The earliest I can remember learning about Columbus was being young in elementary school. I can remember having lessons about Thanksgiving and learning from a quick mention of a guy named Columbus. I think I remember watching a schoolhouse rock video explaining Columbus however it skipped all the violence and had a picture of Columbus planting a flag on some land. I remember learning about Columbus leading to more Pilgrims heading over and working together with the Native Americans but then we know that the real story wasn’t that nice. Even before I knew that Colombus did enact genocide and treated the Natives of Mesoamerica. I knew that he had thought he landed in the Indies which led to Natives being called “Indians”.
It also shocked and disturbed me how Columbus was extremely disinterested in the traditions and ways of life that the Natives had and even with that he had such an egotistical view and saw them as less than him. Also, I did learn from the readings like in the “ Doctrine of Discovery” that he was seen as a leading force of Christianity, in the way of him forcing Christianity on the Natives and disregarding all of their beliefs. In the readings, it’s kind of evil to see how the Christians back in those days had a superiority complex. Honestly, now I see how it has become the dominating religion in the world with the generations enforcing their ways on the world.