...(Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States") 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 When looking at historical documents of this event, they all had one thing in common.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...
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...Zinn’s view of European colonization in America was that it brought many negatives to people and land. America’s success and growth could not have happened without the Europeans’ neglection, oppression, and exploitation of groups like the Indians that Schweikart left out to conceal events of brutality to teach America’s past with virtue. Examples of brutality include Cortes, Pizarro, and the English settlers, who abused and risked many groups of innocent people in order to obtain land. Many Americans remember Columbus as a hero for discovering America, but he was hostile to Arawaks and had no intention of finding America. His impact on discovering the Americas was that it decreased the Indian population dramatically from wars like the Pequot...
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