The Truth Behind “Columbus’ Day” Court Controversy

Christopher Columbus was an Italian-born explorer who set sail in August 1492, bound for Asia with backing from the Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella aboard the ships the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. 

Columbus intended to chart a western sea route to China, India and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. Instead, on October 12, 1492, he landed in the Bahamas, becoming the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings established colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland during the 10th century. In March 1493, Columbus returned to Spain in triumph, bearing gold, spices and “Indian” captives. The explorer crossed the Atlantic several more times before his death in 1506. 

Santa Maria- ship of Colombus

The First Colombus Day

The first Columbus Day celebration took place in 1792, when New York’s Columbian Order—better known as Tammany Hall—held an event to commemorate the historic landing’s 300th anniversary. Taking pride in Columbus’ birthplace and faith, Italian and Catholic communities in various parts of the country began organizing annual religious ceremonies and parades in his honor. Columbus Day is an annual federal American holiday that occurs on the second Monday in October each year. 

Reasons Behind The Controversy

Over 500 year after he "discovered" the New World—kicking off centuries of exploration and colonization of the Americas—Christopher Columbus is still honored with a federal holiday on the second Monday of every October. As historians have continued to dig into the life of Christopher Columbus, controversy has arisen over continuing to honor the Italian explorer as a hero.

October 12, 1492. A group of armed men, led by Christopher Columbus, boarded three ships and reached the American island of Bahamas. The simple-minded local tribesmen welcomed them as guests. They also repaired a damaged Columbus ship.

Columbus saw gold ornaments on the bodies of the aboriginal people who came to greet him and guessed that there were gold mines somewhere nearby. The simplicity of the aborigines fascinated Columbus because he could take possession of everything in that territory with very little effort. He carried out a plan to wipe out the original Native Americans and went to Spain with another 1,200 Europeans.

Cruelty begins, genocide goes on. 

Columbus ordered all tribes above the age of 14 to deposit a certain amount of gold every three months in a province of the island of Hispaniola. Those who failed to obey this instruction had their hands cut off. After cutting off their hands, they would die of bleeding. Many tried to flee for their lives. They were hunted down and killed by ferocious dogs. Many tribal have been burned alive.

The inhabitants of the island of Hispaniola were of the Arawak tribe. According to many historians, 50,000 indigenous people committed suicide by consuming poison because they could not bear the brutality of the European forces led by Columbus. Mothers poisoned and killed their young children so that Europeans could not turn them into dog food. Columbus enslaved those who survived.

The history of some of the cruelties of Columbus's time has come up in his own journals and letters. More information is available in the Spanish historian Bartholomew de las Casas's History of the Indies. He writes that Columbus's troops also cut the tribesmen to pieces and beheaded innocent children to test the edge of their knives and swords. After annihilating a large part of the aborigines whom Columbus named the Red Indians, the Europeans needed a group of servants to ensure their luxurious life. They went to Africa and started catching people. This is how blacks came to America. They did not come to America voluntarily, they were forcibly brought.

The famous black writer Alex Haley conducted extensive research in search of his own first ancestor in America. The book Roots: The Saga of an American Family, based on that research, contains some of the most authentic accounts of human trafficking from Africa. After a long period of research, he came to know that his first ancestor in America was named Kunta Kinte.

A long film called 'The Roots' has been made. Kunta Kinte was brought from Gambia by the Europeans. Alex Haley has been able to gather the details of Kunta's arrival in the United States. 

Kunta, however, was abducted by the Europeans while he was cutting wood in the forest. After that his relatives searched a lot but did not find him. Kunta Kinte was one of the 140 Gambian men who sailed to the United States in 18, along with other goods, by a European slave trader. The ship stopped at the port of Annapolis. Annapolis is located in the state of Maryland in the present United States. Before reaching the United States, 42 Gambians were brutally killed on the way. Kunta Kinte was one of the 96 survivors. He was a Muslim. 

But even before Columbus, many went to America. There is evidence that many Muslim sailors also went to America. The investigation began a few years ago when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan brought up the issue anew. But none of them had the same brutality as Columbus. 

But history is so cruel. Even after 500 years, Columbus, who has made history as a great man, is today exposed as a barbarian, ruthless, heretic. His sculptures, which have taken place in different parts of the world, are being removed today, are being smashed, and his blood-thirsty character is being exposed by painting the sculptures red. The history of anti-people, dictatorship, barbarians never forgives. Today or tomorrow, even after death, people will appear on the fence of history with ropes around their necks. Christopher Columbus is his burning example. 

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