On October 12th, Americans all across the nation enjoy a day off from school to commemorate the great achievements of the brilliantly brave Christopher Columbus. He was idealized throughout Europe for discovering the "New World" and was seen as a hero in the eyes of the white men--but what about the eyes of the Natives? I'll bet you they were not too fond of the all-mighty Columbus.
Christopher Columbus, to the greatest extend, was a villain because he forced the Native Americans into slavery, exploited the new world's natural resources, and took all the credit for his "discovery," while to a lesser extent he was a hero because he credited in "discovering" the Americas.
On Columbus's first voyage, he was greeted by Arawak native people who brought him food, water, and gifts. Columbus's initial thought was that "they would make fine servants" (Zinn 1). He "took some of the natives by force" in order to get information about the land and possibly find out where the gold was hiding (Zinn 2). When he returned for his second voyage, he "went from island to island in th Caribbean, taking Indians as captives" (Zinn 2). Columbus was arrogant and believed, as most Europeans at this time did, that he was far superior to the Native American people. He stomped into new territory that didn't belong to him, took advantage of the native's hospitality, and took them as slaves.
One of Columbus's main goals was to bring back as much gold as he could from the New World. He wanted to boost the economy of his mother country. He set the natives to work collecting gold from the "bits of [gold] dust garnered from the streams" (Zinn 4). Columbus took a great supply of the New Worlds gold and sent it back to Europe. Not only did this hurt the native's resources, but it also led to inflation back in Europe.
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Even though Columbus led the voyage to the New World, there is no way he could have done it alone--yet he takes all the credit! First of all, his voyage was funded by Queen Isabella back in Spain. Secondly, Columbus had three ships and a large crew. His crew hardly ever mentioned, even though they had a huge part in Columbus's success. Not to mention, he left "thirty-nine crewmembers" in the New World to control the first military base "Navidad" (Zinn 3).
Christopher Columbus is seen as a hero because he "discovered" the New World (even though it had always been there and people had been living there for hundreds of years). He brought back wealth to Europe and started the age of colonization. There is no doubt that Columbus played a a key role in the progression of history, whether it be positive or negative.
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