The Criminal Columbus

It seems a Virginia-based statue of Columbus was toppled and tossed into a lake last night.

Of course, there will be a lot of collective pearl-clutching about this. “They’ve destroyed our history!”

Uh..... nope.

Columbus never visited any part of the US. And he was NOT a nice guy. History? You want history?

OK. Here it is.

Columbus is best understand as a war criminal and mass murderer who killed and plundered for gold and ego.

And because this is a dog blog, let’s let dogs tell the story.

Over at The Huffington Post, Eric Kassum reminds us of why Columbus brought the first European dogs to the New World -- Alaunts used to terrorize, kill, and feed on the native people.

On his second trip to the New World, Columbus brought cannons and attack dogs. If a native resisted slavery, he would cut off a nose or an ear. If slaves tried to escape, Columbus had them burned alive. Other times, he sent attack dogs to hunt them down, and the dogs would tear off the arms and legs of the screaming natives while they were still alive. If the Spaniards ran short of meat to feed the dogs, Arawak babies were killed for dog food.

Columbus’ acts of cruelty were so unspeakable and so legendary - even in his own day - that Governor Francisco De Bobadilla arrested Columbus and his two brothers, slapped them into chains, and shipped them off to Spain to answer for their crimes against the Arawaks. But the King and Queen of Spain, their treasury filling up with gold, pardoned Columbus and let him go free.”

So there’s a little real Columbus history. Do you understand now? 

As for the statue of Columbus, we know exactly where it is.