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Columbus Day - Page 2

Say what you want about the guy, he was smart. In 1504, off the Jamaican coast and running out of supplies for his expedition, the natives of Jamaica would not give him any more supplies. A couple of days before February 29, he told the local native leaders that if he did not get supplies, he would take away the moon from the skies. The moon did disappear into a blood red darkness and his ship was resupplied so that the moon would be given back...

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As for Columbus, I am not sure that he should be celebrated, but I am sure that he should not be condemned. He should be remembered as a great explorer and promoter of exploration. The new worlds were going to be discovered/had already been discovered by the masses at some point. Disease was a very unfortunate result of the first meetings with indigenous people. However, as it has been pointed out, it was this exploration that resulted in a migration of sorts that ended up ultimately to be The United States. So I am ok if we don't celebrate, but we should not berate either.

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Day Columbus

Smart? He thought he had reached India until the day he died. That is not quite my idea of smart. According to Dennis Fox in the article "Columbus Not the Hero Americans Believe":

THE SLAUGHTER THAT CAME WITH THE ARRIVAL OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

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Columbus Day History & Civil Business Politics

I agree with Kamama. It is nothing to celebrate or overlook as a holiday. Columbus did not "discover America". North America and South America were already inhabited before Europeans realized the continents existed. Also this "discovery" only led to terrible things. This is nothing to celebrate.

Page 2 Day Columbus

Name: Columbus Fan!

Comments: Why are you all blaming Columbus? As someone said before he was just looking for a fast way to get to India. he did not set about to wipe out the native population of the Americans. Besides all those in America today, where would you be if it weren't for Christopher Columbus. Give the man some credit.

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The "Blame Columbus" folks all come from the "progressive" idea that everything done by dead white Europeans was evil.

Columbus certainly DID discover the Americas, as far as history is concerned. Yes, the various nomadic peoples who were here had already discovered it, one way or another. So did the Vikings. However, none of those groups changed world history by their discoveries. Columbus' voyages resulted in mass migration from Europe, and completely changed the world and the course of history.

As Columbus Fan pointed out, Columbus did not knowingly harm the aborigine cultures. People at that time did not even know how smallpox was passed from one person to another, so how was Columbus supposed to protect people from it? Many of the cultures here were far more brutal and bloodthirsty than anything coming from Europe. Abject slavery was a common practice in some areas. So, how did Columbus make it worse? What, specifically, can you blame him for?

Columbus Day

Columbus underestimated the diameter of Earth. He believed that going westward from Spain was a quicker way to India based on his calculations. The calculations were frought with conversion errors as well as a fundamental error that resulted in a far smaller planet than actual. Now, the theory of a round planet was common...but not official at this point. His crews certainly had to worry about falling off the edge. So, Columbus wasnt a great astronamer and to his death, he did believe he was off the coast of asia instead of America.

The discovery only lead to terrible things? I wouldnt call Canada, Mexico and the US terrible things. Slavery had been going on before Columbus got there. They were doing it to each other, but only upon a tribal level. Yes, thousands and thousands of native americans were enslaved by other native americans. Not to mention, slavery on a global trade basis was broken by the US's stance and issuing of the Emancipation Proclaimation (coupled with a Union victory of the Civil War). Europe didnt take the lead on stopping the well entrenched practice. It was America that took the lead.

Were there bad things that happened? Certainly. Yes there were. Native tribes were enslaved, sickened and some were murdered, so with this knowledge I can agree that perhaps this is not something to be celebrated. However, I do not agree that he should be looked upon as a dolt or dullard either. Yes, the Norse discovered the new world first, but they didnt talk to anyone and even they did little to nothing with the discovery. It was Columbus that marketed the new world to what was then Modern Civilization.

In a time where the modern world still had places to see for the first time, there were great explorers that daringly took to the seas to find these new lands for their countries (England, Norway, Spain and France). It is this that is being celebrated. I can fully understand that native americans would not join in this celebration. Just as I can understand that Japan doesnt celebrate VJ day, Germany doesnt celebrate VE Day, other religions do not celebrate the Saints of Catholicism, etc...

As I said, I am ok with not celebrating Columbus, but want I dont want to see is a smearing of this name and only one-sided teachings in our schools in order to strike him from the calendar. Show the whole story. When I was a kid in school, we briefly touched on his history. It was pretty bland...discovered America, Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria and that was about it. I am happy that I can read more about what went on during his life and voyages. However, what I hear today about him is now too far in the other direction. Columbus did not discover slavery for everyone. Columbus did not kill all the native Americans. However, this is the way in which it is being taught today. My nephew just knows that he basically started slavery and killed the Indians.

Columbus Day - Page 2

I would add the fact that ALL of the aboriginal tribes, nations, and races living in the Americas at that time had supplanted others before them. Sometimes it was peaceful, sometimes it was through abject genocide. So, making Columbus out as a monster is blatantly ignoring the fact that he was no worse than the people he supposedly destroyed (through no fault of his own).

Columbus Day Politics Business Civil & History - Page 2

Name: Lato
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Comments: Should Columbus really be blamed for what others did after him? Men like Cortez and those that financed him were the real butchers.