Similarities Between Columbus And Harriot

Christopher Columbus and Thomas Harriot were both explorers who navigated to new and unfamiliar lands in search of advancements for European society. In “Sources For America’s History; Volume 1,” Columbus’ document, “Journal of the First Voyage (1492)” and Harriot’s, “A Briefe and True Report of the Newfound Land of Virginia (1588)”, both describe the societies and the lives of the people that they encountered. The writings of these European explorers were very similar in the way that they illustrated the native people’s beliefs and customs through their interactions with them. Without their documented experiences through their explanations, Europeans would have little to no knowledge about the newfound land or its people.
The first documented

discovery of the new world was written by Christopher Columbus in 1492. His first thought was not to reach any new land, but to sail and find gold and spices that were rumored to be plentiful in India (Sheets, 6). Instead however, Columbus discovered the native people in the America’s, also known as “the new world”, and recorded what he encountered in his documents. He first illustrated the actions of the native people when he stated, “They afterwards came to the ship’s boats where we were, swimming and bringing us parrots, cotton threads in skeins, darts, and many other things…”(Columbus, 6). Columbus also demonstrated the physical appearance of the new people. For example, he explained, “They paint themselves black, and they are the color of the Canarians, neither black nor white…Some paint their faces, others the whole body, some only around the eyes, others only on the nose” (Columbus, 7). Columbus reiterates this description more than once to give a clear depiction that the new people he found were not part of a race or group that were anything similar to where he had come from. He was interested in converting them to the common religion in Europe, Christianity, as he observed them more closely. This was explained when he wrote, “…for I observed that they quickly took in what was said to them. And I believe that they would easily be made into Christians, as it appeared to me that they had no religion” (Columbus, 7). All in all, he recognized a goal of colonizing the new land after reflecting on his perceptions of the new people.
Similar to Columbus, Thomas Hariot also had an interesting experience when he came across the newfound land of Virginia.