Christopher Columbus...oh what a card
Without a doubt, Christopher Columbus is one of the most controversial figures in American history. The celebration on the day of his arrival to the “New World” is also one of the heaviest debated holidays. On one hand, he represents European expansion and colonization, a widely celebrated activity in Europe during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. However, to most Native Americans, he is seen as a murderous man and bringer of death. It is a fact that with the arrival of Christopher Columbus came disease, rape, and genocide. Native populations were decimated and they became known as savages for they did not fit the idea of good Christian Europeans. No matter how you choose to see him as a historical figure, Columbus “Changed the very thrust of European expansion for the next five hundred years” (Cortada, 1974). Columbus’s journey exposed Europe to a land never known to them and, in their blinded eyes, a land for them to exploit.
It has been a rough journey for the image of Columbus, almost like his actual voyage to the western hemisphere. Columbus was celebrated for his journey, but eventually he became an “Irrelevancy in his country before 1750″ and “His voyage was celebrated sparsely, and only among select groups” (Spruch, 2002). During the eighteenth century, Columbus was almost forgotten because there was so much more going on in Europe at the time and Europe was already established in North and South America, Columbus was sent back in the shadows. However, due to renewed interest, particularly by Washington Irving, in the nineteenth century Christopher Columbus was recognized by Americans as the “Spirit of the frontier” (Ibid). During this time in American history, native born Americans (children of immigrants from Europe or elsewhere born in the United States) were exploiting the natives and taking part in an idea known as Manifest Destiny. It was this idea that led native born Americans to believe it was their destiny to take control of the entire North American continent, ridding it of its native peoples and animals. These Americans were essentially doing the same things Christopher Columbus did.
Time has a way of changing perceptions because it was in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries that Columbus started to be seen as an “Exploiter of natives, a despoiler of the environment, a dispenser of disease” (Ibid). Modern views have ways of shaping history. It has also been investigated that textbooks from the mid 1800s to mid 1900s “Rarely presented an accurate picture of Columbus” and that he was painted as a “Role model” (Ibid). This explains why many older generations still see Columbus as a heroic figure and choose to ignore the horrific things he did. Although, despite older ideas, in recent editions of the Columbia Encyclopedia “His voyage [came to] symbolize the more brutal aspects of European colonization and represent the beginning of the destruction of Native American people and culture” (Schuman, Schwartz, D’Arcy, 2008). The main issue in my eyes regarding Christopher Columbus is that many people do not know the facts or seem to care enough about him to start up a cause. There needs to be a bigger voice than just the Native Americans to oppose celebrating a man that caused them pain. I am not proposing completely dissolving Columbus Day as, despite the atrocities he committed, Columbus did connect the New World and Old World. That cannot be forgotten. Still, with studies showing that 85% of Americans only know Columbus as the man who “Discovered America” (Ibid), there needs to be a lot of work done to get the knowledge of his true actions out there.
Being a lover of history and also ashamed as an American at what was done to natives peoples, I propose a day to honor the joining of two worlds and a day of mourning and respect for the natives lost. Ignoring Native American pleas is ignoring their culture and history, something I am not prepared to do in order to have a day off from school. Instead I feel there could be an effective way to blend the two events into something positive and modern. I know Native American Day and Indigenous Peoples Day are holidays meant to counteract Columbus Day, but I feel that if Columbus should not be celebrated he should in some way be acknowledged. This subject is testy and sure to get responses so if you are feeling any type of way about this subject and would like to give me more information, please feel free. I am willing and able to hear all sides. History, no matter what it is, must never be obscured or forgotten.
Cortada, James W. (1974). Who Was Christopher Columbus. Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Reform, 10(2), p. 99-102
Schuman, Howard., Schwartz, Barry., D’Arcy, Hannah. (2008). Elite Revisionists and Popular Beliefs: Christopher Columbus, Hero or Villain? The Public Opinion Quarterly, 69(1), p.2-29.
Spruch, Grace M. (2002). The Legend of Christopher Columbus. The American Scholar, 71(4), p. 61-68
