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Columbus Day

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Columbus Day

Columbus Day is celebrated annually on the second Monday of October. Before the holiday becoming a legal holiday in nineteen seventy-one, most states commemorated it on twelfth October. The day marks the first voyage Columbus took to America, where he landed in the Bahamas around fourteen ninety-two. Together with his crew, he had sailed for around ten weeks in three ships. Columbus Day should not be celebrated as Columbus was not the first to explore America, initiated genocide, forced people to change religion, murdered and enslaved people, and raped indigenous women.

First, Columbus Day should not be celebrated as he caused the murder and started the genocide. Aside from the murder of many Native Americans that Christopher and his men participated in, he caused the most deadly and most prolonged genocide in history. When he arrived in the United States in 1492, there were an estimated fifteen million people. By eighteen eighty, the population had reduced to three hundred thousand people and had triggered a public debate on if it was better to kill the remaining citizens and stop any efforts to civilize them. Though it is correct that some deaths were caused by disease, there was always a careless consideration of native people’s lives (Toth,2016). There was even conscious policy precisely in 1800 to get rid of the native population. For instance, from 1851 and 1852, California alone set aside one million dollars to go into the price for Native Americans’ skulls.

Additionally, Christopher Columbus did not discover America. Though Columbus is said to have discovered America, evidence indicates that there were people in the south and North America thousands of years before the fifteenth century. An exhibition in Brazil has at least one hundred artifacts that date to thirty thousand years ago, which is eighteen thousand years earlier than believed (Caiazzo et al., 2016). The artifacts include ceramic art and cave painting that show hunting sprees, animals, and everyday lives of people who existed in Brazil around Serra da Capivara for many years. There is also substantial evidence to show that Columbus was not the first non-national to arrive in America as the Greeks, Italians, and Chinese are known to have explored before Columbus (Caiazzo et al., 2016). Columbus was just brave to claim land that he did not own.

Moreover, Columbus forced Christianity on native people. Columbus’s actions of forcing Catholicism provided harm to indigenous people. He forced natives to convert to Christianity and practice the religion against their will (Caiazzo et al., 2016). Because of his selfish reasons, Columbus did not consider native people’s interest by making it mandatory for them to practice an unfamiliar religion. Columbus’s actions cannot be justified because he assumed that the Native Americans needed to convert to Christianity.

Also, Columbus initiated the slave trade for Native Americans. Since Columbus arrived in America, around five million native individuals had been enslaved in America. Columbus experienced disappointments in Asia as he was not getting as wealthy as he expected. Meanwhile, the cost of sending new convoys to the new world was increasing; therefore, he decided to enslave Indians and send them to slave markets in Spain. Columbus’s initial impression of the Arawak, Indians of Española, was that they were weak, and they would quickly be colonized ( Caiazzo 2016). He exclaimed that the people were willing to trade everything they had, and they were not aware of swords. Columbus furthermore states that he would only need fifty men to make the people do anything he wanted. The Arawaks were showing kindness to Columbus, but instead, he only saw the opportunity to enslave them. Natives were forced to work in gold mines together with their children and wives. Men died of fatigue, and when women gave birth, they had no milk to feed their offspring (Toth, 2016).

Then, Columbus was a murderer and a looter. He kidnaped savages and interrogated them on the valuables of the Guanahani Island. When he found some traces of gold in Hispaniola, Columbus killed some natives and held some prisoners. In the province of Cicoa, where Columbus believed he would find gold, he ordered persons of fourteen years and above to collect a precise amount of gold within three months. Those who fulfilled the specific amount were issued with copper to hang on hang around necks. Those who did not have copper had their hands cuts and left to bleed. The task for Indians to collect gold was challenging; therefore, they fled to save their lives, but dogs were sent to hunt them down and kill them.

The Arawaks attempted to build an army to resist, but they were defeated as their opponent had guns, armor, and horses. Many suicide cases were reported among the people, and little children were killed to save them from the Spaniards. It is sad that five hundred years later, after Columbus’s death, people are hesitant to talk about how he killed and destroyed Native Americans’ lives ( Caiazzo 2016).

Further, Christopher Columbus was a rapist. On arriving at the Bahamas, Columbus raped and enslaved children as young as nine years. He once wrote that it was easy to buy women, and many people were looking for girls nine and ten years as they were on demand. Research indicated that Columbus would give native women to his men to rape. The acts of sexual abuse by Columbus indicated that he viewed native people as weak, and therefore he could sexually abuse them, and they would take no action (Martinez).

Critics may argue that Columbus had a positive attribute like recording the voyage that enabled others to follow the feat. This achievement is not worth the monuments, holidays, and namesakes as the evils he conducted outweigh his good attributes. Further, critics many also argue that Columbus formed new trade routes to japan and china. As much as it is a positive aspect, Columbus killed and mistreated many natives in his journey. He also forced natives to convert their religion to Christianity to civilize them. They may also argue that Columbus discovered America, but he did not set foot in America, let alone understand geography in his time.

Conclusively, as an alternative to not celebrating Columbus Day, one can educate their community on why Columbus Day should not be celebrated. One can also support the changing of Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day or Native American Day (Martinez). The Indigenous People’s Day can be used by different communities to celebrate their native culture. A community may celebrate their native heroes and acknowledge the strides they have taken as a community. For instance, people may celebrate Wilma Mankiller, the first lady to be chosen Cherokee nation fist chief (Toth, (2016).

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