Goodbye Columbus Research Paper

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

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