INTRO TO

US & COLUMBUS

Just like Rick Astley…My ppts will “never give you up” or “let you down”

1st INTERACTIVE PPT!

Needed Today:• Jim Bob (southern accent recommended by not required)

• Awkward Columbus

• “Good” Columbus

• “Bad” Columbus

Some Things to Ponder This Semester…

Why haven’t I bin in all of Dunker’s classes?

Why do Big Macs taste so gosh darn delicious?

Why do I hav te look so great in my mullet?

Why do dem people make me wear shirts in stores?

Why don’t chicks ever call me up?

Oh yeah, and, umm, Dunker has a few more…JIM BOB

History = Greek word for the Search for TRUTH

Text books can be misleading…

Hindsight is 20/20

And…

“DICTUM OF WU”

Dolla Dolla Bills Y’all!

The Motivation of ALL history

C. R. E. A. M.

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

Let’s Search for the Truth…

What do we know about him?

COLUMBUS RANDOM FACTS:

Irving Washington

No one knows what he really looked like!

The most Awkward Columbus picture in…

5

4

3

2

1

Heeeyyyy!

What did he really do?

2 sides to the story…

THE GOOD

SIDE…• He did something nobody else ever did…”the 1st”

• His trip paved the way for other trips over

• Eventually lead to the founding of the British Colonies and the US!

• 1st cultural exchange…brought music, lit, science, etc to new world.

Who’s the man? I’m the man…

Yo

“Columbus’s conquest can be seen as an

amazing feat of courage & imagination

by the first of many brave empire

builders.”

BUT…

There’s another side to the story…

(the side most text books forget to mention…)

The “Bad” Side…

Upon arrival had this to say…“with 50 men we could conquer

them all”

• Brought disease and racial antagonism

• His men treated the natives harshly– Took Natives as slaves back to

Spain– Punishment = Ears & Noses– Raped and pillaged

You lookin’ at me?

I’ll mess you up, fool

1446 250,000 Natives

1448 12,000

17 yrs later… 200

52 yrs later… 50

By 1650… 0 left*Stats according to Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the U.S.

“Columbus’ expedition can also be understood as a bloody atrocity that

left a legacy of genocide and slavery that endures in some degree to this day.”

MY QUESTION TO YOU…

Does Columbus deserve a national holiday?

Should Americans look at him as a “hero”?

YOU DECIDE

BUT Remember…• Hindsight is 20/20

– “This new history must not judge Columbus by the standards from our own time.

– In 1493 the world had not decided that slavery was wrong. Some Indian nations enslaved other Indians.

– Africans enslaved other Africans. – Europeans enslaved other Europeans. – To attack Columbus for doing what everyone else did

would be unreasonable.”

Search for the truth…Then decide for yourselves!