For centuries Christopher Columbus has been celebrated as the courageous explorer who discovered the new world in 1492. However, the gruesome details about the nature of Christopher Columbus' voyage and his involvement in the mass extermination of indigenous people is omitted from most textbooks, which has allowed it to become an American icon. After the United States gained independence from Great Britain, the new nation needed a courageous non-British symbol. They found one in Columbus; and so the myth of his heroic contribution became ingrained in American culture from the beginning. Whatever cruelty was inflicted on the natives was generally thought to be insignificant compared to what was gained. But the onset of colonialism does not justify one of the greatest demographic collapses ever seen. Therefore, a statue honoring Columbus should not belong on this campus or anywhere else that supports equality, inclusion, and respect. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Christopher Columbus read theories that the world was smaller than previously believed. He brought this theory to the king of Portugal in an attempt to finance his voyage, but the king rejected him claiming that his theory was absurd. He continued to ask France, England and Spain, but no one supported his idea. That is, until 1492, when the Spanish rulers Ferdinand and Isabella decided to finance three ships for a voyage. They saw Columbus as a means to compete against Portugal's success in African trade routes and obtain their share of Asian riches. The Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria set sail in August 1492. On October 12, it landed on an island in the Caribbean. Because he thought he had landed in India, what we now call Japan, he called the natives he saw there Indians, although the natives were called Taino. Trade began between the two sides, but it was clear that the Taino did not possess the legendary riches of East Asia. Columbus then began wandering the Caribbean in search of more gold to bring back to Spain. Instead, one of his ships crashed on Hispaniola, so he left 39 men to build a colony and returned to Spain. He brought back many things to show the Spanish king and queen, including Tainos, whom he had kidnapped and was greeted with fame. The king and queen wanted more gold, so they equipped Columbus with seventeen ships for a second voyage and made him governor of the lands he had discovered. He returned to Hispaniola using his navigation skills and kept the coordinates of his route secret. When the fleet arrived at Hispaniola, they found that the 39 men they had left there to build a colony had been killed by a local chief. They also discovered that that chief had a lot of gold in his country. Columbus led a crew into the chief's territory and found a gold mine. This shocked the chief and clashes soon broke out between the two populations. To intimidate the chief, Columbus publicly beheaded three natives and paraded their dismembered bodies, which infuriated the Taino and even disturbed some Spaniards. To make matters worse, they soon ran out of gold to mine. Columbus sent letters to Spain exaggerating the amount of gold found. To produce more profits for the king and queen, Columbus suggested starting a slave trade and, without waiting for a response, seized over 500 natives and sent them to Spain. Most of the remaining natives fought against this injustice, so Columbus unleashed terror on them. Once defeated they were forced to pay tribute in gold to the Spaniards. Those who did not find enough gold to donate to the Spanish came..