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Joseph Nelson8/30/10

A.P. U.S. History Pd. 1Ms. McMullen

Conceited Columbus

Although society applauds Christopher Columbus as an American hero for proving the world to be round and boldly sailing the Atlantic Ocean discovering the New World, his name riles controversy. Columbus, as depicted in El Almirante by Robert Royal, held good intention, illustrated “his sincere fondness and respect for the Indians,” and found true awe in the western hemisphere. His wrong doings stemmed from common European paradigm, insisting that it is not Columbus’s fault. Royal also defends Columbus through claiming that he “had to use violence, threats, and constraint to have work done at all” in the Americas. Machiavelli may agree, as Columbus became a the power position of a governor, but Howard Zinn reveals in his writing “Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress” that Columbus simply exerted far too much brutality to be honored in his discovery. Zinn contests that Columbus sought only gold, slaves, and worst of all, hammered the American Indians with a forever violent legacy. Zinn claims that the presentation of The Admiral as a bold discover is only an excuse to mask the genocide that he brought the Natives. Christopher Columbus may have held good intentions to please the king of Spain, but the Italian born explorer is an imperialist, made evident through his treatment of the Indians and conduct that he encouraged for future generations.

Columbus may have only been attempting to sustain Spanish hegemony, but his actions toward the Native Americans are far from his harmless intentions. Royal tries to substantiate that Columbus held good intentions and positive conduct throughout his time in America, stating that he only allowed slavery at times of war and genuinely liked the Indians. It is evident, however, that those times of war and turmoil were far more than prevalent that Columbus may have intended. Additionally, the positive intentions that Royal strives to frame fail to be part of Columbus’s conduct from day one in the New World. Zinn quotes Columbus directly from his log stating “With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want” on the first day of arrival. Columbus did not fail to live out these intentions. He immediately “took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts.” Zinn depicts the harshness that Columbus instituted to achieve his aim: slaves and gold. Columbus saw the gold earrings that the Indians wore when they came to meet his men and deduced that Hispaniola must have been filled with gold. He instituted a gold tax upon the Indians, insisting a bag full every three months. That gold, in turn, would be sent back to Spain to make the rich richer and fuel the Spanish army. As if that is not imperialist enough, Columbus subjugates the Indians further by cutting the Indians’ hands off and letting them bleed to death, had they not met the quota. In addition to gold, Columbus used the Indians as an opportunity for free labor: slavery. Zinn quotes one of Columbus’s writings, “Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold.” He captured hundreds of Arawaks immediately. Columbus saw their dispensable lives as another means of obtaining capital. Zinn reports that so many of the Indians died in transit back to Europe that Columbus was forced to make up the dividends in the amount of gold acquired.

Columbus’s violent intentions did not cease to bring the Natives maltreatment in the short term, unfortunately. The precedent that Columbus set of treatment to the Indians spread through all of the Americas and even to our present day. Zinn cites the Puritans as an example,

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demonstrating how they poorly treated the Pequot Indians. Massacres of both sides took place. The English Puritans followed the same superiority complex that Columbus used to engage the Indians. The English successfully exterminated the Indian population in modern-day Connecticut, reducing it to a mere twenty-one in 1972, Virgel Vogel reports. Columbus’s legacy also encouraged the subjugation and rapid annihilation of the Iroquois Indians. His successors suppressed all of the Iroquois culture of nonviolence and peace. Simply from setting the standard at low tolerance for immoral conduct in 1492, Columbus allowed for future greed and atrocity.

Christopher Columbus bravely set sail to disprove misconception about a flat world; however, his hubris led him to claiming superiority over Native Americans. His quest not only was for science, but to set up new colonies and sources of income for Spain. With these imperialist notions came the cruelty that discoverers after Columbus used to coerce Indians in North America. Columbus himself may have been a devout Christian, but his narrow-minded focus on obtaining wealth in Spain’s name surely was not in God’s name. His treatment of Indians and negative legacy will forever be a stain in western civilization’s history. Christopher Columbus should fairly been honored for his brave journey across the Atlantic, but, much like the ocean itself, his positive reputation should end as soon as he reached the New World.