Now that you have your feet wet, let's dig in deeper into this Columbus fellow. Did you guys know he is one of the most hated men in history (if you ask descendants of Native Americans at least)? People often ridicule the fact we have a national holiday to celebrate this guy.
Of course, nothing in history is a simple as "This guy is bad" or "This guy was good" etc. Events are complex and every side usually has some merit/value.
Here's what you are going to do this week. Watch this video, this video and read this article about the different view points about Columbus. Consider what you watched last week and the twenty facts you recorded in the comments section (you may want to revisit that post to refresh your memory). After two weeks of study, what is your opinion on the legacy of Christopher Columbus? Should we have a national holiday for him? If so, what did he do that deserves such praise? If not, why not?
Christopher Columbus was very fun to learn about. Columbus was going to prove that The earth was round instead of flat. So to pore that he had to get some money, so he asked the king and queen for some money and they said yes. So Christopher set out with three ships. He hit some island which he thought were Indians so they started looking for the higher gold. Columbus went back to the queen and king with gold and riches.
ReplyDeleteI am kinda in the middle between having the holiday because he really didn't find America. He thought he did. He just came back with all the riches and everybody praised him.
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After all of that, I would seriously reconsider all of the honor and praise Columbus got. Murdering, slave driving, and stealing are not examples of praiseworthy actions. Being the first slave trader in America is not what I would consider heroic. He did not actually even discover America. What ever he found, he claimed for Spain when it wasn't theirs to claim. A national holiday for all of this is just wrong. Celebrating Columbus Day is like celebrating slave trading and cutting human beings in half. I see where people are coming from when they say "That's what it was like back then." Still, people have a conscience. Humans know not to murder or steal or trade slaves. Columbus Day is now marked off my calendar. (126)
ReplyDeleteChristopher Columbus is so-called "credited" for discovering the new world (America), but I don't believe he should have his own day every year. As seen in the first video, Columbus is discovering the new world, but he actually didn't discover America. He actually "discovered" an island near the Bahamas. I certainly don't think that murder, stealing, and slave driving are actions that should give him his own holiday! These examples are something to teach NOT to do, but classrooms in America today are being taught every day that Christopher Columbus discovered America, and that's why we have a holiday for him. I absolutely disagree with that. What we should be teaching children of America today, is that Columbus accidently found the Bahamas while people were already on the island. We actually don't know exactly who was the 1st person to discover America, so we can't say any names. Cutting people in half- that's just down-right GROSS and CRUEL! The next time Columbus day rolls around, I will not be celebrating with the rest of America. I do give him credit, however, for finding out that the world is round, but that, and the fact that he was a famous traveler, is all that should be mentioned about him in the textbooks. But overall, Columbus Day is one big fat lie. (231)
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the second video, I was seriously rethinking Columbus’s legacy. I mean, everything he did was so inhumane! Killing people to feed them to dogs? Really? But on the other hand, Columbus did start the revolution of journeys to the Americas. In fact, if Columbus came any later or some other explorer came up with his ideas long after Columbus’s time, we’d still be in the process of forming our country. We wouldn’t have our advances in technology yet, so in a way, we can thank Columbus for modern technology. Without Columbus, we’d be pretty behind, so maybe he was too brutal for his own holiday, but we shouldn’t cut him out of our history books because he was an important part of America’s past.
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I think that there are some good things that Christopher Columbus did, and there are also some bad things that he did. I did not realize until a few days ago that Christopher Columbus didn't really discover America. he didn't really that much credit for what he did do. The things that he did do, I strongly disagree with. For example: cutting people in half just to test their swords, selling people as slaves, along with many other things. He didn't really get america started, I think it was more of Britian that got it started. they paid for the voyages!(101 words)
ReplyDeleteHere are a few reasons Christopher Columbus shouldn't have his own holiday. First he would cut people in half just to see how sharp his swords were. The second reason is he would sell people for money and make them slaves. there are also a few reasons that he should have his own day. the first is that the people he lived with thought that the earth was flat but Christopher Columbus thought that it was round not flat at all. and boy did he prove them wrong. he thought that he found India. people didn't think he was smart until he hit the Americas
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I don't think Columbus should have his own holiday. One of the reasons why is because he didn't realize he wasn't in India, so it wasn't him who really "discovered" America. Also, he was the first person to trade slaves. There was no original native left in Hispaniola because, in his diary, it says that he was "killing babies for dog food, cutting people in half just to test how sharp their sword was" and selling young girls to slave traders. And Christopher Columbus went to the island and took the natives and their stuff for trading. He should not be celebrated for all the sins he commited and all the chaos he caused when colonists came over to the New World wanting slaves. All of those Native Americans were killed and became slaves because of Columbus. (137)
ReplyDeleteI thought these three things were very interesting. Columbus Day should not be a holiday. He was a very violent man. He killed people to feed them to dogs and to see if his sword was sharp enough. He also would sell girls to people. The only thing Columbus really did was prove the earth is round. The guy in the video said it was like theft because he just came in and said it was his. He promised the queen he would find a better route to India, but he only sail to the Bahamas. Columbus overall was not a great man and I honestly do not think he should have his own holiday.
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As I watched these videos and read this article, I was thinking on why we even celebrate him to this day. People think he is this wonderful person just trying to find riches of India and spread Christ's word. He was not a very pleasant person at least. Honestly, we need to take away this holiday because of the violent thoughts and actions put into his voyages. First off, cutting people in half to test your sword? I don't think that is sharing the news of Christ. Correct me if I'm wrong but I would think that has something to do with hatred. Second, sending very young girls to be sexually abused is not at all showing Christ's love. Columbus took advantage of people. I don't know, maybe it's just me or did Columbus have another purpose than to go find India. Lastly, he didn't even "discover" America. If we are going to celebrate someone, we should have all the facts, not just the sweet innocent ones. (163)
ReplyDeleteI think that Christopher Columbus should be respected. Even though he was not the first person to discover America, he played a very large part in European’s discovery of America. If it weren’t for Columbus, Europeans may have not ever made it to America, and in turn, we would not be here. I think that we most definitely should have a holiday dedicated to Christopher Columbus because he is one of the main reasons that the Europeans were able to migrate to the new found continent of America. I could see where people would dislike Christopher Columbus because he wasn’t the first human to discover America, but I do think that he had a very important role in our history and should be respected for that. (127)
ReplyDeleteEvery year America celebrates the day Columbus “found” America. But in reality he didn’t. He was simply given credit for finding it. The natives had already been there for centuries. For example if I had never heard of Texas before and I went there for the first time it would be wrong for me to claim Texas for my own and to call the strange people in big hats Australians! He was a cruel, immoral, prejudice, and perverted excuse for a person! When he happened to land on San Salvador he thought he was in India. So he called the strangers there Indians. He took advantage of them being naive to his culture and sold them as slaves. While there, he allowed his men to cut them up and feed the dogs with their remains. He also sold the young 9 and 10 year old girls as sex objects for his crew’s enjoyment!!! Within 50 years Columbus had started a native genocide and over half of the Indians had died. I think the fact that our country even celebrates a day for this horrific man says a lot about America! When we are in school they teach us that Columbus discovered America and that he traded with the natives but he really traded the natives to other people. They teach use that he was an admirable legacy. They have an entire day devoted to this man and yet most children don’t even know what really happened when he came to San Salvador. From now on I refuse to even celebrate this holiday and our country shouldn’t celebrate it either.
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I thought the first video was cute and all and that Columbus was not all that bad. After watching the second video it changed my opinion completely about him. I would have never guessed that Columbus enslaves so many natives, killed them, used there weapons on them to test the sharpness, used them for dog food, made ten-year-old girls sex slaves. This all made me rethink everything about Columbus. I do not think we should be celebrating Columbus Day as a holiday. He took so much advantage over the natives that probably never harmed him, or they did not try to after do all of those terrible things. Teachers should stop teaching about Christopher Columbus. If we did not learn about him he would not have to celebrate the holiday nor would we have to know how he treated natives. In the article Bartolomé de Las Casas tried to fix all of Columbus's mistakes. He was showing them love. He did not want to harm anyone. Once Bartolomé de Las Casas became a priest he finally realized and took charge of the crime the Spanish were doing to the natives. I am glad he did that but then the natives only thought that all Spanish people were terrible people and they would treat them like dirt.
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After watching the first video, I was thinking why we would reconsider the holiday because it displays Columbus as a fun and cool guy. After watching the second one I realize why we would need to reconsider it. My role models and heroes definitely have not murdered or sexually assaulted anybody. We need to learn about Columbus but to celebrate him “discovering”, what he thought was India, is just pointless. Native Americans had been leaving there for years so why do we give him credit? And he was not the first to prove the earth is round either. Other people had already done that. Now, really all he has done is connect the two hemispheres. (116)
ReplyDeleteChristopher Columbus was definitely not the guy I thought he was and I think everyone who watched this stuff agrees with me. He cut people in half, sold 10 year old girls to guys for them to do unheard of things to them and killed kids for dog food. The way I see it he was a pretty bad guy. But in his defense, Columbus probably thought what he was doing was right. I mean they had different standards then that we think are insane now. All I can say is that we need to teach kids at a young age that he just came across America by accident and he did some bad things and not make him a hero. Having said all this, Columbus does not deserve a holiday and the truth should be taught about him but not to little kids.
ReplyDelete(144 words) By the way, I've had a good weekend Ohio State, Tennessee, and the Broncos win big!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think Christopher Columbus was some kind of hero. He connected the two hemispheres, because if he had not been brave enough to explore the would that everyone believed to be flat, Europeans would have never figured out about the Americas. It was extremely wrong for Christopher Columbus to cut of humans, sell little girls into slavery, and feed humans to dogs though. But even though he did do those very awful things, he still deserves recognition for connecting Europe and the Americas and also for proving people were wrong about the earth being flat when it is actually round. (100)
ReplyDeleteThe first video makes me think that Columbus was a good person. The first video talks about how great Columbus was and that we should have a holiday to celebrate his discovery of America. But was he all that great? The second video talks about how he chopped people in half to test his sword. I mean, is that really necessary? If you don’t know, the answer is no, it isn’t. Selling girls, that doesn’t seem right either. He killed people for dog meat. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure there were other ways that they could have fed them. All of these things are wrong. And we call Columbus a hero? Sure he “discovered” America, but looking at all the things he did to the natives doesn’t make him look very heroic at all, therefore, I do not believe he deserves a holiday.
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The first video was a fun way of communicating what we are usually taught in school. The "basics" if you will. Columbus sailed the ocean blue in the year of 1492. But the second video told me things that i had never heard before. We make Christopher Columbus out to be the guy that discovered America. He is nowhere near that. But he did actually connect the two continent so we should give him credit for that. Of coarse, slashing people in half for no reason probably isn't all that great... i could be wrong... that could have been just normal in their culture but i don't know. I think we could cut the dude some slack and let him keep his holiday.
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