Ojeerally 1

Ryan Ojeerally

A. Ethier

ENG4UV

July 18, 2020

Celebrating a “Hero”

In his era, Christopher Columbus was hailed a hero. He was an Italian explorer and navigator

known for “Discovering a New World.” He completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean

and paved a way for European Settlers to explore and colonize America. His voyage sparked

hope for other explores, and he became an inspiration for many. Columbus Day became a federal

holiday in 1937 to honour him and his voyage. However, Christopher Columbus was no saint.

History claims him to be a hero, but his dirty deeds show his true inhumane colours. We should

not celebrate Columbus Day because Christopher Columbus was a malicious person as he stole

land, enslaved thousands, and murdered innocent Taino peoples.

On October 12, 1942, Christopher Columbus embarked on a journey from Spain to discover

the riches of India. Columbus sailed through the Atlantic Oceans and discovered a” new” land,

now known as America. But Columbus did not actually discover anything as there were already

over 2.1 million Native Taino peoples living there. Columbus saw them as inferior and

proceeded to steal their land. Columbus not only stole their land, but also precious resources

such as gold, and forced the remining Taino peoples to work as minors for him. Columbus and

his men spread terror throughout the land. They killed many of the men, raped the women and
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young children, and pillaged anything in sight. He did this because he believed getting rid of the

Taino peoples, means the land could be all his. To put this in a modern perspective, it would be

like if someone walked into your house, killed you and stole the house from you. Columbus did

not discover anything, because there was a fully developed civilization living there, so why are

we celebrating him? Christopher Columbus should not be praised and celebrated for stealing

already discovered land.

Not only did Columbus rob innocent people of their land, he enslaved many of them to get

his way. In the words of Christopher Columbus, “These people are very unskilled in arms . . .

with 50 men they could all be subjected and made to do all that one wished.”( Rolo,2) He

believed that he could easily enslave the Taino peoples, and make them do as he wished. He

wished to send gold to the King and Queen of Spain, in order to become wealthy and powerful

himself. Columbus enslaved over 1500 men, women and children. He would force the men to

work a dreading number of hours with no pay, and had they made a mistake, he would punish

them by torturing them. He would often cut off their fingers, hands or even shoot them. He

would sell the women as sex slaves to his men, and they would brutally rape them. He treated the

Taino peoples so inhumane, and brutally, all for his own personal gain. Columbus also initiated

the Trans-Atlantic slave trade when he sent many of these slaves to Spain, were they would be

sold off. He wrote, “They … brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other

things… They willingly traded everything they owned… They do not bear arms, and do not

know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of

ignorance. They would make fine servants….” (McCormack, 5) His Trans Atlantic slaved trade

morphed into the African slave trade by the mid 16th century, so why do we celebrate him? We
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should stop celebrating Columbus Day, as Columbus ruined the lives of innocent Taino by

enslaving them and treating them horribly.

Columbus’s voyage was nothing but a mass genocide. He would order Natives to find him a

certain amount of gold every three months, but this was next to impossible as there was no gold

anywhere. When the task could not be finished, he would order his men to kill the workers, and

their families. Christopher Columbus wiped out over half the population of the Taino, He would

either murder them, starve them, or torture them until they committed suicide. A lot of the Taino

peoples would try and flee from the Spaniard’s, but they would be hunted down, and upon

location, killed immediately. Some of Columbus’s men had a “game” they played where they

would see who has the sharpest sword. To figure this out, they would see who can slice a Native

in half the quickest. These cruel deeds were recorded by Bartolome de las Cases for the History

of the Indies. He wrote, “Endless testimonies ... prove the mild and pacific temperament of the

natives. ... But our work was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy; small wonder, then,

if they tried to kill one of us now and then.... The admiral, it is true, was blind as those who came

after him, and he was so anxious to please the King that he committed irreparable crimes against

the Indians ...“ He went on to say, “thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and

of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades. two of these so-called Christians

met two Indian boys one day, each carrying a parrot; they took the parrots and for fun beheaded

the boys.” (RCJ, 7) His disgusting behaviour was even noticed by his own people, yet he

continued to treat the innocent Taino so brutally. Why do we celebrate him? Many Historians

compare his genocide to the Holocaust, and him to Adolf Hitler. But we do not celebrate Hitler

for his atrocious deeds, so why is Columbus an exception? We should stop celebrating Columbus
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Day because Christopher Columbus is responsible for the death of thousands of innocent lives

and has wiped out an entire civilization.

Christopher Columbus never had good intentions, which were proved by his actions. He did

not discover a new land, but rather stole the land as well as enslave and murder thousands. He

never benefited anyone but himself. How could someone so cruel, cold, and ruthless be viewed

as a hero, and be celebrated? The truth is, he should not. Today, we are more educated, and have

a deeper understanding on this whole situation. Our values have grown, and so has our mindset.

With our new knowledge, it is crystal clear that we should not be praising someone so horrible,

and malicious. We should stop celebrating Columbus Day, because Christopher Columbus was

never a hero, he was always a villain.

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Works Cited

Berenson, Daniel. “Twelve Reasons NOT to Celebrate Columbus Day.” Medium, Medium, 9

Oct. 2017, medium.com/@danielberenson/twelve-reasons-not-to-celebrate-columbus-day-

5689aff0e479.

McCormack, Owen. “Columbus Was a Mass Killer and the Father of the Slave Trade.”

IrishCentral.com, 12 June 2020, www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/columbus-mass-killer-slave-

trade.

Rolo, Mark Anthony. “The Truth about Christopher Columbus.” Progressive.org, 9 Oct. 2017,

progressive.org/dispatches/the-truth-about-christopher-columbus/.

“Top 5 Atrocities Committed by Christopher Columbus.” Rapid City Journal Media Group, 9

Oct. 2019, rapidcityjournal.com/lifestyles/people/top-5-atrocities-committed-by-christopher-

columbus/collection_76ebb2b8-f63d-11e3-a137-001a4bcf887a.html.