Why We Shouldn T Celebrate Columbus Day

For the past eighty years, Columbus Day has been a federal holiday celebrated on the second Monday of October. On that day, we celebrate the great and noble explorer, Christopher Columbus, and all of his epic voyages and groundbreaking discoveries. That's the narrative we mostly hear about. But is that really the truth? It appears as though the actual story of Christopher Columbus is far worse than the romanticized versions we often hear. The morality of Columbus' values, actions, and character are questionable. The things he did and his motives for doing so were quite atrocious. His actions, if done in this day and age, would have been totally and completely unacceptable. Columbus should be judged by today’s standards. Therefore, we should not continue to celebrate Columbus Day because of the materialistic motives of Christopher Columbus, the horrendous acts he carried out against the indigenous people, and the legitimacy of his discoveries. (Dobbs, 1997)

Contrary to popular belief, Christopher Columbus’ so-called discoveries were not fueled by motives like a desire to advance knowledge of an unknown part of the world. His motives were far more greedy. In an excerpt from Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies, Bartolome de Las Casas wrote:

Their reason for killing and destroying such an infinite number

They weren’t people, but merely hurdles on his path to great fortune. In a letter to Queen Isabella of Spain, Columbus wrote:

I have seen only three sailors lands, without wishing to do harm, and a multitude of Indians fled before them. They have no arms, and are without warlike instincts; they all go naked, and are so timid that a thousand would not stand before three of our men. So that they are good to be ordered about, to work and sow, and do all that may be necessary, and to build towns, and they should be taught to go about clothed and adopt our customs. (Columbus,