Zinn CH. 1: A People's History of the U.S.

Christopher Columbus was an all around good person, a hero even! He sailed around the world discovering new places including America. In fact, we even have a day named after him!

We learned many things while growing up through out elementary school up until high school. He was in every history book imagined, but do these books give us the whole story to Columbus’ voyages? In his essay, Zinn mentioned many facts that I wasn’t aware of. I believed that discovering new land was Columbus’ desire, but in reality, all he wanted was gold. Through out his voyages over seas, he came across many different Indian tribes. He made these people his slaves as well as kill them if they weren’t of use to him. He believed that many of them knew where the “gold fields” were so he imprisoned them until they told him. He would use “religious talk” in his entries, but turn around and kill people for no reason. He would promise gold to the people back home, but would come back with nothing but spices and silks. When he had finally realized that there was no gold left, he captured many Indians and brought them to his homeland to sell. After his voyages, little to no Indians were left.

Many writers “refuse to lie” about Christopher Columbus. They speak of his accomplishments, but definitely do not leave out the negative aspects. One writer even describes his killing of Indians as “Genocide.” Zinn argues that although emphasis was put on the heroism of Columbus, it was the “ideological” choice for history books. In his argument, he is not trying to be judgmental or shed harsh feelings toward one of our hero’s, but he feels that we should slowly resurface these negative facts so the truth will eventually come out. I feel that it would be wrong to teach children of the killings and torture Columbus brought upon the Indian people, but later on in school would be a good time to bring some of these facts to life. We need to see that he discovered America and many other places, but it is crucial that we acknowledge that he wasn’t this amazingly perfect person. He made tons of mistakes that I wish I would have known years ago. I’m upset that up until recently I learned that Christopher Columbus did many horrible things to people out of greed and power. In this essay it was stated that, “Total control led to total cruelty” and I believe we should be learning these wrong-doings before it’s too late and our minds are made up.