This was the first proven hypothesis about Earth’s spherical shape. In 1492, due to the rich - poor learning gap, only the wealthy (Christopher Colombus, Adam Smith, etc.) where …show more content…

Columbus's interactions with the Lucayan Natives was very exploitable. He writes, “I could conquer the whole of them with fifty men and govern them as I pleased.” In fact, after his voyage, he insisted on taking 25 Native people home with him. Of those 25 Lucayans, 7 survived the voyage. After returning to Spain, Columbus made a deal with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to bring a new land of gold and wealth to them, in trade for ships, weapons, and men. He later returned to the New World, but this time ready for war. He demanded the Lucayan people to hand over their food, gold, and woman. When they refused, Columbus and his men, would torture the Natives by cutting off their ears and noses. However, Columbus still was not satisfied, as he did not quite find the tresures he was looking for, so he captured 500 Lucayans and brought them back to be sold in the slave trade. Upon returning, he decided to make a Tribute System. This would mean that when native brought Columbus enough gold, he would in return give them a necklace that would give them immunity for a couple of months. By creating this system, Christopher got the gold he was looking for. So, although he did expand the wealth and riches of the world, he also created many crimes. Christopher Columbus was a mass murderer and slave owner, who

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The United States of America celebrates Columbus Day, to commemorate the day Christopher Columbus landed in the New World, on the second Monday of October. The United States should not be celebrating Columbus Day because Christopher was not a very nice person. He made strict laws about obtaining gold and bringing its overseas, enslaved and murdered millions of native Americans, and he did not even step foot in America, the main country that celebrates this day in history. In a letter from Christopher Columbus to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, Columbus recommends rules and regulations for a new colony, for the benefit of Spain.

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Furthermore, Christopher Columbus was a very greedy man that only wanted to be rich and famous. He later got arrested for his greed and immorality and taken back to Spain. Christopher Columbus day is insulting to many American Indians and many native-born Americans. Many Americans oppose Christopher Columbus day. Columbus’ expeditions set in motion the worldwide transfer of people, plants, animals, diseases, and cultures that greatly affected nearly every society on the planet.

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During the time period of which Columbus first set foot on the new world, peoples views on slavery were much different than ours today. They made exceptions to it as everyone owned slaves back them (Document 2). However, physical abuse and torture are no exception. Columbus has been exposed for his torture on the Taino tribe. Every three months Columbus demanded a hawk's bell of gold or 25 pounds of spun cotton from everyone over the age of fourteen.

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742 Words | 3 Pages

A heavily debated topic in this day and age is if Christopher Columbus was really a hero or a mass murderer. On one hand, he opened up access to the New World and created trade routes, on the other, he primarily unintentionally almost wiped out a population and abused Native Americans. I believe that Columbus was more of a hero than he was a villain because he had a normal mindset and goal for Spaniards during the time period, many things he is blamed for happened completely unintentionally or by accident, and Columbus wasn’t the only one who had servants and took Natives captive. Often when looking back into history, we unintentionally judge events, people, and actions based off of our current mindset, and Christopher Columbus was no exception.

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994 Words | 4 Pages

In the year of 1492, a man by the name of Christopher Columbus sailed the Atlantic Ocean in search of a western sea route to China, India, and the Spice Islands of Asia. While searching westward, Columbus discovered a new world which nobody had ever seen before. This land was large and unexplored. Here, there were natives, and Christopher Columbus decided to take back some of them to England to show the Queen. While at this new world, he murdered and enslaved the natives and took over their land.

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846 Words | 4 Pages

However. because Columbus brought catastrophes to the Native Americans. many people opposed the Columbus jubilations. They began to believe whether the Columbus Day should be considered as a national vacation in the United States. Surely.

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694 Words | 3 Pages

Just around when the international slave trade was starting to grow Columbus and his men captured many people from the west indies and subjected them through violence and cruelty. He forced thousands of people under his rule. Some of these people were sent away to be sold and many of them died on the way. Those who were not sold were forced to work in plantations and gold mines. On Christopher Columbus’s first day in the New World he picked and enslaved several Native americans to become his servants.

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855 Words | 4 Pages

I see him as nothing more than a Robber, evil mastermind, and murderer. After all, how can we celebrate him ‘discovering’ land that was already inhabited? Columbus shouldn’t have a day in his honor. It should be to remember the trials and tribulations the Taino’s went through.

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1302 Words | 6 Pages

Many people, in today’s society, do not agree on the image of Christopher Columbus, or what this Holiday is portrayed to be. Some say he was a savage, and he should not be celebrated. People boycott the Holiday, and say he enslaved, killed, and tortured Native Americans for their lands and riches. Others believe he was a brave and honorable explorer, who set out on a voyage in search of A “New World”. Who is right?

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467 Words | 2 Pages

Christopher Columbus is well known throughout America, so known there is a special holiday one a year on the second monday in October. He’s known for finding America and doing many good deeds for America’s evolution. When people explain why this holiday is celebrated, others are told a great man with the name of Christopher Columbus, discovered America. He traveled from Spain to find Asia, specifically India. What people don’t know is he enslaved many people ripping them from their homes without choice.

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854 Words | 4 Pages

The contract signed with the monarchs made Columbus the governor of any land that he would discover giving him the power he desired. Along with the power of being governor of the new land, he was also given the rights to ten percent of all that he brought back with him to Spain giving him the wealth. This included all gold, pearls, spices, and other objects which he intended to retrieve in the largest quantity possible. After more than a two month voyage, he finally landed on the islands of what is now the present day Bahamas. This seemingly innocent discovery soon would turn into a more than devastating

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340 Words | 2 Pages

So, what i gathered from this chapter is that, Europeans are jerks. They thought that they were just God’s gift to the earth. So, I guess when they “discovered” a new world filled with people who didn 't look like them, dress like them, live like them, they must of came to the conclusion that these poor, poor savages needed to be reconditioned to be like them or be wiped from history. Which is basically what Columbus did. Why do we have a holiday named after him?

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757 Words | 4 Pages

Holidays around the world are celebrated to remember and commemorate certain times in history, and to keep those dates important. For quite some time, Columbus Day has been a questionable holiday. Some people say it should be a holiday because we are acknowledging the fact that he discovered the Americas. In contrast, others disagree because of the ways he treated the original inhabitants of the places he discovered. This paper will argue that Columbus Day should not be a holiday because he exploited, murdered, and enslaved many natives throughout his journeys.

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192 Words | 1 Pages

When I let Columbus go, I expected some spices and maybe gold. However, when he came back, he brought six foreign Indians, cages of multi-colored parrots, baskets of exotic plants, thread, and to my great happiness, gold. Obviously, Columbus was only trying to do good. He never intended to hurt

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868 Words | 4 Pages

The legacy of Christopher Columbus and his voyages states that he crossed the Atlantic Ocean trying to get to India and China when he stumbled upon a new place, which called the New World. He was born to make history in which he starts off his voyages so that people will remember all the good he did. October 12, the day for the whole Americans to have a one-day off. Anti-Semitism, revulsion and discrimination of Christopher Columbus, has troubled the native Indians people for such a long time. The most severe massacre happened when Columbus started to discover the New World, and what he and the rest of his crews did to the Natives Indian and will endlessly be remembered.

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