16 Essays - Americas, Christopher Columbus

Myisha Hassan 10/31/16 Essays - Americas, Christopher Columbus Myisha Hassan 10/31/16 725 Social Studies Why we should not celebrate Christopher Columbus day Christopher Columbus was born in Italy, 1451 and was an explorer. In 1492, he sailed from Europe to America thinking that he had arrived in Asia. So every year, on the second Monday in October, the people in the United States celebrate a national holiday in memory of Christopher Columbus, the one who discovered the new continent. But Columbus did not 'discover' America. There were many people already living there. Vikings from Europe had landed in America 500 years before and Native Americans were living there too. So we are celebrating a holiday when Columbus claimed the land of others, helped bring diseases over, made the natives into slaves, and killed many innocent lives. Because Columbus brought disasters to the Native Americans, many people opposed the Columbus celebrations. They began to think whether Columbus Day should be considered as a national holiday in the United States. Clearly, Christopher Columbus is not a hero, but a mass murderer and should not have hi s own federal holiday. Many people who are not informed of what Columbus did, celebrate what they think he did. They think he discovered the Americas and made the world as it is today. That is not completely true. He came to the Americas and completely took over. He cut off people's hands and let them bleed to death. He also killed anyone in his way of getting gold, land, resources, and other materials that Europe needed. The main reason Columbus Day draws attention and debate is because of how the explorer's arrival to the New World affected indigenous people. European settlers not only introduced new diseases to the Americas that wiped out thousands of Native people, but also war, colonization, slavery, and torture. He was a greedy person who didn't treat the Native people as humans and converted them to Catholicism against their will. This is why October twelfth should be a day of sorrow and not be celebrated with parades and parties. However, there are many others that believe Columbus is a hero. "Many may argue that Columbus doesn't deserve to be celebrated and that he is a killer and rapist but what you call home today is because of Columbus." This can be true, but another European discovered the Americas 500 years prior, so someone other than Christopher Columbus knew there was more than just one land out there. Columbus and his gang did bring the Americas livestock and varieties of vegetables and fruit, but he also brought disease and treated the people wrong. Many others may also say that he did not start slavery because it dated back to Ancient Egypt. This is true but he had started slavery before and after his journey to the New World. He had sold Native Americans and Africans and nearly half of the slaves died during the journey to the Americas or Europe. He did not have to make these innocent people into slaves. He could have been friendly and created allies with the Natives. So, in other word s, Columbus chose the act of evil and enslavement of the kind Natives. He probably even created a bigger amount of slavery than Ancient Egypt. After all, no one celebrates Adolph Hitler Day in Germany using the argument that because he rescued the German economy, there should be a national h oliday in his name. The overall point trying to be made here is that Cristopher Columbus discovered the New World much like a meteorite discovered the dinosaurs. And good old Columbus, mass murderer, and slave master gets his own federal holiday. This is an honor shared by Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. and the father of transatlantic slave trade is honored on the same level as them. Christopher Columbus, as it turned out, was responsible for widespread genocide; he allowed his men to murder, hurt and enslave indigenous people. The evil actions of Columbus far outweigh the few accomplishments he achieved. Considering all of this, Columbus Day clearly shouldn't be a thing, and it's time to change it. So this day will never be an American tradition, it will always be a recent mistake. Original