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Effects of christopher columbus today
Effects of christopher columbus today
The affects of the americas made by christopher columbus
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In the United States, holidays are celebrated because they are deemed important by the national government. Christmas, the Fourth of July, and President’s Day are all dates that have a profound impact on American lives and our country’s history. Despite the hostile feelings felt by some citizens, Columbus Day represents the day our nation’s modern society truly began, the time of exploration (intro of a world trade economy?), and it recognizes the heritage of thousands of Italian immigrants, and therefore, should be celebrated. The discovery of the Americas lead to the eventual colonization of the two continents. The seeds of modern society were planted when Columbus set foot on the Bahamas’ sandy beaches. William J. Connell, a historian at Seton Hall University, remarked that Columbus’ arrival indicated when “we as a country and as a hemisphere began our identity” (Doc 4). Our history is greatly influenced by European society, and if Columbus had not landed in the Bahamas in 1492, the world could be very different. During his interview, Connell …show more content…
In the 15th century European world powers began to compete for world trade dominance and to achieve this, a new trade route needed to be uncovered. Thus the age of exploration took root in Europe. Columbus’ expedition lead to the exploration of a new world full of different people, plants, and animals. His discoveries “...would revolutionize world power, raising issues of trade…” and result in the colonization of two continents, one of which would contain a country that celebrates Columbus’ great discovery Doc 7). The writers of this document understand the outcomes of the Italian explorer’s findings and how they impacted Europeans and continue to impact the future. Europe’s age of exploration began before Columbus but was radically transformed following the discovery by the one and only,
Reading both passages of the two explorers, Christopher Columbus and Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, gives a great description of how the world was back in the 1500s. Now, although both were Spaniard explorers, each had different experiences and discoveries. One of the differences is how they approached exploring the new world. For instance, Columbus went to find new land in the west, while Cabeza de Vaca went as an expedition to already found lands. In addition, Columbus had a lot of success, while Cabeza de Vaca since the beginning, because of Narváez, “endured many disasters” (Baym, et al., 2013, p. 28). Furthermore, Christopher Columbus considered most important to find more land, and especially the route to reach Asia.
Columbus Day was not always a federal holiday. Traditionally, the holiday was observed on the 12th of October locally. Columbus Day first became a holiday in Colorado in 1906. Through lobbying by Angelo Rose, Generoso Pope, and The Knights of Columbus, Columbus Day became a federal holiday in 1937. It was signed in by Franklin Roosevelt. Since 1970, the holiday has been observed on the second Monday of October. Columbus Day had lobbying against it as well. During the early days before information was not easily available, it was said that the holiday would be used to spread Catholic influence. In later years during the Information Age, arguments such as Columbus 's character or the genocide and slavery of the Indians became widespread arguments against the celebration of the holiday. There are also many arguments as to why the holiday should be kept. Columbus 's voyages led to the colonization of the New World. His expeditions spurred the Age of Exploration, where many European countries continued to invest in exploring for shorter and faster routes to India and the Orient, and new territories to claim. His voyages also led to the Columbian
Christopher Columbus does not deserve to be honored as a hero with his own holiday. Close to 500 years, people have praised Christopher Columbus and also celebrated him as though he was the one who truly founded America. Teachers teach students that he was a great man, also how he found treasures and land known as America. Students are also taught about the names of his three ships he used on his first voyage. However, they did not teach us the truth about Christopher Columbus, and his so called “discovery”.
Weatherford presents the antithesis to Berliner's argument. He begins by pointing out that Christopher Columbus never set foot on the North American continent, nor did he open it to European trade: "Scandinavian Vikings already had settlements here in the eleventh century, and British fisherman probably fished the shores of Canada for decades" (Weatherford par. 2). Recognizing that apologists like Berliner are instead commemorating Columbus' discovery as the great "cultural encounter," he describes the heinous crimes against humanity that Columbus introduced to the new world. "Under [the apologist] interpretation," Weatherford contends, "Columbus becomes a sensitive genius thinking beyond his time in the passionate pursuit of knowledge and understanding"(par. 3) when actually he prompted the first wave of North American genocide, slavery, and European-style warfare.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus was a self-made man who worked his way up to being the Captain of a merchant vessel. He gained the support of the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, for an expedition to the Indies. With the support of the Spanish monarchy, he set off to find a new and faster trade route to the Indies. Upon the arrival of his first voyage, Columbus wrote a letter to Luis de Santangel, a “royal official and an early supporter of his venture,” in February 1493 (35). The epistle, letter, entitled “Letter to Luis de Santangel Regarding the First Voyage” was copied and then distributed in Spain before being translated and spread throughout Europe. The Letter is held in such regard with the people as it is considered the first printed description of the new world. Through his description of the nature of the islands, Columbus decided the future fate of the islands. His description of the vast beauty of the nature around him, declares both the economic and nationalistic motivations for colonizing the new world.
America is a nation that is often glorified in textbooks as a nation of freedom, yet history shows a different, more radical viewpoint. In Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States, we take a look at American history through a different lens, one that is not focused on glorifying our history, but giving us history through the eyes of the people. “This is a nation of inconsistencies”, as so eloquently put by Mary Elizabeth Lease highlights a nation of people who exploited and sought to keep down those who they saw as inferior, reminding us of more than just one view on a nation’s history, especially from people and a gender who have not had an easy ride. 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 him as the one who paved the way for America to be colonized.
In the mid 1400’s Spain and Portugal began to take separate routes of discovery. Prince Henry of Portugal, in reaction to the shortage of bullion in Western Europe, was interested in sending his captains to the African coast in search of gold. As a result, many Portuguese ports were established along the African coast and “The Portuguese were able to exploit at least a part of the African caravan trade they had sought.” (p.340) While Portugal was focused on expansion along the African coast; the Spanish were the first to discover the “new world” despite the lack of geographical knowledge the Spaniards and Columbus in particular possessed. This “new world” wasn’t quite what Columbus had though it was, however; as Columbus maintained to his death that he had reached Asia. He hadn’t, “He had landed at one of the Bahaman Islands, San Salvador.” (p. 342) Columbus’ distorted reality proved to...
Christopher Columbus is profoundly known to be the key asset to advance European culture across seas. The Columbian Exchange, colonization, and the growth of slave usage throughout the usage of the Triangular Trade, all conveyed foreign practices to the American Continent while also interrupting, but at the same time joining with the lifestyles of the inhabitants of these lands. A mixture of processes and voyagers transformed America into a “new world”, catching the world by surprise. America would not have developed to the period in existence today, if it was not for this growing period of the “old” and “new” worlds. A global world is in continuation through today as nations continue to share cultural
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. However, even after centuries later, little is truly known of the mysterious voyage and findings of the new world.1 By examining “Letter from Columbus to Luis Santangel”, one can further contextualize the events of Columbus' exploration of the New World. The letter uncovers Columbus' subtle hints of his true intentions and exposes his exaggerated tone that catered to his lavish demands with Spain. Likewise, The Columbian Voyage Map read in accordance with the letter helps the reader track Columbus' first, second, third, and fourth voyage to the New World carefully and conveniently. Thus, the letter and map's rarity and description render invaluable insight into Columbus' intentionality of the New World and its indigenous inhabitants.
Lets take a look at the history of the day itself to come to a conclusion on this topic. Columbus Day was first declared a federal holiday in 1968 by President Lyndon Johnson preceding that date in the year 1937 President Franklin Roosevelt declared that every October 12 thereafter would be named Columbus Day. Now why have we as a society decided to form Columbus into the hero persona that we have today? I believe the answer has roots in the late 18th and early 19th century. After The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and after the revolutionary war there was an America that hosted a society of people trying to find a heritage, a history that did not just blatantly state that they were british colonists. They wanted to claim their own story and there own history that is why Columbus is celebrated as a hero today. These people in search for their own history found a figure and to them a figure that represented leaving behind the old world, a figure that represented leaving the old world in search of something better. These people in search for a history decided that Columbus was a hero for the new world. Little did they know, Columbus stumbled onto the Americas by accident, simply in search of a quicker trade route to the
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
Originally named Christopher Colombo, Columbus will be forever remembered as the man that brought Europe to the new world. However, there are plenty of smaller details mainstreams history neglects to mention, that Columbus experienced on his historic journey. For one Columbus discovered the New World totally by accident, he originally set out from Spain to find a faster way to Asia, Where the European powers went to trade for valuable commodities such as silk and spices. In fact, the original destination Columbus was traveling to was Japan; instead the voyager landed on in island in what is now called the Bahamas. While nowadays it is widely noted that Columbus was not the first European explorer to reach the New World, or even the first explorer to
In 1493, Christopher Columbus writes the “Report of the First Voyage” (Perkins 28). In this letter to the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Columbus explains the events that took place during his first exploration of the New World. The significance of Columbus’s letter to Ferdinand and Isabella was that it set the tone for how writers described the New World. The historical impact of the “Report of the First Voyage” is insurmountable as it paved the way for future settlers, writers, and explores of the New World. Once published, Columbus’s letter to the King and Queen enabled all of Europe with a destiny to head towards the New World in search of exploration, conquest, and settlement.
At the end of the 15th century, the Spanish King and Queen sent explorer Christopher Columbus on an expedition to find a route to Asia. This directive, instead, led to the discovery of a new continent, which launched a process of colonization of the newly discovered area as well as Spanish management of the area’s resources.
There is a holiday that we celebrate and that holiday is called Christopher Columbus Day. That holiday is there and was made for us to celebrate and remember what Christopher Columbus did for us. He helped so many people to survive on his way there and so many people thanked him. He was considered a hero to all.