Burning Spear - Christopher Columbus - [1980]

Like most historians these days, Burning Spear is not a huge fan of Christopher Columbus to say the least. In fact, he goes so far as to say he is a "damn blasted liar" in this classic song which bears his name [video | lyrics], which I was lucky enough to see him perform at Red Rocks a few years back while on a business trip to Boulder.  Needless to say it made my week.

To me, the interesting part of this song is his mention of the Arawak Peoples or 'Arawak Indians' as he refers to them, and the fact that they were entirely wiped out by the arrival of the Spanish. Both infectious disease and slavery contributed to their demise, but by 1517 they were completely exterminated regardless of the methods used.  So for obvious reasons, Burning Spear takes issue with Columbus' claim of discovering Jamaica.

"He is saying that, 
he's the first one
Who discovered Jamaica
I and I say then,
What about the Arawak Indians ...
The Indians couldn't hang on no longer"

Once the Arawak were gone, the Spanish began importing slaves from the Gold Coast of Africa into Jamaica to farm their fields and basically do any other shitty jobs they didn't feel like doing. 

Some slaves, later dubbed 'Maroons', were able to escape the plantations and make their home in the thick, wooded Blue Mountains of Jamaica, just out of reach from initially the Spanish and later the British army who eventually arrived on the island to take it from the Spanish.

Its pretty astounding that this relatively tiny community of slaves, untrained and without formal education, were able to force Britain, arguably the most powerful nation in the world, to grant them their autonomy in 1739 after essentially conceding there was no way to effectively penetrate the thick woods and treacherous Mountains.

I can go on and on about the Maroons, but I won't.  The point here is, like every other place Columbus "discovered" it came at the expense of a peaceful Indian tribe who tried to be helpful, and was exterminated for their efforts.

So yea, FUCK Columbus day, he's a "dyam blasted lyar" who is more of a criminal than a hero.