Glen Sturtevant’s Ignorance on Display

Virginia State Senator Glen Sturtevant marked Columbus Day by posting a still from the fictional movie Apocalypto—a film set in 1511 that depicts the collapse of the Maya civilization upon encountering Spanish conquistadors.

There are two massive factual failures here. First, the Maya had nothing to do with Columbus’s voyages. Second, the timeline is completely wrong.

When Columbus actually landed in the Caribbean, he encountered the Taíno people—who initially welcomed him with hospitality. In return, Columbus initiated a campaign of forced labor and systemic violence so brutal that the Spanish Crown eventually arrested him and stripped him of his governorship.

It is genuinely baffling how the Senator views this historically illiterate post as a "win."

Apocalypto is entirely unrelated to Columbus. Mayans and Tainos are not the same culture nor do they inhabit the same part of the globe.