Should Columbus Day be Removed?

537 Words2 Pages

“More than a year after his arrival in 1492, Columbus returned to the Americas with 17 ships and 1,200 men, enslaving the natives in search of gold. With his expedition also came disease, decimating the population. By 1555, some claim that two million natives on the island of Hispaniola were nearly reduced to extinction. And for this cruelty, America awards Columbus with a holiday” (Kan). In the previous quote one can clearly see that the arrival of Columbus to the Americas has severely negative connotations for a major portion of the population. And as such it should not be allowed to be a celebrated holiday as it would be more than a little inconsiderate. Even though the holiday represents the age of exploration where new cultures met for the first time after Columbus crossed the great Atlantic Sea the meeting in itself was not very peaceful. Also Columbus’s discovery of the New World shaped much of what is now considered the “Western World” but the indigenous people have naught to celebrate for other than the colonization of their land and the cultural imperialism of the European...

Open Document