Christopher Columbus was an awful person! :(
I never really thought much of the man who is credited with discovering America, but after reading A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn, I think he should've been thrown into a fire pit and had a bucket of poisonous scorpions dumped down his throat.
Seriously though, the things he would do to the native people were just horrendous and it's a little sad to know that our country's history started with such senseless murdering. Beheading little children for fun, cutting off peoples' hands if they didn't fill the impossible quota of gold, and taking women and children as sex slaves out of boredom; I can understand why history is taught leaving these things out. Children think it's pretty awesome and inspiring to know that our country started when a man made a silly mistake trying to sail to China. Turns out, he found America and made friends with the Indians and they all lived happily ever after!
That story sits with me better than the countless slaughtering and extinction of several Native American tribes that actually did happen. (According to Zinn and de las Casas) I'm glad I wasn't taught this in Kindergarten, but I'm pleased that I learned the cruel reality of such a historic milestone and how it actually occured.
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