Today is Columbus Day in America a celebration of Columbus's discovery of America. But there were people in America before him; How did Columbus discover?
This brutal barbarian is portrayed as a hero in most of the history books of the world, but Columbus was nothing more than a robber and a murderer.
Renaissance Spain then became a new Catholic, expelling Jews and Muslims. They need gold then, because having gold means having the power to buy the whole world. Earlier, Marco Polo and other travelers returned from Asia with expensive gifts. But they all went on foot or on horseback. The Turks occupied the Mediterranean Sea and present-day Turkey, closing the route from Europe to Asia, so it became imperative to find a new sea route. So the Italian Columbus, not finding a place in his own country, persuaded the king and queen of Spain that if he arranged to go to Asia, he would fill the ship and bring gold.
Instead of bringing gold and Asian spices (the price of which was the same as gold in Europe), Columbus agreed with Spain that he would receive 10% of the profits, be made governor of the new country, and be given the title of Admiral of the Ocean. It was in this agreement that Columbus set out in search of a new sea route to India.
It was not possible for Columbus to go as far as India with three small ships, but Columbus did not know that মানুষ people at that time thought the world was much smaller. One day in October 1492, Columbus sailors saw stalks in the water and birds in the sky — meaning there was soil nearby. Then, on the 12th, a sailor named Rodrigo saw the moonlight flickering in the white sand. The King and Queen of Spain said that the first person to see the land would receive a pension of 10,000 Maravedis (Spanish currency) for life. But Rodrigo didn't get the money — Columbus claimed he had seen the light the night before, so the prize went to him. If he can do this kind of cheating, then what will he do in greed for tons of gold?
Columbus's ship sailed toward the island, and the island's aboriginal swimmers swam forward to receive new guests. The simple tribes brought food, water and other gifts.
Columbus wrote in the ship's log,
"They ... brought us cotton, spears, parrots and other gifts. We gave them glass beads and bells instead. They have good bodies, but they do not know weapons. When we let them hold our swords, they cut off their hands to move it. They did not learn to use iron — their spears were made of bamboo. They can be easily enslaved. We can control thousands of them with only fifty people. ”(They ... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells.) They willingly traded everything they owned ... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features .... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane .... They would make fine servants .... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.)
What did Columbus do then? He captured some of these simple people and started torturing them in search of gold. With them, Columbus moved to present-day Cuba, then to Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Columbus's greed increased when he found gold in the river. From there Columbus returned to Spain with two ships, taking more prisoners. But many of the prisoners died in the winter in Europe.
Columbus gave a false report in the Spanish palace. He said he had reached Asia (actually Cuba), and an island off the coast of China (actually Hispanic). He said, "The coasts are very good, and gold is found in many rivers… many, many spices, and many mines of gold and other metals." (.. the harbors are unbelievably good and there are many wide rivers of which the majority contain gold. There are many spices, and great mines of gold and other metals ....)
Columbus said, "These Indians (remember, Columbus thought he had arrived in India) are very stupid চায় whether they want something or not চায় they want to share it with everyone. Give me more ships and troops, I will bring you gold and slaves. ”The king, in his greed for gold, gave him seventeen ships and 1,200 men. From island to island in the Caribbean, they invaded and captured people. Unable to find gold, they captured five hundred Aroaks and sent them to Spain, who died on the way. In this way, ship after ship, the freed people were being enslaved and trafficked to Spain. But the king could no longer be kept happy by sending slaves, because many were dying on the way. So Columbus issued a summons to all the Arawakis over the age of 14 to bring a certain amount of gold every three months. If gold was given, a copper coin would be given instead.
Those who did not have that money would have their hands cut off by the people of Columbus, and then they would have died of bleeding.
But there was so little gold in the river that Columbus could not be pleased with it, so the Aravaks fled, and the Spaniards chased after their dogs and killed them. The Aravaks tried to resist, but it was impossible to defeat the Spaniards on iron swords, guns, and horses with their bash spears. The Aryans began to commit suicide by killing their own young children. In just two years, nearly half of Haiti's 2.5 million people have died in murder, suicide, or hemorrhage.
When the Sangopangos of Columbus saw that no more gold could be found, they took the rest of the Arawak and worked day and night in farming. Around 1515, only 50,000 Aroyaks survived, in 1550 only 500, and in 1850, not a single Aroyak survived in Haiti — a population completely wiped out by Columbus in this genocide.
We learn this information from the diary and book of a priest named Bartholomew de las Casas যে, who was at first one of the persecutors but later became a critic of this Spanish behavior. Las Cassas writes, “The oppression of the Spaniards is increasing day by day. They started riding on the backs of the Indians. They did not hesitate to cut the bodies of Indians to check the edge of the knife. "
"Men were whipped into inhumane work in the mines, and women worked in the fields. They were seen after 8-10 months — they were so weak that they no longer had fertility. Even though she was a child, there was no milk in her mother's breast. Las Cassas has seen 6,000 children die of malnutrition in Cuba in just three months. Many a time the mothers themselves could no longer drown the children. Men were dying in the mines, girls in the fields, and children could not eat. Thus, under the oppression of the Spaniards, this fertile land became depopulated. I have seen it with my own eyes; I am shaking my hand to write about this torture. "
Las Cassas writes of Hispaniola, “When I came here in 1508, there were 60,000 people on the island. That means three million people died in war, slavery and mining from 1494 (the arrival of Columbus) to 1508. "
This was the history of Columbus. There is disagreement about the numbers in Las Cassas. Was there really three million people in 1494, or more or less? As of today, there are an estimated 6 million people.
This bloody history is not taught in schools. In the American School of History book, Columbus is a hero, a poem written about him is read by children, the last two lines of which are,
The first American? No, not quite;
But Columbus was brave, and he was bright.
Two more lines should be added to this poem:
He killed millions and stole their gold
That’s the real story, and that should be told.
The good news is that many American cities are no longer celebrating Columbus Day, but Indigenous Peoples Day.
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References: A people's history of the United States, Wikipedia,
* The country we now call America, Columbus never came there. His America was the present Bahamas, Cuba, and so on
Short A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_Account_of_the_Destruction_of_the_Indies)
Bartolomé de las Casas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolom%C3%A9_de_las_Casas)
Photo: The Columbus and the Spaniards persecute the Arauques
https://www.lehigh.edu/~ejg1/doc/lascasas/casas.htm
[Written in 2017, reprinted with a little refinement]
© 2018 Javed Ikbal