In Ward Churchill’s “History Not Taught is History Forgot: Columbus’s Legacy of Genocide”, depictions of the European’s genocide and greed are numerous. Christopher Columbus nearly caused the extinction of the native Taino’s people. He used slavery as the premiere method of extinction. Upon his arrival, the Taino’s population ranked eight million. When he departed, that number had dwindled to 100, 000. His successors carried on his policies, and the natives were further decimated to a mere 22, 000 in the year 1514. By the year 1542 they were reduced to 200 individuals, rendering them virtually extinct. The consequences of Columbus’ policies indirectly led to an absolute extermination of an entire culture.…
In the book, They Came before Columbus is a must read for anyone seeking knowledge about the humiliation and ridicule of blacks by Ivan Van Sertima highlighted the tainted lies being taught to us by the Western world in order to justify their crimes of slavery and colonialism. Van Sertima examined the fact and found cultural similarities between America and Africa such as languages, transportation of plants, cloth and animals. Evidence of physical and cultural presence of Africans in Early America precisely showed that they migrated to America whether planned and accidental. According to Columbus’s own writings, people living in the Indies told him that “black-skinned” people traded gold-tipped metal spears. Columbus then sent samples back…
While in school we all learn how Columbus, Pilgrims, and others came to America. But we were never taught our history. Today we are going learn what is considered the first record case of Africans in the Americas.…
I thought this article was very captivating and enjoyed reading it. Something that surprised me was the Ancient Cahokia. Two facts that astonished me was that the Cahokia had a greater land area than the Great Pyramids of Egypt and that many textbooks in our day don't mention the Cahokia. Some misconceptions that Europeans then had were that the Americas had not been settled before Columbus. They believed that it was just a bunch of little tribes roaming around. The misconceptions were incorrect because the Aztecs and the Incas were these huge, civilized tribes. Details of their ancient lives show how cultured they were such as example that the Native…
MOST of us know, or think we know, what the first Europeans encountered when they began their formal invasion of the Americas in 1492: a pristine world of overwhelming natural abundance and precious few people; a hemisphere where -- save perhaps for the Aztec and Mayan civilizations of Central America and the Incan state in Peru -- human beings indeed trod lightly upon the earth. Small wonder that, right up to the present day, American Indians have usually been presented as either underachieving metahippies, tree-hugging saints or some combination of the two.…
Howard Zinn gives a very negative first=impression on Christopher Columbus. Although students learn about Christopher Columbus throughout school, the whole truth is not told. Schools give students the perception that Christopher Columbus did all good and no evil. However, Zinn gives the reader a totally different perspective. Zinn talks about how Columbus murdered mass numbers of Indians without second thought in order to fulfill his selfish desires. Columbus deceived the Indians and used them because they were gullible and would never lie. Zinn does not explicitly state whether or not we should honor Columbus, but rather Zinn states that what Columbus did in the past is easily forgotten. “[T]he easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price to pay for progress” (Zinn P.5 Paragraph 3 Lines 4-5). What Columbus did in the past is not honorable, but rather recognizable because it was necessary in order to move forward and was easily forgotten.…
Upon his landing, Henretta stated that: “Believing that he had reached Asia — the Indies, in fifteenth-century parlance — Columbus called the native inhabitants Indians and the islands the West Indies.” (1) The term “Indians” became synonymous with describing Native Americans, and continues to this day. Columbus actually landed in the Bahamas. His discovery prompted further exploration of the Americas, sending the race of colonization into motion. Spain colonized the lands that Columbus discovered. The Spanish had a presence in the region for more than 300 years after his landing. Columbus introduced Christianity to native peoples. He also brought with him diseases and the subjugation of natives, which led to the destruction of their cultures, a preview of what would happen to native cultures throughout North America.…
The article “America Before Columbus” written by Lewis Lord and Sarah Burke intrigues readers interest and curiosity with an interesting topic of Native Americans and America before Columbus arrived. I will be discussing some ideas I summarized from this article.…
The stories Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress and A Patriot’s History of the United States have a greater difference than they do similarities. Each story has a different tale of how Native Americans were treated by the Europeans. One story told of gallons of bloodshed, torture, enslavement, and overworked Indians, while the other one told of glorified Europeans here to help their fellow man. Even though, both stories had their differences; they do tell of a similar time in which explorers reach the New World and start to establish colonies. The explorers also tried to convert the Indian tribes to Christianity.…
Until Christopher Columbus completed his voyage to America in 1492, the continents of North and South America were completely isolated from Europe and Asia. In fact, Europeans did not even know that the American continents existed. Columbus, literally, just ran into them.…
In short the Pre-Columbus era refers to the time preceding Christopher Columbus’s exploration of the Americas. It is used as indication of the history of Native American cultures before the Europeans. Many civilizations were drastically changed by European’s but what was life like before? In this presentation I’ll be touching base on what life was like for six major groups of Native American’s.…
The Age of Exploration, that started in the 15th century and lasted until the 17th century, brought lots of trade and technology to the New World and the Old World. More specifically, the Columbian exchange brought rare resources across the Atlantic, like tobacco, cotton, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes and livestock and sugar. Cotton was one of the most important resources both to the Americans and the Europeans. Cotton grows in climates that are warm and have long sunny periods so it was mainly grown in Asian countries like Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Turkey. But since the Ottomans (modern day Turkey and had borders with the other countries with cotton) did not want to trade with the Europeans, the people of Europe wanted there own cotton fields…
When it comes to how the First Peoples arrived in America, the answers can vary, as there’s no absolutely enough evidence for any of the theories. However, none of these routes can be definitely ruled out. So far, three possible routes have been identified for the first humans to enter the Americas from Northeast Asia: by a pedestrian terrestrial route across the Bering Land Bridge then south through central-western Canada, by watercraft along the Northwest Coast, or by a transatlantic crossing. There’s a growing body of evidence suggesting that the most reasonable route for the initial colonization of the Americas might have been along the Northwest Coast.…
Matthew Forbus Mrs. Fails Advanced U.S. VA History 8/22/14 Columbian Exchange In the late 15th and early 16th centuries explorers wanted to discover new lands due to overpopulation and curiosity of what the world was. This was called the Age of Discovery; a time when sailors set sail and went to discover more about the world. During this period, when sailors landed on the Americas, the Spanish, French, and English colonies looted the lands and also traded with the locals, causing the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange was hard on the new world with Diseases wiping out a lot of the indigenous population.…
Yes, what Columbus and his follower did to the Indians is definitely unacceptable. I too, did not know the true story behind Columbus until now, which is why I raised this question. I think Columbus Day is celebrated to teach the kids some history. However, in reality, to most people it is just a holiday, a day off from work and school. I think that teachers should emphasized to the students that it is more than just a holiday, but a day where slavery and massive murdering begins.…