Anniversary of Columbus’ Discovery

Rodriguez would have us mourn, rather than celebrate, the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of the New World.

I defy Rodriguez to document a single instance when the Spanish deliberately or systematically set out to exterminate the Indians. That is, after all, the definition of genocide. No conqueror in history has ever succeeded in “wiping out the identity” of a subject people unless that people saw the competing civilization as superior and voluntarily accepted it. Rome could not destroy Greek civilization, nor could the Arabs destroy Persian civilization; Jewish identity has endured the ravages of innumerable conquerors who were determined to destroy it.

Since Rodriguez focuses on Mexico, it is worth noting that the situation there was hardly idyllic before the arrival of the Spaniards. The only reason why Hernan Cortes was able to conquer Mexico in three years with a force of 553 Spaniards and 16 horses was because he was quickly joined by vast numbers of Indians seeking to throw off the brutal oppression of the Aztec empire.

As for the Spanish destruction of Aztec civilization, it is hard to admire a “civilization” based on human sacrifice and cannibalism. Does Rodriguez really believe that this was preferable to Spanish Catholicism? The colonization of the Americas was not a simple story of evil, greedy conquerors and innocent victims. There were noble, self-sacrificing people among the conquistadors and missionaries, just as there were brutal, ignorant savages among the natives.

And who were those “indigenous peoples” anyway? Anthropologists agree that there are no truly native Americans. The first peoples to settle the Americas originated in the Old World and came during the last stage of the Pleistocene (Ice Age).

MICHAEL McGAHA

Claremont