In the beginning of October, millions of kids are relinquished from school to celebrate a holiday dedicated to one man: Christopher Columbus, a man perceived as a valiant hero credited for discovering America in 1492. Generations of Americans have passed down the belief that Columbus was an amazing explorer, but tend to overlook the horrific deeds that Columbus committed. Despite his monumental accomplishments, Columbus was a historical figure closer to Hitler than to Martin Luther King on the morality spectrum. Due to his use of slavery, treatment of Native American slaves, and the tricks he used to deceive others, Columbus was not a hero but rather a villain.
To begin with, Christopher Columbus should be vilified for converting Native Americans …show more content…
Possibly the most gruesome act that Columbus did to his slaves was to mutilate them. Mutilation involves injuring a person by cutting off their body parts. Christopher Columbus mutilated many Native Americans for minor offenses, such as the failure to collect enough gold. For example, “Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off (by Columbus or his crew) and bled to death.” The sight of a hand getting chopped off and crimson blood spilling everywhere--just because of a “minor offense” is so gruesome to think about. Is that a quality of a hero, dealing the agonizing consequence of mutilation to innocent people who didn’t even commit a real crime? Since Columbus was a cruel mutilator, he should be regarded as a supervillain. Another horrible deed that Christopher Columbus did to the Native Americans was his attempt to convert his slaves to Christians against their own will. In Columbus’s time, the universally accepted Catholic Church viewed non-Christians as inferiors. Christopher Columbus, a devout Catholic, viewed the Arawaks as “prospects for Christian conversion,” despite the fact that most Arawaks were atheists who had “no temples.” Conversion was not an option, it was a decree, as refusing conversion would result in the “expulsion from Spain.” Forceful conversion is a violation of basic human rights as everybody has the right to practice …show more content…
Columbus voyaged to America as a greedy man who demanded: “10 percent of the profits for himself,” and “titles of nobility.” He realized that he needed more men to help him satisfy his power hungry needs. So, Columbus was able to deceive the Court of Madrid by lying about the greatness and beauty of Hispaniola, describing the land as “Fertile and beautiful...there are many great mines of gold and other metals,” to obtain a larger expedition crew.This was an obvious exaggeration, as the amount of gold the Arawaks had much was much smaller than Columbus thought, and Columbus couldn’t find a single gold field. In other words, Columbus told a lie. Columbus lied and exaggerated to the Court, so the Court would grant him with a larger expedition crew to help him conquer more land to become more powerful, as well as search for gold so he could become richer. As well as lying to the Court to gain power and wealth, Columbus tricked Native Americans, into a trap that turned some Arawaks into slaves. Columbus took, “some of them aboard ship as prisoners because he insisted that they guide him to the source of the gold.” This was an example of a trap set up by Columbus, since he would either gain wealth by being guided to the source of gold, or would gain power by imprisoning the Arawaks if they disobeyed him. Columbus knew that the unsuspecting Native Americans