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Essay on Columbus
Essay on Columbus
The arrivel of christopher columbus
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Would you like to be captured and become a slave for some main that came to your land? I doubt that anyone would like for this to happen so could you image the many slaves killed and forced to work for Christopher Columbus. Also, I highly doubt that anyone would like to hop on a ship and go somewhere in Europe that you don’t even know. The natives were good people, and they were a part of the world too. I believe that Christopher Columbus was a villain for coming to the natives land unwanted, he also only wanted to find gold and seize power, and because Columbus in my mind was a hypocrite.
Christopher Columbus was on an expedition to find a new trade route to Asia but came across America and searched for gold. Columbus said that “with fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want” (Columbus Excerpt 3). The slaves that Columbus subjugated suffered under the harsh conditions they were under. Christopher Columbus wanted to claim the land for Spain and make the Native Americans work for him because they knew the area well. In an excerpt by de las casas we find that it
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He wanted to find gold and seize power for spain and the king. “ He was anxious to please the king that he committed irreparable crimes against the indians” (Excerpt 6). Christopher Columbus didn’t know it was America he thought it was India, so he killed to get his way and find gold. Columbus didn’t want to disappoint the king so he searched for gold. “ Columbus never forgot that his voyage was not one of exploration, but of economics. His financing came from the hope that he would find a lucrative new trade route. He did nothing of the sort: the people he met had little to trade”. (Excerpt 8). Columbus had not found a trade route he found America. But, he was determined to please the king so he brings gold along with some of the slaves to prove of his
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...
Columbus described the people as being timid and unfitted to use weapons. He wrote, “They have no iron or steel or weapons, nor are they fitted to use them. This is not because they are not very well built and of handsome stature, but because they are very marvellously timorous.” Columbus described them as though they will not provide any resistance because they do not have the skill to use weapons, and that they very timid people. However, as shown in the first quote, Columbus wrote that they did not put up any opposition; he later wrote in the letter that he took some of the natives by force. If the natives did not put up any opposition to Columbus, why would he need to take them by force? Columbus also notes that they had been very serviceable, and would very much be open to evangelization. An important note, Columbus wrote more and provided more detail about the vast islands he had “discovered” compared to the indigenous people, of which he wrote, “ In all these islands, I saw no great diversity in the appearance of the people or in their manners and language.” In the end, Columbus’s description of the Indigenous people was that are serviceable people would make adequate slaves. Columbus’s letter paints a good picture into his imperialistic mind, as opposed to providing information about the
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,
A great hero from Europe or a man with only himself and his people in mind? Many people believe that he was a hero whose discoveries lead to the possibilities we have in America today, while many other condemn him for the deaths of many Native Americans that occurred to make it possible to live in America today. What would someone like me see in Columbus’ discoveries and enslavements? He introduced the Europeans to new products and ways of financial expansion. Even though Columbus gave us a head start to a better life here in America, what lengths did he go to make such a life possible? He brought over diseases to the natives and also grazing animals to eat up the vegetation. These deaths would have never occurred if not for the countries that funded the exploration. Columbus and the Europeans would never have come to the Americas when they did and so many natives would not have died.
First, Columbus was a cruel man who enslaved, raped, and murdered the natives of the countries he sailed to. According to an article by John Margolis entitled "Goodbye Columbus", Columbus "oversaw the killings of some (Indians) and ordered the enslavement of others." Margolis goes on to say that Columbus did not prevent his crewmen from raping the innocent natives, and even that he himself raped an Indian women after beating her "with a piece of rope". If these actions do not constitute villainy, I don't know what does.
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
Although this essay is historically accurate it lacks important details, which might paint a different view of Columbus. Boorstin writes favorable of Columbus and depicts him as a heroic and determined figure who helped shape history, but he neglects to include Columbus’ unethical acts committed in the world that was not supposed to exist, the Americas. When Columbus first discovered the New World, he took care that the royal standard had been brought ashore and he claimed the land for Spain in front of all, including the indigenous population who had been sighted even before Columbus made landfall. According to the medieval concepts of natural law, only those territories that are uninhabited can become the property of the first person to discover them. Clearly this was an unethical act. Thus, the first contact between European and non-European worlds was carried out through a decidedly European prism, which ensured Spanish claim to the islands of the Americas. Faced with a colony in an inhospitable area, the Spanish soon inaugurated the practice of sending regular military parties inland to subdue the increasingly hostile natives. Members of the indigenous population were captured and enslaved to support the fledgling colony. The object of Columbus’ desire changed from exploration and trade to conquest and subjugation.
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' original plan was to prove that early geographers were wrong and that the world was larger than computed (William Howarth). He had sponsorship from the King and Queen of Spain who were finally convinced by Columbus by his belief that he was a divine missionary, ordained by God to spread Christianity (P. J. Riga). When he got to the New World he had found that there was the possibility that there might be an abundance of gold, and gold was the commodity Columbus pursued with obsessive zeal (William Howarth). It would seem to be an item that he had a lust for more than anything. An elder on Tortuga described "within a hundred or more ...
Have you ever been forced to do something you don’t want to do? Well maybe you have,but have you ever had your hand cut off because you didn’t do the thing that people made you want to do? I’m asking these questions because Christopher Columbus did these things to the Natives of America.That’s why I think we shouldn’t celebrate Columbus Day at all.He enslaved Natives to mine gold and if they didn’t he’d cut there wrists.Columbus also spread disease(such as smallpox) throughout America killing even more Natives. Finally though Columbus had butcher's cut the Native people up,to just feed their own dogs.On that same gruesome note Columbus ordered his men to cut the Natives in half to test the sharpness of their blades.
My personal opinion? Villain. Christopher Columbus was a nasty man who was motivated by greed. “The information that Columbus wanted most was: Where is the Gold” (Zinn 4)? He logged in his journal his first encounter with the Arawak people, stating “As soon as I arrived in the Indies, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might give me information of whatever there is in these parts” (Zinn 4). Their crime? “They wore tiny gold ornaments in their ears” (Zinn 5). Columbus would stop at nothing to gain what he most desired. Horrible as he was, he ultimately paved the way for America as we know it. All things happen for a reason, right?
Christopher Columbus unintentionally discovered America, when he landed in the Caribbean Islands. He had left Spain in search of Asia and India. When he and his crew arrived at what now is Haiti for his second voyage, they demanded food, gold, and anything else they wanted from the Indians, even sex with their women. Columbus punished those who committed offenses against him. Rape and enslavement had been brought upon the natives. When the natives of the land, known as the Arawaks, tried to fight back, it led to a massacre of their people in which by Columbus? order, meant crossbows, small cannons, lances, and swords to destroy them. Even wild hunting dogs were released to rip up the Arawaks, whom by the end of the day were dead or ready to ship to Spain as slaves. None of this was ever taught to students.
5. Columbus oppressed the indigenous peoples initially because he was under the impression that they knew where the gold was and by capturing them they would eventually lead him to where it was. After discovering there was not as much gold as they assumed, Columbus began taking the Indians as slave workers by force back to Spain to make up for the lack of gold.
After examining the writings of Christopher Columbus and Bartolome de Las Casas, it is clear to see that there is a stark contrast between their description of the Spanish settlers. In the excerpt from the Christopher Columbus Journal, 1492, Columbus seems to depict the Spanish as righteous, entitled saviors who have come to help the Indians. An example of this can be found on page four, where Columbus writes, “…Your Highnesses will see from seven that I caused to be taken in order to carry them away to you and to learn our language and to return them. Except that, whenever your Highnesses may command, all of them can be taken to Castile or held captive in this same island.” This quote demonstrates how the Spanish believed they could do whatever
Was Christopher Columbus a hero or a villain? For many years, Christopher Columbus has been portrayed as a hero who discovered North America. Over the years, people have thought that Christopher Columbus was a flawed hero. Eventually people realized that he was a bad person. I believe that Christopher Columbus was a villain.