According to Zinn, in traditional history textbooks, Columbus is portrayed as a heroic figure who discovered the New World and spread religion to the people already living there. While it might mention that he was not perfect and did some things that he should not have done, it simply brushes over these aspects and pushes forward things such as “what a great sailor he was”, etc. The way it is written makes what he did seem like an exciting adventure that should be celebrated on Columbus Day, yet fails to describe the way in which he enslaved and brutally killed large numbers of natives.
Zinn disputes Henry Kissinger’s statement “History is the memory of states” because he feels that thinking of history in this way acknowledges that leaders, …show more content…
This would eventually lead to the downfall of their people. As one of the major motives of Columbus’ exploration was to bring back gold to the Spanish crown, he immediately thought they would know how to get gold for him and consequently took some aboard ship as prisoners. After not finding much gold, they took slaves to fill up the ships, leading to death of those enslaved. A gold requirement was also set up in an attempt to create an incentive for the Indians and those who did not meet this were forcibly made to bleed to death. Since there was only a very small amount of gold in the field, a large number of the Arawak were found and killed due to this. When it was finally understood by the Spaniards that there was no gold left, the Indians were taken for slave labor on encomiendas and, those still alive, died from being …show more content…
Also, rather than suffering while being hung to death by the Spanish, the Arawaks would sometimes commit suicide.
Encomiendas were large estates where Indians were taken to be used for brutal slave labor after the Spaniards finally realized there was no gold left for them to collect, resulting in the majority of their lives being lost.
The statement by Zinn that “Total control led to total cruelty” is meant to show the way in which the Spanish began to feel as though they had complete power over and were largely superior to the natives. Due to this, they began to treat the Indians almost as animals, overworking and forcing them to carry out tasks in the benefit of the Spaniards; sometimes even killing them simply for pleasure.
The significance of Quetzalcoatl is that a man came to greet the Aztecs and they thought that it was a legendary god whom is said to return in human form to bring back Quetzalcoatl, causing them to welcome him with gold. It was really Hernan Cortes, who ended up turning the innocent Aztecs against each other, which was followed by the Spanish army massacring all the natives and looting the
Zinn disputes Henry Kissinger’s statement “History is the memory of states” because he feels that thinking of history in this way acknowledges that leaders, …show more content…
This would eventually lead to the downfall of their people. As one of the major motives of Columbus’ exploration was to bring back gold to the Spanish crown, he immediately thought they would know how to get gold for him and consequently took some aboard ship as prisoners. After not finding much gold, they took slaves to fill up the ships, leading to death of those enslaved. A gold requirement was also set up in an attempt to create an incentive for the Indians and those who did not meet this were forcibly made to bleed to death. Since there was only a very small amount of gold in the field, a large number of the Arawak were found and killed due to this. When it was finally understood by the Spaniards that there was no gold left, the Indians were taken for slave labor on encomiendas and, those still alive, died from being …show more content…
Also, rather than suffering while being hung to death by the Spanish, the Arawaks would sometimes commit suicide.
Encomiendas were large estates where Indians were taken to be used for brutal slave labor after the Spaniards finally realized there was no gold left for them to collect, resulting in the majority of their lives being lost.
The statement by Zinn that “Total control led to total cruelty” is meant to show the way in which the Spanish began to feel as though they had complete power over and were largely superior to the natives. Due to this, they began to treat the Indians almost as animals, overworking and forcing them to carry out tasks in the benefit of the Spaniards; sometimes even killing them simply for pleasure.
The significance of Quetzalcoatl is that a man came to greet the Aztecs and they thought that it was a legendary god whom is said to return in human form to bring back Quetzalcoatl, causing them to welcome him with gold. It was really Hernan Cortes, who ended up turning the innocent Aztecs against each other, which was followed by the Spanish army massacring all the natives and looting the