Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus: The True Story behind This Man

As I research about the true story of Christopher Columbus, I discover that I have believed a horrendous lie my entire life that I truly would have preferred not to learn. Unfortunately, it is now too late and my life has been forever changed.

When one thinks about Christopher Columbus or the famous Columbus’ Day, there are a few pleasant facts we run across. First of all, we “celebrate” Columbus’ Day the second Monday of the month of October. As kids, it is always exciting to have a day off from school and since it is a federal holiday, kids get to stay home. For some adults, it also means a day off from work to take time and celebrate this role-model that discovered America. Columbus’ Day was invented in the United States by the Knights of Columbus. This is a Catholic fraternal service organization. In the 1930s, this fraternal organization was looking for a Catholic hero that kids could look up to and admire. In 1934, after many days on behalf of the Knights of Columbus lobbying, congress and President Franklin Roosevelt signed Columbus Day into a law and made it a federal holiday to honor what everyone thought was a courageous explorer.

Unfortunately, this is not quite the accurate story. According to the information gathered in my search for the truth, Christopher Columbus was not the first European who discovered America. It is said that the Viking, Leif Ericson could have possibly founded a Norse Village on Newfoundland about 500 years earlier. In addition, the Native Americans discovered North America approximately 14,000 years before Columbus was even born! It is also suggested, through DNA evidence that Polynesian adventurers sailed across the Pacific Ocean and settled in South America long before the Vikings.

If you are aware of this federal holiday you are familiar with the following traditional phrase: “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” This is typically used when you are about to begin the story about Christopher Columbus, the role-model, the courageous explorer, the Hero. It is sad to say, but after discovering this information, I do not believe Christopher Columbus was a hero. Instead, this man was a slave-trader, barbaric, mass murderer!

Columbus set foot in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492 and discovered that the people that lived there were friendly, peaceful people called the Lucayans, Tainos and Arawaks as evidence by the diaries where he constantly wrote about the good and bad things he did. These noble islanders, as stated by Columbus, were smart, kind, sharing and honest people. It is recorded on one of Columbus’ diaries that on the day the Santa Maria was shipwrecked, the Arawaks worked long hours to help Columbus save his crew and cargo and also demonstrated to be honest people as nothing was missing from his ship. One might think a person who is treated so respectfully and with such kindness would be grateful and appreciative, but this was not the case. Columbus was so impressed with their work that he decided to take away his land and enslave them to work in his gold mines. Columbus would force these natives to work in his horrible gold mines until they died of exhaustion.

Additionally, if someone did not work according to Columbus’ standards and did not deliver his full quota of gold dust by the time he had assigned the particular workers, his soldiers would cut off the man’s hands and tie them around his neck to send a message to the other workers in an effort to make them aware that this too, would be their fate if they did not work as he demanded. Slavery was so unbearable to these innocent people, that on one occasion, 100 of them decided to end their lives. It is reported that only two years later, half of the original Native American population which was approximately 150,000 people were dead.

As I continue my research of the true story behind this man, I find myself with even more atrocities that I could have never imagined as I had only known the myth. Columbus was also in charge of the selling of young native girls into sexual slavery. It is reported that ages 9 to 10 were the most desired by his men. His cynicism goes as far as even mentioning this in one of his diary logs. Columbus states, “A hundred Castellanos are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand.” This is something that has completely blown my mind, to the point of making me sick to my stomach!

It is further mentioned, that on his second trip to America, Columbus brought cannons and attack dogs to deter his slaves from resisting. If they tried to resist slavery, he would cut off a nose or an ear and if they tried to escape, they would simply be burned alive. The attack dogs he had brought back to America served as search dogs that would hunt down the people trying to escape from that life. These dogs would tear off arms and legs while they were still alive. Arawak babies were often killed and fed to these attack dogs when the Spaniards were short of meat.

Columbus heinous crimes resulted in him getting arrested by the Governor Francisco De Bobadilla. He was returned to Spain to answer to his wrongdoings. Unfortunately, greed took over justice. It is reported that the King and Queen of Spain did not consequence him for his crimes against the Arawaks and instead pardoned him as he was responsible for their treasury increases.
There are many other barbaric incidents mentioned about the truth behind Christopher Columbus. In fact, there are too many to mention. Taking into consideration everything mentioned in this report, Columbus is far from being a hero. Him, along with his soldiers, in a single day, disremembered, beheaded, and raped 3,000 native people as reported by his ex-worker Bartolome De Las Casas who later became a catholic priest and spent the rest of his life protective needy people as he was so mortified by Columbus’ actions. Columbus managed to disappear an entire island population. His reign of terror is one of the worst eras in our history and if everyone would be aware of the truth behind this man, his holiday would have never existed.