Today is Indigenous Peoples Day, or Columbus Day, or just a day, depending on where you live. The number of places changing to Indigenous peoples day is increasing, and so it might be interesting to discuss the holiday.
Columbus Day was made a United States holiday in 1937. Since then, about half of the states have also made it a state holiday. Recently, recognition of the history has led a growing number of locations to change it to Indigenous Peoples Day.
I didn't know the history until recently, as it isn't taught in schools. It turns out that from his own letters and those of his crew, in addition to other records, Columbus acted like many others of his time, as if the Native Americans were not humans with rights.
Upon finding little gold to take back as booty, he had hundreds of Native Americans kidnapped and taken as slaves on his first trip. Those that survived the trip back to Europe were sold as slaves. He then enacted a brutal plan to get gold, where Native Americans were required to bring in a certain amount of gold dust from local rivers or have their hand cut off and then worn around their neck as a warning to others. The killing and enslavement continued under his command, and over 100,000 Native Americans were killed or enslaved on the island within a few years under his rule.
Not only did he profit from capturing and selling slaves, but many of these slaves were sex slaves. He gave his officers Native American girls as sex slaves, and his own letters state he can get as much for a Native American sex slave as he can from selling a farm, with "those aged 9 or 10 years being in demand".
This and more makes me think of the stuff the Islamic State is doing. Here in America, we have a holiday celebrating someone who did all this, and then turn around and condemn the same actions done by the Islamic State? Wow.
Here's a site, though with all this being well known by historians, other references are easy to find too.
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwo...-christopher-columbus-and-columbus-day-151653
I don't know about you, but much of this was a surprise to me. Though I used to think a holiday for Columbus was good, I don't think so any more. What about you?
In Christ-
Papias
Columbus Day was made a United States holiday in 1937. Since then, about half of the states have also made it a state holiday. Recently, recognition of the history has led a growing number of locations to change it to Indigenous Peoples Day.
I didn't know the history until recently, as it isn't taught in schools. It turns out that from his own letters and those of his crew, in addition to other records, Columbus acted like many others of his time, as if the Native Americans were not humans with rights.
Upon finding little gold to take back as booty, he had hundreds of Native Americans kidnapped and taken as slaves on his first trip. Those that survived the trip back to Europe were sold as slaves. He then enacted a brutal plan to get gold, where Native Americans were required to bring in a certain amount of gold dust from local rivers or have their hand cut off and then worn around their neck as a warning to others. The killing and enslavement continued under his command, and over 100,000 Native Americans were killed or enslaved on the island within a few years under his rule.
Not only did he profit from capturing and selling slaves, but many of these slaves were sex slaves. He gave his officers Native American girls as sex slaves, and his own letters state he can get as much for a Native American sex slave as he can from selling a farm, with "those aged 9 or 10 years being in demand".
This and more makes me think of the stuff the Islamic State is doing. Here in America, we have a holiday celebrating someone who did all this, and then turn around and condemn the same actions done by the Islamic State? Wow.
Here's a site, though with all this being well known by historians, other references are easy to find too.
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwo...-christopher-columbus-and-columbus-day-151653
I don't know about you, but much of this was a surprise to me. Though I used to think a holiday for Columbus was good, I don't think so any more. What about you?
In Christ-
Papias