October
1
Zinn “Columbus…Progress” Response
From the reading, which is very desciptive and detailed, we should gain a clearer appreciation of what the Native People experienced once Columbus hit Caribbean shores. Locate two passages that you feel evoke the reality of what actually happened to the Arawaks. Cite those two passages, quoting them in MLA Style (with appropritate quotations and ellipses, if necessary) and explain how each passage illustrates the gravity of the indigenous experience with the newly arrived Europeans.
Columbus set off on his journey with many false leads and the expectation of arriving in Asia. The passage states, “In the year 1495, they went on a great slave raid, rounded up fifteen hundred Arawak men, women, and children, put them in pens guarded by Spaniards and dogs, then picked the five hundred best specimens to load onto ships.Of those five hundred, two hundred died en route. The rest arrived alive in Spain and were put up for sale by the archdeacon of the town…”(paragraph 15) Columbus after having the Arawaks welcome them in a nice and peaceful way, he and his men respond to the peaceful welcoming of the Arawaks by using them in their advantage. The Spaniards took advantage of the kidness of the Arawaks. The Arawaks were treated in a way for the Spaniards to get credit from Europe. The Spaniards knew that to find gold was impossible but even though they knew this, the Arawaks were forced to give them gold every three months. There was always a brutal consequence when things were not done that exceeded Columbus’s expectations. If there was not enough gold collected, he would behead them. If there was no gold at all, he would steal their goods and spices. There was no way to escape his hell hole.
2. Columbus right away seemed to spot their gold and take advantage of their inginuity. This was to have enormous consequences: it led Columbus to take some of them aboard ship as prisoners because he insisted that they guide him to the source of the gold. The Arawaks weren’t happy with the treatment they were receiving and attempted to rebel. Naturally, their attempts were unsuccessful and many of the Arawaks died in the battles that ensued. Even the prisoners captured by the Spaniards were brutally murdered. When we were children, we were taught that Columbus arrived in the Americas peacefully and got along with the natives. Their experiences after the Spanish came became horrible. They were no longer a race of proud people they were just slaves. By the end of Columbus’ reign of terror 3 million of Arawaks were killed, and if they were not killed they would be sent to Spain to become slaves. This comes to prove that only one side of a story is mostly told in the perspective of the victor. The ones who died would never really have their true story told.
Sidney M.
Ap English
Period 1
When Columbus arrived on the land of the America’s, he was surprised by what he saw. He realized natives were kind and gullible. “They … brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks’ bells. They willingly traded everything they owned… . They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features…. They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane… . They would make fine servants…. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”Because of this realization of such kind people he moved forwards with his evil plans. In search of fame and money he committed unbearable crimes. He stripped the indigenous of their culture, beliefs and dignity.
Las Casas tells how the Spaniards “‘grew more conceited every day’ and after a while refused to walk any distance. They ‘rode the backs of Indians if they were in a hurry’ or were carried on hammocks by Indians running in relays. ‘In this case they also had Indians carry large leaves to shade them from the sun and others to fan them with goose wings… Total control led to total cruelty. The Spaniards ‘thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades.’ Las Casas tells how two of these so-called Christians met two Indian boys one day, each carrying a parrot; they took the parrots and for fun beheaded the boys.” It’s sad to think that a group of people were allowed to come in on new territory and dominate the people of that land. The poor indigenous had to deal with all the atrocities they were rendered with.
Phuong-My N.
Keeble
AP English, Per. 2
2 October 2012
“Columbus… Progress”
I honestly thought Christopher Columbus was a hero and a good person until I read this chapter about him. I had no idea he enslaved and killed Natives! The Natives were so kind to him, but in return, he acted like a complete monster. He treated them like trash! In this chapter, I found two passages that I felt evoked the reality of what actually happened to the Arawaks.
One passage that stood out to me was when Zinn said, “Arawak men, women, and children, put them in pens guarded by Spaniards and dogs, then picked the five hundred best specimens to load onto ships… two hundred died en route. The rest arrived alive in Spain and were put up for sale by the archdeacon of the town…” (Paragraph 18). Columbus didn’t treat them this bad when he first arrived there, but as the Arawaks got comfortable with the Spaniards, he felt that then it was time to take over them. The Arawaks were so kind and helpful to the Spaniards, but the Spaniards just turned around and back-stabbed them. They killed many of the natives, took them as slaves, and made them look for gold. Columbus treated the Arawaks horribly and took advantage of them.
The second passage that stood out to me and showed how Columbus was treating the natives was paragraph twenty-one. Zinn stated, “Among the Arawaks, mass suicides began, with cassava poison. Infants were killed to save them from the Spaniards. In two years, through murder, mutilation, or suicide, half of the 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead.” This passage is basically saying that the Natives would rather die than be in Columbus’ control. Mothers would kill their babies because they didn’t want them to suffer. It’s terrible to read how hundreds of thousands of people would rather die than live because of one man. These two passages show how evil of a person Columbus was and what we were taught in elementary school was wrong. Columbus was not a hero, he was a villain!
Quantiesha l.
October 2,2012
Period 5th
Ap English
My response to Kiana Ledda :
I loved the way you but everthing together for your acticle.
Adiam H
Period 5
2 October,2012
Desiree had an amazing response. She pointed out how kind the Arawaks were to the Spaniards by welcoming them to their land.But the Spaniards thought the natives were naive,and dumb.So enslaved the Indians.I love how Desiree stated that it was unfair that the natives had to fight the Spaniards.
Alicia Gonzales
AP English 11
Ms. Keeble
2 October 2012
I like what Kiana had to say about the fact that Columbus was unjust and had the wrong intentions. He was basically a greedy man that only cared about gold and his own satisfaction. He didn’t care that he was causing people to be in slavery. I like how she said that no one should be treated unjustly. I very much agree with that. People should sometimes care more about others then they care about themselves.
Logan Quantiesha
October 2,2012
Period 5th
Ap English
Columbus,The Idians ,and Human Progress
The article Columbus,The Idians,and Human Progress the author Howard Zinn was emphaize by being the weapon by being descriptive of the Arawak Native Americans that were being described as there were “naked ,tawny,and full of wonder.”
During reading the article was very interesting by the author being emphasize by his quote The Journal From a Crew member of the Columbus expedition that led to a description for the reader Cherry
and full hospitallity,society and the Arwak people that were quickly described the opposite society the Europeans had.
Logan Quantiesha
October 2,2012
Period 5th
Ap English
Columbus,The Idians ,and Human Progress
The article Columbus,The Idians,and Human Progress the author Howard Zinn was emphaize by being the wepon by being a Described of the Arawak Native Americans that were being described as there were “naked ,tawny,and full of wonder.”
During reading the article was very interesting by the author being emphasize by his quote The Journal From a crew member of the Columbus expedition that led to a description for the reader Cherry
and full hospitallity ,society the Arwak people had that was quickly described the opposite society the Europeans had.
Bilguun Batdorj
Ms. Keeble
AP English
Oct 2, 2012.
1. It is a shame that so few people know of the atrocities Columbus and his men did in their time. To make it worse Columbus and his men weren’t prosecuted for their atrocities. They call themselves good Christian men but they perform many sins. In Zinn’s quote “But too many slaves died in captivity. And so Columbus, desperate to pay back dividends…They ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every month.” This shows one of many of Columbus’ ruthless acts against the Natives.
2. The slave trade has been active since the beginning of civilization; but it become more and more rampant in the 18th century. Slave owners made huge amounts of money from this kind of trade. Even if they lose 70% of their slaves they would still be able to make a profit. Like in the passage; “They went on a great slave raid, rounded up 1,500 Arawak men, women and children.”
AP English 11
Ms.Keeble
2 October 2012
Period 2
I really enjoyed reading about what Efrain Enriquez had to say about Columbus and the Natives. He described how the Natives were treated by Columbus and his men. The way he described was easy to understand for me and I really got his point of view. He said it was kind of messed up that the Spaniards treated the natives horribly when they did nothing wrong. The natives greeted the Spaniards with gifts and food and in return were enslaved. I agree with Efrain it was wrong to mistreat the natives like that. Overall I loved reading Efrain’s response good job Efrain!
Thomas Tran
I agree with you that Columbus treated the Arawaks like they were less than human. I also liked how you noticed that the Spanish treated the Arawaks like they weren’t any thing. I think it was crazy how he forced the Arawaks to do all of his work for him. like they found his gold and did things like that basically he enslaving the people.
in response to alexia george is that she did very well with her response, i enjoyed reading her thoughts about columbus. she put enough detail for me to get the picture. her work is very well put together. she made perfect sense. she gave evidence about the passage which made it easier to read and understand what she was talking about . she did a great job .