Columbus - Hero or Villain?

Growing up, I knew what I think every child knows about Christopher Columbus, “in the year 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” He had three ships, the Nina, Pinta, and of course the Santa Maria. He found land and ate with the Indians and Pilgrims…we had plays every Thanksgiving about it. So of course, with this being my knowledge of the subject, I was appalled to read what actually happened when Columbus stumbled upon this new found land.

From the reading of chapter one in A People’s History of the United States, the author tells of the truth in Columbus’ expedition. He tells of the extraordinary violence towards the Indian people. Columbus’ men practically killed Indians for sport. Reading about the violence was very disturbing to me. “Infants were killed to “save” them from the Spaniards.” (pg. 7) This absolutely sickens me to think that they had to kill their own innocent children because they didn’t want them to know the pain and suffering caused by the Spaniards. This is just one example of the horrifying acts taking place during this time. Hundreds of thousands of Indians died, not only from the hand of the enemy, but from mass suicides and being overworked.

I understand that what Columbus did, in discovering America, was an honorable thing and quite historic. I only wish there wasn’t so much blood shed. Although, everything happens for a reason. What kind of world would we be living in if the events that occurred had not? Who’s to say it would have been any better or worse. All I know is that somewhere throughout history, the truth has been masked. Children grow up thinking Christopher Columbus was a noble and important man in history (hey, we get a day of from school because of him!) without knowing just what he was capable of. I can’t necessarily coin Columbus hero or villain, he did what he believed he had to do at that time. History is full of violence and we can’t control what or how any of it happened. We just have to accept it and understand it. For we all are history in the making, and none of us are perfect.