Christopher Columbus: the Executing Explorer In the year 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Every single student in the United States of America is taught that without the expeditionary mastermind, Christopher Columbus, he or she would not be in the classroom, which they reside. The atrocities the explorer is responsible for are simply glossed over as necessary evils. Columbus is responsible for the genocide of a large group of History is also often skewed when it comes to the early settlements in what is now the east coast of America. Early education teaches young boys and girls about the success stories of the pre-colonial encampments in North America. Overall, the voyages struggled to make the intended impact, but instead …show more content…
In doing so, he found wealth more than any of his mates could have imagined. He laid the framework for European countries to cross the Atlantic and acquire wealth in new counties. Christopher Columbus decided he would try his hand at exploration. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella funded his crossing of the ocean and in return, Columbus would bring back wealth he would find. In 1492, he set sail with three ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. You know how the rest of that story goes, or so you think. Christopher Columbus is not the man who he is reputation says he is. History is a painting that is constructed in the winner’s point of view. Columbus is viewed as the founder of the new world, but even that is far from the truth. First of all, numerous explorers and tribes such as the Vikings set foot on the other side of the Atlantic long before Columbus was even born. Furthermore, he did not even plan to discover a new land. His ultimate goal was actually to find a shorter trade route to India. Even after making multiple trips to the new world, and many telling him he never was in India, he still believed that was where he was …show more content…
He has major cities and colleges named after him with Columbus and Columbia. He even has a national holiday for slaughtering innocent people. In a world where we can look at people from the past with a fair assessment, we should do the same for Columbus. Instead, children celebrate him in classrooms and never learn about the person he truly was. The education system in America is nowhere near perfect, but at least children are taught the difference between right and wrong. Columbus is squarely in the wrong column. Bill Bigelow agrees saying that current textbooks attributes many Native American deaths to disease, but that is just not true. He continues saying that currently American students “see him plant the flag, and name and claim “San Salvador” for an empire thousands of miles away; they’re taught that white people have the right to rule over peoples of color, that stronger nations can bully weaker nations, and that the only voices they need to listen to throughout history are those of powerful white guys like Columbus.” (Bigelow) Even videos depicting Columbus will only show his good side through singing and dancing. It even depicts the Native Americans receiving Columbus as a god among men. Now this does not mean that anyone has to go in graphic detail about what exactly he perpetrated, but do not rejoice in his actions. For over the past five hundred centuries, people have taken