Corrected: Columbus the Explorer? Or Ruthless Conquerer?

Columbus lands on Hispaniola.
*(Image by Theodor de Bry [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)*

Not only is Christopher Columbus a leading member of the pantheon of great historical figures, he’s the only one to get a holiday named for him, except Martin Luther King Jr. The one date from history class that everyone remembers is 1492. Textbooks give him a thousand words on average, a map, a portrait, and an illustration.

His basic story is uncomplicated: he sought to make a fortune by sailing west, perhaps by exploiting natives in hitherto unknown lands, perhaps by trading with “the Indies.” Unfortunately, textbooks shy away from such candor. Instead, they leave out almost everything important while putting in all kinds of details that never happened. Some call the voyage to the Caribbean “storm-tossed,” when they had great weather, but not one mentions that his flagship, Santa Maria, hit rocks off Haiti. In Columbus’s words, the local leader “sent all his people from the town, with many large canoes to unload the ship.” Columbus limped back home on two ships, leaving 40 men behind. This detail is important, because it challenges the “superior European / inferior primitive” meme in our culture that otherwise starts here, with Columbus.

Educators can prod students to examine the words textbooks use. Columbus “discovers” America, but authors never say Da Gama “discovered” India, not even in quotation marks. Textbooks call Columbus and those who came after him “explorers,” not “conquerors,” even though the Spanish used the more honest “conquistadors.” “New World” is of course Eurocentric; less biased terms are “Western Hemisphere” or “the Americas.” Did Europeans (and Africans) “settle” or “colonize” the Americas?

On his second voyage Columbus introduced shocking practices, including cutting off Natives’ hands if they did not pay his quarterly gold tax.

Like Da Gama, on his second voyage Columbus introduced shocking practices, including cutting off Natives’ hands if they did not pay his quarterly gold tax. He started the trans-Atlantic slave trade, in Native people, from west to east. A particularly repellent aspect of the trade was sexual: as Columbus noted, “girls from nine to ten are now in demand.” Partly as a result, the Native population of Haiti fell from perhaps 3,000,000 in 1491 to fewer than 500 by 1535. His son started the trade from east to west, in Africans.

All this might prompt students to discover when and why their state adopted Columbus Day. Should it join the movement to change the holiday’s name to honor Native Americans? Educators can help them avoid falling for the excuse that everyone accepted slavery in 1493. The Arawaks didn’t! Neither did, famously, Bartolomé de las Casas, the Spanish priest who said of the slave trade, “What we committed in the Indies stands out among the most unpardonable offenses ever committed against God and mankind, and this trade as one of the most unjust, evil, and cruel among them.”

Thinking seriously about Columbus is important, because he introduced four processes that transformed the modern world:

The taking of land, wealth, and labor from indigenous peoples an ocean away;
The transatlantic slave trade;
Demeaning on racial lines the people he had subjected, and
The “Columbian exchange” – a period of cultural and biological exchanges between the New and Old Worlds. Exchanges of plants, animals, diseases and technology transformed European and Native American ways of life. The Columbian Exchange impacted the social and cultural makeup of both sides of the Atlantic. Advancements in agricultural production, evolution of warfare, increased mortality rates and education are a few examples of the effect of the Columbian Exchange on both Europeans and Native Americans.

These are the four crucial points, crucial to understanding subsequent American and world history, that units on Columbus must emphasize.

James W. Loewen, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Vermont, is the author of “Lies My Teacher Told Me” and “The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader.” Each article in this series will come with a short annotated bibliography, often to items Loewen wrote, for educators seeking additional information. For more information and resources see: James W. Loewen’s official web page.

Related Resources:

Rethinking Columbus, (Rethinking Schools, 1998), Written by Bill Bigelow, this book is a wide-ranging collection of teaching ideas, primary sources, and present-day voices.
“The People vs. Columbus, et al.” Excerpted from Rethinking Columbus, this popular lesson plan revolves around a role play in the form of a trial. It has been used and widely praised by teachers across the country.
“Columbus in America.” A new documentary film on the symbol of Columbus in the United States and the campaign for Indigenous Peoples Day.
“Italian Americans for Fought for Social Justice.” Brief bios of people of Italian heritage who were committed to social justice.
“Whose History Matters? Students Can Name Columbus, But Most Have Never Heard of the Taíno People” A new article by Bill Bigelow.
The Wikipedia entry, “Columbian Exchange,” does a good job on this important topic except about the exchange of ideas.

Articles in This Series:

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