Zinn Chapter 1

Thesis- “like other states of the modern world, Spain sought gold, which was becoming the new mark of wealth, more useful than land because it could buy anything”. The main idea of this article was to show how the desire of wealth and fame can lead to turmoil. In this chapter the author was not really making an argument but more so giving a different point of view. We all know the story of Christopher Columbus as being happy and exciting and not filled with blood shed and hostility because that is what we grew up with. Very few of us know or knew that there was an evil side to the story as we have found out from this chapter.
Columbus set out for Asia in search of gold and riches and instead miscalculated his route and ended up in what is now the Americas by pure accident. He was greeted by the Arawak’s which were the native people to the new land. They were very open and shared everything in their possession with the whites because that was their lifestyle. Instead of becoming good friends with the natives the whites took advantage of the Arawak’s giving and their life. They used them as slaves to dig for this gold that Columbus so desperately wanted to find. There was some gold found in the rivers at first and it was taken back to the king of Spain and was impressed but also helped by Columbus’s urging that he granted Columbus a huge expedition. He became so obsessed that the native peoples had to report every three months and have gold to give which would then lead to them receiving a copper coin and if found without one your hands would be chopped off and you would bleed to death. Columbus’s desire to find this gold could have come from the love of his country and king or the more obvious reason greed. Whatever it was it led to the complete annihilation of the Arawak people that lived on what is now Haiti. Plus this piece was to show how history can be biased and that we should not believe everything we read. Most people know Columbus as a hero, but few know the other side of the story. Zinn believes that history should be not just be memorized it should be debated and looked at from multiple angles.
My reaction to this article was a little surprising in that I did not know that the extent of the cruelty. Like I said earlier you could look at it as a mans love for his country and king or the wanting fame. Personally I feel it is greed because how can a man do these kinds of things to people just to make his king happy. I mean times might have been different but to basically kill of an entire population on an island is a little ridiculous. I just don’t see why they had to rush things. It is exciting but if you are kind to the natives then it would make them more willing to return the favor. I mean they already welcomed the whites to their land with open arms and not even knowing them. I also agree with Zinn in that we should not believe everything we read because it could be someones opinion or just something written from one point of veiw. You very rarely see history written from the conquered's point of view.
1. Why were the Arawak people so welcoming to the whites when they were so different from them ?
2. Should Christopher Columbus be looked at as a hero or as a mass murderer?