Columbus discovered America like that asteroid discovered the dinosaurs.
Columbus' first impression of the inhabitants of the "new" world:
“They do not bear arms, and do not know them. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane. They would make fine slaves. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”
“They do not bear arms, and do not know them. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane. They would make fine slaves. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”
In his log book Columbus wrote,
“Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold.”
Columbus was a religious man…proposing slave trade in the name of the Trinity!
“Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold.”
Columbus was a religious man…proposing slave trade in the name of the Trinity!
In Hispaniola the Arawak people were either sold into slavery or forced to supply a certain quantity of gold every three months. Those who failed to meet the quota had their hands cut off. That’s when the mass suicides began.
Modern scholarship places the population of Hispaniola in1492 at no less than four million people. By 1520 it had fallen to 20,000. Do the math! The Niña, Pinta, and Santa María had brought Death to the Americas.
So what do we do?
I don't know.
Maybe walk softly.
Be a little sad.
Be a little mad.
Feel more than a little conflicted.
Find a better hero than Christopher Columbus.
Because in the end he did not live up to his name...
“Christ-bearer.”
I don't know.
Maybe walk softly.
Be a little sad.
Be a little mad.
Feel more than a little conflicted.
Find a better hero than Christopher Columbus.
Because in the end he did not live up to his name...
“Christ-bearer.”
And, finally, would it be too much to ask that we learn to lament the sins that made our "greatness" possible?
Selah.
Selah.
