Every day on Columbus Day there are two things that happen. The first is that Columbus supporters have a giant parade to commemorate him and the day he landed in America. They have done this for a very lengthy amount time. And the second thing that happens is that the people who don’t support Columbus try to stop the parade as a protest against him having a holiday. They have also done this for an extremely long time. I don’t think that either of these things is necessary, because I don’t think that Columbus should have a holiday. There are several reasons why I don’t believe that Columbus should have a holiday. They are that he didn’t ever know that he was in America, he was not the first person in America, and he instituted policies that resulted in the death of numerous people.

            The first reason that Columbus should not have a holiday is that Columbus didn’t even know that he was in America. In the article, “Christopher Columbus”, it states that Columbus never abandoned the belief that he had reached Asia. This statement is supported by Nanjudiah Sadanand in his paper titled “Columbus and the Native Americans.” He states, “Columbus reported to the Court in Madrid that he had reached Asia and an island off the coast of China.” The single reason he found America was that he sailed into it. If he had navigated in a different direction, or had simply sailed a few degrees off course then he would never have found America.  Why would we celebrate a person who found America by accident? And why should he have a holiday if he never knew that he wasn’t in China, let alone a whole different continent?

            Another reason that Columbus should not have a holiday is that he was not the first person in the Americas. The Native Americans were here long before Columbus was, and they had made it their home long before. They created civilizations that were established long before Columbus was even born. Judy Thompson, in her article for Helium.com, states that, “Columbus discovered America after the fact that the Native Americans already lived here and were settled on the land.” The only reason that Columbus survived after he landed in this new world was that the Indians helped him. Howard Zinn, in his book A Peoples History of the United States, says “When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought food, water, gifts.” If they had not done that it is a very real possibility that Columbus and his men may have died of dehydration and hunger. The Indians helped him and he repaid them by killing millions of them. If anything we should have a holiday for the Native Americans, not for Columbus, the person who discovered America after them.

            One more reason that Columbus should not have a holiday is that he instituted policies that resulted in the death and mutilation of many people. There were many reasons that Columbus instituted these policies. One of them is that when he failed to find gold he filled his ships with slaves; he hoped that they could take the place of gold for the king and queen. Unfortunately, of the 500 slaves only 300 lived. (Sadanand) This meant that when the ships arrived in Spain they were not full like Columbus had promised. This made Columbus even more anxious to find gold, which is why he ordered all the Indians to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. If they did not find enough their hands were cut off and they were left to slowly bled to death. (Sadanand) In order to get away with these atrocities he read a passage aloud to them in Spanish when they first landed. The passage was called the Requirement, it was a declaration of sovereignty and war read by Spanish military forces to asset their power over the Americas. (“Requerimiento”) It read:

            When they I implore you to recognize the Church as a lady and in the   name of the Pope take the King as lord of this land and obey his      mandates. If you do not do it, I tell you that with the help of God I will enter             powerfully against you all. I will make war everywhere and every way that I       can. I will subject you to the yoke and obedience to the Church and to his             majesty. I will take your women and children and make them slaves. ...The     deaths and injuries that you will receive from here on will be your own fault       and not that of his majesty nor of the gentlemen that accompany me.           (Sadanand)

This allowed Columbus to take slaves and harm all of the native people that he wanted to without consequences by simply saying that they had not followed the rules laid out by the Requirement.  By definition he was a murderer, and I personally don’t want to celebrate someone who spent his life killing people, and instituting policies that resulted in the death of even more people.

            I feel very strongly that Columbus doesn’t deserve to have a holiday. There are many reasons why, like the fact that he never knew he was in America, he was not the first person in America, and that he instituted policies that resulted in the death of many people. I hope that this paper helps you to decide what you think about the Columbus Day debate