“Columbus is a good man and was the first to discover America…” is what we have learned throughout the previous years from our textbooks; however Zinn looks at Columbus from a different perspective and portrays him in a rather negative way. Chapter one, “Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress”, starts off with Columbus arriving in America and the naive Arawak Indians full of wonder looking curiously upon him. They were quick to bring him food, water and gifts which Columbus wrote about and mentioned that they “willing traded everything they owned…they do not bear arms and do not know them”. Clearly the Indians were nothing but kind to him; however he treated them so poorly. Zinn explains how all Columbus wanted was gold and money and didn’t have a care for the natives. …show more content…
Due to the fact that the Indians were given such a nonviable task many fled or committed suicide in order to escape Columbus’s wrath. Zinn writes, “…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.” Additionally, when he realized looking for gold on Hispaniola was a lost cause he decided to enslave the Indians and work them till they died, by 1650 none of the original Indians were left. Clearly, Zinn did not have a positive view on Columbus due to the fact that he portrays him as a man capable of enslavement, thievery, torture and