...Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain? I think that Columbus day should be renamed. By having a day named after Christopher Columbus, people think that that he is a great person and he discovered the country we live in today, but that is not true because Christopher Columbus is a selfish person and only explored for his own benefit. In my opinion Columbus is a villain and we should either rename the holiday or just demolish it all together. Columbus Day celebrates the landing of Columbus at the New World. The holiday first took place in 1792 for the 300th anniversary, but it became a federal holiday in 1937. People dress up in costumes and dance to Native American music all for a very selfish man. The first piece of proof that Christopher...
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...Christopher Columbus did not discover America; the Indians did. The Indians were on the American continent long before Columbus ever was. The following quote helps to prove this. “Indian people have been on this continent at least 10,000 years, and scientists have proven that numerous other explorers had arrived on this continent from other parts of the world long before Columbus did,” (Document 2). This helps prove that Columbus Day should be banished. If Christopher Columbus did not discover America, he should not be given his own recognized holiday. When Columbus arrived in America, there were already thousands of people here. With that being said, he should have no recognition for discovering the American continent. In document six,...
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...Christopher Columbus is considered a villain by all the horrific things that he did. Which includes forcing the Indians into forced labor and he also brought in diseases which the Indians weren’t immune to. The forced labor that Christopher Columbus put onto the Indians was an inhumane and outrageous act that he committed. In Doc 9 it states ”they would carry dirt on their back to wash it in the river while those who wash gold would stay in the water all the time with their backs bent so constantly it would break them”. Columbus would force these Indians into these mines and make them work so that they could any gather gold and other resources they did this for the Spaniards personal gain. In Doc 8 it states “the Spaniards would refuse to...
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...towards the more powerful Europeans. The leader of the countries had a hunger to be the more powerful, superior country in the Europe, and having the most land was one of the key factors. When The Americas were discovered it be the first type of imperialism. They not only almost take over the entire west coast of the world, they nearly wiped the entire population of the natives.(Britt) People like Hernan Cortes, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, and Cosme de Torres each arrived in a foreign country to try to expand their own beliefs to their country’s belief. Cosme de Torres went to Japan to try to convert the natives to Christianity, but while he was there he was heavily influenced by the Japanese. Hernan Cortes was a Spanish Conquistador who sought to take over the lands of Mexico. The author of the excerpt is an Aztec descendant, Miguel Leon-Portilla. He is an anthropologist who studied his ancestors very closely. He was successful with 4 of his novels, all having to do with the Aztec people. He was heavily influenced by the history of his people, about how they were brutally conquered. He was a very respected man after the publishing of his novels. In his book “The Broken Spears”, he very comprehensively explains the how they were taken over by the Spaniards, almost as if he were there to experience it. Instead of showing the Spanish point of view, they had it as theirs. They exposed it as a...
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...The idea of what an American is can be different for everyone. It all depends on perspective. Through my experiences and research I have a better grasp on what I think it means to be an American. With stories and letters, such as Equiano, Of Plymouth Plantation, and Letters from Columbus, an American is one who has a desire for success, money, power, and freedom. It is through the stories of the past that provide proof to that statement. In the story of Equiano, slaves were brought to America, to fulfill America’s need for power and money, but the story also shows the desire for freedom. Equiano was a young boy who was ripped out of Nigeria and transported by boat to be sold as a slave in America. He suffered the long, awful boat ride, and...
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...In the article, ”In Defense of Columbus, the author, Mary Ann Castronovo Fusco discusses the legacy of Christopher Columbus. She demits that it was a mixed one; on the one hand, he was a brilliant navigator who led a diverse group of sailors in dangerous waters in search of a new trade route to India. However he also encountered people different than the Europeans and in raciest manner, regarded them as inferiors. Fusco admits that Columbus did not discover America due to the obvious fact that there were people there before his voyages began. He was considered a Renaissance man, who applied new ideas in navigation in his quest for discovery. However, despite his intelligence and courage, Fusco states, “1”. Even if Columbus and his men did not personally slaughter the Indians or spread disease, he started the trend which allowed other Europeans from Spain and elsewhere to victimize the Indians and deny them social justice. It is interesting that Fusco is more of reporter than an analyst or historians, but she bases her article on interviews with historians such as William G. Connell at Seton Hall University and several Native American leaders. The article tries to justify the mass extermination of American Indians by stating that even if Columbus was a racist imperialist, he was a product of his time. Yet, that reason is faulty; it could be used to justify the institutions of slavery of blacks because, despite their obvious greed, the slaveholders wanted to...
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...What do you know about Christopher Columbus? Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, there is a much greater understanding of what Columbus actually did. History needs to be through different viewpoints or the true history of life isn’t told; learners can’t perish to one view on history. Nations and communities have different viewpoints for example. Nations view history as Columbus viewed it while communities view history as the oppressed viewed it. While the views are associated with two different history writing styles in the chapter that Zinn provides, different views are essential when it comes to learning history. National collective memory is associated massively to the leader’s perspective, for example Columbus’s viewpoint; communal collective memory is linked heavily to the oppressed perspective such as the experiences of the Arawaks. The first chapter titled Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress Zinn analyzed the untold history of what Columbus actually did back in 1492. Zinn provides us two different types of history writing. One type is the history of Columbus in Columbus’s own point of view. This is the type that students briefly learned about in high school modern history courses and of historians. Some historians basically sympathize with Columbus’s perspective. He was a hero for finding new land and supposedly bringing gold back to the King and Queen. Many students didn’t know there were other viewpoints so they believed in that one view. Zinn...
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...Released in 1992 in celebration of the 500-year anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ historic journey, 1492: Conquest of Paradise depicts the explorer’s discovery of the “New World” and his attempts to create a Spanish colony there. While there are some historical inaccuracies as well as fictional situations in the movie, it is still useful for providing an important historical summary of Columbus’ voyage in a dramatic manner that draws in viewers. In the film, Columbus believes that sailing west will provide a new route to the “earthly paradise of China” (1492: Conquest of Paradise). His request for funding is denied by the Spanish council, but after a rich investor agrees to help him, Queen Isabella I approves the trip. Lying about the length of the trip to his crew, Columbus sets sail for “honor, gold and the greater glory of God” (1492: Conquest of...
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...He was not afraid of standing up and fighting for what he believed in US history and would not stop after the Civil Rights. His intention in writing this book was so “that any one person, however he or she strains, can “see” history from the standpoint of others.”(Zinn 16). He wanted people to understand that with every victory there was a loss in history, as he started to explain in the first five chapters of his book. On October 13th Americans celebrate Christopher Columbus Day, remembering the first person that was said to discover their country. What people really do not know is the lies that came with such a deceitful discovery. All that I can remember is teachers telling me Christopher Columbus was the first to discover the U.S., and then those few people saying they believed that was false. After reading the first chapter I was able to understand the truth behind what Columbus did. Howard Zinn was able to lay out how Columbus became famous and what he destructed in the way. The reality is, Columbus never set a foot in the U.S. but only made it to the Caribbean Islands by mistake and then took over. He was welcomed by people on the shore called the Arawak...
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...oppression against themselves as well as everything and everyone they loved. Ferdinand and Columbus were on the same side concerning the value of Native American lives. Bartolome de Las Casas claimed that the Spaniards Christians were the most violent. Columbus and all of his men were most likely the reason in which Bartolome de Las Casas wrote this. The Spaniards believed that the Taíno were the problem, but thought their inhumane acts were in some way justifiable. The Spaniards would often torture Indians for their unChristian religious beliefs, mostly because of Ferdinand’s letter. They believed that their torture methods were simply manual labor. By that time, the Taíno were seemingly slaves....
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...hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. For those who chose to dig deeper into this age old poem, they’d begin to question and discover who Columbus really was, and if there was more than him then being the beloved man who discovered America. Since first grade I’d been taught to admire and look up to the man and his legacy, but should we really be putting his name on a plaque? After discovering the man who Columbus really was, I think not. Due to Columbus, the Indian population dropped shockingly low, African slavery was started, and many fights and killings occurred. We should characterize Christopher Columbus and his legacy negatively, as his voyages led to hardships that hurt the world drastically. As a result of...
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...store and he began to talk to me about Christopher Columbus and how they are learning that he discovered America in school. He looked at me straight in the eye with a confused face and said “that's not what he did Esme he was a murderer,” he knew this because when my sisters and I would talk about certain aspects of history he was there listening to everything. This was around the same time that we were discussing censorship through school curriculum so I felt that if my little brother understood it then other children could too. When he was talking about this it sounded a lot like the class was learning from a hegemonic device. School is where kids are being taught the “history” of how America came to be a diverse country. Through the course Culture Power and School Knowledge, one can see that the “history” being taught through the Master Narrative is one-sided. The Master Narrative focuses on “history” that comes from the people who hold power therefore excluding the actual experiences of the people of color meaning that it is a hegemonic device. Being a...
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...As I reflect on this course in its entirety. I can honestly say that I learned a lot, and talked about topics that I was unaware we were going to be covering during this class. These openness and blunt nature in some of these readings were eye opening. I personally enjoyed that. It provided a real feeling as if you are in the situation yourself. Therefore, I want to say this was a very enjoyable class for me. I will briefly discuss my favorite readings during this course, and I will also discuss my least favorite as it pertains to this course. Number one on my list of favorite readings during this class was the Exploration and Colonization. This was the first reading we had during this class and it covered some really important explorers who helped shape our country as we know it today. De Vaca, De Champlain and Columbus were among the those explorers. Their respective missions were to go out and...
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... I. Sewall’s devotion to his religion and to the Bible is what backs his opinions and his view of slavery a. public positions address specific concerns about the rights of Native Americans and of African-Americans brought as slaves to the colonies b. “The Selling of Joseph” addresses his position on some of the inhumanities of his “fellow sons of Adam” c. His somewhat literal interpretation of the Bible is what leads him to his opinion about slaves d. What sets Sewall apart from other anti-slave sympathizers is his public opinion II. His views of natural rights can be contrasted to those of the early explorer Christopher Columbus e. Both exaggerated as most did during this time f. Sewall may have exaggerated in asserting that slave resistance had caused “many” to begin thinking about the value of maintaining the institution III. Sewall was a living contradiction in his beliefs g. He wrote the first anti-slavery piece of literary but was he himself a racist h. Very biblically based opinions yet he was a racist i. Points out how the African American slaves attitudes showed sewall how much they didn’t want to be slaves and were not going to work hard with that attitude so basically it was pointless to keep them enslaved j. Use bible quotes to show contradiction between what the bible says and how he actually...
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...Chapter 1: Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress The beginning chapter covers early Native American civilization in North America and the Bahamas, the genocide and enslavement committed by the crew of Christopher Columbus (to the West Indies), and incidents of violent colonization by early settlers. The native inhabitants, Arawak Indians, swam out to greet the European boats the first time they landed. Zinn cites Columbus' journal entries throughout the chapters, which included his reaction to the initial encounter with the Arawaks: 'They would make fine servants...With 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.' This attitude ultimately led to enslavement, highjacking, murder and rape. Why did they murder thousands to millions of innocent Native Americans? The Spaniard's main aim was to prove to the royalty back home that the islands were wealthy and loaded with great resources, mainly gold. Columbus took some natives back to show the Queen of Spain (they died on route), and when he came back with numbers of men and ships, they started a regimented system of slavery and punishment on the natives of the West Indies. When looking at historical documents of this event, they all had one thing in common. They only speak of the friendliness of the Arawaks, of their genuine kindness and great hospitality. They saw the Spaniards as divine beings, meaning they would never do harm or, let alone, murder them. On his second voyage back, Columbus took 500...
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