In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
Many people think Columbus was a hero. He discovered America! He discovered the New World (which, actually, had many ancient and very intelligent and advanced societies and cities all across North America), he brought riches to Spain!
But, actually, Christoper Columbus was NOT the hero many mainstream schools make him out to be.
In 1492, the king and queen of Spain sponsored Columbus's trip to India and southeastern Asia, which the Europeans called the Indies. Columbus knew the world was round (my, he was quite progressive!), but he probably used a very incorrect map like the one below.
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| You can't see details very clearly, but you can see the basic shape. |
And so, Columbus thought it would be Quite Simple to sail around to the Indies and bring back expensive exotic goods to Spain: silk, spices, and gold. Columbus thought it would be safer and easier to travel around the globe by ship than across land. So, he made his journey, funded by the Spanish royalty, and in return he received 10 percent of the profits, be made governor of any New Lands, and be named Admiral of the Ocean Sea.
Columbus was a Highly Intelligent & Educated Man, so, of course, he studied maps and geography. He thought that if he kept sailing west from Spain he would reach the Indies. He believed the distance to be rather short! But he could never have reached Asia, and all the men of his three ships would have eventually run out of provisions. Who knows, maybe today we might be telling the tale of Columbus the Cannibal, if he had not stumbled upon the Bahamas. The first person to sight land was to be given a large reward.
On the night of October 12th, 1492, a sailor named Rodrigo spotted land. He alerted everyone, but Columbus claimed to have seen a light from land the night before, and he took the reward.
The European sailors landed on an island in the Bahamas. They were greeted by the Arawak Indians of the island, who wore small pieces of gold in their ears. Columbus figured that these islands were off the coast of China, that he had found the Indies and the gold. He began to take Arawak people as slaves, to lead him to the source of their gold.
Columbus went back to Spain with a report saying that he had found the Indies and they were full of riches like spices, slaves, and rivers running with gold. He had left a fort in Hispaniola with thirty-nine crew members, whose orders were to find gold.
Columbus's tales of gold and slaves made the king and queen send seventeen more ships with crew to help Columbus. They sailed from island to island, capturing Indians. But as more tribes heard about the terrible slave capturing Columbus, he found more empty villages and less and less possible slaves.
When they got back to the fort in 1495, all the crew members were dead, killed in battle with the people of Hispaniola.
Columbus's crew scoured the island for gold. But they did not have much luck, so instead they went and captured 500 slaves to bring back to Spain. Only 300 survived the long journey, and many died in captivity in Spain.
Columbus was desperate to bring back some sort of riches to Spain, so he ordered his crew in Hispaniola to have every Indian over the age of 13 collect gold. If the Indians came back empty-handed, their hands were cut off and they were left to bleed to death.
Many Indians tried to run away, but the Spaniards hunted them down. Then they began to commit mass suicide with poison. Over half the population was gone by the time the Spaniards were through with them.
After the search for gold had been given up, many Indians became slaves to the Spaniards. By the mid 1500s, only two hundred remained on the island. And only a hundred years later, the population was obliterated.
People say Columbus was a hero, a master seaman, he discovered North America. But what he actually did was kill an entire ethnic group, he forced everyone to give in to Spain's awful need for gold gold gold.
And, sadly, as everyone who has read history knows, Columbus was only the beginning.
On the night of October 12th, 1492, a sailor named Rodrigo spotted land. He alerted everyone, but Columbus claimed to have seen a light from land the night before, and he took the reward.
The European sailors landed on an island in the Bahamas. They were greeted by the Arawak Indians of the island, who wore small pieces of gold in their ears. Columbus figured that these islands were off the coast of China, that he had found the Indies and the gold. He began to take Arawak people as slaves, to lead him to the source of their gold.
Columbus went back to Spain with a report saying that he had found the Indies and they were full of riches like spices, slaves, and rivers running with gold. He had left a fort in Hispaniola with thirty-nine crew members, whose orders were to find gold.
Columbus's tales of gold and slaves made the king and queen send seventeen more ships with crew to help Columbus. They sailed from island to island, capturing Indians. But as more tribes heard about the terrible slave capturing Columbus, he found more empty villages and less and less possible slaves.
When they got back to the fort in 1495, all the crew members were dead, killed in battle with the people of Hispaniola.
Columbus's crew scoured the island for gold. But they did not have much luck, so instead they went and captured 500 slaves to bring back to Spain. Only 300 survived the long journey, and many died in captivity in Spain.
Columbus was desperate to bring back some sort of riches to Spain, so he ordered his crew in Hispaniola to have every Indian over the age of 13 collect gold. If the Indians came back empty-handed, their hands were cut off and they were left to bleed to death.
Many Indians tried to run away, but the Spaniards hunted them down. Then they began to commit mass suicide with poison. Over half the population was gone by the time the Spaniards were through with them.
After the search for gold had been given up, many Indians became slaves to the Spaniards. By the mid 1500s, only two hundred remained on the island. And only a hundred years later, the population was obliterated.
People say Columbus was a hero, a master seaman, he discovered North America. But what he actually did was kill an entire ethnic group, he forced everyone to give in to Spain's awful need for gold gold gold.
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| Christopher Columbus |
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