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Columbus - Hero or Villain
essays about columbus
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For more than five centuries Americans have lifted Christopher Columbus to heights of greatness and god-like. We celebrate his life as though he was a man that had done us a great favor. In resent years Christopher Columbus has come under scrutiny, his life and works being questioned more than celebrated. There have be many great men and women that contributed to the building of our great nation but they do not receive anywhere as much recognition as Columbus. When a person begins to study the actual accounts of the "finding of the New World" they begin to wonder if Columbus should adored or hated for his actions. As a child I was taught that Columbus was a great man that had accomplished great things for the sake of humanity, but in reality his agenda was not to better humanity but to better himself. He found the Americas by mere chance and he did not even know of what he found. We give him credit for "finding" the Americas but history tells of the people, that he called Indians, already inhabiting the foreign land. So you decide whether or not Christopher Columbus should be revered a hero. 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 ... ... middle of paper ... ...1992, August). World Press Review, Volume 39, Issue 8, p33. "Early Explorers of the Western Hemisphere." World Almanac & Book of Facts 2000, 1999, p456. Giles, Thomas S. "How did Native Americans Respond to Christianity?" Christian History, 1992, Volume 11, Issue 3, p20. Hopkins, Dwight N. "Columbus, the Church, and slave religion." Journal of Religious Thought, Winter 92/ Spring 93, Volume 49, Issue 2, p25. Howarth, William. "Putting Columbus in his place." Southwest Review, Spring/Summer 92, Volume 77, Issue 2/3, p153. Marty, Martin E. "The clamor over Columbus." Christian History, 1992, Volume 11 Issue 3, p17. Riga, Peter J. "Columbus, the Church, and the Indians: A reflection." Journal of Religious Thought, Winter 92/Spring 93, Volume 49 Issue 2, p36. "When two worlds meet." (1992). Christian History, Volume 11, Issue 3, p13.
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,
Washington Irving, Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus (New York: Frederick Unger Publishing Company,) 323.
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.
Eric Williams starts his essay by telling us about the use of Indians as slaves. He mentions that it was attempted to only enslave those Indians that didn't give up their heritage for Christianity. This brings me back to Winthrop Jordan's essay in which we recall the Christians encountering heathenism in Africa which certainly applies here:
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?
May, Henry F. The Recovery of American Religious History. The American Historical Review. Vol. 70, No. 1. 1964.
Having engaged in a relentless and detailed examination of Christopher Columbus’ four voyages across the Atlantic, the reader can now undoubtedly claim to have ascertained a greater level of knowledge and appreciation than he before could have ever held. Although the reader is bereft of a happy or joyous ending, he can find solace in a better comprehension of past events, those men who characterized them, and the implied lessons for a future that will inevitably become a part of history itself. Columbus: the four voyages, by Laurence Bergreen, is a remarkable biography that provides all of that, and then
The Spaniards methods and strategies to convert Indians to Christianity moved from a pacified one more brutal and violent. Since the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the New World, it was clear that the mission of the Spaniard...
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
The letter Christopher Columbus wrote back to Spain to report his findings in the New World sparked intrigued me and sparked my imagination. Why I have been so absorbed in this letter I can not explain. This letter is supposed to be about describing an unknown land, a land that has not been seen by anyone besides the natives, but it seems that there is more to it than that. Columbus is known in elementary schools as the man who found the New World, and is regarded as a hero. To the contrary, historians who have done more research on Columbus say that he was driven by fame and fortune and that he was tyrannical in his ways with the indigenous peoples of the places that he came to find. I feel that the contradictory tones Columbus uses gives this letter an eerie feel, and Columbus’s eventual desire to take over the indigenous peoples brings doubt on his reliability as an accurate and fair eyewitness.
The question then becomes “Who is Christopher Columbus?” Is he really the man that some Americans describe as a hero, whose “journey was the first step in a long process that eventually produced the United States of America” (Royal 1) and to the “North American Revolutionaries, he was the Founding Fathers’ father” (Gates 29). Or is Columbus’ character flawed as other Americans might suggest. Some describe him as a ruthless slave trader who raped the virgin islands of the Caribbean and started the slave trade between the Old and New Worlds. So which image is right? That question is one that has been debated for years and will continue to be for years to come. It is one in which an individual alone can answer because it not only deals with historical facts but also ethics. This paper will present two opposing sides with enough facts concerning the controversy of the myth of Col...
Columbus does not deserve to be praised for the discovery of America. In short, if he didn't do it, someone else would have within 10 years. He was not the only one who believed that the earth was round, and the ideas of similar voyages had been previously proposed.
Christopher Columbus, was he a hero, or villain? For about 500 years, people have praised him and celebrated his life as though he was someone who did good for us. Schools teach students that Columbus was a great man, found gold and pearls, and discovered new lands. Students are even taught the names of Christopher Columbus' three ships he used on his first voyage. However, they grow up not knowing the truth about Christopher Columbus, what he really did to 'accomplish' his tasks. I simply believe that schools should show both sides of Columbus' story, so that students can be aware of the facts behind the 'discovery' of Early America.
School taught us about the infamous Christopher Columbus who was known as the hero who found the Americas in 1492, but is that the truth? Is Columbus really the hero that grade school portrayed him to be? Columbus was not. Columbus was a greedy man who destroyed an entire race of people with genocide just so only he could benefit and become a man of money and power.
On October 14, 1492, Christopher Columbus founded the New World, sparking one of the biggest domino effects in history, and changing the world forever. Columbus 's expedition led to the discovery of the vast natural resources of America, such as precious metals, vast expansive woods, and nutrient rich soil perfect for growing crops and raising livestock. Whenever there are large quantities of resources found, it is not long before colonization follows. This spawned a period of competition for territory, resources, and colonization in the Americas. Columbus was not the first person to discover the Americas. Chinese merchants and Vikings had already been to the Americas, as well as the indigenous people who lived there. He was the first person