Do you think Columbus’ actions could be classified as a genocide?
4 thoughts on “Do you think Columbus’ actions could be classified as a genocide?”
Yes, Columbus’s actions definitely resembled a genocide. “It was his stated purpose to seize this wealth, by whatever means necessary and available, in order to enrich both his sponsors and himself” (Churchill). Columbus’s reference to whatever means necessary connects him to the Nazi Regime leaders.
If we’re getting down to the technicality of his actions, Columbus didn’t go out and lead the genocide of the natives. He set policies to obtain gold and labor from the natives making them slaves, but did not make a systematic way of purposely killing the natives.
I don’t think Columbus’ actions should be classified as a genocide. To start, most of the Indian deaths were caused by disease. An outbreak of smallpox devastated the lands as when the Europeans arrived. However, this is very common when new groups of people interact. The Indians and the Europeans didn’t have the immunities they needed to live together.
Christopher Columbus’s actions can not be considered as Genocide. Christopher Columbus himself did not directly intend to kill the thousands of indigenous people based on their ethnicity. Majority of the American Indians were killed by the disease which Europe had suffered as well.
Yes, Columbus’s actions definitely resembled a genocide. “It was his stated purpose to seize this wealth, by whatever means necessary and available, in order to enrich both his sponsors and himself” (Churchill). Columbus’s reference to whatever means necessary connects him to the Nazi Regime leaders.
If we’re getting down to the technicality of his actions, Columbus didn’t go out and lead the genocide of the natives. He set policies to obtain gold and labor from the natives making them slaves, but did not make a systematic way of purposely killing the natives.
I don’t think Columbus’ actions should be classified as a genocide. To start, most of the Indian deaths were caused by disease. An outbreak of smallpox devastated the lands as when the Europeans arrived. However, this is very common when new groups of people interact. The Indians and the Europeans didn’t have the immunities they needed to live together.
Christopher Columbus’s actions can not be considered as Genocide. Christopher Columbus himself did not directly intend to kill the thousands of indigenous people based on their ethnicity. Majority of the American Indians were killed by the disease which Europe had suffered as well.