Misinterpreting The Tainos Contributions To Columbus

Though the main problem was the King and Queen of Spain, we cannot blame them entirely as well. In this case, it may not have been a human that caused the crime. It is true that Columbus’s men did the killing, and the King and Queen of Spain did give out the orders that forced Columbus to get more gold, but what caused them to think like this, what caused them to go on a plunder for gold and not worry about being the Tainos. The system of empire is to blame for all this. The European society of that time told them that mankind had to have property in order to feel secure and dominant. The more property someone owned, the more powerful the person. In order to get more wealth, Columbus’s men forced the Tainos into slavery, and justifying themselves

Columbus should have never misused and abused the Taino at the very beginning like he did. Columbus' men only did their job and followed his command. If they disobeyed a political figure with such power, many often faced persecution. The Taino were mistreated, abused, and used for the unsatisfied greed that Columbus

When one thinks of Christopher Columbus, he or she might think some of the following things: Columbus was a great explorer, he discovered America, and that he knew that the world was round. While some might be true, teachers for younger students tend to put false images about Christopher Columbus in people’s heads about what he

Columbus only saw the Taino as naked, nonreligious, and timid people that they could take control of and govern. He saw them as good servants and thought that they would do whatever that he said. Columbus thought that he could convert them all to Christianity. He failed to notice that they did have a religion. They did have a religion. They worshiped their god. They dressed up wooden dolls, zemis, that they brought food to every day. Their government was organized into provinces, each one had a cacique. Columbus did not see that they did have weapons and that they were united. They were not savage animals that they would be able to gain control over.

Samuel Eliot Morison- A Harvard historian, most distinguished writer on Columbus, the author of a multivolume biography Christopher Columbus, Mariner, and was himself a sailor, retraced Columbus 's route across the Atlantic and tells about the enslavement and the mass genocide of the natives

Columbus’ intentions at the beginning of these passages seems to be mainly to convert and help the people of the New World to christianity. However, Columbus quickly appears to become more and more focused on the potential profit of harvesting the available resources.

Regarding the article, “Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress, Dr. Howard Zinn argues that there is another perspective to consider as to Christopher Columbus’ adventures. Dr. Howard Zinn’s position is that history books have omissions of slavery, death and innocent bloodshed that accompanied the adventures of Christopher Columbus. In the following statements Dr. Howard Zinn describes his perspective; “The writer began the history, five hundred years ago, of the European invasion of the Indian Settlement in the Americas. That beginning, when you read Las Casas- even if his figures are exaggerations (were there 3 million Indians to begin with, as he says or 250,000, as modern historians calculate) is conquest, slavery, and death. When

Zinn argues that the perspective of indigenous people should not be omitted and argues that their perspectives are as significant as any other. He provides insight and perspectives of the Indians to describe how the heinous acts of the Europeans were unjustified. He also discusses that the Europeans had a continual motive of exploring during that time which was to increase the power/authority of the Spanish Crown by whatever means necessary, usually leading to violent wars.

An author’s positioning of details in a story can make or break a story. Many aspects of revealing details can go wrong, but those details can be used to build suspense when they are placed in the correct space. Characterization is a huge part of Walker’s piece, and the way in which she used imagery and past events builds suspense and provides only needed information. The suspense created by Walker creates a sense of uneasiness in the reader, and adds to the overall message of the story. Through foreshadowing, Alice Walker was able to build up her characters and her plot, while at the same time not giving away too much information too soon. Stories can easily be flooded out with too much nonessential information, but all the information

After many centuries, a lot of controversy still surrounds Christopher Columbus. He remains to be a strange figure in history regarded as a famous explorer and a great mariner who made many discoveries in his days. Other people still regard him as a visionary and a national hero while others chose to remember him as a brutal and greedy person who used the rest of the humanity for his own selfish gains. Despite the fact that there have been protests in his being honored through a holiday referred to as the Columbus Day, he still deserves recognition and acknowledgement as a historical figure performed a great role in the making of the modern world.

Everyone knows the saying Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. However, there is a lot more to Christopher Columbus than what everyone was taught in elementary school through high school. Columbus is thought to be a hero, but just being classified as a hero is a fallacy. Several works including Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies and The Lies my Teacher Told Me have been published about the real Christopher Columbus and his legacy.

The people on the island had no clue what a sword was so they would cut themselves when they would touch the blade. Christopher Columbus thought it was going to be easy if needed to fight with them. They had no way of protecting themselves. He and his men ended up killing these poor people little by little. Even when they tried to help them out by directing them to find gold or help them when they got hurt. On his trip when he arrived in Hispaniola the Taino people living on the island welcomed and were gentle with him and his men. When Columbus left the island he left forty of his men and those men raped and fought the Tainos after they helped them out.2 On his second trip Columbus set up a permanent colony and again his men raped, stole gold ornaments and food that provoked war with the Tainos. The Spanish killed tens of thousands out of population and the ones who did survive the Spanish ended up chopping off their hands if they did not provide their allotment.3 At the end the Spanish wiped out the islands either by killing the people or they left to surrounding countries.

The treatment of Indians by the French in Canada and English in Massachusetts was dramatic. The French had proceeded there way to North America and arrived in the 1500’s and was interested in establishing trading posts. There were settlements on St. Lawrence River that came to the point as a serving (as a base from which to invade and conquer the kingdom of Saguenay). The trade between the French and Indians was a development from these enterprises in trading military forts. There were many items that were traded such as beaver pelts, furs, textile, and metal that had attractions for both trading partners. The indigenous they interact with Huron in British because French settlements aren’t big. The hurons get upset with French because Jesuits try to convert them to Catholicism. The Hurons initially tolerate these conversions efforts, but grow to resent them. The hurons are exposed to disease that kills many of them. The French don’t provide adequate protection against the Iroquois. Among the disease victims were chefs, clan leaders, wise elders, and skilled craftspeople.” The Iroquois attack the Hurons and destroy their capital. The English desire for land created an antagonistic relationship with Wampanoag. The Puritans and the religious motivations for Plymouth are important. The interaction with Wampanoag the English wanted power and land. The 1621 treaty with the Wampanoag shows this desire for both. The Wampanoag see the British as

When Columbus first arrived he found the island populated by thousands of Taino Indians who made the mistake of showing Columbus gold nuggets in the river. This was all Spain needed to finance its crown. Differences between the Spaniards and the Taints began around two years later when Diego Salcedo was killed by the Indians. The Taino Indians revolt against the Spaniards was met with no success and many left the island or fled into the mountains where they began new lives.

Columbus’s big plan for Hispaniola since the beginning was to take advantage of the natives and take their land, and the gold he believed was located there. He built the first fort in the Western Hemisphere, and left some of his men to find and store gold there. Columbus had to ask for a little more help from their majesties, he convinced them by saying he would take them “as much gold as they need ... and as many slaves as they ask” (Zinn,6 ) Columbus’s plans affected the natives, in many ways; first of all they were going to lose their land, and also they were going to be taken captive for slave labor.