Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the Americas in 1492 is perhaps the first History lesson children in the United States learn. However, the perspective in which it is taught is almost never questioned. The perspective in which the voyages of Columbus are taught teaches Americans that Columbus was the man who discovered America or the new world. Although this is historically accurate, this perspective does not allow Americans to understand the lives lost due to Columbus. Thus, the documentary 500 Nations aims to educate Americans about the Native American’s perspective on Christopher Columbus. To better understand the documentary, one must understand the main historical points of the documentary.
The documentary can be summarized by the following: Columbus, at first, came to admire the Native Americans and thought that they were “docile” islanders. Unfortunately, shortly after the leader of the Tainos, the first group of Natives he encountered on the island of Hispaniola, gave Columbus a gold crown. Thus, the Native Americans were seen as weak and Columbus felt that he could conquer the island and enslave the indigenous people. Several Native Americans died by killing themselves and their children as the Spanish made them suffer as slaves.
The Spanish, furthermore, used trickery and deceit to kill innocent indigenous people. When the Spanish offered to have a diplomatic meeting with the resistance in Mexico, they decided to blow up and murder eighty indigenous people. This is why Enrique, the son who witnessed his father die in the massacre, later led a strong yet unsuccessful rebellion. However, after the death of the Native who encountered the Spanish, Spain simply took more control. Although not all of these events happened when Columbus was alive, he is the man who began the process of slavery and oppression and is indirectly responsible for the deaths of so many of the Native American race.
The perspective brought up in this documentary educates people that Columbus’s impact led to the great dying of the Native American race. Perhaps worst of all, Columbus enslaved the Native Americans. Therefore, many Native Americans remain poor today. Additionally, many of the Native American cultures have been lost. In the case of the Aztecs, their capital, Technoliclan, was completely destroyed and their culture was almost completely obliterated.
Again, it should be known that most Americans know little about this, resulting in the feeling that Europeans (white people) are more important than natives. This, arguably, is the advent of racism and colorism in the Americas. Additionally, it should be noted that even today some white people in the United States feel that they are superior. This thought is a dangerous one and most likely still exists due to the thought that the white Europeans were the first Americans. This, however, is not the case as the Native Americans were the first people to settle in North and South America. Despite the fact that Columbus discovered the Americas for Europe, he was a dangerous man who is responsible for the death of nearly the entire Native American race.