Christopher Columbus: Racist; Rapist; Pedophile; Misogynist; Genocidal Mass-Murderer; and Slaver
Honouring a known historical rapist and genocidal mass murderer of Indigenous peoples — whole civilizations — is the worst kind of post-colonial folly. To honour an icon of patriarchal, patricist, Eurocentric Rape Culture is unwise in the extreme — socially speaking, morally and ethically. It’s a slap in the face to women and Indigenous Peoples, all on the basis of an ignorance of history that is, in this particular historical moment, inexcusable.
I’ve been aware of the crimes of Columbus and his ignorant, savage Portuguese, Spanish and Italian crew in the Caribbean for decades, certainly since the 70s, when Native American groups in the Bay Area stepped up their activism, with leadership like Navajo Medicine person, Rolling Thunder, and other spiritual leaders — always in the face of active FBI and local police persecution and harassment.
As Michael Coard outlined in his excellent article for The Philadelphia Tribune this time last year: “Columbus’ atrocities were so outrageous that Spanish Governor Francisco De Bodadilla- based on the testimony of 23 eyewitnesses- arrested him for inhuman and widespread crimes against the Taino/Arawak/Lucayan population and shipped him back to Spain in shackles. The evidence was so overwhelming that Columbus confessed and was convicted.
“Instead of celebrating arguably the world’s worst genocidal monster and rapist on October 12, ask some of this country’s wonderful Italian-Americans for a list of the names of some of the world’s greatest Italians and Italian-Americans. I’m sure that list will feature hundreds, including the following:”
Amerigo Vespucci- the first European to recognize North and South America as distinct continents and to realize (unlike Columbus) that the so-called New World was not part of Asia.
Antonio Santi Giuseppe Meucci- the real inventor of the telephone as acknowledged by the U.S. Congress.
Guglielmo Marconi- the Nobel Prize-winning electrical engineer and physicist who is validly credited as the inventor of the radio.
The vast majority of Italians and Italian-Americans are not racist or ignorant or both. Neither are Red people, Brown people, Black people, or Yellow people.
That’s exactly why none of us should celebrate Columbus on October 12 or any other day.’
There is no shortage of legitimate, venerable Italians for Italian-Americans to memorialize.
The engraving above, by Joos van Winghe and Theodor de Bry, depicts some of the atrocities committed by Spanish explorers on the indigenous people of the Caribbean described by Bartolomé de las Casas. These verified, recorded, litigated historical facts are what should have been being taught in schools in the many intervening decades — not the myth of Eurocentric dominance and White Supremacy wrapped up in the Columbus narrative. My frustration is with the fact that history that should have been made common knowledge decades ago, in the name of truth, justice, and reconciliation if not for simple accuracy, has not been, all due to virulent racism, misogyny and a brutal Eurocentrism.
#TimesUp and let the reckoning begin, starting with the truth. The most interesting fact about the truth about ‘Columbus’ and his and his sailors’ crimes is that many of the the most horrific accounts were recorded by Bartolome de las Casas, a Catholic priest and historian who described how he was ‘trembling’ with the savagery and ‘evil’ of their acts in the so-called ‘New World’: ‘In one day, de las Casas saw Columbus’ soldiers “dismember, behead or rape 3,000 natives.”
As a result, de las Casas wrote, “My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature that now I tremble as I write.” There are many, many other accounts by eye witnesses — from literate shipmates to colonial officials — on the basis of which Columbus was sent back to Spain in chains, where he confessed to his atrocities.
A Columbus shipmate, Miguel Cuneo, wrote that “When our caravels … were to leave for Spain, we gathered … 1,600 male and female ‘Indians’ … on Feb. 17, 1495 … (and) we let it be known… that … (any of the sailors) who wanted to take … them could do so.” Cuneo took a teenage “Caribbean girl as a gift from Columbus.” And when she “resisted …, (he) thrashed her mercilessly and raped her.” Speaking of rape, it was noted by University of Vermont history professor Dr. James Loewen that “As soon as the 1493 expedition got to the Caribbean … Columbus was rewarding his lieutenants with native women to rape. On Haiti, sex slaves were one more prerequisite that … (they) enjoyed.” It included adult rape and child rape. As Columbus himself wrote in 1500, “… girls … from 9–10 … are … in demand.” (https://www.phillytrib.com/commentary/coard-five-facts-proving-columbus-was-one-of-historys-worst-monsters/article_016313a3-3e44-58c7-a815-a890292aff5c.html)
‘Columbus’ men “tore the babes from their mother’s breast by their feet and dashed their heads against the rocks … They ‘splitted’ the bodies of other babes, together with their mothers … on their swords.” As noted by Spanish historian and Catholic priest Bartolome de las Casas, who witnessed much of the carnage, Columbus, in order “to test the sharpness of their blades,” directed his men “to cut off the legs of children who ran from them.” His crew would “pour … people full of boiling soap” and cause others to be “eaten (alive by) … hunting dogs.” And if Columbus’ brigade ran out of meat for their vicious dogs, “Arawak babies were killed for dog food.”’ (https://www.phillytrib.com/commentary/coard-five-facts-proving-columbus-was-one-of-historys-worst-monsters/article_016313a3-3e44-58c7-a815-a890292aff5c.html)
Columbus also led his men in hunting Caribe Natives as sport; they both hunted down and slaughtered fleeing Indigenous men, women and children with war dogs, and fed massacred people to their dogs as dog food: “In the early years of Columbus’ conquests, there were butcher shops throughout the Caribbean where Indian bodies were sold as dog food. There was also a practice known as the montería infernal, the infernal chase, or manhunt, in which Indians were hunted by war-dogs. These dogs — who also wore armor and had been fed human flesh, were a fierce match for the Indians. Live babies were also fed to these war dogs as sport, sometimes in front of horrified parents.” (https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/8-myths-and-atrocities-about-christopher-columbus-and-columbus-day)
Columbus was arrested by a royal commissioner and taken back to Spain in shackles in 1500 after a multitude of complaints about his atrocities against the Indigenous islanders of Hispaniola. He was tried and found guilty of multiple crimes, and stripped of his governor title, but ultimately pardoned by King Ferdinand, who then subsidized a fourth voyage. This was tantamount to an endorsement of the criminal’s savagery by the European monarch.
It amounted to not merely permission but encouragement to perpetuate such policies of dominance and abuse in the so-called ‘New World’ thereafter, in the name of the crown, under the auspices the Church at its head. Any ‘celebration’ of this infamous, psychopathic program of dominance — and of the mass-rapist/murderer who led it — is unconscionable.
