Christopher Columbus Flaws

Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, sailed for Spain looking for an alternate route to Asia. While looking for Asia, Columbus landed on an island in the Caribbean unknown to Europeans although inhabited by Native Americans. Columbus’s arrival on the island of the Bahamas earned him credit for discovering the New World, or the Americas. Based on an examination of four sources, Christopher Columbus had a positive and encouraging character. In the first source called Journal of the First Voyage to America by Christopher Columbus, Columbus chooses optimism; he sees the beauty in the island rather than the flaws. The second source called “Columbus” by Joaquin Miller portrays Columbus as encouraging and poised; no matter how sick and tired his crew became he never gave up; instead he continued to look forward to the future. Lastly, the source called “Prayer of Columbus” by Walt

His crew had lost hope that they would ever find land and would remain lost at sea but Columbus reassured them: “What shall I say, brave Admiral, say,/ If we sight naught but seas at dawn?”/ “Why, you shall say, at break of day,/ ‘Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on” (Miller)! According to this source, Columbus never lost hope in his expedition; he always believed that they would make it to land and achieve his goal. Columbus taught his crew and the world that even if everyone has lost hope and gives up, if you believe it you can do it: “He gained a world; he gave that world/ Its greatest lesson: “On! sail on” (Miller)! “Columbus” by Joaquin Miller retells what Columbus and his crew experienced at sea. Although Miller clearly has an admiration for Columbus, he includes Columbus’s neglect for his crew; thus displaying the credibility of Miller’s account. In the end Miller shows that Columbus had good character because he encouraged his crew to not lose hope when giving up seemed the