In Elementary School, during the early weeks of October we start to learn about "the man who founded America". He "sailed the ocean blue in 1492". He got money from the King and Queen of Spain to find a new route to Asia but instead bumped into America.
Of course they sugar-coat the story for a bunch of second graders! The truth is Columbus did a lot more to America than many of you know.
Before Columbus even discovered America, as you probably already know, there were Native Americans already peacefully living there. Imagine how scared you would be if a large group of strange looking people suddenly came through your town. Then your family members started getting strange illnesses no one had ever seen before.
To top it all off, what if the leader of this group made you and you family members look for gold all day, so you had no time to get food for your family or rest?
These are just some of the things that happened once Columbus and his men came to the Americas. After they found very little gold, they started to sell the Native Americans in Europe as slaves, and the ones who did survive the boat voyage usually didn't survive very long in Europe. They were either worked to death or died of illnesses unknown to them. Europeans used them to test if their blade was sharp enough by simply cutting off their arm.
Back to the Americas, the Indians were getting fed up with this nonsense and started to fight back. However their weapons were horrible compared to the ones of the Europeans and the Native Americans were quickly dying out in large numbers.
It has been recorded that approximately 3 million Native Americans died after Columbus and his men started taking over their land.
It makes you wonder if we should really be celebrating this man.
This is supaang, signing off.
Author's Note: I found this information in a packet given to me by my history teacher.
