Howard Zinn’s a People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present

Chapter 1 Summary

Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present” introduces us to Christopher Columbus, the indigenous people of the Caribbean, and human progress in just the first chapter. We quickly learn that Zinn strays from the traditional portrayal of the popular historical figure (Columbus), since he begins the book by describing the natives instead of the Europeans when they had first arrived in the Bahamas. Drawing from Columbus’ own journals as well as the documentations of others, Zinn makes it evident that Columbus and his men were not actually how many would characterize due to their descriptions of how the natives would make fine slaves due to their arrogance, naivety, and how carefree they were with their possessions. Gold and slaves were the two main things sought out by Columbus since they were promised to the King and Queen of Spain. In return, Columbus would receive a generous 10% of all profits. When he had his own expedition into the interior and found no gold fields, he had forced on an impossible task to the natives: bring him gold, or have their hands cut off leaving them to bleed to death. This burden lead to mass suicides, for there was no gold left to find. Mass suicides were paired with mass killings, due to the Europeans kniving and beheading the natives “for fun”. In such a short time, the once powerful and fertile land was soon depopulated. Millions of natives were killed by slavery, war, mining, and disease. While children’s books and most historical documents depict the heroic achievements of Columbus to be harmonious and full of peace , Zinn refuses to lie about the famous explorer and openly talks about the brutalities and savagery that actually occurred. He attempts to label this piece of history as a story of genocide and chooses not to ignore the millions who suffered from the hand of the white man. Zinn goes on to describe how achievements may become overemphasized, things omitted or skewed by those who want to look good in the history books. And that distortion carries on to the next generation, and the next and the next until present day and that one sided view of events is all we have and all we see. In the end,