characteristic.
Columbus's own writings reflect this increasing racism. When Columbus was selling Queen
Isabella on the wonders of the Americas, the Indians were “well built” and “of quick
intelligence.” “They have very good customs,” he wrote, “and the king maintains a very
marvelous state, of a style so orderly that it is a pleasure to see it, and they have good
memories and they wish to see everything and ask what it is and for what it is used.”
Later, when Columbus was justifying his wars and his enslavement of the Indians, they
became “cruel” and “stupid,” “a people warlike and numerous, whose customs and religion
are very different from ours.”
It is always useful to think badly about people one has exploited or plans to exploit.
Modifying one's opinions to bring them into line with one's actions or planned actions is
the most common outcome of the process known as “cognitive dissonance,” according to the
social psychologist Leon Festinger. No one likes to think of himself or herself as a bad
person. To treat badly another person whom we consider a reasonable human being creates a
tension between act and attitude that demands resolution. We cannot erase what we have
done, and to alter our future behavior may not be in our interest. To change our atti
tude is easier, Columbus gives us the first recorded example of cognitive dissonance in the Americas, for
although the Indians may have changed from hospirable to angry, they could hardly have
evolved from intelligent to stupid so quickly. The change had to be in Columbus.
The Americas affected more than the mind. African and Eurasian stomachs were also
affected. Almost half of all major crops now grown throughout the world originally came
from the Americas. According to Alfred Crosby, adding corn to African diets caused the
population to grow, which helped fuel the African slave trade to the Americas. Adding
potatoes to European diets caused the population to explode in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, which in turn helped fuel the European emigration to the Americas
and Australia. Crops from America also played a key role in the ascendancy of Britain,
Germany, and, finally, Russia; the rise of these northern nations shifted the power base
of Europe away from the Mediterranean.
Shortly after ships from Columbus's second voyage returned to Europe, syphilis began to
plague Spain and Italy. There is likely a causal connection. On the other hand, more than
two hundred drugs derive from plants whose pharmacological uses were discovered by
American Indians.
Economically, exploiting the Americas transformed Europe, enriching first Spain, then,
through trade and piracy, other nations. Columbus's gold finds on Haiti were soon dwarfed
by discoveries of gold and silver in Mexico and the Andes, European religious and
political leaders quickly amassed so much gold that they applied gold leaf to the ceilings
of their churches and palaces, erected golden statues in the corners, and strung vines of
golden grapes between them. Marx and Engels held that this wealth “gave to commerce, to
navigation, to industry an impulse never before known.” Some writers credit it with the
rise of capitalism and eventually the industrial revolution. Capitalism was probably
already underway, but at the least, American riches played a major role in the transforma
tion. Gold and silver from America replaced land as the basis for wealth and status,
increasing the power of the new merchant class that would soon dominate the world. Where Muslim nations had once rivaled Europe, the new wealth undermined Islamic power.
American gold and silver fueled a 400 percent inflation that eroded the economies of
most non-European countries and helped Europe to develop a global market system, Africa
suffered: the trans-Saharan trade collapsed, because the Americas
Columbus's own writings reflect this increasing racism. When Columbus was selling Queen
Isabella on the wonders of the Americas, the Indians were “well built” and “of quick
intelligence.” “They have very good customs,” he wrote, “and the king maintains a very
marvelous state, of a style so orderly that it is a pleasure to see it, and they have good
memories and they wish to see everything and ask what it is and for what it is used.”
Later, when Columbus was justifying his wars and his enslavement of the Indians, they
became “cruel” and “stupid,” “a people warlike and numerous, whose customs and religion
are very different from ours.”
It is always useful to think badly about people one has exploited or plans to exploit.
Modifying one's opinions to bring them into line with one's actions or planned actions is
the most common outcome of the process known as “cognitive dissonance,” according to the
social psychologist Leon Festinger. No one likes to think of himself or herself as a bad
person. To treat badly another person whom we consider a reasonable human being creates a
tension between act and attitude that demands resolution. We cannot erase what we have
done, and to alter our future behavior may not be in our interest. To change our atti
tude is easier, Columbus gives us the first recorded example of cognitive dissonance in the Americas, for
although the Indians may have changed from hospirable to angry, they could hardly have
evolved from intelligent to stupid so quickly. The change had to be in Columbus.
The Americas affected more than the mind. African and Eurasian stomachs were also
affected. Almost half of all major crops now grown throughout the world originally came
from the Americas. According to Alfred Crosby, adding corn to African diets caused the
population to grow, which helped fuel the African slave trade to the Americas. Adding
potatoes to European diets caused the population to explode in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, which in turn helped fuel the European emigration to the Americas
and Australia. Crops from America also played a key role in the ascendancy of Britain,
Germany, and, finally, Russia; the rise of these northern nations shifted the power base
of Europe away from the Mediterranean.
Shortly after ships from Columbus's second voyage returned to Europe, syphilis began to
plague Spain and Italy. There is likely a causal connection. On the other hand, more than
two hundred drugs derive from plants whose pharmacological uses were discovered by
American Indians.
Economically, exploiting the Americas transformed Europe, enriching first Spain, then,
through trade and piracy, other nations. Columbus's gold finds on Haiti were soon dwarfed
by discoveries of gold and silver in Mexico and the Andes, European religious and
political leaders quickly amassed so much gold that they applied gold leaf to the ceilings
of their churches and palaces, erected golden statues in the corners, and strung vines of
golden grapes between them. Marx and Engels held that this wealth “gave to commerce, to
navigation, to industry an impulse never before known.” Some writers credit it with the
rise of capitalism and eventually the industrial revolution. Capitalism was probably
already underway, but at the least, American riches played a major role in the transforma
tion. Gold and silver from America replaced land as the basis for wealth and status,
increasing the power of the new merchant class that would soon dominate the world. Where Muslim nations had once rivaled Europe, the new wealth undermined Islamic power.
American gold and silver fueled a 400 percent inflation that eroded the economies of
most non-European countries and helped Europe to develop a global market system, Africa
suffered: the trans-Saharan trade collapsed, because the Americas
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