[LaKeisha]

Why does white America continue to teach our children that Columbus “discovered” America? Do they actually believe this, or just want to make what he began seem less cruel?

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Name : LaKeisha, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 21, City : Salisbury, State : NC, Country : United States, 

[Samuel]

There is an old saying: ‘History is written by the conquerors.’ This has been the case throughout humanity. The aforementioned saying aptly implies that those who write history do so to justify their own place in the societies they have come to dominate. How can such flawed and biased repetition of historical misinformation continue in the ‘Information Age?’ I suggest you read Professor James W. Loewen’s Lies My Teacher Told Me. In addition to other historical myths, Loewen dissects the Columbus story (as taught in American schools) and relates many of the possible reasons why truths have been replaced with groundless suppositions and outright lies. I believe you’ll find the core of the answer you seek lies within the wording of your question.

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Name : Samuel, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 31, City : Chicago, State : IL, Country : United States, Occupation : Firefighter, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Peter30383]

For all practical purposes of what we consider the transfer of Europe to these shores, yes, Columbus really did discover America in that sense. However, it is imperative to realize that the Vikings had been here as far back as the 8th Century (although they didn’t represent Europe’s colonial legacy as a whole, only themselves). It is possible that African sailors may have come from the kingdom of Mali during their heyday in the 13th Century. Ancient Egypt had sea routes open for trade with the guptahs of India. So anything’s possible. There is a lot about Columbus that is not well-known as well. In 1484, he took a job as a navigator with the Portuguese navy. His third voyage with them was to what is now Iceland, then the capital for the Norse (Viking) Nation, to help solve a trade dispute with the Vikings over trade rights with African nations of the gold coast, mostly for coffee and wood for shipbuilding, since there was none to be had in Iceland. Anyway, there is evidence to show it was there when Columbus first heard of the exploits of Erik Raedd and his son Leif, who sailed to ‘Vinland’ (now called Nova Scotia, Canada) in the 900s. Perhaps Columbus was just bent on exploration after all and just kept his notions of the ‘Asian spice route to the West’ rhetoric to keep him from the jaws of the Spanish Inquisition, which had already filed charges against him twice for his notions of wanting to go west.

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Name : Peter30383, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Chicano, Religion : Atheist, Age : 24, City : Albuquerque, State : NM, Country : Aztlan, Occupation : Grad Student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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