LAD #9 Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus brings up quite the controversy when typed into google. Even though we have this beautiful day off for a man who some consider a hero, I believe that he is more of a villain than hero. First, he is credited with finding America in the year 1492, but this may not even be true. There were people inhabiting America long before Columbus "found" it and there are theories that other Europeans actually ran into America before 1492. Also, Columbus wasn't even looking for America he was looking for India and happened across it. It wasn't planned, it was almost completely luck in his case. Then, and maybe most importantly, he is known to have killed off several tribes of Native Americans just by showing up. Disease killed most of the Native Americans which made them easy to conquer and turn into slaves. To a lesser extent, Christopher Columbus can be seen as a hero. He did take a risky chance when setting out in 1492 and he was lucky enough that it paid off. Columbus did not find India, but he found a good source for resources which was what he'd been looking for. So Christopher Columbus, though he made some positive things happen, he is mostly a villain in my opinion.