Conquerors are elevated to the status of heroes by those people who get benefit out of their plunder and loot. To justify the claim history is distorted , manipulated and events are presented in such a way as conquests, possession of land, territory, killing of opponents appear legitimate. While those whose land and territory was captured , whose wealth was stolen, and who were mercilessly killed are ignored in such a way as if such things never happened in history. There was a time  when history recorded only achievements of conquerors and  forgot vanquished. But now time is changing, the generations of  vanquished and defeated, weak and feeble, forgotten and ignored  whose ancestors’  role was distorted and portrayed negatively  by historians belonging to conquerors’ race, are  reversing history and retrieving the past which was snatched from them. The result is that conquerors and victors whose achievements are fully recorded in history, are converting as plunderers and marauders on the basis of newly discovered facts .There is also a change, those nations who are educated and   politically  conscious, are ready to recognize new version of history and pull down their past conquerors and heroes from high pedestals.However, to demythologise  and demystify heroes require scholarly efforts to convince admirers  and worshipper to realize their true role in history-not on the basis of  myopic , racist, and nationalist , but on a universal point of view of history .

 In this regard, the case of Christopher Columbus is interesting who was elevated to the status of a conqueror and a hero as he discovered the New World for the Europeans (1492). He remained unnoticed by the general public for the last two hundred years and the centenary of the discovery was not celebrated until  the American people acquired more power, more prosperity, and more desire to become great, only then they realized that it was due to the discovery of the new world which  gave them land, natural resources, and political power , so, the man who showed the route to the new world should be recognized and his role should be glorified. In 1792, the occasion was celebrated modestly but on the occasion of  quatercentennial of the Discovery in 1892  the celebration became very elaborate. For the first time it was declared  a new holiday  to the American calendar;  government issued a half dollar memorial coin and a commemorative stamp. There was a Great Columbian Exposition which was visited by millions of people.  According to  David Lanes (The wealth and poverty of  Nations,1998): “One group after another competed to honor the man and the achievement. In the United States, which some would have named Columbia, where some seventy cities and towns and a large number of fairs and fraternal institutions bear discoverer’s name.” His services are recognized by naming roads, buildings, monuments., rivers, and parks .

 In 1992, when it was decided to celebrate 500 years of discovery with more pomp and show than in 1892, no body expected any opposition. By now , it was believed that Columbus was an unchallenged hero, a benefactor to the European settlers who found a heaven in the new land. No body thought about the original inhabitants of the American continent and what happened to them. No body even thought about sufferings, miseries, and hardships of the black Africans who were  brought to the new world as slaves and were treated  as beasts. No body realized that there would be time when the noble savages and the uncivilized Africans would  become educated, politically conscious, and aware of their bitter past. No body also understood that the new research would bring to light the truth about the process of discovery and how the indigenous people were treated by the European conquerors. The result was that when preparations for celebration were going on, there came an opposition from those groups who challenged the great hero and pointed out the sufferings and miseries of the inhabitants of Americas. It is also pointed out that how the discovery followed plunder, pillage, genocide, and massacre which completely destroyed Aztec and Inca empires and wiped out a number of tribes, and how the new comers degraded the ecology and exploited the natural resources. The myth of Columbus and his Legacy is scholarly  smashed by Kirkpatrick Sale in his book “ The Conquest of Paradise” (1992).

 The opposition reversed the whole process of celebration. In California, the City Council renamed Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Two years later Mexico issued a commemorative coin in honour of Aztecs “ a civilization of incredible sophistication in the arts,science and culture”.

 Such was the effect of historical facts that  according to David Landes: “ So, no pageants; no souvenirs; no T-shirts and logos; no product endorsements;  reenactments ( who could agree on the terms?); no oratory; no stamps; no coins, no prizes.” The conqueror and hero lost his status. History took its revenge. From the conqueror he is converted to a marauder .

 In 1998, when Portuguese  decided to celebrate 500 years  of the discovery  of Cape of Good Hope by Vasco de Gama. Now it was  the turn of the Indians to oppose it on the  ground that  the discovery was not a blessing but a curse ; because it paved the way for Indian colonisation by the European powers. The Portuguese understood the message .The celebrations are confined to seminars and conferences for scholars and academicians.

 This is the lesson of history: don’t glorify to those who committed crimes against humanity. If they are forgiven and condoned then history would continue to repeat itself ,as in our case, it is continuously repeating .