The Pros and Cons of Columbus' Discovery of the Americas

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Why should we celebrate “Columbus Day”? People say that all he brought to the Americas were genocide, disease, and destruction (SB, pg. 44). There have been countless numbers of attacks on whether or not we should celebrate Columbus Day. Every year on October 10, we celebrate the bloodshed and the destruction of a very complex society but we also celebrate the opening of a great safety valve in the Americas and the introduction of the Americas to the advanced society of Europe. Before Columbus landed on the coast of Hispaniola, the social and economical aspects of the Americas were undeveloped and less complex than that of the growing economy and society of Europe. (SB, pg. 45) Columbus may not have been the first to set eye upon the Americas, but he was the first to bring the highly sophisticated society of Western Europe to the less developed society of the Americas, which set the stage for the development of the United States of America. Many people believe that Columbus Day is not a day to be celebrated. The Americas had a very complex culture with their own laws, oral language, and art. They encouraged individuality, uprightedness, freedom, strength, and generosity. Some places such as the Aztec and Inca Empires were as densely populated as Europe was. When Columbus came onto this continent, he had no right to destroy what was rightfully there before. Furthermore, with him, came smallpox, slavery, genocide, death, and destruction. However, even if the Indian society was developed and pretty complex, the Europeans were a questing and growing civilization that ultimately led to what the modern world is now. They had the wheel, a written language, agriculture, and much permanent settlement. Western Europe was also equally split... ... middle of paper ... ... of the United States of America. Although many people believe that the only things Columbus brought to this already complex world were death and destruction, he also brought the growing civilization of the Europeans. Before Columbus set foot in the Americas, it was meagerly inhabited, and most of its residents were wandering nomads, who travel from place to place. In addition, there was almost no technology and the society of the Americas had stopped developing for a thousand years. With Columbus came the technology and society of Western Europe, which was the predecessor of the now United States, a safety valve for people looking for a new start. Furthermore, history is all about the shifting of power from the once strong to the now strong. What Columbus killed and destroyed might have been good, advanced, and complex, what emerged from that was eventually the best.

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