Throughout time, stories of the brave explorer Christopher Columbus have been told, altered, and retold, but through the spreading of these myths, the truth about his violent and brutal explorations of America is lost. Christopher Columbus was born the son of a Merchant in Genoa Italy in 1451. For all his life he grew up with a love for the sea. During the 15th century, it was almost impossible to get to Asia from Europe, but Columbus had a plan to sail around the continent of Africa to reach India, a land full of riches. After finding a sponsor from Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, Columbus set sail and reached land. However, instead of reaching Asia, he landed on a Bahamian island which he soon named Hispaniola (1). This paper
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Throughout his time in America, Columbus sent thousands of peaceful Taino “Indians” as he called them, back to Spain for the selling. When Columbus first reached land in 1492, he noted that the people who immediately approached him upon his arrival would make good servants. After this encounter, he captured and sent six of the kind people to Spain to serve queen Isabella. Columbus spent his time in America treating its Natives with unexplainable amounts of cruelty. His brutal actions, such as forcing work in gold mines, killed large amounts of people already living in America. One of Columbus’s main reasons for his explorations were for fame and fortune, and to reach this goal Columbus used the Indigenous people as slaves. (1) Christopher Columbus created deadlines in which Natives would have to provide a certain quota of gold dust. If one was to not provide enough or not any gold, Columbus would have their hands cut off and leave them to slowly bleed to death in punishment for not serving their “master”. Historians suspect that from overwork, intentional killing from Columbus and his men and from epidemics, around ½ the population of Taino were dead within 2 years of contact with Europe. The peaceful inhabitants of the island were not deserving of this brutal mistreatment after all they had done was help Columbus and his men. According to historians, when one of Columbus's ships crashed upon his arrival, the Taino help unload the ship and drag it to shore. The Taino provided help, and in return, they received long hours of mining
Throughout his time in America, Columbus sent thousands of peaceful Taino “Indians” as he called them, back to Spain for the selling. When Columbus first reached land in 1492, he noted that the people who immediately approached him upon his arrival would make good servants. After this encounter, he captured and sent six of the kind people to Spain to serve queen Isabella. Columbus spent his time in America treating its Natives with unexplainable amounts of cruelty. His brutal actions, such as forcing work in gold mines, killed large amounts of people already living in America. One of Columbus’s main reasons for his explorations were for fame and fortune, and to reach this goal Columbus used the Indigenous people as slaves. (1) Christopher Columbus created deadlines in which Natives would have to provide a certain quota of gold dust. If one was to not provide enough or not any gold, Columbus would have their hands cut off and leave them to slowly bleed to death in punishment for not serving their “master”. Historians suspect that from overwork, intentional killing from Columbus and his men and from epidemics, around ½ the population of Taino were dead within 2 years of contact with Europe. The peaceful inhabitants of the island were not deserving of this brutal mistreatment after all they had done was help Columbus and his men. According to historians, when one of Columbus's ships crashed upon his arrival, the Taino help unload the ship and drag it to shore. The Taino provided help, and in return, they received long hours of mining