Weighing the Columbus cargo By Edward Hudgins ehudgins@objectivistcenter.org Published October 10, 2005 -------------------------------------------------------- Many critics argue Christopher Columbus gave us a devil's bargain. In October 1492 that Italian explorer, working for Spain, opened America to his fellow Europeans. The result: We got a prosperous New World by impoverishing, enslaving and murdering the natives who were already here. But this fails to distinguish between two types of exploitation, one over other humans and the other over nature. The former should be expunged from our moral codes and civilized society, the latter is the essence of morality and civilization. Human exploitation was...