Stealing the Moon

If one is to accept the notion that Columbus is responsible for the resulting genocide of the indigenous peoples of the Americas then one must also accept that people are responsible for the actions of others that follow their own. There is no charitable way to put this: Columbus was kind of a jerk. He thought of the Indians as a clean slate upon which to project his version of “civilization”; he thought them only moderately more intelligent than animals and he had no qualms about trampling all over their civilization, all the while treating them in a very paternal and condescending manner. But he cannot be blamed for the resulting genocide for the simple fact that it was inevitable. Once he discovered the Americas, people like Cortez were going to come over and ruin some days regardless of how Columbus treated the Indians. There was far too much inertia on the part of the Spanish Crown for him to have changed the inevitable course of events.

One of the key exonerating factors for Columbus is that he never seemed to have any malicious intent toward the Indians on his first voyage, before he reported back to Spain and took more people and such along. The main motivations for his voyage were religious, to spread Christianity and to raise money for the reconquest of Jerusalem, as opposed to people like Cortez who came in with malevolent intent for the peoples of the Americas and designs of their wealth and land.

“And he concludes with astonishment that, although naked, the Indians seem closer to men than to animals.
…
His attitude with regard to this other culture is, in the best of cases, that of the collector of curiosities, and it is never accompanied by any attempt at comprehension: observing for the first time certain masonry constructions … he contents himself with ordering a piece of it to be broken off to keep as a souvenir.” (p34-35)

Contrast that attitude to the later actions of people like Cortez:

“Having learned of the existence of the Aztec empire, he begins a slow progress toward the interior, attempting to win over to his cause, either by promises or warfare, the populations whose lands he passes through.

Cortez reaches Mexico City, where he is cordially received; shortly thereafter, he decides to take the Aztec sovereign prisoner and succeeds in doing so.” (p54-55)

The discovery of the Americas was inevitable, and the actions of people like Cortez were going to happen even if Columbus had treated the Indians as equals. The allure of a land ripe for pillaging with its riches was too much for anyone to resist at the time. Columbus may have started off poorly, but as soon as he discovered the Americas, their fate was sealed regardless of his possible actions. Once word first reached Europe of the riches of this new land, the indigenous populations never had a hope of survival.

That is not to say that Columbus doesn’t deserve blame for being an arrogant, eccentric jerk; but rather to say that you can no more blame Columbus for Cortez’s actions than you can blame Gary Anderson for missing the field goal in the 1998 NFC Conference Championship – our defeat was already ordained and nothing Anderson did could’ve changed that. That said, I hate the man for missing the kick.