Some were sent to Spain and others served Columbus on the islands. He and his men captured and enslaved the Arawak people almost as soon as they landed. He sent more slaves across the Atlantic Ocean than any individual of his time-about 5,000. Opening the continent to slaveryĬolumbus was the first European slave trader in the Americas. His new expedition went from island to island gathering slaves and gold with unprecedented brutality. He then sailed to Hispaniola-Haiti and the Dominican Republic-where he enslaved even more Indians.Īfter returning to Spain and reporting on the incredible wealth in the islands of the “New World,” the monarchs gave Columbus 17 ships and more than 1,200 men to plunder the Caribbean. Columbus quickly took a group of Arawaks captive, hoping they could lead him to gold. When he landed in the islands now known as the Bahamas, Columbus encountered the Arawak Indians, whose kindness and generosity he noted in his journal and letters. Gold and silver were of particular interest to Columbus. The purpose of his expedition was to establish an alternative trade route to the East and return with riches. Spain was then a newly unified nation-state in competition with other European powers to expand its domain and amass great wealth. It commemorates the violent and bloody accumulation of capital for the ruling classes of Europe and, later, the U.S.Ĭolumbus’ voyage was financed by the Spanish monarchy. To celebrate Columbus is to celebrate a legacy of genocide, slavery, rape and plunder.

But exactly who and what are being celebrated? Schools close and government employees get the day off. This day marks the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s 1492 landing in the Americas, his “discovery of the New World” for the benefit of the Spanish monarchy.Ĭolumbus Day is a day of parades, pageants and retail shopping bargains across the nation. The second Monday of October is Columbus Day, celebrated as a federal holiday in the U.S.

Facts about the brookes slave ship