Columbus: Innocent Bimbo or Cunning Killer?

Columbus is not innocent. He was desperate, prideful, and strapped for cash, and is directly responsible for the maltreatment of a number of Native Americans. However, we cannot blame him for all that followed him. It was presumptuous and prideful to declare himself "discoverer" of the Americas, especially since he was obviously after Leif Erikson and potentially countless other explorers, but it was not this "discovery" that led to the massacres and unfair treatment of the Native Americans. It was a combination of factors including a lack of geographical knowledge of the time, the societal and colonial views of Europe, and the religious and priorital views of the elite societies of Europe. The ignorance and apparent racism of the time were obvious factors as well.

The only way I could've seen the interaction resulting in less suffering and diaspora is if he hadn't "discovered" the Americas for a number of centuries. It would have set back our intellectual standings and impaired the geography and map-making of the time, but if the Europeans had arrived at a time not so focused on "fixing" everyone and colonizing and converting the world, then perhaps things could have gone differently, but I, for one, cannot blame Columbus for doing his job, badly. (On a related but contrary note, however, I do not think we should celebrate Columbus Day. Just because we refuse to blame him doesn't mean we should celebrate him.)