Though it was disputed for many years, there is conclusive evidence that Neanderthals bred with modern humans (Homo sapiens). Despite the time that has passed, Columbus Day still remains a subject that most people would rather not think about. Sure, he was addicted to opium, but a lot of people were at the time. Columbus was from a middle class family. I dont think its ever too young. So the discovery of the Western Hemisphere should go to Erickson, no? Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/two-reasons-why-columbus-day-should-not-be-celebrated/. But as far as I know, no U.S. landfall. Large Increase in U.S. Columbus was wrong of course, and needless to say, he didnt actually discover anything the Americas had already been inhabited for thousands of years. A genocide happened in "the Americas," and it began with Columbus. He never set foot on any part of the 50 United States. The population of the Taino decreased by over two hundred thousand within sixty years. Because of his voyages to America, other great explorers ventured across the Atlantic and in under one hundred years, settled the new world. Monday marks Columbus Day, in honor of Christopher Columbus but not all will be celebrating the Italian explorer. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. I believe thats the tact to take when looking at Chris. It doesn't make sense for the United States to recognize this supposed Christian with ashow more content The Columbus controversy can also help students see that history is still applicable today. The tradition of observing Columbus Day dates back to the 18th century. Wrong, it was his younger brother Bartholomews. Specifically, he is credited with being the first European explorer since the Vikings to explore the New World for Europeans. It involves grappling with multiple perspectives, a fundamental skill for historians. As Greek mythology goes, the universe was once a big soup of nothingness. Most of us can remember the day when Americans still seemed to like Christopher Columbus. All rights reserved. It requires looking at dominant narratives and counternarratives. Columbus was taking advantage of opportunities to find goods by getting the help of slaves. Jarrett Stepman writes at The Daily Signal, While Columbus, and certainly his Spanish benefactors, had an interest in the goods and gold he could return from what they thought would be Asia, the explorers primary motivation was religious., 3. It involves really unpacking the past, looking for complications, and making a deep exploration into the people that made history happen, rather than just looking for a glossy overview. Please follow him or give him some claps please be sure thats in the plural if you enjoyed this. And the D.C. City Council recently approved a measure to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples Day. Americans have the right to celebrate whatever they chose, but the history behind Columbus Day is not to be ignored. . Though it has its controversies, Columbus day should be celebrated. But Columbus couldnt deliver on the gold claim. In an era where we are fighting for racial equality celebrating false heroes is detrimental to progress. Columbus is often portrayed as a heroic figure who bravely discovered America, but this narrative ignores the fact that the Americas were already inhabited by millions of people before Columbus arrived. Indigenous Peoples Day: Why it's replacing Columbus Day in many places. They also show evidence that at least 12 other groups of people entered the Americas before Columbus. If you want a unique paper, order it from our professional writers. Last updated by Patrick Bennett on 10/02/2021. Interests? How many countries award holidays to non-natives? Now that the truth is becoming more widely known, people are pressuring their communities to stop celebrating Columbus Day. We need students to understand that Columbus is important, even if he isnt someone to be celebrated. Are the Misty Peaks of the Azores Remnants of the Legendary Atlantis? Columbus Day is a national holiday in the United States that celebrates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492. If the commemorations dealt at all with the impact of European exploration on the indigenous civilizations already flourishing in these discovered lands, it was often fleeting. Colorado did so on April 1, 1907. Italian heritage. Lets stop idolizing people in history who dont deserve it. This is the Monster Celebrated on Columbus Day, The American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World, Multicultural View of Christopher Columbus Story, The Rise of Sexual Assault in the Military. The war against the Western heritage. I want to make sure we do justice to indigenous folks. Don't know where to start? Yet in the past few decades, something has changed. We asked Eric Shed, a veteran history teacher who now directs the Harvard Teacher Fellows Program, to share perspectives on the changing currents around Columbus Day and the challenges of learning and teaching history, as distinct from celebrating it. 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Columbus day is a controversial holiday, but one that should be celebrated. Of course, I learned that everyone expected him to sail off the edge of a flat earth into space or sea monsters or something. (Remember, they werent well versed in Spanish. There are also theories that the Irish arrived far before the Vikings, and that the Chinese and Polynesians may also have also visited the Americas before Columbus. First, lets just put aside the paradox of discovering a land that already had a population of indigenous people. Even though Eratosthenes (Greek mathematician living in Alexandria, Egypt, Columbus never discovered anything. I gave them many beautiful and pleasing things, which I had brought with me, for no return whatever, in order to win their affection, and that they might become Christians and inclined to love our King and Queen and Princes and all the people of Spain., Columbus usually treated the Native Americans kindly and brought them gifts in order to win their favor. Or Napoleon Bonaparte Day, for that matter. On his first voyage, Columbus promised the crew on his three ships (Santa Maria, Pinta and Santa Clara) that the first person who spotted land would receive a lifetime pension. If I sailed to Italy and said that I discovered this land in the name of Rowan University it wouldnt fly right? We may not like it, but its our shared heritage. Americans, for all our faults, love adventure. Why are we celebrating him? For if we celebrate Columbus, we are celebrating a racist genocide, massive land robbery, barbaric slavery, serial rape and systemic torture. As of September 2019, nine states (Alaska, Minnesota, Vermont, South Dakota, New Mexico, Oregon, Maine and Louisiana) have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day. The reason Columbus set sail on his epic journey in the first place was because he raped the 13-year-old daughter of a Spanish Duchess. Chris wasnt a bad guy right? And yet he is given an American holiday for discovering AmericaYeah Ill wait for that to make sense. Dating back around 200 years, the nonreligious had been adverse to this celebration. 3.Two Reasons Why Columbus Day Should Not be Celebrated; 4.Should Christopher Columbus Day Be Celebrated Essay Example; 5.Columbus Day Is Not Worth Celebrating - GradesFixer; 6.Why Columbus Day Should Not Be Celebrated? As Columbus might have quipped, One good turn deserves another. Okay, he never said that, but his writings prove that he would not have been opposed to it in the least. While there is plenty to criticize about Columbus, and what followed his arrival, I think this movement is missing the point. Columbus Undertook Adventure for God and Country, After Columbus returned to Spain from his first voyage to the Americas in 1493, he wrote this in his letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella: They manifest the greatest affection towards all of us, exchanging valuable things for trifles, content with the very least thing or nothing at all. 97 students ordered this very topic and got Upon arriving in the New World, one of the first observations Columbus made with regards to the indigenous people was the following: They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. 2023 President and Fellows of Harvard College, Who do we celebrate, and why? Congress also believed the holiday would mark the contribution of immigrants to the United States. But as I got older and began learning more about the history of the Caribbean, the glossy veneer of ol Chris didnt hold up. 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Columbus couldnt be killed without angering the Italian court, so Queen Isabella sent him on a mission, hoping he wouldnt return. Stupid but hopeful. Curious, politically homeless, always hopeful. Columbus set a precedent for exploration of the new world. Columbuss actions arent taken into consideration as much as they should be. Students need to grapple with these multiple perspectives in history and the not-so-pleasant aspects of our past. Areas within Texas and California began celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day as a means of pointing the spotlight on the natives, rather than Columbus himself. (He had plenty of different ships on subsequent voyages.). On his second voyage, he landed at Hispaniola, Cuba, and Jamaica among others. The first complete mapping of a Neanderthal genome took place about five years ago - supporting the human-Neanderthal hook-up and also showing that Neanderthal DNA in humans is a thing. It was first celebrated on October 12, 1792, when the New York Society of Tammany honored Columbus on the 300th anniversary of his first voyage. Based on my experience, I think its vitally essential that teachers engage kids as young as sixth grade in questions that really interrogate Columbus. Howard Zinns A Peoples History of the United States includes horrific, detailed eyewitness accounts of how the Spanish explorers treated the Native Americans. See how Columbus Day actually become a holiday and find out who celebrates it. -- Celebrate the spread of Western civilization. Poll shows most Americans want to celebrate Columbus Day. Ancient Chinese Earthquake Detector Invented 2,000 Years Ago Really Worked! This essay is available online and might have been used by another student. Surprisingly, this holiday was first celebrated by Italians of New York in 1866 honoring Columbus's Italian Heritage, but the official celebration in Spain did not . Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Nefer Say Nefer - Was Nefertiti Buried in the Valley of the Queens? In a racially equal world, Columbus shouldn't be celebrated. -- Celebrate the spirit of exploration. By 1516, there were 12,000. By 1555, there were zero full-blooded natives left on the island. But many would be killed if they did not accept Christ, even if they didnt understand what the Spanish were explaining to them. One of the (many) perks of growing up on an island in the Caribbean was that we could actually take a field trip to Columbus Landing a spot fairly close to my school where Columbus and his crew set foot in 1493 among islands he called Las Islas Virgenes, after St. Ursula and her eleven thousand virgins. (Sarcasm intended.) Sure, Chris had been sailing since age 14. Its Cristoforo Colombo. According to, Columbus believed that he was playing a part in a divine plan to Christianize the world. It is perhaps worth revisiting the two distinct reasons why we celebrate Columbus Day in the first place, and . Get in touch! The Andy Griffith Show Remains a Masterclass in Leadership and Life, Births in Japan Fall to Record Low Amid Catastrophic Population Decline, Foretelling Worlds Future. Columbus Did Not Discover North America. And thanks for reading this. But the fact of the matter is that he started the colonialism within North America, enslaved groups of people, and laid out the groundwork for others to do the same is damning. Berkeley originally replaced Columbus Day with show more content. The American Indian Movement, among other groups, have gone as far as to state that the continuous celebration of this holiday is oppressive towards Native Americans. The West has its good and bad points, but its best ideasequal rights, freedom of religion, free speech, due process, open scientific inquiry, property rights and so onhave helped all people who adopt them. These books have fueled the trends I mentioned around Columbus Day. But its not recognized in Los Angeles, where I live. Columbus wanted to test this idea. He completely miscalculated the distance between Europe and Japan however, estimating it to be around 2,000 nautical miles when the real distance is closer to 11,000. Most people know of the great construction achievements of the dynastic Egyptians such as the pyramids and temples of the Giza Plateau area as well as the Sphinx. Within a few decades, only a few hundred of an original native population of 300,000 remained. Yet, what is rarely discussed is the barbaric genocide perpetrated by Native American tribes from Mexico to Peru against other Native Americans before the arrival of Europeans. He and his crew were greeted with smiles, gifts and food. The holiday celebrates . 1. Thankfully, Columbus Day has morphed into Indigenous Peoples Day. European settlers not only introduced new diseases to the Americas that wiped out scores of Indigenous people, but also warfare, colonization, enslavement, and torture. Like most Americans, I learned in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Ingrained in my mind are the names of his ships: The Nina, The Pinta and the Santa Maria. We dont know exactly where this is, but its most likely one of the islands that make up modern-day Bahamas. She is a national writer at Her Campus and the former editor-in-chief of Her Campus Rowan. He even made his crew swear an oath that Cuba was not an island but indeed the mainland of Asia, and that China could be reached overland from there. The idea that Christopher Columbus discovered "The New World" is one of the great fallacies of history. Since then, it's spread across the. So, yes, in 1498 and 1502, he did reach the continental Americas. If Columbus is Off Limits to Celebrate, so are Indigenous Peoples. Its important to learn about what Columbus did to Native Americans because not everyone knows the truth about him and his treatment of the Natives. So yeah, Christopher Columbus, upon closer inspection, is a terrible fellow to honor. When Columbus arrived in 1492, he enslaved the Natives, and took control over their way of life, and also made his way into the Caribbean Island. But that, for better or worse, is how history worked pretty much everywhere for thousands of years. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Understanding the Mysterious Kingdom of Shambhala, Alleged Sighting of the Mythical Manananggal in the Philippines Causes Public Anxiety, The Truth Behind the Christ Myth: Ancient Origins of the Often Used Legend Part I, The Evidence is Cut in Stone: A Compelling Argument for Lost High Technology in Ancient Egypt, Caesars Savage Human Skewers Unearthed In German Fort.
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5 reasons why columbus day should not be celebrated
