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[http://www.religioustolerance.org/genocide5.htm] Given his history of atrocities, he's been compared to Himmler (amongst others) by historians, so sorry to burst your bubble, but denying his genocide is something akin to denying the Holocaust and immensely offensive to the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas. Columbus paved the way for the later Conquistadors to commit equally heinous crimes. He also started the slave trade from the Americas. As he said in his own diary, writing of the native inhabitants, “They would make fine servants. With 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” He proceeded to do just that by kidnapping 25 natives and taking them back to Spain. When Columbus returned to Hispaniola in 1493, he had an unquenchable lust for gold and violently forced the native Arawak Indians to provide impossible amounts. He enslaved 1,500 inhabitants and required all persons 14 years and older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. To ensure the cooperation of the Indians, Columbus made examples of those who refused his demands by cutting off their ears, hands and noses.  Oh, by the way, you do know that Columbus didn't discover North America, right? He only ever got as far as the Caribbean and claimed to his dying day he'd found Asia, not a new continent. [[User:DPearce|DPearce]] 06:23, 26 April 2008 (EDT)

[http://www.religioustolerance.org/genocide5.htm] Given his history of atrocities, he's been compared to Himmler (amongst others) by historians, so sorry to burst your bubble, but denying his genocide is something akin to denying the Holocaust and immensely offensive to the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas. Columbus paved the way for the later Conquistadors to commit equally heinous crimes. He also started the slave trade from the Americas. As he said in his own diary, writing of the native inhabitants, “They would make fine servants. With 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” He proceeded to do just that by kidnapping 25 natives and taking them back to Spain. When Columbus returned to Hispaniola in 1493, he had an unquenchable lust for gold and violently forced the native Arawak Indians to provide impossible amounts. He enslaved 1,500 inhabitants and required all persons 14 years and older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. To ensure the cooperation of the Indians, Columbus made examples of those who refused his demands by cutting off their ears, hands and noses.  Oh, by the way, you do know that Columbus didn't discover North America, right? He only ever got as far as the Caribbean and claimed to his dying day he'd found Asia, not a new continent. [[User:DPearce|DPearce]] 06:23, 26 April 2008 (EDT)