Should Christopher Columbus be considered a hero or villain?

Christopher Columbus

Columbus should be considered a villain because he committed a holocaust of the Native Americans. Upon landing in the New World, Columbus instantly took natives as prisoners and forced them to take him to the source of gold. Throughout his expeditions, he took natives captive with each new island he hit, using them as slaves. Columbus made an outlandish promise of bringing back lots of gold that simply was not present in the region, so he made the natives find gold, and when they did not find enough, they had their hands amputated. If they fled, they were hunted down by dogs. Once the small amount of gold was picked over, the natives became slaves on encomiendas.

Hawaii

Columbus's encounter with natives is like American imperialism in Hawaii. In Columbus's voyage, he ended up in total control of the region, like the US controlled all of Hawaii's ports, buildings, and military equipment.