Columbus and Indians Essay Example
Columbus and Indians Essay Example

Columbus and Indians Essay Example

Available Only on StudyHippo
  • Pages: 4 (959 words)
  • Published: September 29, 2017
  • Type: Paper
View Entire Sample
Text preview

In the article entitled "Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress," Dr. Howard Zinn presents a different viewpoint regarding Christopher Columbus' voyages. The argument suggests that there is an alternative perspective to consider.

According to Howard Zinn, history books lack information about the destruction and violence caused by Christopher Columbus' voyages, including slavery and innocent deaths. Zinn expresses his perspective by stating that the history of European invasion on Indian Settlement in the Americas began with conquest, slavery and death. He refers to Las Casas' account of the events, which includes exaggerated numbers of Indigenous people killed (3 million according to Las Casas or 250,000 according to modern historians).

According to Dr. Zinn, the history books provided to American children only portray heroic exploits and ignore any atrocities, including bloo

...

dshed. The celebration of Columbus Day is an example of this. Dr. Zinn cites Christopher Columbus’ personal diary and the writings of priest Bartolome' De Las Casas as sources to support his view.

In his discussion of the "conquest" of Cuba, Zinn references De Las Casas as a participant and author of two volumes on the history of the Indies. Zinn's arguments are partially based on information found in De Las Casas' books. To support his position, Zinn quotes Columbus' log entry, in which Columbus states that upon arriving in the Indies he took natives by force to learn about the region.

According to Dr. Zinn, Columbus' voyages, referred to as "conquest," were driven by the desire for material wealth. The information Columbus sought most from the Indians was the location of gold, as stated by Dr. Zinn. Another quote from Columbus' log supports this claim as he describes th

View entire sample
Join StudyHippo to see entire essay

Indians trading their possessions, such as parrots, cotton, and spears, for goods like glass beads and hawks' bells.

According to Dr., the people in question had well-built bodies and attractive features, making them ideal servants. He further suggested that with a team of fifty men, they could easily subdue the people and manipulate them to obey their will.

Zinn argues that Columbus had another motivation beyond exploration: the desire to enslave Indians for profit. Zinn claims this was a primary motivation for the "Europe of the Renaissance," which prioritized religion, government, and the pursuit of wealth. According to Zinn, Columbus and his soldiers committed acts of brutality and enslavement against the Arawak Indians. Zinn cites numerous accounts from De Las Casa's books that detail these atrocities, which occurred before Columbus returned to Spain.

According to Dr. Zinn's notes on De Las Casa's book, the natives were proven to have a serene and peaceful nature through many accounts. However, their goals were to anger, devastate, murder, mutilate, and ruin as an act of revenge due to the colonizers' past actions. Therefore, it is unsurprising that they occasionally attempted to harm them.

Although the admiral was committed to pleasing the King, he also committed grave offenses against the Indians, all while being blind to the repercussions that would follow, just like those who succeeded him.

To fulfill his promise and receive the 10% profit from Dr., Columbus had to satisfy the King.

According to Zinn, Columbus was promised several things by the King in exchange for delivering everything he had been asked for. In the words of Zinn, "As a reward for his efforts in acquiring gold and spices,

Columbus was promised 10% of the profits, control over newly discovered lands, and the prestigious title of Admiral of the Ocean Sea." However, upon returning to Spain, Columbus did not have much gold to show for his efforts - he only had a handful of indigenous people who had survived the journey back to Spain as enslaved individuals.

The most convincing reason for Dr. Zinn's position is presented in this paragraph. He refers to Columbus's report to the court in Madrid upon returning to Spain from his first voyage, in which he described the beautiful land, wide rivers filled with gold, abundant spices, and numerous mines of gold and other metals.

Zinn believed that Columbus's motivation was clear from his report in Madrid: he sought to enslave Indians and bring back as much gold as possible to Spain. In his report, Columbus asked for assistance from the Spanish monarchs and promised to provide them with "as much gold as they need ... and as many slaves as they ask" on his next voyage. According to Dr. Zinn, after delivering this report, Columbus returned to the Americas with 17 ships and 1200 men for the purpose of procuring slaves and as much gold as the king desired.

Dr. Zinn recounts that upon Columbus’ return to the Americas, the absence of gold led to the exploitation of Indians, who were forced to work on large estates called encomiendas. The Indians were subjected to harsh labor conditions and suffered high mortality rates, resulting in a dwindling population of only fifty thousand by 1515 and five hundred by 1550.

A report from 1650 reveals that the original Arawaks and their descendants were

absent from the island. The primary source of information regarding the events that occurred on the islands following Columbus' arrival is Bartolome' de las Casas, a young priest who participated in the conquest of Cuba. According to Dr. Zinn, the recorded words of Christopher Columbus and the accounts of history in the Indies, as reported by Priest Bartolome' de las Casas, confirms his belief that history consists of conquest, slavery, and death, even if the numbers reported by Las Casas are potentially exaggerated. Dr. Zinn suggests that there may be an alternative perspective to the history taught in American schools.

Dr. Howard Zinn's "Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress" is a valuable reference in A People's History of the United States, published by Harper Collins US in February 4, 2003.

Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New