Summary of Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress by: Howard Zinn

History is a weapon with a description of the Arawak ati!e Americans" the

article describes them as #naked, tawny, and full of wonder$% &he author 'uotes a (ournal

from a crew member of the Columbus e)pedition describing for the reader the cheery,

and full of hospitality, society the Arawak people had, and 'uickly described the opposite

society the *uropeans had% Zinn tells about how Columbus promptly kidnapped some

nati!es to interrogate them on the island, and more intently on gold, the reason he came,

and the item that the Spanish rulers wanted%

&he author goes on to describe Spain, and the new found go!ernment at the time

of Columbus% How Spain worker force was controlled by a few powerful and

monopolistic men that ha!e disco!ered with gold they can by anything much more useful

than paying people with land% He tells readers how Columbus was financed by the

 people, and, offered Columbus ten percent of the findings and a title of admiral of the

sea% Zinn describes the actions of Columbus through the Caribbean% How Columbus+s

report to adrid was wild hyperbole 'uoting Columbus with, #the harbors are

unbelie!ably good and there are many wide ri!ers of which the ma(ority contain gold-

&here are many spices and great mines of gold and other metals -$ .hen Columbus

returns the crew he left behind was slain by the Indians% /rom there Zinn+s article started

turning dark% He describes the murder of 01,222 Arawaks% How the Indians were

ensla!ed and forced to work on plantations% &he terror started with fifty thousand and 31

years later there were no Arawaks left on the island% He describes the Spanish !iew of the

 

islands with 'uotes from las casa how they belie!ed that the Indian had crude marriage

codes, and would sleep with anything, saying that they ha!e no religion, no culture% He

 points out the how the Spaniards became more greedy and greedy e!ery year, #two of

these so called Christians met two Indian boys one day, each carrying a parrot: they took

the parrots for fun and beheaded the boys% &he Spanish how the men died in the mines,

and while the wi!es suffered in the fields% He points out the how horrible this was, and

what Columbus did, yet Columbus is treated like a hero%

At this point Howard Zinn switches to why after years of dreadful, destruction

filled, damming acts, society o!erlooks them and pretends like it ne!er happened% Zinn

talks about how people tend to hide the horrible facts in life" that people change history

 based on interest, if the interest is nit in the murder of thousands of people, the historian

won+t emphasi4e it% &hat it is too late to (udge Columbus% &hat history is written by the

 people who succeed% Zinn tells us that his !iew point is telling history from the little

 beaten up man, the world of the !ictims% &he author talks about how he does not want to

grie!e but simply not to o!erlook history%

Zinn+s paper changes back to history as he describes Hernando Cort5s+s

destruction of the A4tec empire% Informing readers about Cort5s+s march of death across

the A4tes countryside killing !illage after !illage% 6ikewise, Zinn talks about Peru and the

Spanish Pi4arro killing all in his way, for the con'uest of gold% &he author then (umps

into the orth American colonies- 7escribing how 8amestown was founded on Indian

land and the nati!es did nothing" when the Indians sheltered some people after a harsh

 

winter, were killed for not gi!ing back the runaways- He illustrates how the *nglish

 began their tour of destruction against the Indians% &elling us about different fight,

different negotiations% He describes the puritans (ustifying the murder of whole nations

and tribes of Indians% Zinn tells how the 92,222,222 ati!e Americans in America went

ended up at a measly 9,222,222 in the future% Howard Zinn continues to go into great

detail about the Iro'uois nation, the mass atrocities committed there, how a nation the

si4e of &e)as was destroyed% Ziff ends with his earlier point, that war is written by the

winners- but it shouldn+t be%