Everyone knows Christopher Columbus as the man who discovered America, one who was very heroic, and led many voyages across the oceans. As a young boy, he showed interest in maps, charts and even began working on ships when he was 14. Christopher Columbus started his life as a sailor around the age of 19 and from then on, he began to create his legacy. Christopher wanted to discover North America and set out this voyage to prove that the Earth was round in 1492. Christopher Columbus made a great change in history because he was the one known to have found the “New World” which later became known as America. Columbus fought and fought to have this voice heard to go on this voyage going from leader to leader and continuously getting rejected. …show more content…
He received some orders from the King and Queen to befriend some the natives and to return with them. Despite the orders, Christopher Columbus decided to take matters in his own hands and mistreated the natives. He came across the Taino people when he made it to Hispaniola and tried to force them to become servants. He turned the natives into his slaves, he beat them, raped the women, and ultimately killed the Indians. His greed and power caused him to act irrational. According to History.com Staff (2009), “In lieu of the material riches he had promised the Spanish monarchs, he sent some 500 slaves to Queen Isabella. The queen was horrified–she believed that any people Columbus “discovered” were Spanish subjects who could not be enslaved–and she promptly and sternly returned the explorer’s gift,” (History, 2009, para. …show more content…
The conditions were so bad around this time due to a decline in the people’s health, Columbus was arrested and sent back to Spain. “In 1502, cleared of the most serious charges but stripped of his noble titles, the aging Columbus persuaded the Spanish king to pay for one last trip across the Atlantic,” (History.com, 2009). His last voyage was in 1502 where he set out to discover islands off the coast of Honduras and later, went on to Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and
Columbus’s “intentions were far from selfless.” (Myint, 2015, Para. 5). The greed was immense as Columbus believed in the entitlement of ten percent of all the treasures that were plundered. Nothing was shared with the crew. Natives were also mutilated and enslaved. If the natives did no collect enough money they lost limbs, some also lost their lives. A hero would not hurt innocent people trying to survive.
Who is Christopher Columbus? You may already have prior knowledge of him, but if you do not, Christopher Columbus was a Spanish explorer who made four voyages to the Americas. His voyages led to the Columbian Exchange and colonization. Many cultures, ideas, technology, and foods were spread between the Americas, the “New World,” and Europe, Africa, and Asia, the “Old World”. Even though many great things were exchanged between the Old World and the New World, many diseases from Europe were introduced to the Natives. Does this make Christopher Columbus a hero, or a villain? The answer is not that debatable. A closer look must be taken at Christopher Columbus 's life to be able to judge such things. This essay will take a look at his life,
What he and his men did to the Indigenous people is told in horrifying detail by the Dominican priest Bartolome de Las Casas, “whose writings give the most thorough account of the Spanish-Indian encounter.” Las Casas witnessed firsthand Columbus’ soldiers stabbing Natives for sport, dashing babies’ heads on rocks, and sexually abusing Indigenous women. His testimony was corroborated by other eyewitnesses, such as a group of Dominican friars, who addressed the Spanish monarchy in 1519, hoping to bring an end to the atrocities. At the very least, Columbus was complicit in the actions of his men. He cared so little for the welfare of the Indigenous people that he let his soldiers commit reprehensible acts that would be considered crimes against humanity in the present day. Christopher Columbus’ actions suggest he had no issue with serving as an enabler of the horrifying actions committed by his men against the Indigenous
Columbus does not deserve to be praised for the discovery of America. In short, if he didn't do it, someone else would have within 10 years. He was not the only one who believed that the earth was round, and the ideas of similar voyages had been previously proposed.
For generations upon generations, students have been taught about the “hero” Christopher Columbus who had discovered our new world. However, to say he was a hero would not exactly be the truth; Columbus was an eccentric man who cared much more about his profits than the well being and even lives of the natives. It is documented in journals that he and his crew had slaughtered entire villages at a time, and that he had even killed people just for the point of testing how sharp his sword was. Not only did Columbus and his crew have a thing for violence, on multiple accounts crew members wrote down every single successful rape of women; and used the voyage to help begin a slave export for the royalty of Spain.
Columbus enslaved the Native Americans in two ways. The first was “[enslaving] them to work in his brutal gold mines. Within only two years, 125,000 (half of the population) of the original natives on the island were dead” (Kasum). The other type of enslavement was “the selling of native girls into sexual slavery. Young girls of the ages 9 to 10 were the most desired by his men” (Kasum). If slavery was not bad enough, “In the early years of Columbus’ conquests there were butcher shops throughout the Caribbean where Indian bodies were sold as dog food. There was also a practice known as the montería infernal, the infernal chase, or manhunt, in which Indians were hunted by war-dogs” (Schilling). There is absolutely no way any person could be considered a hero after seizing, enslaving, and causing the deaths of hundreds of people, especially if these people were so innocent and friendly. Even “Bartolome De Las Casas, a former slave owner who became Bishop of Chiapas, described these exploits. ‘Such inhumanities and barbarisms were committed in my sight as no age can parallel,’ he wrote. ‘My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature that now I tremble as I write’” (Schilling) Columbus must be a villain in our own
I didn?t know much about Columbus, but when it was taught to us as a class, which was rarely, the lessons were brief and covered only the ?positive? things that he did. That is, from the eyes of those who believe Columbus was a noble man. It wasn?t until 6th grade when my teacher showed my class the book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen that we opened our eyes and saw reality. We had been deceived. Deceived by videos. Deceived by books. Deceived by teachers. But at least it felt good to know the truth-finally.
...us brought America to the attention of the civilized world, to the growing, scientific civilizations of Western Europe. The result, ultimately, was the United States of America. It was Columbus’ discovery for Western Europe that led to the arrival of ideas and people on which this nation was founded on. The voyages of Christopher Columbus contain one of the great adventure stories of all time. His first journey across thousands of miles of unknown ocean, in the middle of the rebellious grievances and tensions of his crew, was not only one of the most significant achievements of recorded human history, but was also a demonstration of Columbus's dominance as mariner and navigator. For a while he had faults and defects, which brought turmoil to his personal life, but there was no flaw, no dark side to the most significant of all his qualities, of course his seamanship.
Everyone has heard the story of how Christopher Columbus discovered America. Almost every child is taught to think this from kindergarten. There's even a day every year dedicated to him. The thing is, not everyone knows the whole story. Christopher Columbus isn't quite the hero people make him out to be. He is responsible for almost all of the deaths of the 1-3 million Taínos Indians. Columbus was the one to ask for the money to explore. He was the one to claim the land for Spain. It was him who gave to order to kill everyone. He's obviously completely guilty, right? Well, not exactly.
The idea that a person can be purely good and altruistic does not exist due to society’s acceptance and embrace of the selfishness and greed of human beings. People these days are some of the most selfish beings to ever exist but they are not ashamed of their actions because of how the world around them welcomes their self-centered nature with open arms. Selfishness comes is many ways, shapes, and forms. Many businesses need to utilize the greed of mankind in order to make money and prosper; “Greed-for lack of a better word-is good. Greed is right. Greed works” (Wall Street). Even politicians use their greed to run campaigns for themselves in order to win the hearts of Americans. As well as fulfill their ultimate selfish goal to be the man
In his voyage he came upon the Caribbean Islands, and a Native American tribe called the Taino. When Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) the Taino Indians were gentle and peaceful and traded with Columbus. Christopher Columbus took the Native Americans for granted he removed them from their home land and crammed as many of the Indians as he could on his ship to show Ferdinand and Isabella his finding. In Spain, these Indians were paraded naked through the streets of Spain and sold as slaves in 1495. This caused families to be separated chilgren from their parents husbands from their wives. “Of the 550 Tanio Indians he captured only 350 survived.” (Nash, Jeffery 18)
First it was too risky of an expedition to put money towards and give your men for that trip and secondly who is to say that Columbus was really actually going on this voyage. You can tell that a lot of people liked to play things safe to where they knew what would happen. In the end King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ended up getting very lucky. Not only were they able to convert many people to Christianity, but they also were able to collect gold without even having to do
Although Columbus was increasing the wealth and strength of Spain, he was “a catastrophe for the indigenous inhabitants of the lands” (Belasco 67). He had no remorse for the natives as he proceeded to establish plantations, enslave them, slaughter them, and create a new colony called Espanola on their lands. According to Schuman, Howard, Barry Schwartz, and Hannah d’Arcy, Christopher Columbus “deserves condemnation for having brought slavery, disease, and death...
Despite the friendlier, happier version of the story implanted in the minds of little third graders, Columbus and the natives were not “friends” and they did not simply have a little chat about the ownership of the land. Columbus created the first early model of the slave trade when he “seized 1,200 Taino Indians…and crammed as many onto his ships as would fit and sent them to Spain, where they were paraded naked in the streets” (Weatherford 290). Columbus exhibited callous cruelty towards the Indians and many of them died while aboard his ships. As greedy as he was, of course he would exploit the natives by using them as plantation workers that would enrich the new world. His cruelty even extended to the lengths of “Raping, beating, torturing, and killing” the Indians as a means of profit, and once again the celebration of this man is called into question (Weathorford 291). Why should this man and his actions be extolled in spite of the enslavement and genocide of an entire native
According to the Columbus journal he said “I ordered each man to be presented with something”(Columbus Excerpt 5). He also said “Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death” (Columbus Excerpt 4). So like most of the Europeans he was a two-faced hypocrite who made promises but didn’t keep them. Columbus did violent crimes in the name of Spain, He didn’t think the Native Americans were worth anything he thought they were just “Arawak men and women, naked, and full of wonder” (Columbus Excerpt 3). All so it wasn’t just the doings of Columbus people all over Europe thought that slavery was legal including