American Hero or Indigenous Assassin?

Many people have heard of the Spanish explorer, Christopher Columbus. How he led conquests and how he came upon many new lands for the Spanish people. Oh and how could you forget- he even discovered the Americas!

These distorted stories make Columbus look like the angelic Godfather of America.

 In American culture we celebrate this man for his "discovery" of the Americas in 1492. Columbus Day has been celebrated yearly by thousands of Americans for several hundred years. Stories of Columbus are told to children as early as elementary school. 

Growing up I thought Christopher Columbus was a hero! I believed that his bravery and discovery of America deserved our almighty praise. 


Later on in my adulthood it was a shock to discover how evil and villainous this man truly was. I still found it quite hard to believe that the explorer who I was taught to admire was evil to the core.
If you're wondering how I have formed this opinion about Christopher Columbus, let me share with you the story about the Lucayan peoples encounter with Columbus.

When Columbus rose to the shores of the Lucayan people's home in 1492, they were welcomed with open arms. The Lucayans' greeted Columbus and his men warmly as if they were heaven sent. Offering them food and water after their long voyage to what is now known as Puerto Rico. 

Unfortunately for the Lucayan people, they were fooled into believing Columbus' intentions were genuine. After kidnapping several Lucayans', the Spanish men and their leader were sailing away to invade other nearby indigenous islands. 

Shortly after this encounter their next act of treachery involved the Lucayans' cousins, the Taino.  And much like their Lucayan cousins, they also welcomed the strangers peacefully. Little did they know the amount of suffering they were about to endure. 

When Columbus failed to find gold on the island of Taino, he took 500 of Taino people to Spain to sell as slaves. After this, Columbus then made a second attempt to search for gold, but instead of doing it himself; he demanded the Taino to search for the gold instead. If the Taino were unable to find gold, Columbus (if not one of his men) would chop the Tainos' hands off as punishment.

As the abuse carried on,  the Taino rebelled and refused to grow crops for the Spaniards. Meanwhile Columbus' men sexually abused Taino girls and women, and mercilessly slaughtered indigenous children and babies. But soon after Columbus's death in 1506, the Spainish explorers continued the same vicious cycle that was similarly perpetrated under the command of Columbus.

It is undoubtedly evident that the Spanish were responsible for the deaths of 12 to 15 million indigenous people. By 1650 the Taino civilization was extinct and most of that horrendous accomplishment was done by the hands of Christopher Columbus.