Columbus Blog #8

Columbus meeting Native Americans.

Though Columbus could easily be considered both a hero and a villain, I believe he shows the qualities of a villain to a greater extent. He is often seen as a great man who discovered America, even though the discovery was accidental and there had been other Europeans before him who had reached it - he is just known for it. According to Zinn, he even should be considered as bad as the Spanish conquistadores, Pizarro and Cortés, for exploiting the Native Americans for the sake of glory and for his own country's gain. He killed and attempted to enslave and manipulate them. He said, “They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance... They would make fine servants... With 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” He was very insensitive towards the lives of these other humans. Also, had he not happened to stumble upon America on his quest to find a better trade route, another European would undoubtedly still have found it; it would be later than 1492, but it would have happened anyway. The near eradication of a people can't be forgiven by discovering something that would have been found anyway.