Native American Genetic Diversity

To start of, why do we celebrate Columbus Day? Americans have created many pros to why we should celebrate Columbus Day. One of these pros is up until Columbus’s voyage to the Americas, the overwhelming majority of the seafaring community was more than a little bit nervous about sailing West – so much so that the ships would make terribly dangerous voyages through some of the rough seas just to avoid “falling off the edge of the world”. Columbus showed that not only could you sail West without falling off the edge of the planet, but that there was an entire new section of the world open and available for exploration. Although some might say that he helped advance trade, others say it is impossible to downplay the brutality that Christopher Columbus and following Europeans inflicted upon the indigenous people of the Americas when they came over. This wasn’t an idyllic relationship between the indigenous people and the Europeans, and Columbus landing on this new continent really led to genocide. As you can see, many people say that Columbus advanced trade, but he was very brutal to the Native Americans, which brings up the main question of this essay: do you think we should be celebrating Columbus Day?

Christopher Columbus is commonly known as the “discoverer” of the Americas. From a young age students are taught all the wonderful things he did for our land and how well he interacted with the Natives. Although the truth is disregarded and as students grow, they come to learn that Columbus was not a hero in fact. Columbus came close to causing a genocide of the Native Americans, and basically began the “white power” movement that America is forced to deal with today. The truth of what Christopher Columbus did makes him no better than Hitler, yet America still praises him as an important figure in our history. The actions of Columbus has impacted all Americans lives since the 1400’s when he first landed on American soil. Although it did make America into the super power it is today, the structure within the borders will never be equal because of his abuse of power back then. Christopher Columbus is not the hero American students are taught from a young age and does not deserve any of the praise or recognition that we as American citizens continue to give him on a daily basis.

The Columbian Exchange marks a big turning point in American history because it introduced new diseases, plants, animals, and changed the global economy between Europe and North America. When the Europeans arrived in North America, the Natives were not ready for their coming. The Europeans brought with them many diseases including Smallpox, Syphilis, Polio, Hepatitis, and Encephalitis. The Native Americans had no immunity to these diseases so their population was quickly decimated. The diseases brought by the Europeans were also very communicable which made the disease spread much faster. Both Europeans and Native Americans suffered from the diseases that were spread between the two worlds, but Europeans didn’t undergo

Columbus Day is a holiday that celebrates Christopher Columbus an Italian explorer who sailed over 500 years ago with three ships from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean in a daring attempt to expand our knowledge of the known world in hopes of discovering new lands (Obama). He is credited with discovering the New World in 1492. Though this sounds honorable and inspiring, it was basically a search to find new lands in order to claim and take control of them, plunder their wealth, enslave their occupants and murder any who tried to stop him (Zinn). Since the United States is built on the beliefs of freedom, equality, peace, and humanity, I don’t feel that we should continue to honor and celebrate

Some say that Columbus Day shouldn't be a holiday or that the name should be changed, I believe that we should get rid of the holiday. When you are little, you are taught Christopher Columbus discovered America and he's a good person; however, in reality, none of that is true. Columbus didn't discover America, he found some islands in the Caribbean like Haiti and Cuba. In addition, he treated the Natives there with harsh cruelties. Columbus also brought over diseases that lead to the death of many natives because they weren't exposed to measles, influenza, small pox. “Christopher Columbus introduced two phenomena that revolutionized race relations and

In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean and discovered what we now know as the Americas… or so it’s been taught. In all actuality, there were already Native people who had been living in the continents for thousands of years. Since 1937, the US has used this “discovery” as a holiday known as Columbus Day to celebrate a man who established the beginning of colonization of the New World. While Columbus did begin the colonization of the Americas, he was not the one who discovered them. History tends to be told from the privileged perspective which is why it’s taught that Columbus discovered these lands. The celebration of Columbus Day promotes the idea of colonization and the marginalization of Native Americans; people also believe it

The Columbian Exchange was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, and ideas between the Americas and the Old World in the 15th and 16th centuries, related to European colonization and trade after Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage. The Columbian exchange affected some lives tremendously and others lives in relatively less significantly. The people who were most strongly affected were the natives of the Americas and those of Africa. The Native Americans were affected tremendously, mostly in negative ways. It is possible to say that they were helped by the Columbian Exchange because the exchange brought new species of animals to the New World. This improved the lifestyles of many native groups. However, the natives of the Americas were devastated by the germs that came to the New World as part of the exchange. Infectious diseases like smallpox are believed to have killed up to half of the of the native population since that population had no resistance to those diseases. Europeans’ lives were generally enriched by the exchange. Europeans got new foods like tomatoes and potatoes. They got corn and tobacco and chocolate. All of these new foods diversified their diets and made them more interesting. Other Europeans enriched themselves monetarily. Many Europeans came to the New World and

Columbus Day shouldn 't be a holiday anymore because all the Indians he enslaved and killed during his voyage. Columbus had made a promise to bring back slaves, gold, copper, and girls to be used for sex. According to A Patriot 's History ... about 56 million people were killed

The Native American population suffered a catastrophic decline in population in the early 16th century when explorers from the Old world made contact, resulting in an easy take over from exploring European countries. The Columbian Exchange, a transfer of things from the New World to the Old and from the Old to the New, played a huge part in conquering the Natives of the New World. Although many of the things exchanged are typically viewed positively, such as livestock and crops, diseases were exchanged as well and their effects on the Natives were devastating.

The Columbian Exchange caused beneficial interactions to occur between Europeans and Native Americans, such as, "many of the most eminent families in the city have desired intermarriages with it"(Doc. 3). This shows that intermarriages were quite popular with high class Europeans, which means that the Native Americans who were a part of intermarriages would receive better lives. Therefore, the exchange benefitted Native Americans who Europeans liked, since intermarriages with wealthy Europeans would lead to a lavish life. Furthermore, the exchange had benefits for Native Americans and Europeans for obtaining new products and better land for livestock. The Columbian Exchange offered many different products for both sides, and new land that would be perfect for livestock. Europeans benefitted on the exchange in ways off the land, such as, "horses, pigs, sheep, and cattle were all European animals that flourished rapidly in the Americas because they were able to reproduce without being hindered by predators"(Doc. 9). This shows that Europeans livestock industry would grow thanks to the lack of predators in the New World. Furthermore, Europeans would have more food thanks to the New World. Therefore, the Columbian Exchange had positive effects; due to, new land for livestock and

This could cause death to some families and make families slaves and because Columbus captured more Indian slaves than he could transport to Spain in his small ship he brought. He made them work in mines and plantations were created all over the Caribbean. His followers hunted Indians for sport and profit. They would beat, rape, torture, kill, and then use the Indian bodies as food for their hunting dogs. Within four years of Columbus' arrival on Hispaniola, his men had killed or exported one-third of the original Indian population of 300,000. Thats a huge number! Now i don't believe we should celebrate a holiday if it is about killing people and the mass persecution of Native people. Living in the U.S i know that when i see Columbus day on the schedule and it comes on a school day i smile because i get to miss school. Kids only care about the holiday so they can miss school and they do zero research on it. The United States

We talk about him in school, it's taught that he's a great explorer who found our great nation. What they don't teach us is that he is a murderer. He murdered thousands of natives from the islands he first sailed to. Many wouldn't be able to guess the name of this explorer by the description, but in fact, his name is Christopher Columbus. Columbus didn't care about the lives of the indigenous people on many of the islands, he only cared about having control of the land. When we celebrate Columbus day in school and as a country we are honoring a man who did nothing good for the country but actually discouraged diversity and someone who resorted to violence rather than possible treaties or alliances. We need to discourage Columbus day, and rather,

In fourteen hundred and ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue. I guess the song forgot the sin, that the Spaniards killed 8 of 10. While Columbus’ voyage is the start of America as we know it, it came at a great cost to the Native Americans. They contracted diseases from the Spaniards, were abused, forced into Christianity and had resources stolen from them. So, the question is, due to the fact that the Native Americans were abused and taken advantage of by the Spaniards, how can we justify Columbus Day remaining a federal holiday? We can’t, it should never be acceptable to ruin one society so that another can advance.

When I was younger , I was taught that Christopher Columbus “sailed the ocean blue , in 1492”. I was taught to think of a hero ; The man who discovered America. Columbus day to me was just a day off , where I didn’t have to go to school. I feel that a fair amount of Americans today think of Columbus day the same way. I think very few people actually take the time

We don’t celebrate Columbus Day in this house, and we never will. It’s not that we don’t enjoy holidays when they come around. We love holidays around here as much as anyone, but there are some holidays that, in my opinion, should not be celebrated. Columbus Day is one of those holidays I believe should not be celebrated for many reasons. One Nobody celebrated the enslavement and rape of