Christopher Columbus
What would life be like today if Columbus did not journey to the Americas?
Life today would be with out a doubt different if Columbus did not “discover” America, no one knows who did, there would still be three more Native American populations, and I believe that you and I would not be here. America today is industrial, civilized, and technical. We fill our states, pieces of the earth, with metal structures and gas that pollute the air. To do this we cut down the trees and we disturb the populations of those who have been here longer than us. We wear clothing and we know our manners we each have a daily schedule to attend to and we try to as best we could to stay on task we dare not fall of the tracks for fear that we will screw up the path we set for ourselves. We fill our day with more pieces of metal as way to communicate with those we need to send a message to we carry cell phones, pagers, computers and what ever else we need. Today in America we value the love of power then the power of love. We are all under each other and yet we never really know exactly who is at the very top. We go to high school and we sit in history class we learn about Christopher Columbus the great man who discovered America, we learn that he was Italian from Europe and that queen Isabella of Spain sponsored him on his voyage to set sail for a safer route to India through the ocean. We are taught that he and his crew sailed for months and until they reached the Americas and then the end. He was a great hero a good man and because of his passion for sailing and exploring he found America. We are not told however the truth, or all of the truth, in our high school history class today we are only told the good deeds about America the deeds that eventually gives us the final perspective in that our country is GREAT. I have no problem with believing that my country is great that its filled with heroes and that in history we were the victims that fought to defend ourselves. But that’s not the whole story. If history is going to be taught it should be taught all of it, not just parts both perspectives should be told in the case of Christopher Columbus discovering America, the Native American perspective should be told.
Christopher Columbus came to the Americas he did not discover America no one knows who honestly did but when he came to the Americas he didn’t just find empty land he found people Native people who he called Indians, he at first didn’t know what to take of this naked human beings but later found out that they were harmless, they carried no weapons they were naïve and eager to learn about the strange white man. They brought the settlers food, water, and gifts they found valuable from the earth. They trusted the white man and believed them to be gods. But the Spaniards didn’t see their kind hearts and peaceful spirits they over looked that and saw the gold in their ears and they saw the natives as savages. “Their reason of killing and destroying such an infinite number of souls is that the Christians have an ultimate aim, which is to acquire gold, and to swell themselves with riches.” Quote from a primary source document Bartoleme de Las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. The Spaniards took what they wanted they tried to trick the Indians into telling them where the gold was when the Indians brought them to the rivers they only found bits and piece none of which were a real value, panicked Columbus couldn’t live up to his word to the king and queen so there for he decided well no gold then I’ll bring them slaves and he sent his men to capture and enslave the Indians. Being in a new region of the world most of the Indians died while sailing to Europe and when sold they died of exhaustion and starvation. The Spaniards kept up this cruel treatment often raping the women and children slaughtering the men, they captured and sold the Indians as slaves to work the yards and mines. “The men died in the mines and the women died on the ranches from the same cause, exhaustion and hunger. And thus was depopulated that island which had been densely populated.” Quote from a primary source document Bartoleme de Las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. The Spaniards destroyed three populations of the Native American race the Aztecs, Incas and the …… This is not taught in most American high schools this is the what the world I live in today is like, my history is kept from me and I am conditioned to believe that my country is great. If Christopher Columbus didn’t discover America I wouldn’t be alive, and the Native American people would be doing what is they were doing many years ago before Christopher came, live off the earth. They would be sitting in their teepees and feeding off the renewable resource, which was the earth. The problem started when man got greedy and tried to own the land. There is no good thing that has ever come from Christopher Columbus discovery, the world has never been the same, and he opened up the door for the opportunity of more slaughtering and murder of the native Americans more battles have occurred that we are often not taught in high school such as Little Big Horn, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, Custers Last Stand, and many more. The only good thing that can ever come from this genocide is that America knows that what it did was wrong it destroyed not only a culture but a remarkable world too, and that it does everything it possibly can to never make that mistake again.