There are many theories around the chracter of Christopher Columbus. Is he a hero who ‘discovered’ America? or is he the leader of a crime against humanity? Here are some facts that wil help you understand the essence of Columbus Day. Take a look at the information below and decide for yourself what exactly is being celebrated today.
Columbus was said to have set sail for three reasons, greed for gold, the potential wealth of slave labor, and Apocalyptic Christianity.
Christopher Columbus said, ‘Gold is most excellent; gold is treasure, and he who possesses it does all he wishes to in this world.’
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In regards to cpaitalistic greed, sugar cane was a rich crop for Europe and African slaves were needed for labor. Even after the African slaves were brought through the middle passage, there was a demand for even more slaves.
The European explorer’s mindset was Christian-centric and wanted their ideals to be projected all over the world.
‘During those same long centuries they had further expressed their ruthless intolerance of all persons and thugs that were non-Christian by conducting pogroms against the Jews who lived among them and whom they regarded as the embodiment of the Antichrist imposing torture exile and mass destruction on those who refused to succumb to evangelical persuasion.’
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To support slavery, ‘in December 1494, Columbus captured 1,500 Tainos on the island of Hispaniola and herded them to Isabela, where 550 of ”the best males and females” were forced aboard ships bound for the slave markets of Seville.
Under Columbus’s leadership, the Spanish attacked the Taino, sparing neither men, women nor children. Warfare, forced labor, starvation and disease reduced Hispaniola’s Taino population (estimated at one million to two million in 1492) to extinction within 30 years.’
To confirm the atrocity, a letter was written to the Spanish governor of Hispaiola by Columbus which said, ‘…It is estimated that 100 million Indians from the Caribbean, Central, South, and North America perished at the hands of the European invaders. Sadly, unbelievably, really, much of that wholesale destruction was sanctioned and carried out by the Roman Catholic Church and various Protestant denominations.’
