Genocidal Maniac Christopher Columbus
By Thomas Dahlheimer
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, in search of new lands, gold and wealth. He 'discovered' and 'claimed' many islands
throughout the
Caribbean. But, what right did he have to 'claim' these lands, when the Taino people had been living there for thousands of
years?
According to a United Nation's World Conference Against Racism document: "In the fifteenth century, two Papal Bulls set the
stage for European
domination of the New World and Africa. Romanus Pontifex, issued by Pope Nicholas V to King Alfonso V of Portugal in 1452,
declared war against
all non-Christians throughout the world, and specifically sanctioned and promoted the conquest, colonization, and
exploitation of non-Christian
nations and their territories." reference
(1) In this Papal Bull Pope Nicholas V
directed King Alfonso to "capture, vanquish, and subdue the saracens,
pagans, and other enemies of Christ," to "put them into perpetual slavery," and "to take all their
possessions and property".
reference
(2)
And in Pope Alexander VI's papal bull of 1493 (Inter Caetera), he stated his desire that the "discovered" people be "subjugated and brought
to the faith itself." By this means, said the pope, the "Christian Empire" would be propagated. reference
(3) These Papal Bulls, or "doctrines of
discovery", sanctioned Christian nations to claim "unoccupied lands", or lands belonging to "heathens" or "pagans". reference
(4)
Because of these two Papal Bulls Columbus felt justified and righteous to write in his journal that the Taino people were "very friendly", "an
inoffensive people", "they could be much more easily converted to our holy faith by gentle means than by force", "weapons they have none", and
that "with weapons and 50 men I could enslave the entire population". reference
(5) He later wrote: "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on
sending all the slaves that can be sold." reference
(6)
A Dominican Priest,
Bartolome de Las Casas ,
was the first European historian in the Americas. He wrote, when referring to the Europeans' first forty years of
genocidal behavior in the Americas, "...for they are still acting like ravening beasts, killing, terrorizing, afflicting,
torturing, and destroying
the native peoples, doing all this with the strangest and most varied new methods of cruelty, never seen or heard of before,
and to such a
degree that this Island of Hispaniola once so populous (having a population that I estimated to be more than three million),
has now a population
of barely two hundred persons."
(7)
He also wrote: "They made some low, wide gallows on which the hanged victim's feet almost touched the ground, stringing up their victims, in lots
of thirteen, in memory of Our Redeemer and His twelve Apostles, then set burning wood at their feet and thus burned them alive. reference
(8)
Although the truth is known about Columbus, our nation still honors him with a federal holiday. And think about how extremely racist it is for
the Roman Catholic Church to still have a Knights of Columbus organization today. Columbus Day is a disputed holiday, with 17 states refusing
too celebrate Columbus Day, they refuse to honor this late 1400s' - Roman Pope guided - genocidal maniac on Columbus Day, and two states (Alabama
and South Dakota) celebrate American Indian Heritage Day in its place.
(9)
(10)
(11)
Two other articles of mine about Columbus can be found by clicking:
Colonial Pirate Christoper
Columbus and
Changing The Racist Name Of The Knights
Of Columbus