Columbus Day Research Paper

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Columbus Day is a significant holiday in America. However many people do not know the true history behind this celebrated holiday. This holiday needs to be changed to a different holiday because of Columbus's treatment to the natives, the result of colonizing, and the fact that Columbus Day shouldn't celebrate Columbus but rather America. The initial reason Columbus Day needs to be altered is Columbus's treatment of the Native Americans, the Tainos. Columbus used tactics such as fear to cajole the Tainos into obeying and working for Columbus and his men. While working for the Europeans many natives were beaten and worked until they died. In addition to the Tainos being enslaved, some Natives were falsely convicted and taken to Spain so that they could be enslaved and…show more content…
Many believe that without Columbus The U.S. would not have been created, but the consequences were much worse than the benefits of colonization. Because of immigration many new diseases were introduced and spread through the new world which infected and killed many of the native people. This also made it easier for the Europeans to conquer the natives because they were not healthy enough to fight or defend themselves against the Europeans. As Bergreen stated in The Four Voyages, " Many died from infectious diseases caused by exposure to germs borne by the Europeans or their livestock." The Europeans were clever enough to take advantage of this opportunity and create a legacy within the Americas. European colonization also led to the slave trade in which African natives were taken from their homes and brought to America to work on plantations to grow and sell tobacco, which became the cash crop of America. Not only did Columbus himself use the natives but he carved a path of slavery that every European followed in the new

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