Pros And Cons Of Columbus

As a child learns US history, they will undoubtedly hear the rhyme of Christopher Colombus, "In 1492, he sailed the ocean blue." This little jingle will nurse them to maintain an adequate memory of the man who supposedly “founded America.” It has long been a tradition in American history to exalt Christopher Columbus as a heroic figure. There are more than 6,000 towns and cities in the US named after Columbus, and as of 2021, there were 149 public monuments to him in the US according to the non-profit organization, Monument Lab. A man who is so heavily praised in America must have done exemplary things, right? Although the common perception of Columbus may be positive, schools rarely teach about the many faulty actions he committed.

They have no iron… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” When he returned to Spain, he gave Queen Isabella his journal.

The following September, Columbus returned to the Americas. Hispaniola's settlement was destroyed, and he left his brothers, Diego Columbus, and Bartolomeo Columbus, as well as hundreds of enslaved natives behind to rebuild.

He then headed west to continue his so-far unsuccessful hunt for gold and other valuable resources. As time went on, Columbus and his crew enslaved more and more indigenous peoples. The History Channel states that “In lieu of the material riches he had promised the Spanish monarchs, he sent some 500 enslaved people to Queen Isabella. The queen was horrified—she believed that any people Columbus ‘discovered’ were Spanish subjects who could not be enslaved—and she promptly and sternly returned the explorer’s gift.”

Later, Columbus took a third voyage in May of 1498. During this trip

However, a large part of his legacy is the continued European contact which followed resulting in “devastating loss of life, disruption of tradition, and enormous loss of lands for Indigenous Peoples in the Americas. It is estimated that in the 130 years following first contact, Native America lost 95 percent of its population. Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere immediately experienced enslavement and theft of resources by the explorers turned settlers. Colonies created by the Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, and English grew throughout the Americas and increasingly encroached upon Native lives and lands. Warfare, enslavement, and forced relocation disrupted and altered the lives of Indigenous Peoples in the Americas (Native Knowledge).” To celebrate Columbus and other figures like him is to overlook the devastating losses experienced by Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere in the past and the ongoing effects of colonialism