...America should discontinue the celebration of Columbus Day. This holiday should not be celebrated because of a numerous of reasons. Such as, Christopher Columbus hadn’t discover anything new, he left a barbarous legacy that has been followed over the centuries and he treated the Natives cruelly. Columbus hadn’t discover anything new because people were already there, he didn’t prove the earth is round and he was not the first Non-American to find the New World. Additionally, he had left behind a legacy that had begun genocide and slavery, and one that is the false definition of courage and manliness. Columbus had also treated the Natives cruelly by raping their woman, cutting off their noses and ears and even unleashing greyhounds onto the Natives. America should not celebrate Columbus Day due to his failure to discover anything new. The places that Columbus had...
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...Christopher Columbus was a Spanish explorer who sailed from Europe to North America and is considerably responsible for contributing to the creation of what would later become the United States of America, to the point of having a holiday dedicated to his work as an explorer. Columbus Day is an American holiday which celebrates both establishing of American colonization AND the destruction of a majority of Native Americans. Two reasons why the holiday should be abolished are that Columbus was practically a tyrant to the Natives and that he did not discover the Americas at all. He promoted greed, rape, slavery and was not the true founder of the Americas as they have already been inhabited by living human beings. Christopher Columbus was basically a tyrannical Spaniard who enslaved countless Native Americans and punished them harshly whenever they didn’t do work. He ordered his followers to kidnap and rape many Native American females as young as 9-10 years old. He got his men to set out dogs to feed on the flesh of Native Americans as a way of taking advantage of their constant nudity. One last cruel thing he did was put wooden slats over the tongues of depressed Natives who cried out in...
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...Columbus Not A Man Worth Honoring? Is Christopher Columbus not worth honoring? Why would anyone ask that question, well it's because of a lot of reasons. First of all he did NOT discover the New World the Native American did. Second of all Columbus was actually a horrible man who is extremely egotistical. Everyone knows who Christopher Columbus is and why he is important to history. He's important because he was the first man to “ discover the New World ” so of course he's made a big contribution to history. He evan has his own holiday called Columbus day every year on October 10th. Most kids learning about Columbus think it's interesting that he discovered America, I did before I learned the truth about Columbus. It's turns out that Columbus didn’t discover The New World first and also he didn’t ssil to prove the world was round because most people in Europe know the world wasn’t flat. Columbus also happened to be very egotistical and abusive to his crew. Christopher Columbus should not be considered a hero for discovering America but he should be acclaimed for making a map to get from America and Europe....
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...Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer who is well known for “discovering” North America. In reality Christopher was trying to get to China and thought he was in Japan all 4 times he went to North America. He was actually in what is now the Bahamas and Cuba. And really Christopher didn't even discover America. The Native Americans beat Columbus by thousands of years. Many people when they were younger, including myself, were taught that Columbus is a hero and an amazing person who discover the New World. We were all told that Columbus’s purpose for sailing thousands of miles across the Atlantic was to come here in search of undiscovered land. Columbus DID want land, but he was expecting to get that land from...
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...1. In Christopher Columbus’s extracts he is described as a hero for being the first to discover the “New Land” which to me, is very admirable. Christopher spent several years to get sponsored by the Queen of Spain to sponsor his first voyage with much hope and expectations for this journey. He set sail in 1492, finding the new land and meeting the “Indians” now known as, the Native Americans. Christopher brought a few men back from the New Land, receiving gifts such as, “balls of cotton thread…and many other things such as glass beads and hawk’s bells” (Columbus). Hopeful thinking for what else Christopher could discover with more time. Thus, becoming a true Hero. 2. Las Casas views about Christopher Columbus as a hero contradicted how Columbus...
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...Christopher Columbus was a cruel, atrocious, and egotistic, man who should not be glorified for the discovery of America. Inaccurately known as the first person to think the Earth was round, a mass murderer, and a fabricator for being known as the first to “discover America”. Christopher Columbus is widely known as the first person to discover America, which is a false statement. He was not the first person to see the New World but took credit for the discovery, he promised a reward of gold to whoever first saw land, a sailor named Rodrigo de Tirana was the first person to see the New World but Columbus took credit for spotting it himself. Christopher Columbus did not believe the earth was flat, Ancient Greek mathematicians had already proven...
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... We Should Abolish Columbus Day Only two federal holidays in the United States bear the name of two specific men, ironically one of them fought racism -- Martin Luther King Jr., and the other was a genocidal racist – Chistopher Columbus. Opposition to Columbus Day (observed on the second Monday of October) has intensified in recent decades, while the former passes each year with relatively little controversy. The issue of if we should still celebrate Columbus Day is widely discussed. The topic remains important because it concerns fundamental moral and economic questions related to the origin of how Christopher Columbus got his recognition. In my essay I will touch on the ongoing debate of if we should erase Columbus Day as one of our federal holidays. As our young minds are still developing and processing information of our history, which hopefully holds an importance to the American citizens of this great nation, there is a poem taught to children about our history. How does the saying go? Ah, yes! In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue… We are taught that Columbus is viewed a valiant adventurer that opened up the worlds eyes by discovering the Americas; on the contrary, he is perceived a symbol of slavery and genocide. His trip to America is often claimed as a voyage of bravery in his attempts to discover new lands and did however lead to the permanent colonization, settlement, political and economic expansion of the lands of the Americas by Spain...
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...American history, people like Christopher Columbus. In 1905, Colorado became the first state to observe a Columbus Day, and over the next few decades other states followed. In 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt announced every October 12 as Columbus Day. Since 1971, it has been celebrated on the second Monday in October. Columbus Day commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the New World on October 12, 1492. Columbus was believed...
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...Hannah Baker Mrs. Tinsley First Essay Columbus was an Italian explorer who was born in 1451 and died in 1506. He is one of the main explorers we should celebrate because he was first to discover the Americas. Another reason why we should celebrate is because he was sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. He was also a really great navigator too which is why we should celebrate him as well. Even though he was a great explorer, he still had some faults. For example, he failed the quest to travel to the Indies and found the Americas instead. Christopher Columbus was the first person to discover the Americas. This all started when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella requested to travel to the Indies. When he was planning to figure out how to get to there he decides that sailing west would be the easiest route to the Indies. In August 1492, three ships ran by Columbus were set to sail. Throughout the whole voyage they didn’t believe that they would be able to find any land until October 1492 came around. By then it took exactly three months to get there. While Columbus and his crew members were discovering and getting to know the place better, they discovered local people that were called “Indies”. The Indies made them feel at home and helped them with whatever they needed. Columbus and his mates came back to Spain in March 1493....
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...Aaron Self Professor Buchholtz ANTH 213 10 October 2012 Columbus Day When I think of Columbus Day, thoughts of childhood appear in my mind before anything else. Spending the day watching parades and hanging out with my friends instead of being at school was always something to look forward to. The romanticized image of who Christopher Columbus was is usually the second thing that arises in my consciousness. In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, discovery the Americas and paving the way for this great nation to be created. At least that’s what I was taught in elementary and middle school. Now that I am older however, Christopher Columbus doesn’t sound like the hero he used to be. The fact that we celebrate a national holiday in his honor, when a majority of people don’t have a correct impression of him, strikes me as contradictory. This man deserves a day named after him, but doesn’t deserve correct education on his actions and legacy. The correlation between Columbus Day and Christopher Columbus is skewed by relating Columbus with the ideas of patriotism, and national pride. In reality the discovery of America was important, but Christopher Columbus himself should not be celebrated as a figure because of this. The main issues regarding the celebratory image of Christopher Columbus are the common misconceptions of him and his explorations. Firstly he didn’t even discover the Americas. The first written account of westward exploration and discovery was documented by...
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...figures who are being reconsidered is Christopher Columbus. Columbus Day is a federal holiday commemorating Christopher Columbus, who is remembered in American culture as the daring and brave explorer who discovered America. However, the celebration of Columbus Day in America perpetuates a narrative of colonial supremacy, overlooking the traditions Christopher Columbus started of abhorrent treatment of Indigenous Peoples and commodification of the land. The origins of Columbus Day are rooted in nationalism and a desire for acceptance rather than a celebration of exploration. The utilization of Columbus...
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...America has many a strange holidays including national hammock day and national ice cream day but is Columbus day actually qualified to be a national holiday? There are people on every side of this controversy with some saying Columbus day is as important to American Culture as the bald eagle, others stating it’s derogatory to cultures and facts, and still more who stand in the middle ground. Columbus day should be changed to a more appropriate and accurate holiday. Changing the holiday is the best choice for the United States because Columbus contributed little to none to American culture or history and Columbus Day encourages false facts and history. To start off, Christopher Columbus did not contribute the U.S culture or history. One...
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...i Consequences of Christopher Columbus' Discovery Christopher Columbus' arrival to the "New World" has incited one of the biggest controversies in the world. There are many conflicting opinions regarding people who praise Christopher Columbus' heroic achievements and those who consider him a genocidal adventurer. Does he truly deserve the federal holiday known as Columbus Day? Or should it be celebrated as Indigenous Peoples' Day instead? Given the facts that he caused the transatlantic slave exchange, committed various crimes, and introduced many diseases, it indicates that Christopher Columbus should not be considered or remembered as an American hero. 3. Christopher Columbus' accomplishments often overlook the other side of his story, the...
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...previously idolized historical figures. Among these figures is Christopher Columbus, who is routinely used as a symbol of daring exploration, with his notoriety best highlighted by Columbus Day being a federal holiday. However, for America, Christopher Columbus marks the start of a tradition of abhorrent treatment of the Indigenous Peoples which lays the foundation for Indigenous land to be viewed through a lens of commodity by settlers who justified their actions through Christianity. Columbus Day wasn’t recognized as a federal holiday until 1937, over four hundred years after Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas. When President Benjamin Harrison first proposed a national celebration of the holiday in 1892, he cited it as a day for Americans to, “devote themselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer and their appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries of American life” and called Columbus, “the pioneer of progress and enlightenment.” The idea of this holiday was then picked up by Italian Americans, particularly the Knights of Columbus who are a “Catholic Fraternal Organization,” as a way to boost the social status of Italian Americans in the early 1900 During this time, over four million Italians had just immigrated to the United States and were often socially excluded, not falling into the standard definition of “white” at the time....
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...Christopher Columbus: The Original American Hero? Was Columbus a hero or a villain? Maybe it’s neither. Columbus was brave and daring, and did things that were important to world history. But he wasn’t heroic in the sense of displaying great moral qualities. Courage, while generally a good character trait, isn’t necessarily heroic or even highly honorable and praiseworthy unless it’s deployed in certain kinds of actions or causes. But he also wasn’t especially villainous in the sense of displaying particular evil qualities. His arrival in the Americas caused a great deal of death to American Indians, chiefly from disease. And it caused the subjugation and literal or virtual enslavement of the Indians. But this didn’t stem from Columbus’s being an unusually evil person. It stemmed from the brutality of the time, coupled with the contact between one culture that was much more powerful than another (and that carried many communicable diseases to which members of the other culture lacked resistance). I’m inclined to say that we shouldn’t celebrate Columbus Day, precisely because such national celebrations should be focused on honoring people who did things that were both especially important and especially honorable (such as veterans, President Washington, or Martin Luther King, Jr.) and not just on people who did things that were especially important. This might conceivably include not-necessarily-good people who did things that were unambiguously good. But European expansion...
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