Howard Zinn argues that Columbus’s crimes against the natives should not be justified by their impact on overall progress, as it vindicates these actions. Therefore, Zinn argues that Columbus should be remembered by these crimes, and thus tells Columbus’s story through his more inhumane actions, including how Columbus took advantage of the native’s naivety and friendship to further his own personal gain. The author then gives examples of Columbus capturing natives as slaves, and utilizing/torturing them for his quest for gold. Zinn mainly uses Columbus’ own writings on certain events to show his character, yet uses witnesses’ to show the effect of his actions. He also specifically uses Spanish sources to address the concern that history is written by the winners, which implies that either the Spanish knew what they were doing was wrong, or were too immoral to care. The final aspect of Zinn’s argument concerning Columbus, goes back to his central theme as he breaks down the counter argument that …show more content…
While they do not argue that his more controversial actions should not be mentioned, they choose to focus on his positive accomplishments. The authors’ first introduce Columbus by explaining his position in leading the Spanish in western (intended to be eastern) exploration. From here the authors go into detail about many of Columbus’s accomplishments and their impact. They reinforce the idea of Columbus being a strong and brave leader in their vocabulary choice, emphasizing the risks and scale of the tasks he was attempting. The authors end their segment on Columbus by implying that he was deserving of having the New World named after him, yet deserved his perhaps immortal recognition through history, being a catalyst for numerous historical events, technological advancements, cultural development, and exploration to