Summary Of Columbus And The Discovery Of The New World By Howard Zinn

The story of Columbus and the discovery of the New World is a hard subject as numerous people in this world do not know the real story of how Columbus discovered North America and his treatment towards the Natives. Many historians have “warped” viewpoints on the history of how Columbus discovered North America and how many of them contain some sort of bias in their descriptions of historical events. However, Howard Zinn tackles the subject of the discovery of the New World by Columbus well as he states many different sources that help make his argument valid and credible. Howard Zinn was an American historian who wrote more than twenty books including the book, A People’s History of the United States, in which I will be analyzing this piece

Our society today sees Christopher Columbus as a hero and someone who we should look up to, as we have a holiday specifically named after Columbus, which is called “Columbus Day”. People often view Columbus as an important figure who discovered America and did nothing wrong but, Howard Zinn shows us a different perspective of how we should actually view Christopher Columbus. Howard Zinn shows us how Columbus was prejudice as he felt he was better than anyone who wasn’t his race/ethnicity. One example of this is when Columbus first arrives North America and writes in his log. Howard Zinn shows us how Columbus thought that because they were not familiar with swords and other weapons, he thought they were ignorant because the Arawak people were not exposed to this type of technology the Spaniards used. Zinn makes it known that Columbus is prejudice because he quotes Columbus when he writes down that “they [the Arawak people] would make fine servants…with fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want”1. This shows how he felt that he was superior to the Indians and that they could be easily conquered as he believed that he was intelligent, and they were just strong, but weak-minded. Howard Zinn gives evidence on how Christopher Columbus did not see the Arawak people as equal because they were

Zinn describes them as generous people who were known for their hospitability and their belief in living in a community while sharing with others. The Natives were peaceful and willingly traded anything to the Spaniards. They were the complete opposites of the Spaniards because they would welcome anyone, no matter what their differences were, unlike the Spaniards who despised anyone who was different. Hence, Howard Zinn shows how the Indians were peaceful people who were hospitable to just about