Christopher Columbus and Genocide

My fellow congressmen and senators, today we convene to discuss the repercussions of events that occurred nearly three-hundred years before our nation's birth; events that, had they not occurred, it is a certainty that the United States of America would not exist as it does today. The event I am speaking about of course is the world famous voyage of the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, and his subsequent discovery of the American continents. One thing that is not disputed by any historian of merit is the fact that Christopher Columbus' landing in the America's led directly to the European colonization of the area, and this colonization (which Columbus was directly involved in) was brutally exploitative, and fatally devastating to the natives of the area. While Christopher Columbus is a historical figure of great significance in our nations' past who exhibited admirable courage, and leadership aptitude, it must be acknowledged that to celebrate his legacy is to celebrate the subjugation, abuse, and murder of millions of Native Americans. For this reason, I am in support of renaming Columbus Day, however, not to Indian Resistance Day, but to Native American Resistance Day, in order to honor those who lost their country in the process of our gaining our own.

First let it be known that Columbus' voyage which culminated in the European

discovery of the Americas took place for one explicit purpose, money. It was believed at this time that there was great wealth to be found in Asia. This belief came from land expeditions across what was known as the "Silk Road" a path from Europe to Asia crossing deserts and mountains of the region known as the Middle-East. However, because this land was conquered during this period of time by the Turks, who were not receptive to foreign travelers, the rulers of Europe were searching for a water route to Asia (Churchill 113). Christopher Columbus estimated that by crossing the Atlantic Ocean, he would be able to reach Asia and thus claim a great deal of wealth for Spain. The Spanish crown financed his journey under the terms that he would be entitled to ten percent of whatever wealth he was able to procure on his journey (Zinn pg.2).

Columbus miscalculated the distance from Europe to Asia by thousands of miles, but approximately Ð'ј of the way there, his crew saw an island uncharted by European mapmakers of the times, an island in the modern day Bahamas. The people of this island called themselves Arawak, and were known for their generosity. Columbus wrote of them in his diary "They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword and they took it by the edge, cutting themselves out of ignoranceÐ'...they would make fine servantsÐ'...with fifty men, we could subjugate them all, and make them do whatever we want (Churchill 3)." This would be a continuing trend in the thoughts and behavior of Columbus in particular, and Spanish explorers in General. Columbus later noticed that many of the Arawaks wore bits of gold in their ear lobes as jewelry. This led Columbus to take a number of natives captive to show him the source of the gold. After being led to streams and rivers with gold particles in the water, Columbus sailed to modern day Haiti and the Dominican Republic presumably with dreams of lands flooded with riches. Here, the cruelty of the Spanish explorer would be made dreadfully apparent.

Upon reaching Haiti, Columbus sent reports that he had reached Asia and that if a second expedition could be funded, he would bring back to Spain as many slaves and as much gold as they could need. Unfortunately, when he returned to Haiti on his second voyage, he could find little more gold than the small deposits that could be found in the rivers