Why Mr. Bott Disagrees With Columbus Day...

Yesterday was Columbus Day and sure, it was nice to have a day off; however, I have trouble with this "holiday." Everyone knows that rhyme, "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue..." but few know the rest of the song and moreover what ol' Chris Columbus was actually looking for.

In one word: Gold! He wanted GOLD and he knew there was gold in Asia. He wanted to sail from Spain, around the world, to Asia (India and China) in search of these riches.

There were some problems...Columbus thought the earth was much MUCH smaller. He thought he could sail around the world in much less time. Keep in mind, it was 1492 and he didn't know what we now know today.

This is what he thought the earth looked like: Japan and China are not that close to America!

So where did he land? Well, look at the map...He landed where he wanted to land. Only he wasn't in India, he was near Cuba off the coast of Florida! He THOUGHT he was in India and had discovered a new land. This was later called the West Indies (because he traveled WEST and thought he was near INDIA). He also called those people who inhabited the land, Indians, a term the Americas later widely adopted.

So instead of being here

He was actually here

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He couldn't find any Gold, but he did find something of value to the Queen: Slaves! By his own admission in writing, he wanted to take the peaceful Arawaks of the Bahama Islands and show them WHO'S BOSS!

Columbus wrote:

"As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts. "

Took the natives by force---He and his men gladly took whatever the Arawak tribe gave them and then proceeded to kill and enslave them. A priest named Bartolome de las Casas who was traveling with Columbus wrote:

"there were 60,000 people living on this island, including the Indians; so that from 1494 to 1508, over three million people had perished from war, slavery, and the mines. Who in future generations will believe this? I myself writing it as a knowledgeable eyewitness can hardly believe it...."

UGH! Hardly a hero....

Zinn, Howard. A People's History of America. New York, New York, USA. HarperCollins Publishers, 1995.