The Impact Of Christopher Columbus The Genocide Of Native Americans

Have you ever wondered what would have happened if Christopher Columbus would not have landed in America? America is home to millions of people today. But some of the things we use and do in our daily day to day lives can be traced back to the early colonization of the explorers. But who and why did they come to America, what effects did their arrivals cause, and most importantly how have their decisions affected our society to this day?

Christopher Columbus achieved remarkable success in the New World by discovering new lands and presenting an opportunity for new development. Over the course of four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, Columbus ignited the conquest and colonization of land in the New World. He recorded his experiences in journals and letters for future navigators and sailors to read and learn from. The benefits that arose from his expeditions were known as the Columbian Exchange, which included the transfer of people, resources, and culture, all of which significantly impacted society worldwide. His world changing legacy impacted the development of the territory in the New World and increased trade, resources, and economic stability for Europe.

Columbus, Spanish settlers, and English settlers directly impacted the Native Americans and Africans. First, Columbus impacted the Native Americans he met when he travelled back and forth to the Indies, between the times 1492 and 1504. Columbus travelled to the Indies to find and govern land, and to also make money. Doing so, Columbus severely punished Indians for not hitting harsh quotas of gold, he sold them into slavery, and he, his crew, and other Spanish settlers unintentionally brought infectious diseases. Because of this, the Native Americans suffered forced labor and great casualties, thus extremely altering their lifestyles. Second, English settlers began to affect the Native Americans when they arrived to Virginia in 1607. When the

Columbus never even walked on what we now call the United States of America. Where ever he did land, he was motivated only by his own greed. Columbus came for the gold, spices, and slaves. In his diary, he mentioned gold 75 times just in the first two weeks, alone (Katz 13). Indians who weren’t able to find gold, were punished by having their hands cut off. Most slaves died en route to Spain. Many Indian females were taken as sex slaves, some as young as nine and ten years old. Columbus forced cooperation from the Indians by disfiguring them and using them as examples. Even worse, he used hunting dogs to tear the Indians apart. Many natives committed suicide, and murdered their own children to save them from such a horrible life. Those who survived the voyage were worked to death. Still, another huge portion of these Indians died from disease brought over by Columbus and his

The Arawak people welcomed Columbus and his men as if they were gods. In return, Columbus took advantage of their generosity and responded with enslavement, torture, violence and mass killings. A person who takes advantage of an innocent person or group in these ways is not a hero, a good leader, or a good person.

When Columbus sailed to prove that the world was round, according to the website Livescience.com, he was late by two-thousand years. Ancient Greek mathematicians already have already proved that the world was round and not flat. Also according to this website, Columbus’s education was self taught and he believed that Europe was wider, and that Japan was further away from China’s coast. These are the reasons that he was going to try and find shorter trade route to Asia. When a student hears Columbus’ name they may instantly think that he was the first person to discover America. Although there were millions of Native Americans who were living in the New World, Columbus is the man who is getting all of the credit for finding the New World. There were also other travelers who had discovered America before Christopher Columbus.

In 1492, Italian cartographer and explorer, Christopher Columbus, set off on a mission from Spain in order to find a quicker, alternative route to Asia. With him, Columbus brought eighty-seven men and three ships, the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María, to sail across the large and vast Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately for Columbus, a new route to Asia was never discovered by Spain that year because he had arrived in the Caribbean, which was found in North America. Thinking that he had just entered the Indies, he started to call the people of this land, “Indians”. These Indians were actually Native Americans who had lived on these lands for thousands of years prior. Immediately, letters from Columbus to the King and Queen of Spain were sent by boat back to Europe and soon Columbus was seen as the man who helped create a bridge of prosperous trading and riches between Europe and “Asia”.1 While this discovery proved that Columbus was a hero-like figure to Spain, it’s what he did within the new land that actually makes him one of the biggest villains to ever set foot on Earth. But what classifies this explorer as a villain? Columbus captured thousands of natives, many of which were sent back to Spain to live and work as slaves. Along with that, Columbus also forced the Christian religion onto them, spread diseases that killed thousands of lives, and used violence as a means of persuasion and control.2 Corrupted by his pursuit of riches,

Christopher Columbus abused and slaughtered the Natives and their very own children. In the Article, Smithsonianmag, it states,”Or, as Mr. Bergreen puts it in describing the aftermath of an Indian slaughter of Columbus' men at La Navidad on what is now the island of Haiti: "A leader who valued gold above the security of his men could be counted on to aspire to great accomplishments at great cost." It states that Columbus slaughtered Indian men and forced his own men to kill them. He will do anything for gold. As far as killing innocent people. In the same article it also states,”Forced hard labor,The amputation of limbs if slaves were not producing ‘enough’,Labelled as hostile savages if not in complete compliance with their oppressors,Buried alive or burnt alive if you were resistant to the conquerors demands,were resistant to the conquerors demands,Offering cash rewards for

Even though Columbus was not the first person to step foot in the America’s, he was the first person, from the Eastern Hemisphere, to discover it. For example, when we discover a new species on an island, we may not have known that it existed, but the other living creatures there knew that it did. While Rebecca Dobbs in Document B is right that the Americas were not empty by any stretch of imagination and people lived there and knew about this part of the world, others did not know about it. However, in a letter to Queen Isabelle, Columbus states that they have landed on an island and the people there

When Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, he ended up in the islands of the Caribbean, which is not America. Furthermore, there were already humans there, so he wasn't the first to

Many people believe believed throughout history that the beginning of North America’s inhabitance was when Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the year 1492. They believed that he is the person who discovered America where in fact it was the Native Americans who made the initial discovery. Therefore, Columbus’s mission is considered more of a journey. One of the motivators behind the voyage was to move away from Britain and begin a new life in what was to them, land of potential opportunity.

Even though Columbus did find his way to the Americas, it was not North America he discovered. In fact, he never stepped foot in the United States during his four expeditions. Columbus actually made landfall in various islands located in what is now known as the Bahamas, which had hundreds of thousands Native American inhabitants that had already made

Natives in the Caribbeans were completely eliminated by the Spanish in two decades(source 1). When the Spanish arrived in the caribbeans, they slaughtered the natives there within two generations with no good reason, this inhumane act upon individuals cannot be tolerated, even less celebrated. The Spanish tortured and punished natives Americans in horrible ways(source 2). They did this by cutting off their hands if they did not bring them what they have ordered, chiefs were roasted on fires and dogs were sent to prey on them. “Miserable native survivors started killing themselves by eating poisoned roots”(source 1), this was how horribly they were treated physically and mentally since they thought that their only option was suicide.Columbus has also brought destruction to the natives by bringing slavery to the Americas. This not only affected Natives but also U.S history, since the Spanish Explorers has also brought white dominance over African Americans(source 4), staining U.S culture in a horrific manner. As they brought slavery to the Americas, natives were transported to Europe to be used as slaves, many couldn’t resist and died in this manner. These are the ways in which columbus brought destruction over Native

Brooke, you make a good point about that Columbus was a genius by venturing on his journey, and who dared to do the impossible for his century. However, he committed acts of violence and brutality with Native Americans, he became a murderer. The Native Americans especially the Arawak Indians were very good, warm, and friendly people who did everything that Columbus wanted. Unfortunately, for them they ran out of gold, and there had started their problems. All For the ambition of a man who is called Cristobal

Dr. Zinn references numerous accounts of innocent bloodshed, cruelty and the enslavement of Indians by Columbus and his soldiers from De Las Casa’s books prior to Columbus’ return to Spain. Dr. Zinn records the following statements from De Las Casa book in which he says; "Endless testimonies ... prove the mild and pacific temperament of the natives. But our work was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy; small wonder, then, if they tried to kill one of us now and then.... The admiral, it is true, was blind as those who came after him, and he was so anxious to please the King that he committed irreparable crimes against the Indians...." To please