Amber Donaldson

AP United States History

Mr. T. Casso
August 31, 2014
Columbus the Villain
Christopher Columbus was the first European to discover America and was an
instrumental part of creating our country, but, he was also the cause of many deaths and many
people had hardships because of him. Christopher Columbus should be viewed as a villain
because of all the bad things he did such as treat the natives unfairly, trying to convert the
Natives, and God, Glory, and Gold. Columbus first left Europe intending to land in India to find
gold. Instead he found America and nicknamed the Native Americans Indians because he
thought he had reached his desired destination.
The first injustice of Columbus is that he tried to convince the natives that he discovered
the land before they existed, which was an obvious lie. He also traded with the natives unfairly
and sent all of them to Spain to become slaves. The working conditions were horrible and he
treated them very badly. He exaggerated the amount of gold he found, to make it seem that his
venture was successful when it really was not and there was very small amounts of gold that
were found . Under Columbus orders the natives were tortured, raped, or killed if they did not
get the amount of gold that he wanted. He treated the people that lived there before him and
welcomed him to their land like animals or like they were worth nothing to him.
The second injustice of Columbus is that he tried to convert the natives to
Christianity. The native peoples already had established religions cultures and customs.
Trying to make them change is like making them throw everything they knew away and
adapt to new customs that were completely foreign to them. For example, imagine that
you were living in Italy particularly in the city of Rome where the population was mainly
Catholic. What would happen if a group of Muslims came destroyed our Basilicas,
churches, and made us stop practicing in everything we believe in, we would be
completely lost.
The third injustice is that Columbus really only cared about three things: Gold,
Glory, and God. During his search for these things he cause copious amounts of death.
During his search for gold he killed many people and almost wiped out entire
civilizations under is orders. He did this for very specific reasons. One reason, of course
was for the gain of his personal wealth and the other was for Spain. If Columbus had not
find enough gold for Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, they would not finance his
travels. Also he was indebted to them. Columbus had to pay the Queen and King back
and he was willing to do anything to pay him back. This need to repay his debt was so
great that he raced from one Caribbean island to the next, stealing anything of value and
killing or capturing Native Americans. He forced the Natives to find gold where there
was none, and if they did not find any Columbus would kill them. Columbus also forced
the natives to become slaves and unfortunately most of the natives died on their way to
Spain. Columbus and his men threw the Natives bodies over the side of the ship and into
the ocean. The natives that did not become slaves worked on plantations or mines where
they would also die from the hard working conditions. The natives did nothing to deserve
these harsh conditions as they greeted the Europeans to their land with open arms.
In conclusion, Columbus was a villain because of all the horrible things he did to
innocent people. The only reason he did all those things was to protect himself and to make sure
that nothing bad would ever happen to him. The deaths of thousand and the enslavement of
thousands was horrible. He was driven mad by the need for power and material things. But if it
wasnt for him finding America, we wouldnt be the country we are today.