I thought that the Zinn reading was extremely interesting. I have enjoyed learning about how history that we learn in middle school is almost never what actually occurred in my 101 class and again with this reading. I had always known to some degree that Columbus was not good to the native people and brought diseases to the new world, but I did not know the extent or the back story to his actions. I thought that it was so interesting to learn that Columbus completely over exaggerated what he had found to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella so that they could give him a bigger fleet for his next journey. Not that his actions are justifiable at all, I this that it is fascinating that Columbus was put under so much pressure to please the king and that is why “he committed irreparable crimes against the Indians” (6). I also thought that it was not surprising how Columbus and his team were only concerned with the riches and honor that they could bring back to Spain and did not think about the long-term consequences at all.
This reading made me think about a documentary I recently had to watch for my justice class called “Harvest of Empire”. This documentary was about how the US interfered with South American countries only because it would help our economy or bring money into businesses that we supported. The documentary highlights how the US did not care at all about what they were doing to the nation’s governments would impact the native people living there. I thought that there were a lot of connections between the documentary and the Zinn reading because they both deal with looking at people who will do just to preserve and gain power and riches. I also saw so many similarities in the way that there was complete disregard for the native people of the nations that the US and Columbus were invading. This really makes me wonder why we still celebrate Columbus Day in the US when there is so much about how he was actually an awful person. Also, this makes me think about how every American grows up with a very idealistic vision of US history but in reality it is mainly fake to make the US look much better than it actually is.
I feel the same way about the fact that American’s grow up with this idealistic version of our history. It creates unhealthy biases and we end up having to re-learn the truth, but even then not everyone has the opportunity to read things like this too understand the bigger picture.
I definitely agree with what you said about Americans growing up in learning about an idealistic version of history. Columbus is a prime example of this, as you said, and I hope that people move more and more away from Columbus and accept history in its whole. Another example that this made me think of what the atomic bombs that the US dropped. I feel like when I first learned about this it was almost as a “power move” of the US but much later I found out about the unprecedented damage it caused to civilians and the fact that the war was pretty much over. Not to mention the other fact that the US dropped two. As a society, it seems we are reluctant to accept our mistakes, which means we do not really learn about them.
I like your connection to the “Harvest of Empire” documentary. The United States has a longstanding history of intervening in the affairs of other nations because they believe that they know best. This has been seen in the US’s involvement in Latin America, westward expansion within the United States (before the western part of the US was the US), involvement in the Middle East, involvement in Vietnam, and more. It’s not surprising then that what is credited with the beginning of this nation (though not really because Columbus didn’t land on modern day continental US) started with this same belief of entitlement. It’s a connection I did not make while reading it originally despite just watching the documentary last week but I appreciate the connection.