How Did Christopher Columbus Use And Abuse Of Power

Power has been around since the beginning of time, no matter what a person's beliefs are. And as long as there has been power there has also been people to misuse and abuse that power, that is given to them by the people. These people “give” the power because they are convinced that this person is going to make a difference and do something to help the greater good, the community. In reality there are people who do what they say and promise and actually help, but then there are those who make false promises and abuse what people have given to them. Christopher Columbus is known as the man who discovered the Americas and in honor of this, on October eight of every year people all around the world celebrate Columbus day. Children in elementary

Along the coast of Hispaniola he came across a young chief who wore gold ornaments, that he traded with Columbus for goods. Columbus kept sailing across the coast, lured by gold. He came across another chief, but this chief was much richer and had more power. That chief and his people were invited aboard the Santa Maria to celebrate the discovery of Hispaniola. After the party was over, they all fell asleep and the Santa Maria crashed. They had hit a coral reef and the ship was destroyed, but they were able to remove the goods aboard the ship with the help of a local tribe. Columbus made the best of the moment and founded that cite (a Haitian village called Limonaid - Bord-De-Mer) as the first European settlement in the New World. He named the settlement La Navidad, in honor of it being Christmas. A few weeks later he returned to Spain and left twenty one men under the command of Columbus’ mistress’ cousin (Diego de Harana) to watch over the settlement. He returned to Spain to prove he was right; he took gold and other valuables. Once Spain saw and heard of his discoveries, she once again, provided support for a second voyage. He was supplied with seventeen ships and over one thousand colonist were to accompany him. In November 1493, he and the colonist arrive to La Navidad. La Navidad did not look like what Columbus had left, it was in

The colonist were taking and forcing the Natives to be slaves, they stole from them, they raped, and they beat them. “The Admiral found the island in a pitiful state, with most of the Christians commiting innumerable outrages for which they were mortally hated by the Indians, who refused to obey them.”, Fernando (Columbus’ son) later wrote. The Native people began to realize that the arrival of the Spanish was going to be the end them, so they began to organize armies and work together to drive the Spanish out of Hispaniola. Columbus didn’t like this and he took drastic measures to make sure no one could drive him and his people out. He and his brother (Batholomeo) attacked the tribes in March of 1495. The Spanish had 220 soldiers with full armor, horses, weapons (European) and 20 dogs. They defeated the Natives of Hispaniola. Eventually, the Natives were gone, killed by that hand the diseases of the settlers. The Spaniards brought many diseases that were unknown to the natives. Hispaniolas bad news was beginning to arrive to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Very little gold was making its way to Spain, the colonist were complaining, and little to none of the Natives had been converted to Christianity. Columbus was then forced to return to Spain to explain what was occuring. In 1496. The king and queen began to doubt Columbus and