Summary Of Columbus By Howard Zinn

In chapter one in Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States historical issues such as Columbus’ voyages to the Americas, Cortes’ conquest of the Aztec civilization, Pizarro’s conquest of the Incan civilization, and the English colonization of the North American east coast were discussed. Furthermore, Zinn explains these events in a new dialect and does not sugar-coat any of the actions or the Westerners as many historians and history textbooks do today. Therefore, with such an attitude in articulating history, Zinn makes it feasible for the reader to absorb new themes and perspectives of many historical events previously learned.

After reading chapter one, many of my previous viewpoints on Christopher Columbus, the admiral of

Traditional history textbooks often include Columbus’ lust for discovering gold and amassing great wealth, but Howard Zinn describes Columbus’ obsession of materialistic prestige and greed to a whole new level. The first example of Columbus’ overwhelming greed can be seen when he and his crew were sailing west. During Columbus’ first voyage, the first person to spot land was promised by the Spanish crown to be rewarded 10,000 maravedis annually for life. Rodrigo, a fellow sailor of Columbus’, spotted the Bahaman shores first. However, Columbus greedy for social upgrade claimed the fame for himself, ignoring his loyalty to his fellow shipmates. Zinn paraphrases this scenario by articulating, “The first man to sight land was supposed to get a yearly pension of 10,000 maravedis for life, but Rodrigo never got it. Columbus claimed he had seen a light the evening before. He got the reward” (Zinn 3). Another example of Columbus’ greed is when Columbus embarks on his second voyage to the Americas in search for gold. Failing to find any, Columbus returned his frustrations on the Native Americans. Reports show that Columbus and his crew raped Amerindian women, abused native children, and killed Native American villagers. The author supports this thesis by communicating, “On Haiti, they found that the sailors left behind at Fort Navidad had been killed in a battle with the Indians, after they had roamed the

This theme, however can be absorbed both in a positive or negative connotation. I found this theme important because if it was not for Columbus’ commitment to the Americas it would have been possible for the Americas to never have been fully colonized and inhabited by Europeans. Just think about, every time Columbus returned to Spain after a voyage he exaggerated the precious natural resources he found there to the monarchy, and by every voyage he promised a larger prize to bring back home. Inspired and surprised by Columbus’ findings, countries like France, England, Portugal, Holland, Sweden, and Germany to set voyages to explore and potentially colonize in the New World. To amplify the validity of Columbus’ commitment, Howard Zinn exclaims, “He concluded his report by asking for a little help from their Majesties, and in return he would bring them from his next voyage "as much gold as they need ... and as many slaves as they ask" (Zinn 3-4). However, the negative consequence of Columbus’ commitment to the Americas was the treatment he inflicted on the Native Americans. Not only were Native Americans taken back to Spain as slaves in shiploads, but they also were responsible for acquiring to bullion for the Spanish. The natives were placed under rough mining conditions and they also were taxed in a way to provide the Spanish a certain amount of gold and silver in a certain amount