Blog #8: Columbus

I know Columbus day isn't until tomorrow but...

Should Christopher Columbus be considered a hero or villain? The truth is Columbus had both heroic and villainous qualities, however, his nefarious actions far outweighed his superhuman actions. On the voyage to America, there was going to be a monetary reward given to the first person to spot the new land. When one of the sailors on board spotted the land from a distance, Columbus argued that he had seen the land the night before and ended up getting the reward. Then, once they arrived in America, they encountered Indians. As soon as Columbus saw the Indians he wrote, they would "make fine servants...With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want." To top it all off, in order to collect enough gold to repay the government Columbus told the Indians that they had to gather a certain, almost impossible, amount of gold every three months or he would chop their hands off. When one thinks of a hero they don't normally think of a lying, cheating, and cruel person such as Columbus.