Not Celebrating Christopher Columbus

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Christopher Columbus should not be considered a hero because he took advantage of the generosity of the natives to achieve his greedy ambition.

Even though he is celebrated in the United States, Christopher Columbus should not be considered a hero. He took advantage of the generosity of the American natives he found. His greedy ambition had horrible results that most Americans do not even realize.

Christopher Columbus was born in about 1451 in the Italian city of Genoa. He was the son of a wool merchant, and spent most of his childhood working as a part-time weaver. (Zinn) During his teenage years, Columbus got job on a merchant ship and stayed mostly at sea until 1470, when French privateers attacked his boat. Unfortunately the ship sank, but Columbus saved himself by floating to shore on a piece of scrap wood and eventually made his way to Lisbon. In Lisbon, Columbus took a break from the harsh unpredictable life at sea and focused on studying mathematics, astronomy, cartography and navigation. (History.com staff) He then married the daughter of a prominent Lisbon merchant, which gave him many connections to the royal court. These humble beginnings and desperation to make something of himself lead Columbus to do unthinkable things just to make himself feel important.

After obtaining funding to take his fleet of ships in search of the Indies, Columbus spent weeks at sea. In early October 1492, Columbus’s crew started seeing flocks of birds, branches and sticks floating in the water, and many other signs of land. Rordrigo*** was the first to see land on October 12 1492. (Textbook) Rodrigo was supposed to receive a reward from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela, but Columbus claimed he had seen a light the evening before an...

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...uld not celebrate Columbus’s actions, ignoring the death of so many. Columbus is not a hero.

Works Cited

Barreiro, Jose. “The Taino.” Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years. Ed. Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools, 1998. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.

Encyclopedia of American Indian History. Ed. Bruce E. Johansen and Barry M. Pritzker. Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2008. p466-468. From Gale Virtual Reference Library.

History.com Staff. "Christopher Columbus." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

Memphis Library "Dominican Republic Through Time." Faces: People, Places, and Cultures Feb. 1999, 12. General OneFile. Web. 7 Feb. 2014.

Rouse. "Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

Zinn, Howard, “A People’s History of the United States.” New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1980

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