The Re-evaluation of Christopher Columbus

2328 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on christopher columbus voyage to the new world

As time passes and attitudes change, history is constantly being rewritten. Through the hindsight of history, glorious victories may become horrible defeats. Seemingly insignificant acts may become superior accomplishments. Revered heroes may become hated villains.

In recent years, this has been the case with the great admiral, Christopher Columbus. For years, the admiral was considered to be, by historians (working primarily from historical documents created by Europeans, with a decidedly Euro centric slant), as well as by the white, euro-American population, to be the great discoverer of the New World. Christopher Columbus changed the way man looked at his world, creating a new global perspective, and opening the floodgates of European world domination. In the United States, his legacy lives on in countless cities, streets, and natural phenomena bearing the admiral's name (including our seat of national government: the District of Columbia).

However, as the time grew closer to the Quintcentenary of Columbus's great voyage across the Atlantic, and plans were made by the great historical and educational institutions of the world he affected and helped to create to commemorate the occasion, another "new world" had evolved...a world with a much more global and inclusive perception what is historically valid; a world that condemned Christopher Columbus (as well as those who followed him) for the atrocities committed against the native peoples of the lands he discovered (or "encountered", depending on your perspective), his limitless Machiavellian lust for money and power, and most importantly, his ignorance of the fact that the lands he discovered and claimed for the Spanish Crown were, in fact, already "owned" by someone el...

... middle of paper ...

...6-56. (retrieved as CIRS file ROYAL03.ART).

Sokolov, Raymond. "Stop Knocking Columbus". Newsweek, special issue Fall/Winter 1991, pg. 82. (retrieved as CIRS file SOKOLOV2.ART).

Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy. New York:Plume, 1990.

Schroeder, Richard C. Should We Scuttle the Admiral of the Ocean Sea?". The Times of the Americas. May 29, 1991, pg.20. (retrieved as CIRS file SCHROED1.ART).

Sokolov, Raymond. "Stop Knocking Columbus". Newsweek, special issue Fall/Winter 1991, pg. 82. (retrieved as CIRS file SOKOLOV2.ART).

Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy. New York:Plume, 1990.

Schroeder, Richard C. Should We Scuttle the Admiral of the Ocean Sea?". The Times of the Americas. May 29, 1991, pg.20. (retrieved as CIRS file SCHROED1.ART).

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Matthew Restall's Seven Myths Of Spanish Conquest

    1144 Words  | 3 Pages

    Anais Nin once said that “we write to taste life twice: in the moment and in retrospection.” In his book, Seven Myths of Spanish Conquest, Matthew Restall tries to change our perception of the past in other to open our eyes to what life was really like during the colonial period. As Restall puts it, the main propose of the book is to “illustrate the degree to which the Conquest was a far more complex and protracted affair” (p.154) than what was supposed in the latters and chronicles left by the conquistadores. Each one of Restall’s chapters examines one of seven myths regarding the mystery behind the conquest. By doing so, Matthew Restall forces us to look back at the Spanish conquest and question

    Read More

  • How Did Christopher Columbus's Relationship With The Spanish Crown Change Over Time?

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    The credit for this change of view can be given to Washington Irving, who wrote a biography based on Columbus in 1828. This biography romanticized him and gave people the idea that he was this courageous hero who despite people’s claims that he’ll never succeed, ended up discovering what lies past the Atlantic. This biography gathered the momentum needed to catapult the collective opinion of Columbus higher in America. As time passed, more biographers wrote about him which resulted in groups forming, particularly the Knights of Columbus. They’re the group that pressed for a nationally recognized Columbus Day, which passed in

    Read More

  • The Exploration of Hernando de Soto

    2944 Words  | 6 Pages

    Milanich, Jerald T. and Susan Milbrath., ed. First Encounters: Spanish Exploration in the Caribbean and the United States1492-1570. Gainesville: U of Florida P, 1989.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Christopher Columbus's Letter To Luis De Santangel

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1492, Christopher Columbus was a self-made man who worked his way up to being the Captain of a merchant vessel. He gained the support of the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, for an expedition to the Indies. With the support of the Spanish monarchy, he set off to find a new and faster trade route to the Indies. Upon the arrival of his first voyage, Columbus wrote a letter to Luis de Santangel, a “royal official and an early supporter of his venture,” in February 1493 (35). The epistle, letter, entitled “Letter to Luis de Santangel Regarding the First Voyage” was copied and then distributed in Spain before being translated and spread throughout Europe. The Letter is held in such regard with the people as it is considered the first printed description of the new world. Through his description of the nature of the islands, Columbus decided the future fate of the islands. His description of the vast beauty of the nature around him, declares both the economic and nationalistic motivations for colonizing the new world.

    Read More

  • Debunking the Mythical Hero: Christopher Columbus

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    Christopher Columbus is a mythical hero or in other words, not a true hero. The story of Christopher Columbus is part of the many myths of Western civilization. Also the story of Christopher Columbus represents the power of those that are privileged and in most cases white European men that have written this mythical history. Zinn (2009 exposes the truth about Columbus through eyes of the people who were there when he had arrived which were the Native Indians (p.481). Columbus had kept a personal journal for his voyage to describe the people and the journey. What was evident throughout his journal was the Native Americans were very nice, gentle and kind hearted people (Zinn, 2009, 481). As Zinn suggests Columbus spoke of the Native Americans as” they are the best people in the world and

    Read More

  • The Relationship between Sugar and Slavery in the Early Modern Period

    3555 Words  | 8 Pages

    The Dutch seaborne empire (London, 1965) Canny, Nicholas: The Oxford History of the British Empire,vol I, TheOrigins of the Empire (New York 1998) Curtin, Philip D: The rise and fall of the plantation complex:essays in Atlantic history (Cambridge, 1990). Dunn, Richard S: Sugar and Slaves (North Carolina,1973) Haring, C.H: The Spanish Empire in America(New York, 1947) Hemming, John: Red gold: the conquest of the Brazilian Indians (Southampton 1978) Hobbhouse, Henry: Seeds of Change: Five plants that transformed mankind (1985) Mattoso, Katia M de Queiros: To be a slave in Brazil 1550-1888 (New Jersey, 1986) Mintz, Sidney W: Sweetness and Power (New York 1985) Winn, Peter: Americas:The changing face of Latin America and the Caribbean (California, 1999)

    Read More

  • What Is The Letter To Christopher Columbus Santangel

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    Published in 1493, Luis Santangel received the embellished journal of Christopher Columbus as validation for the much-promised riches in the Indies. Centered around an era of power and conquest, Columbus tapered his writings and findings to pacify his Royal sponsors for the voyage. Santangel was also one such wealthy sponsor. Although the tone of the letter was vastly hyperbolic, Christopher Columbus still managed to document the labeling of the numerous islands and its topography. Yet even the size and measurement is a bit exaggerated as well referring to one island being twice as large as that of Great Britain and Scotland. Columbus did his best to acknowledge various “thousands upon thousands” in this letter with that of spiceries and gold mines with mountains in a “thousand shapes...full of trees of a thousand kinds” as well as deeming the exotic islands incomparable to any other islands that “there could be no believing without seeing” firsthand. Colu...

    Read More

  • The Fall Of The Unipolar Concert By Thomas Wright

    1683 Words  | 4 Pages

    The U.S. and Russia have cold war history and ideology still strong among their constituents. The Cold War was also never really over, hence why assuming geopolitics were no longer relevant was a mistake on behalf of Fukuyama’s The End of History. The history of the U.S. and the Soviet Union are described through international proxy wars heavily relying on strategic locations, geopolitics is imbedded in their relationship. They both are always competing for spheres of influence, now not only in regards to Crimea in Ukraine, but also in Syria. Russia will not forget the financial build up of Western states after WW II, the integration of Warsaw Pact states and the Baltic Republics into NATO (Mead, 2), and the containment policy of states around the world that lead to the dissembling of the Soviet

    Read More

  • The Oil Spill Disaster Exposed The Major Factors in BP’s External Environment

    1445 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ferrell, O. C., & Hartline, M. (2012). Marketing strategy, text and cases (6th ed.). Stamford, CT:

    Read More

  • US Wars in 20th Century

    1912 Words  | 4 Pages

    2. Schweikart, Larry, and Michael Allen. A Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror. New York: Sentinel, 2004. Print

    Read More

  • Importance Of Climate Change Essay

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    Climate change has become of the world’s major issue today. The earth’s climate is always changing in a very fast and also in different ways. Climate changes affect our lives psychologically, emotional and also physically. Climate change is defined as a long term change in the earth’s climate, especially a change due to the increase in the average atmospheric temperatures. Due to this change in temperature, a lot of changes has occurred in our environment, these changes include rising sea levels, flooding, melting of polar ice caps, hotter days, colder nights and heat waves. These climate changes plays an important role in shaping our natural ecosystem, our human economics and also the most important, it affects the human race. For

    Read More

  • Primary Differences between Colonial America and England

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    Schweikart, Larry, and Michael Allen. A Patriot's History of the United States: from Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror. New York, NY: Sentinel, 2007. Print.

    Read More

  • The Columbian Exchange: Chocolate

    652 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nunn, Nathan, and Nancy Qian. "The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas." Journal of Economic Perspectives. Yale University, 2010. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. .

    Read More

  • The Annexation Of Crime Geopolitic Analysis

    1209 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wilk, Andrzej. "The Military Consequences of the Annexation of Crimea | OSW." Www.OSW.waw.pl. N.p., 19 Mar. 2014. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. .

    Read More

  • The Expansion of NATO

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    Historically, Russia has often found itself in a tough situation strategically. Due to its massive size, its borders are always at risk of being invaded by the countries surrounding it. In the early 1700’s it was the Ottomans and the Swedes who encroached on Russian borders. This was to be followed by an invasion by Napoleon, a defeat in the Crimean War, and resistance to Russian expansion in the Balkans in the late 1800’s (J.L. Black, Russia Faces NATO Expansio...

    Read More

More about The Re-evaluation of Christopher Columbus

Open Document