Zinn, A People's History of the U.S.
The significance of Columbus, to Zinn, would be the stand point of how his story of discovery has been told. The story of Columbus has been told and taught from the stance of Columbus and Spain. It has been used to describe how the America's were discovered and what a great accomplishment that was. Zinn, however, does not see the story of Columbus' discovery in that fashion. In fact, he does not see it that way at all. He signifies the story, as a majority of people know it, as just one of the many in our history that have been embellished and or told from the point of view of leaders, and all others who may get something more out of revealing information a certain way. The traditional story of Columbus demonstrates what is wrong with the way history is usually written.
He would do this not only because it has not been the traditional way to tell this story, but to give a different outlook to what had actually happened. I don't want to read about wars fought that have been written by historians, which only reflect the conquerors and dominators and their possibly misstated facts. I feel cheated out of information that I should have been given years ago. He seems to want people to realize the whole picture of this story, all people involved and the cause and effect of events, at the same time, without sugar coating the facts. Zinn would most likely write these teachings differently by divulging more facts. We should be able to be creative in our ideas, but how can we do that if we do not have all of the facts? I do not want to learn history from the view of a leader or a king. This, I believe, is what causes people to be so uncompassionate about others, their beliefs and their lifestyles. Maybe I should not have learned at a young age about the gruesome details, the enslavers and deaths that had gone on, however, to totally keep information out of one's reach is not very democratic. This would be a way of teaching people about how all involved have been effected by decisions and conquers that were made, specifically Columbus' discovery. Traditionally we learn history by reading what has been written and then passed down through many resources, which can be very one sided. I almost cried when I read about the genocide, as he refers to it, happening to the Arawaks while Spain was financing Columbus' journey and discovery. From reading what Zinn wrote about Columbus, I understand that he would tell the story of Columbus from the point of view of the Arawaks (the Indians). This includes treacheries that were occurring at the same time that discoveries were being made.
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