Negative Effects Of Christopher Columbus

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Throughout the world, Christopher Columbus is praised for his discovery of America. There are many statues, movies and books in his honor. He is recognized as being the first to discover America however, there were many others who discovered America first. Although Christopher Columbus has always been portrayed as a great hero in history there was a much darker side to him that most did not realize.
Christopher Columbus announces his discovery of The New World in a letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. He talks about how he gave them many great things in order to acquire their fondness and trust. However, Christopher Columbus uses this trust in a negative way. In his journal he states, “They willingly traded everything they owned”. Columbus used the natives by tricking them into giving up their possessions. …show more content…
Within a short amount of time of Christopher Columbus being in the new world he tried to make the natives his slaves. He recorded in his journal, “They would make fine servants. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” It can be assumed that with the boats they owned, they also traveled to different islands and captured more slaves.
In addition, Christopher Columbus used these slaves to search for gold. He even implemented a rule that if the native slaves did not collect a certain amount of gold, he would cut off their hands. It can be inferred that Columbus was very cruel. In an act to cease rebellion, he killed many natives and took their dead bodies through the streets so that everyone saw what he had done.
Overall, Christopher Columbus was very cruel to the natives and should not receive all the respect and fondness that he does. Some people are even protesting against Columbus Day and saying that it should be a day that honors a man who deserves
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