Unfortunately there were some items of right and wrong that weren't covered in the Bible, such as the morality of slavery. Took a while for humanity to decide on that one.
No, slavery based on race and genetics was a new evil. All before anyone could be a slave and it isn't just about slavery folks.
This post was edited by O-uknow at August 29, 2017 9:11 AM MDT
A lot of right and wrong are dependent upon the society of the day. Is it right for women to have no say in things, but just do as they are told? Is it right to shut down everything on Sunday? Is it right to shanghai sailors? and on and on. Right and wrong are continually changing.
Well first there is the question "Are those naked savages even related to us", and the first answer to that is usually "No. That cannot be". Then when it turns out they have gold enough to make statues of it, other urges come to the front, and suddenly politicians get into the disussion. "Of course they are animals, just look at their skin, same color as a achimpanze's" followed by "naturally it is OK for us to go and take that gold, we are real humans and know how it should be used. All the better, we can clean out the vermin at the same time."
It is a sad story, but it seems to repeat again and again.
Columbus himself didn't actually do much deliberately wrong. He landed, took a look around, and left. What he did wrong was accidental - his ships carried rats, which were infested with fleas. Bubonic plague spread like wildfire both north and south, wiping out more than 70% of the native population - some studies put the figure closer to 90%. It's why the European conquest of the Americas was easier than it otherwise would have been.
he wrote in his journal that he "took 6 slaves to bring home". I remember a picture in a history book depicting him giving them to the Spanish king as a thank you for his support. Alas, Amerinds made poor slaves, the tended to depressions and wasting away. The slaves European nations got from Africa were sturdier and more productive. So Africa stayed the main source of slaves.
We cannot think as or for people five centuries ago - we know now that they often committed acts awful by our standards, but we have to accept they genuinely saw nothing wrong in what they did.
It does show though, just how much you can use the Bible to impose your own ideas or society on others; or to justify your own actions - good or bad. It is no more than a catalogue of the beliefs of a Late Bronze Age to Roman, Middle Eastern, tribal society - and a pretty fractious society at that, fond of preaching about not stealing or coveting but still filching other lands' milk and honey .