Blog #39 – Should we celebrate Columbus Day?
Christopher Columbus is credited with having discovered the New World in 1492, not necessarily America. How people interpret this fact is the subject of intense historical and cultural debate across the world. The day honoring the discovery, October 12, is a national holiday, but for some historians and cultures, this day is marked as one when Spanish imperialism and genocide of the Native Americans began.
Those who want to discredit Columbus Day usually start with the wave of violence, slavery and genocide of the Native Americans that began after his “discovery.” On the island of Hispanola (Haiti / Dominican Republic), the sailors left there after his first voyage were tasked with finding gold and silver and soon tried to put to work the natives of the island. In subsequent voyages, he searched Central and South America for gold, and the communicable diseases like smallpox and measles that the Europeans had would also wipe out – intentionally or not – the Native populations. Conquistadors Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro exploited divisions among the ruling tribes, Aztecs and Incas respectively, to conquer vast empires. It’s estimated that something like 90% of the 100 million Native Americans who lived in the New World were wiped out by disease, war, and famine brought on by discovery.
But was this all Columbus’ fault? His defenders say, of course not. Diseases act in random ways and are influenced by many things including stress, food (or lack thereof), poverty and other cultural or economic factors. Discovery could have brought some of these conditions on, but they weren’t necessarily the primary cause. Columbus is also given credit for having been a visionary, having convinced the Spanish monarchs to provide him with three ships to sail the Atlantic in search of a newer, quicker route to Asia around the earth. In fact, Columbus failed in his attempt to find that quicker trade route to Asia. It would be Magellan who would circumnavigate the globe. And, Columbus is being blamed for what came in his wake – the Spanish conquistadors, the destruction of Native peoples, and even the African slave trade since that was linked with the opening up of the New World. Too much, much too much indeed, to put on one man’s shoulders.
Another way of looking at this is that when we celebrate Columbus Day, we celebrate America. Should we acknowledge both the good and the bad that come with America / Columbus? Or is it more patriotic to revel in America in a “Team America” way with unquestioning loyalty?
Your answer should be 250 words – due Thursday 9/13/12 by the beginning of class.
Sources:
Bigelow, Bill. “Zinn Education Project.” Zinn Education Project. N.p., 2003. Web. 19 Aug. 2012. <http://zinnedproject.org/posts/1497>.
Horwitz, Tony. A Voyage Long and Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, and Other Adventurers in Early America. New York: Picador USA, 2009. Print.
Madaras, Larry, and James M. SoRelle. “New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America.” 1997. Taking Sides. 13th ed. Vol. 1. Dubuque, IA: McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2009. 25+. Print.
Madaras, Larry, and James M. SoRelle. “Virgin Soils Revisited.” 2003. Taking Sides. 13th ed. Vol. 1. Dubuque, IA: McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2009. 33-40. Print.
The answer is NO, why should there be a columbus day? sure he helped bring about the colonization of America but his discovery is of little importance compared to countless explorers who have done much more for instance leif ericson or eric the red? one of those vikings actually discovered America not Colombus is there a Leif ericson day? no so why should there be a columbus day? He did not discover America yet we celebrate it here. I mean no one even actually celebrates columbus day its just a day off for banks and postal workers. There is no point in having a celebration in the United States, he did not discover America he didn’t even affect American history i see why they make a big deal of columbus in Spain but here? no not only that the native american descendants probably also hate the fact we celebrate columbus day since while bringing his men here he helped enslave the entire caribbean yet we celebrate him for it. In Spain i understand why it is celebrated because he started Spain on the path to becoming the world super power at that point in history but in the USA? where he had no contributions to our country, did not even sight the U.S. mainland we should abolish Columbus Day now if there was a Discovery Day to honor explorers that helped found the American colonies i wouldn’t have a problem if columbus day was replaced by that but for now it should be gone.
I believe that we should celebrate Columbus Day, for it’s better to be aware of the past (both good and bad) because it may be useful in the future. Sure, Columbus “caused” many terrible and wonderful things to occur, but the only thing he should really be credited for is being brave enough to get three ships and sail away. He was a lost sailor searching for a whole different land that had already been discovered, but luck had it that he stumbled into this gigantic land mass in his way. He may have brought diseases, but he probably didn’t know he was carrying them and he hadn’t intended to find a new people in the first place. Some people may have found gold and so enslaved the natives and Africans, but Columbus himself had nothing to do with it and died a poor and disgraced man. He could be somewhat blamed for killing the natives he encountered, but it was the pattern of society back then and for him to do otherwise would have been astonishing. So although Columbus did not intentionally try to do very much, his story is a tale of warning for all people who discover new “lesser” people. We should celebrate the day to raise awareness that if we were ever to discover someone, we would have to be cautious of disease, taking their resources, trying to convert them to our ways, and outright killing them. Some people suggest celebrating “American” Day, but then we are only promoting the self-serving, superior type of attitude that went around in Columbus’ time.
I believe we shouldn’t celebrate Columbus Day for Christopher Columbus’s “discovery” of America. Christopher Columbus was, in fact, a genocidal murderer. Maybe not one purpose, but his decisions led him to be one. First of all, Columbus did not “find” America; the Native Americans were already living in it and he probably wasn’t the first European explorer to come across it. Columbus and his men came in and started a wave of violence in America. When Columbus came, his people brought deadly diseases, such as smallpox, that greatly affected the Native populations because they had no immunity. The Native Americans were content living as they pleased and weren’t looking for foreign interference or salvation. Their resistance to the Spanish in helping them search for gold led to enslavement of the Natives and sometimes death. Columbus also doesn’t deserve recognition because he had bad judgment. He left bad leaders in the New World in charge of the land and Natives, and they decided to kill them all off because of the “obstacle” they created, even though their knowledge of America far exceeded those of Columbus and his men. Columbus also probably wasn’t the first European explorer to come across America. After all the Indians ran away from forced enslavement, the Europeans began bringing in slaves from Africa, approximately 11 million, that started the continuing fight for equality for all races of people until the Civil Rights Movement in the mid 20th century. Instead of celebrating Columbus’s discovery of America, I think we should celebrate the success America has become and has brought the world since its discovery. We should celebrate Columbus Day that, without the discovery of America in 1492, America and maybe the world could have been a very different place than we know it is today.
After acknowledging both the good and bad about Columbus I do not think we should celebrate Columbus day. The main reason I believe this is because of the violent things that Columbus did. Does our country believe in violence and slavery? Obviously the answer is no but for some reason we celebrate a holiday acknowledging a man that took part in this. I just dont understand why we give so much credit to the man that started it all. After his “discovery” the slavery, genocide, and violence started. He basically took away the home of these peaceful people that did nothing to deserve it. How would you like it if someone invaded your home and forced you out? No one would like it; but yet we still celebrate the day after what he did. Not too mention the fact that he just discovered “the new world” not necessarily America. In my opinion, the day should mark the day of the genocide of the Native Americans. Not the celebration of the man that started the genocide.
I will be honest I don’t even know when Columbus Day is, I don’t even know what season it is in, and I think I can assume most Americans today probably don’t really pay much attention to the day. So how I see it, from my perspective, is that no one really is ‘celebrating’ Columbus Day. This may not seem whatsoever deep or intellectual but I personally would love to actually celebrate Columbus Day, and not like we do now but maybe celebrate it in a way closer to Christmas. That’s personally what I would like and not because of the significance of the day or what it lead to but because it would be another day for me where I would have no school, could eat cake and ice-cream and good food. We could even maybe give presents to each other, in the thought that purely Columbus gave us (like a present) the nation and lives we have today. But all that is probably not going to happen and is almost completely ridiculous. So from a more realistic perspective, Columbus Day I feel is more ‘recognized’ by some than ‘celebrated’. And I think it should stay on the calendar for that reason. I recall in elementary school, the teachers bringing it up when the day passed. It was the day when America was found when Chris and his boys hopped in some boats and went for a ride that would change the world. The day has nothing to do with all the bad things that come after because there are so many elements that play into American history that one event is only so much. The day should be recognized and recognized as simply as the day Columbus landed because it was a checkpoint in the timeline of the history of the world. And I’m not saying we need to pay more attention to the day because we don’t and if we got rid of Columbus Day I really wouldn’t care, all I’m saying is there is nothing wrong with having a Columbus Day once a year, absolutely nothing wrong with it.
Being a patriot means being able to openly talk about mistakes and even crimes that were made in the past and making sure that they will never be repeated. Patriotism is not participating in holidays, like Columbus Day, that have their basis on killings and genocide. I believe that we shouldn’t celebrate Columbus Day. My reasons are the Columbian Exchange, greed, and ignorance.
My first reason for believing that Columbus Day shouldn’t be celebrated is the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange was the trading of plants, animals, fabrics and weapons with the American Indians. Many of the fabrics Columbus traded with the Native Americans were riddled with diseases that the Indians had no protection from, like smallpox. Defenders of Columbus say that the diseases were helped by the stress and hunger of the Native Americans. The only problem with that statement is that Columbus would purposefully take cloths and blankets from sick men and trade them over. The natives who used these cloths and blankets then developed deadly diseases. My second reason for condoning Columbus Day is the fact that one of Columbus’s main reasons for going to the New World is the pursuit of money and gold. When he went to America, he expected to gain a huge amount of riches; however, gold was very scarce, especially in the Bahamas. Not finding money irritated Columbus, so in desperation, he started bringing slaves over to work in cotton fields and mine for gold. The last reason I believe Columbus Day shouldn’t be celebrated is that Columbus didn’t know that he was in the new world. The first person in Columbus’ crew to realize that they had not reached India was Amerigo Vespucci, a lesser known explorer. Murder and greed are two good rationales why not to observe Columbus Day. Adding to that, the fact that Columbus didn’t even “discover” America should be enough of a reason why we shouldn’t celebrate Columbus Day.
Christopher Columbus was always glorified as a great American explorer. But due to circumstantial evidence, Christopher Columbus was a Genocidal mass murder. Therefore, Columbus Day should not be celebrated as a holiday. He did not actually discover America like early education teachers tell us; the Native Americans were already there. He and his co-explorers started a massive wave of violence upon arriving and exploring. Massive waves of diseases were brought in by Columbus and Co. The Native Americans didn’t need them coming and slaughtering them, and taking over land that rightfully belonged to the natives. The searches for precious metals lead to the slavery of the natives. Now, we cannot consider the bad without looking at the good point of view. Columbus was under a MASSIVE amount of pressure from Spain because they wanted gold and other metals for economic profit. Turns out that there wasn’t any gold in America there was only corn. Because of him, Spain became the world power for one hundred fifty to two hundred years. Christopher Columbus was brave enough to leave Spain multiple times, most times coming back without gold. Columbus didn’t die wealthy either; he died broke and disgraced because of his failures of obtaining the gold Spain required. All things considered, Columbus was a murderer and Columbus Day is not a holiday worth celebrating the way it is now. So those elementary and middle school teachers who glorified Christopher Columbus were right in certain ways, but the evidence rules the negative points over the positive ones.
I believe that we should celebrate Columbus Day for two reasons. First, when searching for the founder of America, I am not speaking about who set foot on the land, claimed it, and left. I am talking about the one who opened America up to the world, allowing it to grow. Yes, Christopher Columbus was not the “first” to find it, yet he was the first to release the information and news of a strange world full of possibilities. If it was not for his discovery, we might be living in London, sipping tea and eating crumpets right now. Also, many argue that it was Columbus who drove the natives to such a small number, yet we may not have all the information in that respect. Previous disease, famine, wars with neighboring tribes could have resulted in the dwindling numbers of natives, prior to when Columbus arrived. Secondly, when Columbus arrived in the Bahamas, the natives living there at the time were less developed than the Europeans. Can you really blame Columbus for noticing that he was the “stronger” opponent and acting on it? Would the natives have acted the same way if the tables had been reversed? We will never know for certain, but I do feel it is a valid point . The enslavement of the natives, the foreign diseases, and even the colonizing of the New World were all a reaction of Columbus seeing an opportunity and seizing it. It is no different than in today’s society, were we applaud people for being in the right place at the right time, or finding an opening for success and taking it. I believe, in a way, that when we are celebrating Columbus Day, we are reveling in the American dream. To work hard, seize opportunities, and not let anyone stand in our way.
Have you ever heard the phrase “In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue?” The celebration of Columbus Day is very important, Christopher Columbus is known as the man who discovered America, but that isn’t true. America was discovered by the Vikings hundreds of years before. Columbus may have not have been the discoverer of America. Columbus was sent by the King to discover a route to travel to Asia. Columbus Day is one of the oldest holidays that is celebrated in the United States, so why should we stop honoring and celebrating that day because Columbus was wrongly accredited? The answer to that question is we shouldn’t, Columbus helped bring colonization of America. I think that we should celebrate Columbus Day, Columbus day has been around for so long, the first state in the United States to have a celebration in honor of Christopher Columbus is Colorado and other states soon began to follow. Many people think we shouldn’t have a Columbus Day for many reasons including the starting of slavery in the Caribbean, The disease being spread, etc. but every discoverer brings a lot of things that wasn’t in the country before the discoverer arrived. Some people feel as if Columbus day should be abolished but I think we should celebrate all the good things that Columbus has done in his lifetime. I don’t think that it is right to celebrate something for so long then just immediately get rid of it. Columbus Day also adds a three day weekend to our packed and busy schedules where everyone should be able to take some time off work, school, etc.
I believe that columbus day should be recognized, not as a national holiday but as a day to be recognized in school. I think this because if you’re talking about something good that happened with something bad coming shortly after that, people don’t want to be reminded that “YEAHH” we discovered America, no we killed hundreds of people to do it. Even though Christopher Columbus didn’t find America, he did go back to England and tell about his adventures over in the new world getting people inspired to come to America to have a new start. Which lead to the english want for land. This was the main cause of the indians being attacked. Not because of Christopher Columbus, but because of the money hungry Chesapeake Settlers, and the English men who wanted land to make there settlement bigger and spread there religious views across America. While people want to remember the day that we came to America, they also don’t want to learn about the things we did to the Indians, which weren’t Columbus’s fault. Diseases had already spread through out the Indian settlements from previous settlers, not from Christopher Columbus. Making it ok to state that it is Columbus day to the public but not essentially give people a day off. Kids could be taught in school to a certain extent about Christopher Columbus in School based on grade level, you obviously couldn’t teach fist graders about the hundreds of people the settlers had killed to get were we are now. After thinking about this decision long and hard i say that we should celebrate columbus day but only to a certain extent.
Christopher Columbus is famous for the founding of the New World and starting the new era of mercantilism. Through recent studies, we now know the first person to find the New World was not Christopher Columbus; it was Lief Erickson, a Viking. Mercantilism was also a main cause of the unfair conditions for many unfortunate groups – the poor, Africans, and Native Americans- for the rise of a nations economy in that era. Christopher Columbus should not be celebrated for the founding of the New World, and definitely not celebrated for all the hardships he brought to the Natives of America. Although some people may pity Christopher Columbus because his first crew was killed by these Natives, Christopher brought people over to America to almost wipe out 90% of the Native population. Christopher’s crew was not respectful to the Natives, and tried to sleep with the Native women and disrespected the Natives culture. Christopher would start a genocide that would enslave most of the Native population for their own selfish desires. This man may not have brought over all these terrible things himself –slaves and genocide- but he did start the idea when he was alive. To add to those hardships, in future years, the Native Americans and African slaves would be killed by diseases and often be worked to death by the Europeans. This idea then grew to powerful levels, and continued to kill for hundreds of years. It was this powerful idea that killed two of the most historical cities, the Aztecs and the Incas. Patriotism is important for a strong country, but to have a false label for patriotism is wrong. We should not celebrate Columbus Day, because of all the catastrophes he brought to America.
I believe that Columbus Day should still be celebrated, but I also believe that Columbus was responsible for many terrible things, and these should be recognized on the same day. Columbus Day should not only be a day honoring Columbus heroic deeds, but also a day of remembrance for the natives killed, and the many thousands of slaves brought over in the following centuries after Columbus’s discovery of the New World. Columbus was at fault for many of the natives that died due to his coming. He left men on Hispaniola that enslaved and killed natives in their greedy search for gold. Many natives also died at the hands of people who later followed Columbus’s path to the New World. Conquistadors like Cortez wiped out entire nations of native people in the New World, and it is Columbus’s fault for beginning exploration of the New World. European disease was what killed most of the natives, whom had no immunity to these diseases. Columbus had no knowledge or control over how disease spread, and therefore is not at fault for the death caused by disease. But, there is no excuse for the other two ways he was responsible for the killings of the natives. Also Columbus was responsible for the thousands of slaves brought to America for the following centuries. If he hadn’t arrived in the New World, there would’ve been no slave trade to America, and thus there would be no deaths, families torn apart, and inhumane treatment of Africans on the soil of the New World. Columbus should be held responsible for the deaths of the natives, and the slave trade in the centuries that followed his discovery, and Columbus Day should acknowledge these actions and be a day of remembrance. But, it should still be celebrated due to Columbus’s bravery and determination to reach the New World. And without his discovery, none of us would be here. For both of these reasons, Columbus day should be a day celebrating Columbus’s bravery, while remembering the terror and atrocities that he brought with him.
I do not think that we should celebrate a person like Christopher Columbus, therefore we should not celebrate Columbus Day itself. Christopher Columbus got credit for being the first person to do something that had already been done, and acted as if he was extremely special. Frankly, there are two things wrong with the statement “he discovered America”: he did not discover it and it was not America. Natives had already been there long before Columbus made his “discovery”. Also, the idea that celebrating Columbus Day because it celebrates America is silly because he did not have anything to do with what America is today. Although his adventures brought attention to this new land, that only seemed to make life worse for the native people. They were being killed by disease or war, enslaved, or being taken advantage of. The disease and the actions of the other explorers should not be pinned on Columbus, but he did enough to be seen more as a murderer than a hero. Not only did he come into the natives’ home and kill or enslave them, he also did it with an attitude that he had the right to being doing it. The right to come and ruin (or end) people’s lives, to act as if their lives meant less than his. If for nothing else, Columbus should not be celebrated because of the type of person he was. He was a murderer that acted with an entitlement that should not be looked up to by anyone.
After evaluating all of the good and bad things that Christopher Columbus has done/started, i don’t think that we should be celebrating Columbus Day. After all, he wasn’t even the one who originally found America. There were Native Americans on the land before he ever found it. Christopher Columbus can also be held partially responsible for the fatal diseases that were brought over with the colonists, and for the wave of violence that came with his discovery of the “new world”. The Natives weren’t looking for salvation or asking for foreigners to come onto their land, but Columbus and his colonists came and took the land anyways. The colonists were also on a search for precious metals, and this lead to forced labor. Not only had Columbus invaded their land, but now the natives were forced to work as slaves for the new colonists. Why should we be celebrating violence, diseases, and slavery? These are a few of the reasons why I don’t think Columbus Day is something that should be celebrated.
I think we should celebrate Columbus Day, but not for the reasons people think we should. The fact that Columbus didn’t discover America needs to be reiterated and made clear. If he is to be honored for anything, it’s for being the first European to prove that you can cross the Atlantic Ocean and come back alive. In my opinion, that is a major feat, and half the time Americans don’t even realize or don’t even learn that he did that. He set the route from America to Europe, and sailors still use that route today. If he hadn’t done that, we would have no relations with Europe whatsoever, let alone start the colonies and become America. I also firmly believe he should not be acknowledged for “discovering” America, because that is not even true. He set up the first European colonies in the western hemisphere, and they weren’t even in America. I also realize that some people hate Columbus because they think he was a genocidal murderer, which I don’t think is true. He came over to the New World looking for gold. His mission was not to expose the Native Americans from diseases and do his best to kill them. They were stressed and recovering from food shortages and other diseases, so it was no wonder that they caught whatever the explorers were carrying around. Overall, I think that Columbus deserves some credit. When he came home from the New World, he died broke and disgraced because he had never found Asia like everyone wanted him to. But if he hadn’t made that journey, America would definitely not be what it is today.
Additional Source: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:5t7yEHkRN1EJ:www.osia.org/documents/Columbus_Accom.pdf+what+did+columbus+accomplish&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiAtBbsUy1RpC_5sppGEHjnVNJaAwyQjJwpKPcXXRRl3ezZxmMZ9SxXeg2r5Vb9QLnFv2NudnNXqDjCTJeg16aMXmL7FM6F2lizN08k5BXiG46wMU0CpnIENyOItuC0rQdkr5uF&sig=AHIEtbToBkNji97iZ6_v1l0DNIOeKvZkUQ
I do not see the point of celebrating a person whom many associate with violence, superiority, and cruelty. Columbus may have had honorable intentions, but in the end, he is still remembered for destroying Native American societies. People can argue that diseases like smallpox and measles were not brought over intentionally by Columbus and his men. However, the fact is, Columbus himself did make decisions that would impact Native Americans forever. Columbus selfishly forced natives to search for gold and silver. He entered the New World with a sense of superiority and felt no guilt in destroying native populations. He, like most Europeans, believed himself to be better than the native people, and took their rightful land without a second thought.
We will always remember the day Columbus arrived in the New World as an important part of our history, but we don’t need to honor the date as a holiday, a day of celebration. Native Americans still live in America. How can we expect them to celebrate a man who practically wiped out their ancestors? We can’t make decisions for the majority of our citizens; we need to think about every single American person: Americans who are technically more “American” than any of the rest of us, Americans who might not be the minority if it weren’t for Columbus and his men.
I do believe that as a country we should celebrate Columbus Day because we can look into the past and see the good and the bad and see how far we have come. Some of the things that Columbus had made mistakes on were that he basically started the concept of slavery. Columbus’ first voyage was to the Hispaniola Island, where he and his sailors tried to make the natives of the island find gold and silvers that would all go to Columbus. Years later, a total of eleven million slaves were brought from Africa to work hard in the absolute worst conditions. Also Columbus is credited by being the person who founded America. That is false because America was discovered much later but one thing is true in which he discovered the New World. Another bad point about Columbus is that when he came from Europe, he didn’t only bring other people with him but he brought the deadly diseases. It was a wave of genocide because almost all of the natives passed away. But, is Columbus really to blame for all of the deaths? The diseases might not have affected the natives as horribly as they did because if there weren’t other problems in their society, there wasn’t stress from foreigners, there wasn’t a food shortage, and if there wasn’t previous sickness and the natives hadn’t recovered then the native population would have been much higher. Some of the good things about Columbus are that he started colonization because the Indians were on the islands when he arrived. He was also very determined in that he believed that he would find Asia. Columbus was also put on a lot of pressure because the Spanish wanted lots of gold. Although Columbus made mistakes, not all of them were his fault because of the circumstances that he was put under. Even though Columbus Day is a federal holiday it isn’t given much thought except that it’s a nice day off from work. In today’s world we all make mistakes and it doesn’t give us the right to judge others mistakes without recognizing their accomplishments which should be thought about on Columbus Day.
Italian Cristoforo Colombo, known to most people as Christopher Columbus is believed to have been born in the year 1451. His Anniversary is celebrated in October for that he as a brave explorer and founder of America. I disagree with celebrating this day.
Originally Columbus had planned to sail to what is known today as Japan, China and India. Not being aware of the Continent known today as America he set sail to the west, and obviously there was no way he could reach Asia if he just sailed straight west from Spain, which he did. So that is were his failures began.
After long periods of sailing the ocean one of Columbus’ sailors would sight land. Columbus took the credits for himself and claimed he was the founder. In addition, whenever arriving on new land, maybe a different island, and Christopher did not find a good way of communication he would just start killing the natives so he can have the land for himself to do whatever he wants to do with no one stopping him. It is estimated, that maybe not Columbus himself, but also his followers and diseases that he brought along killed over 10,000 innocent Native Americans. Over 10,000. That is maybe about three times the population of Bloomfield , Michigan. 3x – all dead! Imagine that when you were driving from Birmingham into Franklin and there would three bodies for everyone that lives in the area. And truly Columbus had no right. The Natives were never a threat to him. He jsut wanted control. That genocidal murder. He never even stepped on North America what so many people call land he founded.
I do not believe we should celebrate Columbus Day as a national American holiday because Christopher Columbus didn’t find America himself in the first place. Christopher Columbus found the Caribbean Islands and the Bahamas. Another reason we shouldn’t celebrate Columbus Day is because though he did bring the Europeans out of the dark as far as geography goes, the Europeans did not have to come colonize America. The Native Americans weren’t looking for a solution or asking to be “civilized”. As far as they knew, they were civilized. I could never say the Native Americans wanted deadly diseases to come kill them off, or that they wanted or needed their land taken away. I believe that the Native Americans were content with themselves the way things were. Another reason Columbus Day should not be celebrated as a United States national holiday is because he essentially was the one who inspired colonization here in America, and he only did it because of greed and ended up destitute nonetheless. Here’s a question, do we even celebrate Columbus Day to start with? Sure, Gardner White might take October 12th as an excuse to give a sale, and Bath and Body Works may give their customers five dollars off a thirty dollar purchase on Columbus Day. In reality, Americans don’t celebrate Columbus Day with a party or a barbeque, Columbus Day isn’t even acknowledged in my family, and most of the kids at school don’t even know what day Columbus Day is. Columbus Day should not be celebrated as a national holiday because if we were to celebrate it, we would have to celebrate all aspects of what Christopher Columbus really did, and to be honest, as far as Columbus goes, I don’t think there is much to celebrate.
Do we celebrate Hitler Day? How about Stalin Day? Or even Gaddafi Day? No. Then why do we celebrate Columbus Day? You might say Columbus was a leader, a man with a dream. Hitler, Stalin, Gaddafi were all leaders with dreams. We celebrate Columbus Day because Columbus was the first man in America. No wait, that’s wrong. Let me try again. We celebrate Columbus Day because he was the first to find India. Still wrong? Darn. Okay, okay I got this. We celebrate Columbus Day because he founded the New World, in the eyes of the Europeans.
Columbus was sent by King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Spain in hopes of finding a fast route to India. Instead Columbus landed in the Island of Hispaniola (Haiti/ Dominican Republic) in 1492. When Columbus landed in Hispaniola, he wanted to search for gold and silver. Columbus would eventually use the Natives as slaves when it came to looking for gold and silver. Columbus’ men would also steal from the Natives. The Natives were already a successful civilization, but the Spanish looked at them as children in need of guidance.
Columbus and his men also brought a number of different diseases to the New World. They brought small pox, measles, typhus, syphilis, and many more. These diseases wiped out entire Native American villages. If the diseases didn’t kill them, then The Natives would die from famine or trying to fight against the newcomers.
Should we celebrate Columbus Day? In my eyes, Columbus is an overrated explorer who failed his mission and wiped out entire villages of Native Americans. If you want to celebrate a holiday for a failure, mass murderers, and thief, then go right ahead.
Columbus Day has been celebrated for over a century, though like most holidays, the true meaning of the celebration has been subject to much change as society continued to develop. In context, Columbus Day observes the “discovery” of the Americas by Christopher Columbus, but is that really what is being celebrated? Most Americans have an inherent sense of patriotism, a quality ingrained in youth by simply being a citizen of the country. So when most children think about the discovery of the new world, they tend to think less about the rest of the American continent and more about their own country (for lack of knowledge of foreign nations). The fascinating aspect, however, is the association that is created between Christopher Columbus discovering the New World and the founding of the United States of America, as if those two events are directly related. Columbus Day has become a less important Independence Day of sorts, because much of America isn’t interested in celebrating an event that didn’t directly affect them in the present. If one looks at all other national holidays in America, it will be clear that they are all directly related to the United States as a country and important events that shaped this nation (i.e. President’s Day, MLK Day, etc.). While it is impossible to forget that without Columbus opening up the New World for colonization, this country would never exist as it does, one has to ask if that is necessarily something to be celebrated. By making this celebration about the after effects of the discovery, isn’t that, in essence, ignoring the very basis of the holiday? None of the immediate affects of Columbus’ voyage could be considered heroic or worth celebrating. Rather, the decimation of the native population and centuries of genocide, prejudice, and hatred is something to be mourned. While America is by all means a wonderful country in the modern world, does that mean that the basis for its founding is noble? Do the eventual benefits that came out of the discovery of America counteract the barbaric atrocities committed by the Europeans at that time? Independence Day does not celebrate the Revolutionary War in which thousands of people died, it commemorates the day that the United States became its own country. As such, how can a holiday that celebrates the far less than noble discovery of the New World justify its existence? Every event of the past has an affect on the future, and when that event is bloody and violent, it is often ignored in favor of the present. Columbus Day celebrates the discovery of the New World, an event that eventually led to the founding of countless new nations, but that does not mean that it should be commemorated in any positive light.
When considering whether or not celebrate Columbus Day, it is imperative that he is charged as either an intuitive, great hero or a genocidal murderer. Unfortunately this is hard to do. He was a man with great, new ideas and he went to great lengths to try and see those ideas through. He was a visionary, and an unselfish man. He died in disgrace of not completing his dream of finding a trade route to Asia. Columbus probably had regrets about his decision too. It was never his intention to bring diseases and the death of an estimated 90% of the native population. He originally proposed the idea of his voyage to the King of Portugal and later the King of Spain, fighting for 2 years to be granted permission to go on the expedition. Columbus wanted to go on the voyage for a faster trade route to Asia and to impress the Monarchs that sent him. After his initial “success”, the Spanish came in and took control. I think Columbus is discredited and labeled a genocidal murderer because he was the match that started the explosion. Columbus was even ridiculed by the monarchs, arrested, and sacked as governor of San Salvador. During his trial, the Monarchy claimed that he used “barbaric” tactics in his treatment of the Natives. To this Columbus defended himself by claiming those were the tactics he was told to use. After his trial, Columbus demanded he receive 10% of profits from the New World. This was denied and Columbus never made any money on the expeditions.
As far as celebratory purposes, I think Columbus Day should be celebrated. It should be celebrated not as discovering America, but rather as one of history’s largest globalizations. It should be celebrated as a day of bringing diversity to the world, as well as both the positives and negatives Columbus’s voyages caused.
Sources:
“Christopher Columbus.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 09 Aug. 2012. Web. 12 Sept. 2012. .
Celebrating Columbus Day should be discontinued. Not only is the theory that he ‘discovered’ the New World incorrect as historical evidence has put Viking ships in northern North America c. 1000 AD, nearly 500 years before Columbus, but the genocide and violence he unintentionally sparked gives the entire holiday a grim pall to the informed. The entire mission that led to him setting foot in the Caribbean was, in fact, a failure. He left Spain looking for Asia, not a new world complete with ‘savage’ natives and fortunes in gold. He simply managed to run into a continent that was in his way, not the most impressive task when truly examined. The idea that when we celebrate Columbus Day, we celebrate America is incredibly vain of Americans. The main point of Columbus Day is to celebrate the man who ‘discovered’ the New World. Not the United States. He in fact landed in the Caribbean, not the mainland, and he was, as already stated, not the first European to set foot on our continent, that honour goes to the Vikings half a millennia earlier. He was not the founder of our nation; if we wanted a holiday to celebrate America and its creation we should have a more major holiday on George Washington’s birthday, the day he accepted office, or some other important date. Columbus had nothing to do with the creation of the United States, he simply pointed and said, “Hey, there’s something here, and I’m not entirely sure it’s Asia!”
There is one fact that makes this question a bit of a moot point, there are not major celebrations of Columbus Day, it’s one of those holidays people notice had arrived at three in the afternoon and go, “Oh, yeah, it’s Columbus Day.”
We should celebrate Columbus Day, but at the cost of justifying both sides of the story, not just one.
We greatly glorified the version where Columbus victors by being the one of the few brave explorers whom set out into the harsh and intimidating world and set a goal, a mark, an example, that lead the wave of later explorers to follow his footsteps and discover more for the benefit of (some) humans. He was seen as an icon of triumph among many and is still praised in this manner to many younger children and kids.
On the flip-side and realistic view, Columbus wasn’t seen as much as an idol but more a vicious, barbaric man who took what he wanted without regarding the authority of other. He had set out to find the “Americas” but instead had found the Bahamas and was surprised to meet Natives already situated there. He treated them cruelly, and brought over viruses that wiped many of them out. To be fair and truly celebrate Columbus Day we need to discuss all of what happened on that day. We need to retell the story on behalf of Columbus’s side and the Native’s side, then, all’s fair.
But maybe “celebrating” Columbus Day is too carefree and we should “acknowledge” Columbus Day rather than “celebrating” it. Just as we don’t “celebrate” 9/11 so much as we “acknowledge” it. Columbus was a symbol of new beginnings and wealth to the Italians, but as immorality wickedness to the Natives. Without acceding to both sides of the same coin, we have no right to acclaim one but not the other. I feel as though it would be much more rational, reasonable and well-rounded to all people if we do this and tell both sides of the story. Just as South Dakota has done in calling it “Native American Day” instead of Columbus Day, and “Discoverer’s Day” by the Hawaiians’, we should do the same.
Additional Source: http://ww2.dcmilitary.com/stories/101107/aviator_28036.shtml
I believe that Columbus Day should be celebrated. However, it should not be celebrated because he “discovered” America, since he did not. I believe it should be celebrated because Columbus started the idea of traveling to the New World. Without that idea, America would not have been colonized, and we would not be here today. Columbus was not the first man to set foot on these American grounds. The first man, in actuality, was the Viking, Leif Erickson. Erickson arrived in North America 500 years before Columbus did. Before Erickson headed to America, another Viking, Bjarni Herulfson spotted America on his trip to Greenland. He was the one that alerted Erickson to go check it out. When Erickson arrived there, he loved it so much, he entitled it “Vinland the Good”. Columbus did have many accomplishments, but the discovery of America was not one of them. The whole reason Columbus set sail in the first place was to find a quicker route that lead west, from Europe to Asia. He proposed his idea to the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella. They made a contract saying Columbus could keep 10 percent of the profits he made, along with a noble heading and the ability to govern any of the lands he found. He ran in to the Caribbean islands and searched them all for any type of profit. Finding none, he dropped of his crew of 40 people at Hispaniola, and sailed to Spain. He came back six months later, finding no trace of any of the settlement his crew had built. He then left his two brothers, Bartolommeo and Diego in charge of rebuilding with part of his crew that was left and enslaved natives. He then headed west, searching for riches. The Queen was becoming impatient on the payment he had promised her, so he sent her 500 native slaves. She was horrified of the concept and sent them immediately back. In 1498, Columbus tried sailing west yet again. He journeyed to Trinidad and South America before checking up on Hispaniola. When he arrived, there was a huge battle going on between the colonists and Columbus’ brothers because of their mistreatment to the colonists. Spanish authorities sent over a new governor because of the horrible conditions and arrested Columbus. In 1502, Columbus was cleared of most of his charges but his noble title had been revoked. He then convinced the Spanish king for one more voyage across the Atlantic. He made it to Panama but had to discard two of his four ships and face attacks from the natives. He then returned to Spain and died in 1506. Columbus did not discover the Americas and was not the first European to visit the New World. However, he can be credited for his journey starting the age of exploration in the New World.
In my opinion, yes, Columbus Day should be celebrated regarless of all the vilolence, and negitive judgements. It was tragic what happened to the millions of Native Americans who lost their lives, but I don’t one hundred percent think that it is fair to put all of the blame on Columbus. After all, things such as disease are completly out of his control.
While most people tend to focus on the negitive results of Columbus Day, many fail to recap the positive. The arrival of Columbus Day marks the beginning of recorded history in America. I believe that it celebrates ethnic exchange between the Americans and Europeans. In result of Columbus’ actions, we now have the opportunity to share the things that Europeans brought with them once they migrated such as their act, music, medicine, and more.
In 1492, Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue, took a wrong turn and was too blind with excitement to notice that the land he reached was not in fact the colorful and sophisticated society of India, but a small uncharted island populated by a small unknown race of people minding their own business on their tiny tropical paradise. When Christopher finally realized this, he also realized an opportunity, and with a glint in his eyes, violently enslaved the Natives and called his buddies over to collect the rumored mountains of gold that lay beneath the rich soil of this New Land he “bravely” ventured to.
Knowing these facts, I have to disagree with accrediting Columbus for being a great and fearless explorer who founded America. We could have at least called it something like “America Day”, but then again in this country every day is America Day. I think that we should still have a day to celebrate the founding of America, but not where it crowns a power hungry rich man a great hero. Some may argue that without him we wouldn’t have been able to create the wonderful country of America, but I’m sure someone would have found it not too long after Christopher stumbled upon the America’s soil.
I think that we shouldn’t celebrate Columbus Day. People think of it as the discovery of America. In reality Columbus accidently found and island in the Caribbean. He did not find America, and the purpose of his voyage was not about discovering a new world, it was about finding a different route to Asia to get spices. He started the genocide of the native peoples in the Americas. When he arrived in the Caribbean he saw the natives as savages. They were simply a less advanced civilization than the ones in Europe. Columbus thought that since these people were savages that he had the right to do anything he wants to them. He created the mentality for all of people who came to the new world that the natives were second rate people and were much less important than any Europeans. After his first voyage, Columbus returned to Europe but left some of his sailors behind to find gold and silver on the island of Hispaniola. His sailors, in order to find gold and silver more efficiently, enslaved the native people. I think that we cannot, however, blame the disease related deaths of the natives on Columbus. The diseases would have been brought over no matter who discovered the new world and there is no way he could have prevented the spread. I also think that we should not give the credit to finding the new world to Columbus. Due to human nature it would have happened soon after the time Columbus went. We are curious about what else there is in the world, always.
I think in America we should definitely celebrate Columbus Day. Columbus was a great explorer who made the existence of America known in Europe. Before him, people didn’t know that anything else was out there. Columbus was gutsy enough to actually get out there and do it. If he decided to just stay in Europe somebody else would’ve come and we would celebrate that guy the same way we celebrate Columbus, which isn’t even that much. It is not like we get a day off school or work. Chances are most Americans do not even know when Columbus Day is. I don’t see why we would take away the celebration of Columbus when we don’t even do that much. When Columbus came here his idea wasn’t to kill the natives, take their land and steal all their food. He was just curious. He sparked other people’s interest in America and they were the ones who killed the natives and such. It is ridiculous to say that Columbus was a genocidal murderer because all he did was cause a chain of reactions. He came to America; other explorers came and killed the natives. Why should Columbus take the blame for what the later people made of his discovery? That’s like saying the person who created McDonalds is cause for the obesity crisis in America and because of him people are dying of heart disease. It wasn’t all that guys fault; Americans don’t know how to control how what they are eating. McDonald’s just provides the food, like Columbus just provided the continent. It isn’t the founder of McDonald’s fault, it’s the customer’s fault, just like it wasn’t Columbus’s fault the natives died, it was the people after him who should be held responsible. We should definitely still celebrate Columbus Day, he didn’t do anything wrong.
I do not think we should celebrate Columbus day in America. He was not the first to discover the new world, The Vikings did a couple hundred years earlier. Columbus also killed all the natives with violence and bringing European diseases, Sure the natives where weak, hungry and probably prone to diseases, but he put the weak natives to work, making their demise quicker. I find it interesting why America celebrates Columbus he really did nothing for our country, now if we were Spain we should discover Columbus day, his voyage allowed colonization for them and boosted their economy greatly. Columbus also established slavery in the new world, America does not celebrate slavery so why should we celebrate Columbus? I don’t fully blame Columbus for spreading diseases and fully the African slave trade but I feel that Columbus really didn’t do much of importance, he stumbled on the new world accidentally, how is that heroic? On the other hand You can’t blame Columbus for everything I do give him credit for getting a grant from the Spanish for his expedition. I also think Columbus day has turned into celebration of America and we a good reminder of what terrible things happened to the natives and it’s good to remember history, so it doesn’t repeat. Sadly people don’t see Columbus day as I guess you could say “mourning” for the natives that lost their lives. I wonder how the establishment of new world countries would have gone without Columbus, Lastly I think Columbus should be remembered but not celebrated.
I believe that we should celebrate Columbus Day, I believe we should because he is the one man who found America, Yes there were people who found it before him but they never colonized the Americas. You cannot blame him for killing all those Indians because he was on a mission from the Queen. Can you blame the President for every single death that our army kills? No, no you cant. You cannot blame one guy because he was the Captain of the expedition, he did not go around and kill every single Indian. Columbus did not spread every disease that the Indians got affected by, yes he may have killed some Indians but he did not kill every single one. It’s the same thing for George Washington because he was the same rank as Columbus and all the men under his led killed the British Soliders, so was Washington a bad man? If I were part of the natives that got killed back then, I would not want to celebrate this day but for us Americans I believe we should. Columbus’s mission was to find a better, faster trade route to Asia, but he landed in the Caribbean. A negative that came out of this was that slavery, over eleven million slaves were transported from Africa to the New World. Yes I think we should celebrate Columbus Day but I do not think it should be called Columbus Day because Independence Day is not called George Washington Day. It should be called New World Day or something alone those lines. So I believe we should celebrate it!
Christopher Columbus Day should be celebrated, but not because of him discovering America. It should be celebrated because he was a brave leader who changed the world in good ways and bad ways, but I think the good deeds outweigh the bad deeds. If we look at the good things: first, he opened a part of the world that would benefit everyone. It was a chance for people to start new lives, a new economy, and it tempted the adventurous spirit of human nature. Second, his discovery also would make Spain richer because of all the gold in the New World. And yes it would cause the death of millions of people (NA’s and Europeans). But the New World would’ve eventually been discovered by some Europeans, it’s just Columbus was first one brave enough to go out in the world and explore. So the NA’s would’ve been killed by the diseases eventually, not Columbus’ fault. Now the bad things; yes Columbus was a genocidal murderer. But I believe that when America celebrates Columbus Day, we celebrate the idea of getting a second chance at life, like the Europeans had in the 1500s. We aren’t necessarily celebrating the man Christopher Columbus, because he did do terrible things. What I don’t agree with is the idea that it was Columbus’ fault that slaves were eventually brought from Africa. Because slavery was used long before Columbus, an examples in Ancient Egypt. Also, when Columbus first got to the New World, the idea that one day African men and women would be imported here to be slaves. So, Columbus Day should be celebrated because of Columbus’ courage and because it is a good reminder to us to not take what we have for granted.
It’s true that Columbus “sailing the ocean blue in 1492” brought along a series of horrible events. However, it’s not true that every single horrible thing that happened was his fault. He wasn’t the one who brought slaves to the America. He wasn’t the one who personally transferred every disease to the Native Americans. He didn’t start every war with the Native American groups; although he did start the trend of colonizing the America’s, which, in turn, caused these atrocious things. One could argue that because he started the craze in Europe, that every terrible event following his journey his fault. However, by that logic, every single good thing that came out of the colonization of America should be credited to him, too. Like the technology that was developed, the USA we know today, and the abolishment of slavery.
If one was to blame Columbus for the bad that came of the chain reaction he caused, then they would also have to accredit him with the good that arose from the colonization of America. Therefore, I believe that we, as Americans, should not celebrate Columbus Day, but a Colonization of America day. Columbus should be credited for some of the colonization of America, but not all. That way, we can honor Columbus, as well as others, like the first settlers at Jamestown, the Pilgrims, and Amerigo Vespucci for the discovery of America. Also, we are not specifically putting the blame on one person, but instead, understanding that it’s the bad that actually founded the good.
Christopher Columbus Day should in no way be celebrated. Columbus was a visionary, who wished to discover a new route leading to Asia. Sadly this would never happen. Instead of Asia, he discovered America in 1492. With his arrival the deaths of thousand Native Americans followed. He stole their land and worked them to death. The Spanish are known for how cruel they were to the Native Americans and it all started with Columbus. Many argue that Columbus had nothing to do with the diseases. While this is slightly true, he did contribute to stress and lack of food/resources. When the Spanish came, they took for themselves, and ordered the natives to work and find the gold. The weight of this could have weakened the Native Americans, causing them to be more susceptible to disease. Another argument is that we should celebrate both the good and the bad. That can be done, but why give a whole day to celebrating the deaths of the Native Americans and their injustice. Furthermore, why are we calling it Columbus Day when it’s America we are supposed to be celebrating. The name implies that we are celebrating Columbus himself, when we should be focused on the discovery of the Americas. Also it is important to note that there is evidence to show that Columbus might not have been the first one to get to the Americas. In fact the theory is that Vikings had hundreds of years previous to Columbus’s journey. All in all, if one wishes to celebrate the day America was discovered, then do it by celebrating this country and the greatness within it, not by celebrating a man of controversy.
It is claimed in history that columbus discovered America and therefore we celebrate columbus day in honor of his accomplishments and discoveries. However I disagree. A couple different groups of people were there centuries before columbus and the Europeans found it. The natives were the first people to live on the land and they discovered it and were there first. This is always overlooked though and Columbus is seen as a great hero. The natives already living there were then forced into slavery or told to pick up and leave there homes and lands that they lived on for so many years. Many also died of deadly diseases brought over from europe. These things made Columbus not heroic at all. It doesn’t seem fair. We should not celebrate a holiday of a man just because he was an explorer who discovered an island. It was already discovered. Columbus reacted to the natives in a very bad way, taking the violence route and killing the natives and stealing their land away from them. Many of the horrible things he did were always overlooked. People think he’s was a great explorer. He doesn’t represent America well if we are to treat all people equal. How are we doing so if we segregate and let certain people live in places and banish others? We should celebrate a day for the natives instead of a man who cared only for himself anyways. Although he made some good discoveries this is just my opinion because I think everyone should have the same rights and freedom.
I feel as though the Concept of Columbus day is an illusion in the Citizens of Americas eyes in a sense that most people are uneducated and only hear one side of the story. Obviously in most Americans eyes Christopher Columbus is the “Father of The New World” and greatly discovered it on a tremendously difficult voyage. As children thats the way they were educated. A very debatable topic in who actually found the new world points to many different people or regions of the world. Many speculate that Norse Vikings had first landed on shores in Canada, and also numerous islands in the region of Oceania point to the fact that winds and currents in their favor would land in California. An important question to ask is Why should we Praise the man that “Might” have founded the Americas? This question has a simple answer we shouldn’t. There is also a very dark past behind the Life of Christopher Columbus. Columbus was considered to be a Genocidal mass murderer. Yes he was all of that and more. Columbus absolutely abused and tortured the natives of the Land and terrorized them. This absolutely diminishes the fact that he “found” America because of the actions he did after. With this discovery Columbus wasted no time whatsoever in basically running the natives society by putting them into manual labor (Slavery) and making them be his little “Minions” and All he searched for was GOLD. With him he also brought deathly diseases such as small pox which infected the natives and killed off a substantial amount of them. Columbus was anything but a Hero. Although he was visionary and brave to make the voyage, He made drastically immoral and irrational decisions. Therefore Clearly we should not celebrate a “Holiday” or even dedicate one to this tyrannical monster, when he should be scowled at by his actions.
I believe that we should celebrate Columbus Day, but with “caution”, so to speak. What our kindergarten teachers taught us was not wrong. Columbus was a brave explorer who was the first European to find America. No one can say exactly what would have happened if Columbus hadn’t stumbled upon this land while looking for India, but one thing is for certain: life would be different. Columbus did make a huge impact on history. This huge impact can’t just be overlooked. Where the “caution” comes in is with regards to the natives. Many feel that Columbus should not be celebrated because by him discovering America, he began a chain of events that eventually led to the death of countless natives. I feel that, although this is true, it was not Columbus’ direct intention to kill off the natives. So, it should not overshadow the fact that Columbus forever changed history. We should acknowledge that what eventually happened to the natives was tragic, but we should not let this cover up Columbus’ effect on history. We should celebrate, while still understanding what eventually happened.
Personally, I do not believe that we should celebrate “Columbus Day”, but the majority of the average people don’t even realize the day or know when it is. Present day Columbus Day can both be associated with his flaws in bringing disease with him, eventually bringing 11 million African slaves over, and waves of violence and his achievements. Yes, Christopher Columbus did open America and the New world to the rest of the world, but he did not “find” or “discover” our country nor should he get credit for it. Columbus did reach many respectable accomplishments, including creating the Columbian Exchange and also caused the Spanish to become the world power for over 150 years. Columbus also brought a bad reputation to his name by starting a wave of violence, brought diseases from Europe, and caused forced labor enslavement of the natives. Let’s all keep in mind, he was not the first explorer to recognize the country, and he did not even find America. If we look at his accomplishments differently, knowing that he should not get credit for discovering America, and celebrate a day for his “actual” accomplishments then that would be acceptable. Another possibility is, Columbus Day could be called something more general to celebrate the general discovery and success of the country. This would most likely be a more popular and familiar day/holiday. If you really think about it, the typical person doesn’t even know the date of Columbus Day. People who do recognize have a wide variety of opinions. Historians may disagree with the day because Columbus did not discover America. Maybe decedents of Native Americans may not celebrate the day because it nearly eliminated their culture and race. Others may celebrate just because it is mostly known as a great day for America.
I think that we should celebrate the good that came with Columbus, but we should also remember the bad. Many good things came out of Columbus’ discovery; it provided a refuge for many religious groups such as the Quakers in Pennsylvania and the Puritans in New England. What he found led to a place for people to start anew and make their fortunes. He helped bring Western Civilization to the New World. I think that because of what he did he led to a new, great democratic nation that has done many great things in its history. Although all of these good things came out of Columbus’ discovery, we can’t forget the bad. The discovery of America caused a huge spike in the slave trade, more than 11 million slaves were brought over from Africa. Even long after these slaves were freed they suffered many hardships in the USA. The Spanish wanted only to expand their empire and find gold and other precious metals, which led to the enslavement of natives to search for it. Also, the Europeans who came over after him brought with them many diseases that wiped out most of the native population. After Columbus found America he brought with him a wave of violence which eventually led to the virtual extermination of the native population, killing almost 90% of them (about 90 million). But can we really blame Columbus for all of this, some people argue that if he didn’t find it then someone else would have, and he didn’t personally commit any of these crimes, nor did he actually participate in all the good that came out of it. I think we should celebrate Columbus day, not for the man, but for what he stands for, The discovery of America.
Columbus has always been known to have discovered America, but the truth is he never discovered it he stole it. First, he stole it from the Native Americans living on the land where Columbus arrived. Once he found America, in no time many people came to search for gold. They brought with them the many diseases that almost wiped out the entire Native American population along with the forced labor and mass raids on the natives. Secondly, we don’t even celebrate Columbus Day at school so what is the point of having it if we don’t celebrate and enjoy it? Thirdly, by Columbus starting the mad rush to get to America there was the constant need for labor and since the Natives weren’t cooperative to work (I wonder why?) they had to import slaves from Africa. Most of those transported died on the journey across the Atlantic. We estimate that over 11 million African slaves were forced onto this voyage. If you really weigh out the reasons of why Columbus is “good” or “bad” you realize that his bad actions are even with the good ones. Some of the good things that he did include being brave enough to leave his country to go somewhere he knew nothing about and following through by going back many more times. I think that even though Columbus still did some good things that doesn’t mean that we should celebrate when he stole land and caused genocidal murder of the Native Americans. I’m not saying that Columbus should never be acknowledged for coming to America, I’m saying that we shouldn’t acknowledge the bad part of his trip, the part where he faked the discovery of America.
We should not celebrate Columbus Day for the great explorer Christopher Columbus’s “discovery” of America. Columbus was a murderer that intended to wipe out an entire race of humans who were, in fact, the people who had actually discovered the Americas. The Native Americans had lived in the New World far before Columbus even touched foot on the land. In his search for wealth, Columbus started a wave of violence and diseases that only had negative effects on the people native to the Americas. Diseases, such as smallpox and the common cold, infected the Native Americans. And due to their weak immune systems and never having come in contact with these diseases and germs, hundreds suffered death at the hands of Columbus and his men. The men Columbus left behind as leaders began to enslave the Native Americans and kill them off all together. Prior to this violence, the natives did not have any problems with foreign interaction and were quite peaceful.
Christopher Columbus did not discover the Americas on his own. He had a tremendous amount help, financially and labor-wise, that he did not give credit for. Columbus’s false claim that he was the first man to discover this new world sparked his rise to fame. Columbus did not discover the Americas, and he should not be given credit for the discovery.
I believe that Columbus day should NOT be celebrated in America today, for 3 main reasons. 1; Columbus did not actually “discover” America. 2; He was a genocidal murderer who brutally murdered hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent natives. And 3; celebrating Columbus day for the reason that he “discovered” America promotes ignorance and discredits it’s real founders.
Christopher Columbus is often falsely credited with being the first to discover America. The Collins English Dictionary defines the word “discover” as “to be the first to find or find out about.” In this definition, Columbus was certainly not the first to discover America. In fact, there could be no one person who discovered America, because the Natives were there first. Although it could be said that Columbus helped spread knowledge of the New World to the people of England, there are dozens of scientists and explorers that also deserve national recognition for their contribution to modern knowledge.
Unlike other scientists and explorers, however, Columbus was a genocidal madman and committed atrocities against thousands of innocent Natives. Columbus enslaved Native Americans before Africans were being brought over to the Americas. He encouraged his men to torture the natives, and forced them to bring him tributes in gold. If they failed to do so, they would have their hands, noses, or ears cut off. Whether it was at his own hands or the hands of his men or other Englishmen, Columbus is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people. While it is true that there are decorated war heroes in our country who have killed as many, if not more, people; there was no war to fight. Columbus killed these Natives not for the protection of his country or his men, but for his own personal, sick, twisted, pleasure.
In my opinion, the founding of the New World was not a bad thing, but it was often executed in bad ways (especially by Columbus and his men.) I think it is important to recognize the founding of the amazing country we live in today, but to celebrate the day as that, the founding of a new country and a new opportunity for life, instead of the brutal and ruthless man whose name is so entwined in history. Celebrating Columbus not only gives Native Americans, the rightful first inhabitants of this country, the message that we do not care about their ancestors struggle, but provides a terrible role model for all American citizens, regardless of race. It promotes the false image of Columbus as “founder” of our country, and glorifies a truly terrible human being.
With the argument being “Should we celebrate Columbus Day or not,” I believe that many people don’t necessarily pay attention to the fact that the “New World’ was discovered, and with that being stated, I think that Columbus day shouldn’t be celebrated for many more reasons.
Christopher Columbus, who claimed to be the one who “found” the New World, indeed, did not. The native americans who were already there, had discovered it. I also don’t think that we as Americans, should be praising someone who murdered a whole group of people, intentional or not, with diseases like small pox, malaria, and also war.
Another reason that I believe Christopher Columbus day shouldn’t be celebrated is that Columbus and his crew had put the natives to work looking for many things such as silver and gold. After the native american’s began dying from being worked too hard, lack of food, and diseases brought from Europe along with Columbus and his crew, around eleven million slaves were brought over from Africa to finish the job that the Native Americans couldn’t finish.
I believe that as an American, there is no reason as to why we should celebrate and praise someone who wiped out a whole group of people, enslaved millions for his own selfish reasons, and claimed discovering something that in fact, he did not. I’d understand if the holiday was changed to acknowledge the discovery of America and for that to be something to celebrate about, but why are we giving someone who accidently came across the land known as the “New World” credit when he doesn’t deserve it.
I do think we should still celebrate Columbus Day. Columbus was brave to be the first man to venture into unknown territory, in search for a route to Asia that may or may not be there. That takes guts to be the first. That’s why it’s called Columbus Day, because he was first to discover the New World. It’s not his fault that he and his sailors brought diseases with them that the Natives weren’t immune to. The diseases might not have affected the Native Americans as much if their societies weren’t already weakened by food shortages, stress, and slow recovery from previous illnesses. Though he isn’t innocent either. He did enslave the Natives to search for metals and he did start a wave of violence from Spanish Conquistadors. Yet, he can’t control their decisions to conquer South America for Spain, and gain Spain more wealth, which is what the royalty in Spain really wanted anyway. Should it be called Columbus Day? Maybe not, there are other explorers who could credited with finding the New World and America. If Columbus hadn’t come over, I’m sure someone else would’ve taken his place and this holiday could be named after them. Why do we celebrate this holiday? i don’t believe it’s all about Columbus. I think we celebrate it because the discovery of the New World, over a long period of time, led to the making of the British Colonies, which then became America. It’s about what had to be done to create this great nation.
I believe Columbus day should be celebrated but not with the name Columbus day. On Columbus day we give credit to a man who found the New World not America which is where it is celebrated. He didn’t find the mainland and so I believe we shouldn’t celebrate a man for finding different land that is not where we live. Columbus can be viewed as a great and brave hero to some but he can also be viewed as a genocidal murderer. Columbus did many things that made him out to be a horrible person, which he may not be, but he shouldn’t be celebrated for his good deeds when they are equivalent to his bad ones. His extensive searches for metals led to forced labor. This was forced upon the natives and they were enslaved. With his journey from Europe he also brought many diseases that the New World didn’t need and would’ve been much better without. Columbus added stress onto the natives and scared them by his actions which made him out to be a bad person. If people from the New World during that time didn’t like him, then why should we celebrate the horrible things he did to them. There were major food shortages when Columbus came too. Although he did all the things just stated, Columbus day is still celebrated and has been for a long time. I believe if anyone is going to be celebrated for finding America it should be the Vikings who actually found it. Ironically we don’t have a holiday to celebrate them yet we are celebrating a man who did nothing to help find our home.
I believe that we should celebrate the good of Columbus Day, for without him America would not be where it is today. Although some of the events that followed were tragic, it was not what he was expecting when he first found the New World, in fact he wasn’t even looking for a New World, but he was searching for a route to Asia. There is no way Columbus could have seen what was coming or have planned for it, so why would we hold him responsible? He was however responsible for bringing the New World into the light of civilization, and without his discovery, America would not be what it is today, so why wouldn’t we celebrate it? While others claim that Columbus killed thousands of Native Americans and forced them into slavery, we don’t understand how they saw the Native Americans as savages. As well if Columbus didn’t discover America, someone else would have, and brought the same diseases and slavery to the New World, it was inevitable and was not his fault, but the entire country of Spain was responsible just as much as he was. We have been celebrating Columbus Day for a long time, and why stop tradition over controversy so much later? Why would our decision now be more time appropriate than it was when the decision was made? I think we should still celebrate Columbus Day as the discovery of the New World and I don’t think it should change, over controversy of what he did after his discovery.
Although the meaning of many holidays have changed drastically over time, they are still celebrated. However, I do not believe that we should celebrate Columbus Day because Columbus’s discovery brought years of violence, slavery, and disease to the Native Americans and because the sole purpose of Columbus’s journey was money.
First, Columbus’s discovery, whether he intended it to or not, brought violence, slavery, and disease to Native Americans. These three things devastated the Native American population over time, killing most of their entire population. Even though we cannot blame Columbus himself for the result of his discovery, I do not believe that we should celebrate the day that a genocide was started. Additionally, the sole purpose of Columbus’s journey to the New World was money. Columbus’s original intention was to find a quicker trade route to India. If Columbus succeeded in finding the northwest passage, he would have been given a position of great prestige and would receive 10% of all revenue generated in the New World. However, once Columbus discovered that there was not a northwest passage, his sights turned to the Native Americans. According to A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn, Columbus wrote that “They (The Native Americans) would make fine servants . . .With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” After Columbus’s last journey to the New World, he wrote in a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, “Gold is most excellent; gold is treasure, and he who possesses it does all he wishes to in this world.” Clearly, Columbus Day should not be celebrated as it is today because Columbus’s discovery of the New World brought years of slavery and death to the Native Americans and because Columbus only traveled to the New World in search of money.
I believe that we should celebrate Columbus Day since it did mark the start of colonization in the America. Technically the first people to discover the continent were the Indians themselves many thousands of years ago when they travelled there from Asia hunting. Some people argue that Leif Ericson was the first to discover America, but he didn’t start colonizing the Americas. He simply found it and left. Leif Ericson did not start the long journey turning America into what it is today. Finding a New continent was not what Columbus had in mind when he set sail from Europe. He was hoping that he would find Asia, and when he arrived in the Americas he thought it was in Asia at first. He may have brought diseases to the New World which killed many of the natives, but he didn’t do it with intent. The natives however were not the only ones to die from diseases, the colonists died from diseases such as malaria and typhoid which were not found in Europe at the time. This was also not Columbus’ fault, since he did not force the people to come to America. Slavery may have begun to spread after Columbus came to America, but it was already happening and Columbus did not personally go out and capture natives to be used as slaves by the colonists, nor did he ship all the slaves from Africa to America. Those things were not his choices and it was not his fault. Columbus cannot be blamed for the deadly wars that happened between colonists and natives in the years to follow since he was already dead when they happened and he did not ask for a war to break out. The bad things that happened were not necessarily caused by Columbus. If the colonists had behaved differently in the situations they were in, they may not have turned out to be all that bad. If Columbus had not been the one to be brave enough to sail across the ocean, someone else would have done it. If Columbus had not discovered or rediscovered America, we would not all be here today.
There are many reasons why Columbus should and shouldn’t be credited with opening up the New World. He was a visionary for his time and he could have been called crazy for saying the Earth was round. What was even more amazing was that even with all the doubts against his theory, he still managed to get the monarchs of Spain to give him the necessary tools to reach Asia (even though he ended up in the Americas). He also had pressure on him to bring in the money while still trying to make himself a considerable profit. However, one could say that he was not so bad a guy but he still forced labor on the Natives of Hispaniola and wiped them out with European diseases. He also started a wave of violence and his forced labor encouraged the idea of the slave trade. That resulted in the terrible slave trade that occurred; estimating about eleven million slaves being brought to the Americas. Also, the Natives weren’t looking for the salvation of the Catholic god. Columbus forced his religion upon the Natives which ultimately shouldn’t be up to him to decide who they worship. There is no doubt that Columbus was a murderous man, worried about his own affairs and that he thought of no one else. He had the pressure of finding a new trade route to Asia which failed. He had to bring back riches and he needed to somehow make a profit for himself (which failed because he ended up dying in poverty). All in all, Columbus should be semi-credited with opening up the New World. It takes a pretty adventurous soul to try to sail around the Earth with all other people telling him otherwise. However, I think that Columbus Day shouldn’t be all about the man who sailed the ocean blue in 1492. Columbus Day should be a day that celebrates the opening of the New World and how it ultimately resulted with all that we have today.
No, I don’t think we should celebrate Columbus Day. Columbus has had the ‘hero of America’ title for so many years, people don’t really think about it anymore. Columbus Day has become part of our American culture, and yet it doesn’t belong in the calendar as a holiday at all. Columbus didn’t find what he was looking for, wasn’t the first, or even the second to find the ‘New World,’ and finally, he brought with him a mass genocide upon the natives when he arrived in ‘India.’
Columbus was sailing to find a faster route to Asia. Because the Portuguese had found a way around the windy African coast, the Spanish were frantic to get there faster. So without knowing that there was a giant landmass in his way, Columbus set sail for India. He arrived, thinking he had reached India, and called the natives Indians (a name we still use today – yet another inaccurate bit of Columbus-related, taken-for-granted American culture).
Columbus also wasn’t the first one to find the New World. Obviously, the natives were here first. Most historians agree that they probably traveled over the land bridge connecting to Asia and followed the food across the land. It is also widely accepted that Vikings found the New World long before Columbus. Evidence also suggests that early Europeans found it as well. Columbus was just one of many to merely stumble upon it – there’s nothing super special about that.
When Columbus finally realized that he was somewhere other than India, he and his crew immediately set out looking for gold. But in their mad search, they failed to respect the other humans (who were there first) like humans, instead trying to enslave them to find the precious metals. The natives were worked to exhaustion – some to death. European diseases also took a toll on the defenseless natives, who had no immunity to foreign illnesses.
I don’t think Columbus Day should be recognized as a holiday. Sure, he was brave for taking the perilous journey over the sea. But there were a lot of those, and we don’t see any days commending them, do we? He found the New World by accident, and treated the rightful inhabitants like less-than-humans. I don’t see any celebration in that.