Christopher_Columbus_

Christopher Columbus discovered America, or at least that’s what my textbook says. I don’t believe that on bit. If you ask me Mr. Columbus did not discover this continent, and he sure shouldn’t have his own holiday if he didn’t do anything worth celebrating. I have three good reasons why Columbus Day should be no more. First of Columbus was not the first person in the Americas. Also Columbus treated the natives very badly. Finally Columbus did not even know where he was. Mr. Columbus was defiantly not the first person on this continent. The native were here for about 30,000 years before Columbus set sail. They arrived on an ice bridge from Asia over to what is now Alaska. Even after them there is evidence that Vikings landed in what is now Maine. Even though the Vikings did not stay because they did not go deep enough into the Americas to find the fertile soil. To top that off Columbus Day is only celebrated in the United States. Columbus’ ship did not land in the U.S it landed in the Bahamas. Columbus is also not mentioned in our constitution so he really does not have anything to do with us; so celebrating Columbus makes us much sense as celebrating Sarah Palin. Lets face it; Columbus treated the Native Americans like crap. Him and his so called ‘soldiers’- since when did soldiers go around killing civilians- killed off about 19,000,000 Native Americans. When they first arrived there were close to 20,000,000 Natives in the Americas. When they left there were only 1,000,000. Also Columbus and his men took a lot slaves back to Europe or to work on plantations in the Americas. Also Mr. Columbus and the soldiers he brought with him raped many women, killed men and children, and forced some of them to work. A priest who came on one of the ships wrote that he saw with his own eyes soldiers taking boys pets and then beheading the boys for fun. Christopher Columbus did not even know where he was when he landed in the Bahamas. He called the Natives Indians only because he was ignorant to the fact that he was on a whole different side of the world, not just in India. Also if Columbus is the founder of America why is the continent called North America (named after Amerigo Vespucci) and not North Columbia named after the so-called ‘founder’ himself. Columbus should not have his own holiday just for setting foot on a place millions of people have before him. Columbus Day should not be celebrated in the U.S because he was not the first person here, and he wasn’t the last either. Columbus treated the Native Americans badly and He was ignorant to where he was when he got here. Columbus Day is a bogus holiday if you ask me. The only good thing I can get out of it is a day off from school.