A score of people gathered on Tuesday under the statue of Christopher Columbus, located in front of the Primate Cathedral of America, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to demand that the monument to the admiral be removed from this emblematic point of the capital.
"We don't want Columbus here," said those attending the protest, the first to be called in the Dominican Republic against the exaltation of the navigator.
The activists carried signs expressing their rejection of the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Day because they
considered that it commemorates a genocide and spread two large fabrics on the ground, one of them calling Columbus a rapist.
During the act of protest,
the attendees, in similar numbers to the police officers who guarded the place,
made a circle while one man played a flute and another, a traditional percussion instrument.
For the arithmetically challenged, a score is 20
Idiots with no understanding of human history and exploration.
Rather than re-writing history one should study it.
In 1492 when Columbus started his voyages into the unknown without maps, Europe and the world were brutal places.
A ruling elite, murder, torture, no medical knowledge, religion, the stuff that humanity is still made of.
However he did set forth to explore and conquer, not others.
As to the spreading of Smallpox, there was no cure and it was not intentionally spread.
The protestors may as well renounce the Spanish language and Catholic religion, as colonial heritage.
Smallpox was a terrible disease. On average, 3 out of every 10 people who got it died. People who survived usually had scars, which were sometimes severe.
The basis for vaccination began in 1796 when the English doctor Edward Jenner noticed that milkmaids who had gotten cowpox were protected from smallpox.
Origin of Smallpox
The origin of smallpox is unknown. The finding of smallpox-like rashes on Egyptian mummies suggests that smallpox has existed for at least 3,000 years. The earliest written description of a disease like smallpox appeared in China in the 4th century CE (Common Era). Early written descriptions also appeared in India in the 7th century and in Asia Minor in the 10th century.
Highlights from History:
- 6th Century—Increased trade with China and Korea brings smallpox to Japan.
- 7th Century—Arab expansion spreads smallpox into northern Africa, Spain, and Portugal.
- 11th Century—Crusades further spread smallpox in Europe.
- 15th Century—Portugal occupies part of western Africa, bringing smallpox.
- 16th Century—European settlers and the African slave trade import smallpox into:
- The Caribbean
- Central and South America
- 17th Century—European settlers bring smallpox to North America.
- 18th Century—Explorers from Great Britain bring smallpox to Australia.
- https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/history/history.html
The death of the Arawak-Taino people is a sad historical fact, as is that of many indigenous people and their abuse throughout history,
By military conquest which marks human history in all Nations.
Obviously a great part of the human psyche.
Yet I have admiration for the accomplishments of explorers and scientists, throughout history.
Having to fight against Rulers and religions.
The quest for facts and truth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyages_of_Christopher_Columbus#/media/File:Viajes_de_colon_en.svg