Christopher Columbus Dominance

While reading The Encounter Of Europe And The New World, I notice that the common theme of this passage is dominance and violence. A lot of blood was shed for the sake of land being "discovered". Countless of native people and their cultures are also looked down upon, as they are seen as savages. For example, in the section Christopher Columbus, he writes a letter that goes into detail about his voyages. Due to the fact that the native people are not like him, he thinks of them as people who are lower status. In his letter he states "Among those other tribes who are excessively cowardly, these are ferocious; but I hold them as nothing more than the other" (546). Cristopher Columbus also did not agree with the native people's culture and beliefs
so he used violence to force them to learn the English language, as well as convert to Christianity. His letter provides evidence, in which it mentions "And as soon as I arrived in the Indies, in the first island that I found, I took some of them by force, to the intent that they should learn [our speech] and give me information of what there was in their parts" (544). Columbus is responsible for the death of countless native people, as they were brutally executed. The fact that there is a day that celebrates and honors this man is really disrespectful to the native people. As controversial as this may sound, it also makes me question America sometimes. Many popular events have a dark history, but are unfortunately glamorized in the media. The worst part is that people are unaware or chose to deny it.