As children, we all “learned” in school about the adventures and exploits of Christopher Columbus: the brave explorer who set out on a perilous mission to discover the New World. He was sold to us as a folk hero, a man to be admired. Banks would close, and we would get a day off from school in celebration of his “discovery” of “America.”

We may have been slightly misguided…

Using passages from Columbus’s own journal, as well as an eyewitness account by Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas, historian Howard Zinn paints a grim picture of the atrocities committed by Columbus and his soldiers in A People’s History of the United States:

“Las Casas saw soldiers stabbing Indians for sport, dashing babies’ heads on rocks. And when the Indians resisted, the Spaniards hunted them down, equipped for killing with horses, armor plate, lances, pikes, rifles, crossbows, and vicious dogs. Indians who took things belonging to the Spaniards—they were not accustomed to the concept of private ownership and gave freely of their own possessions—were beheaded or burned at the stake.

Las Casas’ testimony was corroborated by other eyewitnesses. A group of Dominican friars, addressing the Spanish monarchy in 1519, hoping for the Spanish government to intercede, told about unspeakable atrocities: children thrown to dogs to be devoured, newborn babies flung into the jungle to die.

Forced labor in the mines and on the land led to much sickness and death. Many children died because their mothers, overworked and starved, had no milk for them. Las Casas, in Cuba, estimated that 7,000 children died in three months. The greatest toll was taken by sickness, because the Europeans brought with them diseases against which the natives had no immunity: typhoid, typhus, diphtheria, smallpox.

In his quest for gold, Columbus, seeing bits of gold among the Indians, concluded that there were huge amounts of it. He ordered the natives to find a certain amount of gold within a certain period of time. And if they did not meet their quota, their arms were hacked off. The others were to learn from this and deliver the gold.”

While Columbus’s actions are rightfully criticized, it’s important to recognize that his brutality was part of a broader pattern of European colonization that spread similar atrocities across the Americas. This doesn’t excuse his actions, but it does place them within the context of the time—a time when European powers often saw indigenous peoples as obstacles to their imperial ambitions, leading to widespread exploitation, violence, and suffering.

Perhaps it’s time to reconsider our celebration of Columbus Day. I understand—we love our holidays in this country and don’t want to give up a day off work or school. But maybe we could replace this holiday with something more meaningful. For instance, Goyaale, better known as Geronimo, was also a violent man—but unlike Columbus, his violence was a response to the brutal killing of his family and the systematic oppression of his people. For 28 years, Geronimo and his Apaches fought against Mexican and American forces who were carrying out a campaign of genocide and forced relocation against the native peoples.

It’s worth noting, however, that Geronimo’s resistance also involved violence, including raids that resulted in the deaths of settlers and soldiers. His actions, while rooted in the defense of his people and way of life, were part of a broader conflict marked by violence on both sides. This context doesn’t diminish his legacy as a figure of resistance, but it does remind us that the history of this period is complex and often brutal for everyone involved.

Maybe it’s time to start celebrating “Geronimo Day” in America, paying tribute to his fighting spirit and his will to stand up to injustice.

Or maybe not. We tend to fear change in this country as much as we fear words like “socialism” or “regulation” or “diet.” At the very least, on October 14th, we should educate our children about who Christopher Columbus really was—a man who spread death and destruction in the name of Christianity—and stop celebrating the life of a homicidal maniac as if he were some kind of noble hero.

Columbus in His Own Words

We shall take you and your wives and your children, and shall make slaves of them, and as such shall sell and dispose of them as their Highnesses may command; and we shall take away your goods, and shall do all the harm and damage that we can.”

“God made me the messenger of the new heaven and the new earth of which he spoke in the Apocalypse of St. John after having spoken of it through the mouth of Isaiah; and he showed me the spot where to find it.”

~ Christopher Columbus

Author: Nick Allison is just a banged-up combat infantry veteran of the War in Iraq. He lives in Austin, TX with his wife, their children and two big, dumb, ugly mongrel dogs. Don’t take anything he says too seriously… he’s just trying to figure out this ride we call existence like everyone else. Also, he enjoys writing his own bio in third-person because it probably makes him feel more important.

Please feel free to send your love letters and hate mail to nick.chaossection@gmail.com.