LAD #9: Was Christopher Columbus a hero or a villian?

Was Christopher Columbus a hero or villain?

Christopher Columbus, although he is heroic in the eyes of many imperialist Europeans, to a greater extent represents the villainous consequences Columbus had on the indigenous people of America. This is because Columbus's goal was to acquire gold and slaves for Spain. Because he could not find much of the former, Columbus spent most of his energy sailing from island to island enslaving natives. Specifically, Howard Zinn wrote, "They found no gold fields, but had to fill up the ships returning to Spain with some kind of dividend," which embodies the ideas that pushed Columbus to acquire so many slaves in such a short amount of time. Furthermore, the task given to many of these slaves was to find the gold that the Europeans could not. However, this task was close to impossible as the only gold around was bits of gold dust. The pure disregard for the Native American's rights and abilities further proves how Columbus was not, in fact, a hero. Instead this evidence points directly to the belief that Christopher Columbus was entirely a villain. Additionally, not only were the rights of Natives in peril, but their lives were too. In fact, Howard Zinn stated that Columbus, "rounded up fifteen hundred Arawak men, women, and children, put them in pens guarded by Spaniards and dogs," but, "too many of the slaves died in captivity." This conveys how Columbus caused the deaths of many Native Americans. Although, much of the death was due to disease, and therefore not understood by Columbus himself, the Natives who died because of the horrible conditions they faced in enslavement can be directly traced back to the actions of Christopher Columbus himself. All of these facts conclusively reveal that Columbus was a villain as he did not save anyone, he lied about his accomplishments to get further funding from Spain, and he even caused a great number of Native Americans to die.

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Portrait of Christopher Columbus
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Portrait of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, similar to Christopher Columbus, is remembered for his many great accomplishments within his presidency. However, likewise, Jefferson treated Native Americans horribly. To better America as a whole Jefferson chose to force natives onto reservations so the US could expand its territory. Much like how Columbus was trying to spread the influence of Spain.

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