Christopher Columbus is the major player in the great discoveries, colonizer of the Americas and the Caribbean, he is the powerful man of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Thanks to him, and even if he did not do it on purpose, Europe discovered another continent, appropriated it and propelled the civilization of the Middle Ages, towards the Modern Times. That said, America had already been discovered by the Vikings among others, archaeological excavations were able to determine their passage on the new continent. But for lack of 'knowledge' sufficient or perhaps out of respect for the peoples already in place, they have not 'exploited' this discovery. October 12, 1492, is the official date of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.
A fervent believer, he was determined to defend and impose Christianity wherever he could, in addition to being blinded by gold. . But this is not the only dark side of the character. He was cruel and authoritarian, even spreading terror in the New World. And yet, he is adulated universally and there is even a party in his honor in the United States, every year ...
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Determined to appropriate the Americas as well as the West Indies, he left no chance for the native people already in place. After killing nearly 10,000 Haitians by cutting their limbs and letting them drain their blood, he attacked the current Dominican Republic, leaving behind a pool of blood.
The instructions he had received were, however, clear: 'strive to gain the confidence of the inhabitants by refraining from the slightest harm' but at the other end of the world, with a great feeling of impunity, the acts were everything other.
It was not war, but much worse Samuel Eliot Morison, historian, even uses the term 'genocide' to describe the atrocities of the settlers. Children ended up roasted on the spit before being cut into pieces. Games-challenges were launched between Europeans in order to know who of the two dualists could cut at once, the head of Indian subjects. The bestiality of the Western soldiers led them to behead without any reason, the children they crossed, and worse still, when the pack dogs of the crew were running out of meat, they were Arawak babies who were killed or sometimes given alive as a meal. Barbarous acts of this kind, the Indians have endured day and night for years. Their docility even gave Christopher Columbus the idea of bringing them back to Europe to be exploited as slaves. During the crossings, women and girls were raped and beaten to death. The human losses were considerable, because of the duration of the trip but also the lack of care and food. This is what drove the browser, preferring Africans, more resistant and robust. It is also in 1505 that Fernando Colombo, son of Cristoforo Colombo, brought the first 'loading' of African slaves to the Caribbean.
The rapes were recurrent as soon as the girls reached 9 years of age. University of Vermont Professor of History and Sociology: James Loewen, pointed out that 'as early as 1493, the navigator rewarded his lieutenants with Indian women'. Well beasts are those who thought that men could stay months and months containing their sexual appetites!
The figures speak for themselves, in 1493, the Arawak had eight million inhabitants spread in the Caribbean (especially in Haiti and Dominican Republic). At his departure, in 1504, there remained only 100,000 individuals. His inhumane acts finally crossed the ocean, reaching the ears of Governor Francisco De Bodadilla, who had him repatriated to Spain and arrested for inhumane crimes against Indian populations. The sailor confessed everything, so the evidence was overwhelming. In spite of this, he was forgiven by the Spanish crown, because 'thanks to his barbaric acts', he managed to increase considerably the wealth of the country. Nevertheless, he was stripped of his title of 'Governor' of the Lands of the Americas and died, crippled by the disease, two years later.
Yet still today, streets bear his name, a 'festival' is commemorated in the United States, history books continue to pass for a genius ... But why so much praise for a man who was finally the predecessor of the European dictators accused of crimes against humanity?
It is time for teachers to really learn history for children, with real data, not information based on wrong texts from incomplete books. To rewrite historical facts in order to turn them in favor of those who have committed crimes, is ultimately only a failure to respect those peoples who have suffered and whose descendants are still suffering.
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