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5 paragraph essay onthe impact of christopher columbus
Essay about christopher columbus
Essay about christopher columbus
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Have you ever met someone who was not what you thought they were? Most of the time it coming from just one source of information a person, place, or thing. An example of this would be the true story of Christopher Columbus. Textbooks give you some of his accomplishments while new research shows that there wasn't just a great guy finding america. He was in fact also pretty much, a cruel dictator. I think that we should change a few things about the holiday but still keep it. One of the main problems that we have concerns for about this holiday is the treatment he brought upon the Native Americans or as he called them “Indians”. He has done numerous things to the Natives as from going to Slavery in both work ethic and Sexually. He captured
The history based on primary source and secondary source, and the history has to have both primary source and secondary source because it has real facts and analyzes. Examples of Primary Sources are speeches, news, photographs..,etc., and examples of secondary sources interpreted topics. This article is primary source essay, and Primary sources are original documents. Primary sources for this article are Christopher Columbus’s Letter,1493 and Fray Bernardino de Sahagun Relates an Aztec Chronicler’s Account of the Spanish Conquest of the Aztecs,1519.
The controversy of whether or not Christopher Columbus should continue to be acknowledged by a federal holiday proves that his legacy has not escaped the scrutiny of history. Arguments born of both sides of the controversy stem from issues such as genocide, racism, multiculturalism, geographical land rights, and the superiority of certain cultures over others. In The Christopher Columbus Controversy: Western Civilization vs. Primitivism, Michael Berliner, Ph.D. declares that recognition of Columbus Day is well-deserved, claiming that Western civilization is superior to all other cultures and Columbus personifies this truth. On the contrary, Jack Weatherford's Examining the Reputation of Christopher Columbus equates Columbus' so-called discovery with brutal genocide and the destruction of ancient sophisticated civilizations. These articles demonstrate two extreme points of view in a manner that makes clear each authors' goals, leading the reader to consider issues of author bias, motivation, and information validity.
Columbus appears to be a dreamer. His goals were selfish and his true knowledge weak. He was deceitful and egotistical and knew how to manipulate others. Throughout his writings he refers to the things that ‘he’ accomplished, as if he had done them alone. He lied almost daily to the sailors according to his journal when he stated “less than the true number” (Halsall) of leagues travelled each day was reported to them. He spoke of an abundance of gold he found in the islands when he wrote “the majority [of rivers]…contain gold” (Belasco and Johnson 82). According to his journal entries, he only observes the existence of gold two times and both times it is seen hanging from a man’s nose. For example, on October 17 he encounters a man that had “hanging at his nose a piece of gold half as big as a castellailo” (Halsall), about a half pound in weight. Although he was told about gold and searched for gold, he never procured any. Additionally, he had a very high opinion of himself and was not hesitant in letting others know this. In his initial Journal writing he announces himself to be “Don” (Halsall), that’s like saying ‘I’m the head man.’ Furthermore, he let the King and Queen know that his proclaimed distinction was to be passed to his oldest son, including governorship of islands and lands he finds on his journey. He appears to think that what once belonged to native islanders, will belonged to him.
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
In some respects, we can attribute the founding of America and all its subsequent impacts to Christopher Columbus. Columbus a hero in the United States, has his own holiday and we view as the one who paved the way for America to be colonized. However, people tend to forget the other side of Columbus, the side that lusted after gold and resources that often belonged to the native inhabitants he came across in his exploration. In his insatiable greed, he and his crew committed countless atrocities, such as torture and killing of defenseless natives. Columbus’s discovery of these new lands contributes profound and negative effects as future colonists arrived. “Zinn estimates that perhaps 3 million people perished in the Caribbean alone from raids, forced labor and disease” (Zinn, 1980). Columbus was seen as a cruel man, who saw the peaceful inhabitants as right for the conquering and lead to the devastation of the native population, yet is celebrated every October.
Other than what was taught in primary education I knew little of Christopher Columbus. I certainly did not know the truth. Educators and school board officials provided a faulty historical account of Christopher Columbus growing up. Most youth raised in America grew up with nursery rhymes and bedtime stories fictionalizing the heroic efforts and swash-buckling adventures of Columbus’ and men alike making their thievery and lack of concern for human life acceptable. All Americans including the Native and African Americans who were indirectly affected by Christopher Columbus via the slave trade and destruction of their people, observe Christopher Columbus Day. If this is so, why don’t we have a Hail Hitler Day? Hitler, though many see him as a terrible man, was simply doing what power hungry individuals have done for centuries. He simply took a page out of Christopher Columbus’ book destroying the weak and enslaving those left standing. In the case of Christopher Columbus quest for gold, he went to extreme measures to ensure he would get every last golden flake that glittered in Hai...
The explorer Christopher Columbus made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain: in 1492, 1493, 1498 and 1502. He was determined to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia, but he never did. Instead, he accidentally stumbled upon the Americas. Though he did not really discover The New World millions of people already lived there his journeys marked the beginning of centuries of Atlantic conquest and colonization. However there has been some controversy whether or not Columbus is a hero or not because of some of his actions he took;” one hundred years after his landing in America, Europeans exploration, and exploitation, resulted in the deaths of 90 million indigenous peoples. His own diaries detail the horrible atrocities committed seemingly at his behest” (lecture handout). In terms of celebration I say it we should not because we are celebrating all the actions he took; The Killing of many natives, the creation of slavery, and mistreatment of his own people. Columbus is basically label as a tyrant. Instead Columbus Day should instead be celebrated as Indigenous day. A day of remembrance to all the people that suffer under Columbus
Everybody knows Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, but does everyone know what he did after he got to America? Even though Christopher columbus was a great explorer and a brave leader to modern civilization, he did not treat everyone fairly after he got to America, especially the Native-Americans. Christopher Columbus kicked the Native-Americans out and brought european diseases, he gave Natives junky things like glass beads in return for great stuff like gold, and now the state of california is changing Columbus day to indigenous peoples day. So all in all Christopher Columbus is a bad person to celebrate after all of the horrible things he did to the Native-Americans .
...uld not celebrate Columbus’s actions, ignoring the death of so many. Columbus is not a hero.
Some know at an early age while others do not. So with this in mind, what Christopher Columbus did to the naive Native Indians. In Howard Zinn’s passage, it states that Columbus said, “[The Indians] are so naive...When you ask for something, they never say no,” (Zinn pg 2). Following this statement, the natives experienced slavery, torture, death and loss of freedom, and parents are not fond of those type of teachings for their children. The Native Population decreased dramatically as told in this excerpt, “In two years, through murder, mutilation, or suicide, half of the 250,000 people Indians on Haiti were dead,” (Zinn 2). Natives went through horror and even at an age of understanding reality, it is still hard to let this information sink in. It has happened in every civilization from the start of time, discrimination, slavery, genocide, so this was nothing new. What children should be learning is more softhearted lessons. Therefore, to make things easier, the children should learn about Christopher Columbus at a later age such as in 6th or 8th grade. Perhaps, maybe teachers can teach on Columbus day on who he is, as he is an important aspect in the US history. As Columbus is one of the discoverers of America and not only did he discovered America he also did good things. Such as he was the start of making the Columbian Exchange, yet he did not directly help organize this system which led to the rise in Europe, especially
One reason we shouldn’t celebrate Columbus Day is because he enslaved Natives to have them work. The text states,”The aim was clear: slaves and gold. They went from island to island in the Caribbean,capturing Indians,”(page 8
After I reading the chapter one about the Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress, and the chapter 2 entitled, “1493: The True Importance of Christopher Columbus,” from the book I lies My Teacher Told Me, I thought that why they celebrate Columbus Day? Columbus was not an honest person. Again, I was surprised when I read a paragraph about Columbus give impossible task to Indian and if they cannot do task they killed them and cut off their hand and bled to death. In two year, almost 250000 Indians are death by murder, suicide or by mutilation. When I saw the pictures of Native American, first words that came in my mind was they are uneducated. Moreover, about
American History as its taught today in the K-12th grades fits quite well with the Banking Concept of teaching. Teach, memorize, repeat. Even given that history books themselves are so big with so much information it leaves teachers unable to truly allow students the opportunity to do more than just get the facts and move on to the next and gives little time for discussion. There are many parts of history that aren’t often enough questioned or studied. Teachers are depositing history that is much closer to fiction than fact to our students and due to the governments involvement in whats taught it is not giving the generations younger than us the opportunity to comprehend how the US ended up in the condition it is in today, therefore missing
Columbus Day has been changed to “Indigenous Peoples Day” . Shortly after,this change Khsama Swant a Seattle City Council member speaks about these issues on the website www.npr.org . Many other states have changed Columbus day to Indiginoeus Peoples’ Day because of the upsetting history associated with Columbus.
However, from discussion three, I have learned that Thanksgiving is from Indian. I feel so ashamed that American took not only the land but also the culture. Before the black slave came to America, the Indian used to work with the low payment and the terrible environment. During the slave trade, American begun to take black slaves from Africa. That is true slaves bring booming economic America; however, it also lowed people morally. American perused the social hierarchy. They passed the law that slaves’ children are slaves, and the owner could do whatever they want even though killed or raped the slaves (Discussion 5). “To accomplish this there was the discipline of hard labor, the breakup of the slave family, the lulling effects of religion (which sometimes led to "great mischief," as one slaveholder reported), the creation of disunity among slaves by separating them into field slaves and more privileged house slaves, and finally the power of law and the immediate power of the overseer to invoke whipping, burning, mutilation, and death”(Zinn, 31) .Through this way, slaves hurt not only for bodies but also for souls. I have learned that the violent side Americans had. Even though they gathered a lot of money, I wonder what the moral dimension is for