Columbus Day is twisted

In elementary school we were taught Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.

We were trained to celebrate his finding of the Americas as some great contribution to United States’ history.

But the history books leave out quite a bit.

Christopher Columbus was, by many years, not the first “discoverer” of the Americas.

The Vikings are recorded to have found the Americas around the 11th century.

Plus, Columbus thought he had reached Asia, not the unknown continent that is now South America.

History books celebrate his ignorance and poor sailing capabilities and forget to mention his lesser-known legacy of Native American brutality and slavery.

Natives of the lands he visited were welcoming and hospitable, specifically the Arawaks and Tainos.

He viewed them, though, as pitiful and inferior.

In his report to the Court of Madrid upon his return to Spain, he called the Arawaks “so naive and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would not believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone ... ”

But, instead of being grateful for their hospitality, Columbus took natives by force to trade into slavery, find him gold and help set up settlements.

The natives he used to search for gold were treated despicably. If they didn’t help or find any gold, their hands were cut off. Many bled to death.  

Wherever Columbus went, natives died.

There are accounts of Columbus spearing two men for not trading bows and arrows with him.

If any of the natives tried to band together and resist, Spaniards countered with muskets and swords.

On a later voyage, Columbus went on an even larger slave raid than previous years, capturing 1,500 natives and caging them.

Of those 1,500, the “best” 500 men were loaded onto ships. Of the chosen 500, 200 froze and died on the way back to Spain.

The rest that arrived alive in Spain were put up for sale and treated like animals.
Christopher Columbus is the cause of the death and destruction of thousands of people and their cultures.

It is gut-wrenching that many Americans seldom hear the chilling accounts of who Christopher Columbus really was.

As a person with Native American blood coursing through her veins, I’m disheartened and feel disrespected.

Columbus Day is a celebration of death, slavery and brutality.

It is a twisted holiday that glosses over the unconventional and praises a distorted myth that Columbus’s voyage was rich with discovery.

This was never true. The tales were slanted over generations to create an American holiday we celebrate with a false sense of pride and a day off work.

­— andlzimm@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Andrea Zimmerman on Twitter @AndreaLZimm.