Columbus Day example essay topic

It is true that Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas, but does he really deserve his own holiday? Other groups of people deserve credit for reaching North America. People arrived here from Asia over 29,000 years ago. Columbus also made many miscalculations during his journeys. Another major aspect of Columbus' journeys was wiping out the Arawak Indian tribe. All of these points will be mentioned later.

Columbus reached the Caribbean on his voyage and found Indians. When he reached San Salvador, the Indians greeted him with spears, beads, food, and a golden mask. The Indians did anything Columbus asked and it was then that he decided that they would make great slaves. Columbus said", They would make fine servants...

With fifty men we could subjugate them and make them do whatever we want". He returned to Spain promising King Ferdinand plentiful gold and slaves. He returned to San Salvador and forced the Arawaks to pay a certain quantity of gold each week or they would be killed. The gold fields there were very small and many of the Arawaks were killed. The remaining Indians were brought back to Spain to be slaves.

Columbus would later write", Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold". Before he even got to San Salvador, Columbus made many miscalculations along the way. He estimated that Asia was much closer than it really was. If he had not spotted San Salvador, he would most likely have died at sea.

He had only gone one third of the way to Asia and missed his estimation of distance by thousands of miles. He did not realize, despite some obvious clues, that he had not reached Asia. He died believing that he had discovered a new continent. The most important reason Columbus does not deserve his own holiday is that he was not even the first person to get to North America. Two groups of people arrived long before Columbus did. Over 25,000 years ago, Native Americans crossed Beren gia from Asia to reach the Americas.

This is where they settled until explorers either took their land or killed them. Another group that deserves credit is the Norse. Leif Erickson led numerous expeditions to Newfoundland and Canada. He mapped certain parts of the new land he had discovered.

Columbus did not deserve his own holiday. He destroyed an Indian tribe, could not find Asia (though he did find America for the Europeans), and was not the first person to get to America. Columbus deserves only partial credit for the exploration that mapped the new world and made the resources of the Americas accessible to the rest of the world. Perhaps Columbus Day should be replaced with Explorers Day..