ipl-logo

Summary Of Columbus The Indians And Human Progress

262 Words2 Pages
In this chapter, “Columbus, the Indians and Human Progress,” Howard Zinn explains how people have carried out human massacres throughout world history as if they were a necessity for the human progress. According to Zinn, these massacres are not limited to a specific place or time, but extend to different countries at different times in history. Examples of these massacres as tool for human progress are the genocide of the Arawaks and Hiroshima. Furthermore, Zinn explains that the use of genocide as a tool of progress has maintained in human culture because people have learned to ignore it; in other words, according to the author, people learn about universal history from the historical heroes’ perspective. For this reason, Zinn prefers to
Show More
Related
272 Words | 2 Pages

Christopher Columbus’ idea was to make an immense profit by setting up a faster sea route to make trading easier with the East. He was determined that instead of sailing East he wanted to go West across the Atlantic Ocean to reach the Indies (India, China, and Japan) faster (The World of Columbus). However, to set sail, Columbus needed economic aid from monarchs to supply ships, sailors, and supplies, but no one wanted to support him. For Columbus to reach his goal he didn’t stop after facing rejection from different monarchs; especially he never gave up negotiating with the Queen and King of Spain. Compared to Christopher Columbus’ world, today in my opinion people have more access to tools that was hard to get in Columbus’ time period.

Read More
1751 Words | 8 Pages

Natalie Imamura Ms. Theobald HOTA August 7,2014 A People’s History of the United States 1.) Columbus, the Indians, and Human progress Zinn’s opinion was based on the Indians viewpoint such as the Arawak’s, blacks, and Cherokees. He believes that if we reflect on the past, we will be able to create a better future. When Columbus met the Arawak Indians he took some Indians as prisoners to help Columbus find gold.

Read More
967 Words | 4 Pages

Chapter 1: 1. Zinn’s purpose for writing history the way that he did was to give the viewpoints of the people that were affected- not just the people who were in charge like in most history textbooks. He sought to get the most truthful accounts of America since most sources for history lie about the past with bias by omitting facts, stating facts and burying them in a mass of other facts, or just lying outright. 2. Columbus is depicted as heroic in most history textbooks for braving the seas and discovering the Americas for Europe but, in actuality, his intentions were selfish and his means were cruel.

Read More
851 Words | 4 Pages

In 1492, a Spaniard called Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean seeking the new world or the Indies and found modern day country Dominican Republic. When he got there the inhabitants, the Native Americans, spoke a different language and had a different culture. Columbus decided to call them “Indians” since he thought he had found India. When he got to know and understand the “Indians”, he started enslaving and using them to find gold and goods and steal them to take it to the Queen of Spain(nationalgeographic). Columbus told the King and Queen he had converted the natives to Catholicism so that they thought he was progressing in his trip and would donate more funds for more expeditions.

Read More
1008 Words | 5 Pages

Howard Zinn’s point on how we regard on how we teach and learn about Columbus is that the historians only focus on one criteria on how Columbus had found this land but didn’t focus on the crueler facts that the Arawaks faced, like how they were enslaved to work for the Spaniards. Howard Zinn thinks that we should rethink the Columbus Legacy and it’s implications for the present and future because of the factors that the historians didn’t put in their teachings and books. In History textbooks, Christopher Columbus is known for the man who founded North America. Which is technically not true since the Arawaks were already there.

Read More
1092 Words | 5 Pages

In the first chapter of A People's History of The United States: 1492-Present by Howard Zinn, he sheds light on the history of the United States concerning Christopher Columbus's expedition, exploitation of Native Americans, and human progress. He entails the full extent of the voyage without sparing any details or censoring anything unwarranted to hear. Howard Zinn informs the reader how Christopher Columbus caused a genocide and enslaved the Indians. By the end of the chapter, it is quite evident that Christopher Columbus was barbaric, cruel, and greedy.

Read More
944 Words | 4 Pages

The first chapter of both A​People’s History of the United States (​Zinn, 1980) and​A Patriot’s History of the United States​(Schweikart and Allen, 2004) tells the story of the discovery of the New World. Beginning with the landing of Columbus in the Bahamas, these accounts are told from two separate perspectives. Zinn often refers to the telling of history as a tale between victims and executioners, saying that in the “inevitable taking of sides which comes from selection and emphasis in History” he prefers to stand on the side of the victim, whereas Schweikart and Allen tend to stand behind the executioner. Much of A​Patriot’s History​is spent arguing the accuracy of the number of natives murdered by invading European entities, attempting to minimize the blame reflected on these executioners.

Read More
251 Words | 2 Pages

“Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”, chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States”, written by professor and historian Howard Zinn, concentrates on a different perspective of major events in American history. It begins with the native Bahamian tribe of Arawaks welcoming the Spanish to their shores with gifts and kindness, only then for the reader to be disturbed by a log from Columbus himself – “They willingly traded everything they owned… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Zinn pg.1) In the work, Zinn continues explaining the unnecessary evils Columbus and his men committed unto the unsuspecting natives.

Read More
522 Words | 3 Pages

Christopher Columbus's discovery of the “New World” in 1492 was the stimulant for change that European society, at the time, had been waiting for. European society, for hundreds of years, was living in the deep shadows of Asia. The discovery of America opened a whole new world of riches and opportunities to the explorers. However, beyond these new goods and opportunities lied horrific effects of European contact to the indigenous people; the Aztecs. Contact with the European explorers did not lead to prosperity; it led to death and fall of the great empire where it was decapitated and left unrecognizable.

Read More
431 Words | 2 Pages

Christopher Columbus’ Invasion of the New World Genocide is defined as the deliberate killing of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group. Funded by royalty Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Christopher Columbus and many other men set off to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia (1). He made four trips to in 1492, 1493, 1498 and 1502 and failed to accomplish his goal (1). Columbus is known for discovering the Americas when accidently sailing there instead. At the end of the 1400’s a problematic trip was the journey to Asia from Europe by land (1).

Read More
1428 Words | 6 Pages

During the time of 1492; 15th century in Spain, Christopher Columbus was preparing for his journey to explore the other side of the world. While exploring in the name of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, Columbus discovered the Americas and claimed the land for Spain (Hakim 78). On top of this, Columbus started an agricultural revolution between the old and new world (in this case Spain and the Americas) (Hakim 82). Spain received new foods while the Americas gained new foods and animals. Columbus, the man, has proven that he should be remembered as negative because of the actions he committed such as enslaving the Taino people, murdering the innocent and claiming land that was not his to claim in the first place.

Read More
964 Words | 4 Pages

As Nelson Mandela once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Donovan Livingston, a graduate at Harvard Graduate School of Education, has similar views on education. His passionate and inspiring speech called “Lift Off” was given at HGSE’s Commencement Ceremony on May 25, 2016. The speech discusses the importance of education as well as the obstacles and injustices students, especially those of color, have experienced throughout history in getting an education. Livingston’s graduating classmates who are becoming teachers, as well as teachers and educators in general, are the audience of his speech.

Read More
613 Words | 3 Pages

Europeans had many effects on the area now known as Texas and on the Indians. Few if any of those effects were positive. The Conquistadors affected the people, the land, and caused the colonization of Texas. They had many motives for their deeds, converting the Indians to Christianity, finding cities of gold, or just claiming land. A Spanish conquistador named Cabeza de Vaca crashed into the mainland near Galveston in 1528 and began exploring the area now known as Texas.

Read More
711 Words | 3 Pages

“1491” Questions 1. Two scholars, Erikson and William Balée believe that almost all aspects of Native American life have been perceived wrong. Although some refuse to believe this, it has been proven to be the truth. Throughout Charles C. Mann’s article from The Atlantic, “1491”, he discusses three main points: how many things that are viewed as facts about the natives are actually not true, the dispute between the high and low counters, and the importance of the role disease played in the history of the Americas. When the term “Native American” is heard, the average person tends to often relate that to a savage hunter who tries to minimize their impact on their surrounding environment.

Read More
1081 Words | 5 Pages

In this documentary “The Human Footprint”, entire life of an individual person is laid out in which we can see all those things, that we would ever use and produce in our lifetime, piled up in front of us. This documentary is the story of every one’s life, an average life, life from cradle to grave. This is the story of human footprint. Through the life of an average boy and girl, the impact of an average life is calculated. An average life span is 2 billion, 475 million and 576 thousand second’s journey and this is the journey from cradle to grave.

Read More

More about Summary Of Columbus The Indians And Human Progress

Related Topics

Open Document