The truth about Columbus

Daily Illini Editorial, 10/09/95 -- page 8

Today marks the observation of Columbus Day. But who really was Christopher Columbus?

Most of us could probably regurgitate some of the facts we learned in grade school: Columbus was the first person to discover America. He proved the world was round. Because of Columbus, Europeans were able to colonize a new, empty continent. Columbus was an all-around nice guy.

Unfortunately, these "facts" are either dead wrong or completely misconstrued. James W. Loewen outlines the truth about Columbus in his book, "Lies My Teacher Told Me." Historians now believe Columbus was not the first to come to America. Obviously, Native Americans were already here, so America was not a dark, unexplored wasteland waiting to be developed. There is evidence that suggests Afro-Phoenicians made it to Central America more than 2,000 years ago. And Columbus was not even the first European to sail to America. Historians are fairly confident that Vikings sailed to Canada or New England around A.D. 1000. Of course, Columbus' expedition was important because it marked the beginning of the exploitation of America by European powers. Columbus is also held up as the man who "discovered" America, and history reveres him as a founder of an entire hemisphere, just like founders of ancient cities were revered like gods. But Columbus was not a god. His first mission to America was to find gold or something valuable to bring back to the Spanish crown. But Columbus found no vast deposits of gold in the Carribean to bring back to Ferdinand and Isabella. Instead, he captured about a dozen Arawak Indains and brought them back to Spain, institutionalizing the intercontinental slave trade that persisted for centuries. Over the next several years, Columbus shipped about 5,000 Native American slaves to Europe.

After his initial "success," Columbus sailed back to Caribbean, and began the subjugation of the Arawak population. Arawaks who did not cooperate with the Spanish often had their ears or nose cut off to send a message to the rest of the population. Because the Arawaks were required to work in gold mines, they often could not grow food. Within 25 years, almost the entire Arawak population of Haiti, estimated to be about 3,000,000 people, had been exterminated thanks to disease, slave trade and the forced labor policies of the Spanish. And of course, the example set by Columbus lead to the great American land grab by other European powers eager to colonize. As a result, countless Native American cultures were wiped out.

Have Questions or Comments: Email Jay Edwards

Back to Class Page