Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain? I will be talking about the national holiday “Christopher Columbus”. Recent historical discoveries of Christopher Columbus’ voyages to the new world have made a conflict surrounding the national celebration of Columbus Day. I’m part of President’s Obama task force Obama Barack answering the question, should Columbus Day be noticed as a national holiday? A reason Christopher Columbus would be a villain is because when he met the Native Americans he was often interested in their riches including gold, silver, and other valuables. Another reason would be that Christopher Columbus really didn’t discover America, but the Vikings and the Native Americans did. The Native Americans came from Siberia Asia and the Vikings came after from Vinland. John Vanderlyn portrayed Christopher Columbus boastful and scary to the Native Americans that were taken advantage of, after the landing of Christopher Columbus and his crew. Michael Kammen, I think in agreement with me, quoted “societies in fact reconstruct their pasts rather than faithfully record them…and do so with the needs of contemporary culture clearly in mind”. Translating the quote with this idea means that people can fix their mistakes or pasts rather than just keeping them without any action. Back to the villainy of Columbus, he and his people caused Native Americans to turn into slaves by overworking them and eventually led to death. The death of the Natives was caused of mostly disease and the harsh treatment that they received. Reasons that would name Christopher Columbus a hero are the words of Joel Barlow when he said Christopher Columbus was extraordinary, young aged man, educated and talented. Christopher Columbus also opened a new world (America) with new trade routes and wealth. Also, as Warren Carroll said, that Christopher Columbus did something no one ever did, he set out in the middle of an ocean, not knowing what is on the other side. Christopher Columbus and his settlers, unlike the Vikings and Natives, realized that this was new land and they spread the word. At the end of this report I conclude that Christopher Columbus is a Villain and we shouldn’t celebrate Columbus Day as a national holiday. All the facts just say why. He was interested in gold, and other riches rather than the people. He of all people was lazy and mostly depended on the Native Americans. They mistreated the Natives and eventually turned them into slaves. He also didn’t really discover America but, the Native Americans and the Vikings did. Christopher Columbus was very boastful and often took credit for everything.