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In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and the lives of the indigenous peoples in the Americas would never be the same. American history is filled with the glorification of historical figures who do not deserve adulation and Columbus is no exception. From the time one enters grade school to the time one graduates from high school in the United States, Americans are told that Columbus was a courageous, determined man who sailed to the Americas because of his love for adventure. Traditional historians also tend to depict Columbus as a mild, manner able, religious man who was trying to serve god's will. Whereas the Indians are usually depicted as cannibalistic heathens capable of the unspeakable. Eventually, one concludes that it was Columbus's duty to bring his way of life to the backward natives. But behind this glorious tale of Columbus's great adventure is a horrific reality.
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While history books tend to portray Christopher Columbus as a pure hearted Christian who loved great adventures, the historical records clearly show a man who was anything but pure hearted. Columbus by far has been one of histories worst mass murderers. Honoring a man like Columbus is equivalent to honoring Adolph Hitler or Josef Stalin. Moreover, honoring a man like Columbus is an insult to the thousands upon thousands of Native Americans who were murdered as a result of Columbus's arrival to the Americas.
Columbus's desire to find a quicker route to India was born out of greed. What truly led Columbus was a desire to find gold. It must be understood that Columbus was a man of low morals who only had his own best interest at heart. For example, there was a general agreement made between Columbus and his crewmen. They agreed that the person to sight land first would receive an annual pension of 10,000 maravedis for life. A sailor by the name of Rodrigo saw land in the early morning hours before anyone else had awaken and cried out to notify the others. But Rodrigo would never receive his reward. Columbus claimed that he had seen land the evening before, so he got the reward. It should be quite obvious that Columbus's desire to become rich was more of a factor than his love for adventure. This becomes even more apparent when one examines the deal Columbus tried to make with the king and queen of Spain. Columbus had trouble convincing Ferdinand and Isabella to finance his journey to the Indies because they believed that his terms were outrageous and greedy. Columbus demanded 10% of all the wealth returned to Europe along the new trade route to Asia - that's 10% of the riches brought back by everyone, not just by himself. And he wanted this guaranteed forever, for him, for his children, for their children, and so on. Despite traditional historians' false claims, this does not sound like a man driven by god or for the love of great adventure. The historical facts clearly show a man motivated and driven by greed alone. Columbus’s greed becomes quite apparent in a letter sent to Queen Isabella in 1503. In the letter, Columbus writes, "Gold is a wonderful thing! Whoever owns it is lord of all he wants. With gold it is even possible to open for souls the way to paradise." Every time I read this quote, I quickly get an image of Christopher Columbus as Humphrey Bogart in Treasure Of The Sierra Madre in which he plays a man deliriously possessed by gold.
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The Holocaust:
Traditional historians have always portrayed the Native Americans that Columbus encountered as being backward and barbaric. While the Spaniards' way of life is praised, the Indians' way of living is condemned. For instance, the Indians are usually seen as being: strange for not wearing clothing; ignorant for not understanding the Spaniards' language; and heathens for not having an organized religion. Furthermore, the Indians are also depicted as uncivilized cannibals who ate their enemies and lack the ability to be social with anyone outside of their tribe. This ethnocentric, European view could not be farther from the truth. Even by Columbus's accounts, the Native Americans were highly social able in comparison to the Spaniards. From logs written by Columbus and other crew members, we have a full understanding of the first encounter between the Native Americans and the Spaniards. When Columbus and his crew went ashore, the Indians known as Arawaks ran to greet them with food, water, and gifts. In his log, Columbus wrote:
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They...brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned...They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features...They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane...They would make fine servants...With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want...They are so naive and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone...
As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts.
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From Columbus's own accounts, it is quite obvious that the Arawaks were not barbaric but totally the opposite. It was the Spaniards who acted in a barbaric and uncivilized manner. Immediately, the Spaniards began their reign of terror on the natives of the Americas as they demanded to know where the gold was located. They went from island to island in the Caribbean, enslaving Indians. The Indian slaves were forced to work from sun up to sun down in the gold mines. All Indians fourteen years or older were ordered to collect a certain amount of gold every three months. The Indians who met their quota were given copper tokens to wear around their necks. This meant that their lives would be spared for another three months. If the Indians did not meet their quota, their hands were cut off and they bled to death. After months of searching, it was clear to Columbus that the land did not have an abundance of gold. Instead of going back to Spain empty, Columbus decided to conduct a great slave raid, where 1500 Arawak men, women, and children were rounded up and placed in pens to be guarded by Spaniards and dogs. 500 of best specimens were loaded on ships to be sent back to Spain. Of the 500, 200 died en route. The remaining 300 arrived in Spain and were immediately put up for sale to the highest bidders.
By 1496, many clergymen who sailed with Columbus started recording the horrors that was taken place in the Americas. One of the most outspoken critics of the Spanish cruelty was a young priest named Bartolome de las Casas. In his journals, he describes how when the Spaniards wanted sex, women and children were used as sex slaves to satisfy their needs. According to Las Casas, the life of the Indians were totally meaningless to Columbus and his men. The Spaniards "thought nothing of Knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades." Las Casas also describes an incident in which two Spanish soldiers met two Indian boys one day, each carrying a parrot; they took the parrots and for fun beheaded the boys when they tried to get their parrots back. By 1496, large amounts of gold was discovered. To ensure that Native Americans did not steal the gold that was discovered, Columbus ordered his men "to punish them by cutting off nose and ears, for those are parts of the body which cannot be concealed." When it became clear that there was no more gold to be found, the Indians were forced to work as slave labor on huge estates. They were forced to work at a pace which resulted in the deaths of thousands. In all, the Spanish atrocities included burning at the stake, hangings, rape, mutilations, kidnapping, stealing, and slavery.
The results were devastating. In two years of Columbus's arrival in Hispaniola, half of the 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead. By the year 1515, there were 50,000. By 1550, there were 500. By 1650, none of the original Arawaks were left. In present-day Cuba, there were about 3 million Indians residing on the island. By 1508, there were only 60,000 Indians left. Because of Columbus, thousands of families were destroyed and torn apart. Thousands of children were killed because they were useless to the Spaniards or died from neglect because their parents no longer had time to deal with their needs. Columbus sailing to the Americas is nothing to celebrate. Columbus's actions in the Americas was the beginning of a holocaust that has lasted over 500 years.
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Columbus's Importance:
Traditional historians have claimed that the importance of Columbus lies in the fact that he was the first to bravely cross the Atlantic Ocean and discover the Americas and that he proved that the Earth was not flat, but round. Of all the lies that are written in the history books, these have to be two of the biggest. From recent archaeological finds, we now know that Columbus was not even close to being the first to arrive in the Americas. The Norse (Vikings) led a series of voyages across the North Atlantic from Scandinavia in Europe, establishing communities on Iceland, Greenland, and the Faeroe Islands. Between 982 and 1500, the Norse maintained a strong hold on Greenland. From Greenland, a series of expeditions reached various parts of North America, including Baffin Land, Labrador, Newfoundland, and New England. Archaeologists have found Norse artifacts and remnants of Norse settlements in these various places that date back to the 1100s.
Archaeologists have also discovered evidence that seafarers from Africa and Asia most likely made it to the Americas as early as 1100 B.C. The most widely known of these voyages is that of the West Africans and the Afro-Phoenicians. In Brazil, archaeologists found a West African bust with definite Negroid features. Many statutes along the coast of Mexico dating back to 700 B.C. resemble Africans. Is it possible that the statutes resemble Africans because the Native Americans came in contact with the seafarers from that region? Moreover, archaeologists have found artifacts from other cultures, such as Japan, Indonesia, and China, in Central and South America, which suggest that these cultures came in contact with the Indians long before the 15th century.
Secondly, in claiming that Columbus proved that the Earth was round is an insult to the various cultures who knew that the Earth was round centuries before Columbus's 1492 voyage to the Americas. From the archaeological, historic, and anthropologic research, we know that the Egyptians, the Indians of India, the Muslims (Arabs), many Asia cultures, such as the Japanese and Chinese, and the Native Americans all knew that the Earth was round. By concluding that Columbus proved that the Earth was round leaves one to think that the primitive cultures had limited understanding of the world they inhabited, which is totally false. The early cultures were far advanced in the sciences. Moreover, to conclude that it took Columbus to proved that the Earth is round is extremely ethnocentric because it is promoting the idea that it took a white European to enlighten a backward thinking world. Also, it must be understood that most Europeans knew that the world was round. Once again, the written record proves this. European scientists and sailors had concluded that the Earth was round by observing the circular shadows on the moon and the ships as they disappeared over the horizon.
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So, if Columbus was not the first to make a transatlantic trip, then, what is the importance of Columbus? When the other seafarers arrived in the Americas, they came, they saw, and they quickly returned to their respective homeland. They had little political and military impact on the Americas. By the late 1400s, Western Europeans had made major technological advances. This allowed the Europeans to improve their military might, which also enabled them to establish colonies far from their homeland. When Columbus arrived in the Americas, he was first to be able to say, "I came, I saw, and I conquered." When Columbus stumbled across the Americas, Spain had the capability to maintain an empire across the Atlantic. The importance of Columbus is that his mistake provided Spain and eventually other European nations with a new source of raw materials and new lands to exploit. Columbus showed that European nations could acquire a world hegemony. People must realize that the importance of Columbus does not lie in the fact that he was the first to travel to the Americas because he was not and that the importance of Columbus does not lie in fact that he proved that the Earth was round because he did not.
In conclusion, the Native Americans were not discovered, they were invaded. One must realize that it is important to present truth about Columbus. When traditional historians present inaccurate information about Columbus, they are insulting millions of people, mainly people of color. When traditional historians glorify the actions of Columbus and his men, they are in essence justifying genocide. They are also justifying the belief that Christians should rule over the non-Christians; the developed nations are superior to the underdeveloped nations; whites should dominate people of color. Instead of looking at events solely from ones' own perspective, people in general need to take in consideration the point of view of other cultures. When people take in consideration the feelings and thoughts of the Native Americans, it becomes quite apparent what truly transpired between the Spaniards and Native Americans: a horrific crime against humanity. The crimes that the Spaniards committed against the Natives of the Americas are nothing short of what the Nazis did to the Jews of Europe.
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And now, Sir, although my sympathy and affection for my brethren hath caused my enlargement thus far, I ardently hope, that your candor and generosity will plead with you in my be- half, when I make known to you, that it was not originally my de- sign; but having taken up my pen in order to direct to you, as a present, a copy of my Almanac, which I have calculated for the succeeding year, I was unexpectedly and unavoidably led thereto. This calculation is the product of my arduous study, in this most advanced stage of life; for having long had unbounded desires to become acquainted with the secrets of nature, I have had to gratify my curiosity herein through my own assiduous application to Astronomical Study, in which I need not recount to you the many difficulties and disadvantages which I have had to encounter.
And although I had almost declined to make my calculation for the ensuing year, in consequence of that time which I had allotted therefor, being taken up at the Federal Territory, by the request of Mr. Andrew Ellicott, yet finding myself under several engagements to Printers of this State, to whom I had communicated my design, on my return to my place of residence, I industriously applied myself thereto, which I hope I have accomplished with correctness and accuracy; a copy of which I have taken the liberty to direct to you, and which I humbly request you will favorably receive; and although you may have the opportunity of perusing it after its publication; yet I choose to send it to you in manuscript previous thereto, that thereby you might not only have an earlier inspection, but that you might also view it in my own handwriting.
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