Christopher Columbus was a terrible person.
He was even considered a terrible person by the standards of his time so the whole "don't judge him by modern standards" argument doesn't really apply to him.
He was significantly more brutal and exploitative towards the natives than most Spanish colonialists, and he was excessively cruel even toward the Spaniards under him, to the point where the King of Spain eventually got tired of his shit and threw him in jail.
He was also a terrible navigator whose plan to reach Asia would have resulted in him and his men starving to death if there hadn't conveniently been an extra continent in his way.
I'm not condemning everyone who was born before the 20th century. I still admire George Washington and idolize Thomas Jefferson for their enormous contributions in fighting against colonial imperialism and advancing the cause of human liberty, despite the fact that they owned slaves. But Columbus was a monster even when compared to Spanish conquistadors like Cortez.
Congratulations @lifecoma! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You may be mistaken. I've heard that the dirt on Columbus was written by his lifelong archenemy and that there is no other source for his purported "atrocities" than one account written by a guy who had hated him his entire life. Meanwhile, there are several other accounts, basically showing Columbus to have been a pretty good guy by the standards of his time. Admittedly, one of those accounts is Columbus' own diary, but there are others.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit