Christopher Columbus Response

Columbus day is a day where we can enjoy a day off from school or work in honor of Christopher Columbus' accomplishments. The majority of people believe that Christopher Columbus was a true hero, an honest and strong individual who through heroic actions discovered America while on an expedition to find a quick route to Asia. Yet this great, honest, strong and heroic image of Christopher Colombus is a common misconception. In reality Columbus was more of a villain then a hero. He was a deceitful, dishonest, cruel and merciless man who would stop and nothing to get that which he wanted.
Christopher Colombus' fallacious behavior can be seen when he stole prize money from one of his crew men and when, to bolster his own reputation, he lied about the amount of gold located at an island. This event occured when one of his men was the first to see and report the land now known as the Bahamas. According to spanish law, the crewmember was supposed to recieve prize money since he was the first to spot the land, yet Colombus dishonestly convinced Spain that he was the one to spot the island and so he in turn recieved the prize money. When reporting about the island, he also bolstered his reputation by lying about the amount of gold that was located at the island.
The scariest part of Christopher Colombus was his treatment of the natives in America. Since Colombus had claimed their was huge amounts of gold when there really wasn't but he still had to send something back to Spain to make up for his lies. So Colombus turned to slavery and unfair trading. Colombus ripped of the Arawak indians when trading and also went on slave raids. During slave raids, children and women were taken as slaves for sex and labor, many indians were also killed during the raids. After capturing slaves, Colombus and his men decided on the 500 best who were then sent to Spain, only 300 of the indians made the trip. Yet Colombus wasn't done yet, he then ordered everyone fourteen years and older to collect a set amount of gold. Once an indian would acquire this impossible amount, they were given a copper token. Those indians who didn't get the set amount of gold had their hands cut off and bled to death. In the end, Indians all around the area fled to get away from Colombus and his men, and if they're villages were raided, the babys were killed by their parents to save them from the cruelty of the Spanish.
As stated earlier, the heroic image of Colombus is a grave misconception. Colombus was not a hero, he was a false, extremely cruel and persistant villain who achieved fame and accomplishments through false reports and forced labor of the Arawak indians.