Captain Ferdinand Magellan was from Portugal. A master of exploration and navigation, but he was a difficult man. Magellan was greatly admired by some for being a good leader, but others greatly feared and even hated him. Magellan set a goal for myself which was to sail around the entire world, and discover the “Spice Islands”. The question is, was Magellan a man worth defending? Magellan was not a man to defend because he started with 270 men and finished with 18 men left on the voyage, he wanted to stay of the voyage but acted cruel to his crew members, and he changed his intentions to converting people to Catholicism. The first reason to not defend Magellan was that when he started his voyage, there were 270 men but only 18 men survived and made it home, but Magellan wasn’t one …show more content…
Magellan was a rude, brutal man to work under. He would save the best food for himself when the men of his crew barely had anything to eat. Luis Mendoza, one of the captains of the three ships, started to complain and said that Magellan was, “taking all of them to destruction” them meaning the other two ships including his ship also. Luis Mendoza said this because it was true, Magellan wanted the other ships to go first down a 350mile uncertain and very dangerous strait which was supposed to give them a short cut to the Spice Islands (Doc.C). Later, Luis Mendoza was found dead which appeared to be from a stabbing of a dagger by a chief constable of the fleet which Magellan sent onto his boat. But just five days later, Magellan ordered that Gaspar de Quesada, a man that had mutinied and also another captain of the other three ships, was decapitated and quartered for simply mutinying (Doc.B). Magellan didn’t want anyone or anything to stop him from discovering the Spice Islands and sail around the entire world to complete his goal in
King Ferdinand and Isabella are known as one of the most famous couples in the world. Isabella who was the daughter of King John II of Castile and Ferdinand was the son of King John I of Aragon were married to create unity between the two kingdoms. At the time of their marriage the spanish moors were in control of a big chunk of Spain.
And that’s why i believe that , as the witness of the incident , I think that Christopher Columbus has no right to be given the title of being heroic
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.
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 our personal lives we consider our past forgotten, however in our history everyone affects how they see themselves. "history repeats itself " is gradually long time we know manipulated and deceived us the wrong information, books, learning in school, the "biased" report before the newspaper, radio and television. Let us move on and we just solemn pray for that will prosper in our country. I noticed that there have been distortions in our history. It’s sad because it seems like we have forgotten the sacrifices of those who died during the time of dictatorship. This tragedy cannot continue. We should stand up for someone’s rights today. Times have changed. More sooner than later, they will take power into their hands by all and whatever
After reading the two letters written by Christopher Columbus in the midst of his many voyages, I have found many similarities and differences between the two. The first letter was written to Luis de Santangel on February 15, 1493 at sea. Ten years later, the second letter was written to Ferdinand and Isabella. This letter, regarding his fourth voyage, was written on July 7, 1503. The tone in this letter compared to the first letter was abysmal. Some did not believe it was written by the same person. This makes what happened in that ten year gap become very important. It is what happened during that time that will lead one to discover the changes in attitude made by Columbus between the two letters he wrote.
He had an important mission: find a way to the spice islands and bring back the riches, but most importantly bring the spices back with the five ships and 280 young men. Magellan was a great navigator but a harsh one. This can be good, until a leader refuses to listen to the ones he is leading. When Magellan stopped at the Port of St. Julian, he decided to put the crew on reduced rations (Document B). The change seems nearly unsurvivable compared to the conditions they were already struggling through, so they staged a mutiny. Three important leaders of the ships took the fall for this one. The treasurer of the whole fleet, Luis Mendoza was stabbed to death by the chief constable of the fleet, sent by Magellan (Document B). Gaspar de Quesada was ordered to be decapitated and quartered. Finally, Cartagena were abandoned on an island (Document B). Magellan was unwilling to reason with his crew members and instead removed what he saw was the problem. He issue was not the mutinous crew, but his own views. It did not take long for Magellan to anger more people. While crossing the Pacific, he added God to his list of things to sail for. On the island of Cebu, he converted about 2,200 people to Catholicism, but threatened those who did not convert (Document B). He burned down a village on Mactan, sparking a battle with the people ruled under the leader Lapu Lapu (Document B). In
Columbus was a very good speaker and very persuasive. He convinced the King and Queen of Spain to fund his expedition to “Asia” and he told about all the gold and spices that would be discovered there and how they would be wealthy.# Columbus told them his famous terms which stated that he would receive no less than one-tenth of all the wealth that would arrive from Asia through the new route, and not only wealth he had made on his expedition but for all the wealth made from all future expeditions.# Columbus did not want this to be limited to himself, but after he died the profits would continue on to his heir. He also wanted to have receive titles such of “viceroy” and “admiral of the ocean sea”. # This shows his amount of greed and how much he wanted to be known as someone with high power.
Christopher Columbus is one of the top most well-known names in history. Columbus was an Italian explorer who in part went on several voyages across seas to discover some of the most prominent land not yet known to exist. Columbus went on four separate voyage each involving new found land. On Columbus’s last voyage he set out to discover a direct water route from Europe to Asia and after many attempts Columbus on his last voyage lead the permeant European discovery of the New World or better known as America.
Christopher Columbus discoveries enlightened the globe and started a new age of exploration. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand believed columbus would be very successful in discovering places that were rich in minerals and resources.They chose to sponsor and support Christopher Columbus’s voyage because of his capabilities and discoveries he could achieve. Christopher Columbus discoveries enlightened the globe and started a new age of exploration, changed the history of the whole globe. There was many advantage about working in between foreign affairs, one being Christopher Columbus skills and knowledge that gave Spain money and power. A disadvantage of working in between foreign affairs will be the other side not fulfilling their agreement. There are many qualifications Christopher Columbus had that made him a good candidate the voyage. Christopher Columbus was a brilliant vessel to the earth and left a legacy behind him for explorers and sailors around the
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...
The King and Queen were not convinced by the amount that he brought back with him. Besides, the doubts the King and Queen had they once again financed Columbus’s second voyage back to the New World. We need to remember that Columbus’s so-called "second voyage," albeit innocuous sounding language was in actuality an all-out invasion of the islands and particularly of Espanola. Equipped for the military adventure by the Spanish monarchs, Columbus sailed on October 7, 1493, with seventeen ships fully armed with more than a thousand men. (Freeland) This leaves one to wonder if the “so called” exploration to find new trade routes had alternative meaning all along. Not only was his second voyage an all out invasion but Freeland states, There would not be need in any event, since his army would be free to rape Indian women as they pleased. It was this invasion that initiated this vicious and murderous cycle of conquest, murder, thievery, and
There are two different sides to this man’s story. He was both a good man and an evil one. Who is this man that I am talking about? Everyone in the world knows this man as Christopher Columbus. The things he did are even being talked about today! You may think you know everything about him, but I bet you don’t. Actually, I bet you don’t know much about him. For this paper, I chose Christopher Columbus and here is what I learned.
This is an analysis of Christopher Columbus’s Letter on His First Voyage on page 381. Christopher Columbus wrote a letter to his King and Queen of Spain, while he was in the West Indies. He wrote this letter in February 1493 reflecting on his voyage across the Atlantic in 1492. After reading this letter, I can tell that Columbus felt like he was better than the native people of the different islands he journeyed and that a lot of things they did were very strange to him. I can also tell that the world was a lot different to him and to people in 1492, than it is to people in 2014 because he referred to the native people of the various islands he traveled to as Indians, whereas most people in 2014 know that India and Latin American are not the