While it is true that Christopher Columbus possessed both positive and negative traits, the latter far outweighs the former. Despite the fact that he is remembered most commonly throughout the U.S. as a hero, he should instead be remembered as a villain for the horrible crimes he committed against the Native American populations that he encountered in the Caribbean islands. First of all, throughout many of his writings created during his time in the Caribbean, Columbus expressed extremely ethnocentric and xenophobic views towards the natives. As a result, Columbus was very involved in the slave trading of natives and even auctioned girls as young as 9 years old into sexual slavery. "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold." In fact, in 1499, word of some of his heinous actions was brought to the King and Queen of Spain and he was arrested by the Spanish government later that year and removed from position of governor in Hispaniola. As is evident, Christopher Columbus was a ruthless man with vile intentions for Indian populations. Clearly, he was not the heroic figure that many proclaim him to be.
Christopher Columbus reminded me very much of Benjamin Franklin because both are widely remembered as heroes but have a great deal of controversy surrounding their historic virtue.
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