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Christopher columbus first voyage essay
Christopher columbus letter to luis de santangel
Christopher columbus letter to luis de santangel
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In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue sea . When Christopher Columbus sailed to the americas because he wanted to find some gold to bring back to his home . According to “ the letter Columbus wrote himself , he stated that “ everything that has been done and discovered in his voyage of mine “. This shows that everything that he was supposed to do he had completed . Additionally , according to document C “ the letter the Bartolome” were mainly about how spaniards came and were acting like wild beast . The spaniards and the indies were acting in like a bad way . “they are still killing , terrorizing and destroying the native people “. also that was stated in document C “ in 40 years , at least 12 million men , women and children
Many Americans know the journey of Christopher Columbus and Daniel Boone, but a smaller percentage of the population knows about other journeys their fellow Americans have taken. Our job at PBS is to “create content that educates, informs, and inspires (PBS mission statement).” By including different or lesser known journeys for our new series, we can inform and ignite a curiosity for American history that is not often talked about. Two journeys that should be included in this project is the plight of the Native Americans during the 19th century. These forced migrations are not frequently talked about for various different reasons, such as the history behind them or their controversy, but it is our job to present these without biases to inform our viewers.
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.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus unintentionally discovered America, when he landed in the Caribbean Islands, while looking for a direct sea route to Asia. Despite the fact that Columbus believed he had found a direct sea route to India, he has been called the discoverer of America and hailed as a hero. More recently, however, he has been called a villain, with accusations saying that not only did he not discover America, but also that he was the cause of slavery and oppression in the Americas. These allegations are absurd and lack logical evidence.
Christopher Columbus was a cruel, delusional, and self-centered man who does not deserve high praises for the discovery of America.
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
Without intention, in 1492 Christopher Columbus initiated an event that is perhaps the most important historical turning point in modern times to the American Continents. . “For thousands of years before 1492, human societies in America had developed in isolation from the rest of the world. ”(P. 4) Christopher Columbus and other European voyagers ended all this beginning in 1492 as they searched for treasure and attempted to spread Christianity. For the first time, people from Europe, Africa, and the Americas were in regular contact. Columbus was searching for one thing and discovered something entirely different.
For generations upon generations, students have been taught about the “hero” Christopher Columbus who had discovered our new world. However, to say he was a hero would not exactly be the truth; Columbus was an eccentric man who cared much more about his profits than the well being and even lives of the natives. It is documented in journals that he and his crew had slaughtered entire villages at a time, and that he had even killed people just for the point of testing how sharp his sword was. Not only did Columbus and his crew have a thing for violence, on multiple accounts crew members wrote down every single successful rape of women; and used the voyage to help begin a slave export for the royalty of Spain.
Columbus’ goal in his mission to America was somewhat heroic: “Christian missionary and anti-Islamic fervour, the power of Castile and Aragon, the fear of Portugal, the lust for gold, the desire for adventure, the hope of conquests, and Europe’s genuine need for a reliable supply of herbs and spices for cooking, preserving, and medicine all combined to produce an explosion of energy that launched the first voyage” (Flint). Although Columbus’ mission may have been heroic, what really matters is what Columbus did when he got to America, which was kidnap, enslave, and kill Native
I start off with he who sailed the ocean blue in 1492, Christopher Columbus. Columbus view of the natives was that of an open-mind and accepting manner, at least that is what is depicted in the letter. The natives were giving with their belongings and he expresses that he done the same. Columbus expressed the natives being extremely generous, But ignorant to the matter of his peoples selfish value on belongings. Therefore, he forbade his people from taking advantage of them, so he says. Columbus knew the natives knew nothing of their Christianity and hoped that he could convert them into such. He took into consideration that although they knew nothing of his world that they are rather intelligent. Columbus is amazed by the skillful creation of the canoes made from single logs that can carry dozens of men. In the earlier phases of the letter it seems as if Columbus is such the saint, but as one continues to read it is briefly obvious that Columbus is there for a purpose of conquering and not sharing, as he states “…I took by force some of them in order that they might learn Castilian…”. That is not a matter of generosity but expresses the true greedy nature, how he really views the natives and a sign of the genocide that is to come.
Some explorers were not looking for land to claim, but faster routes. Columbus went exploring trying to find a faster way to Asia/India for spice trading. The reason for this was because his country was receiving Asian Spices from Muslims(Document 3). In order to get the spices from the Muslims, high prices had to be paid since it was exchanged from person to person. Columbus went sailing and found an area that had inhabitants who looked like people he has never seen before which he assumed were Indians. Columbus saw they had foods he never had before and he started trading with them. He brought over foods such as the Irish Potato, Florida Oranges, Colombian Coffee, and French Vanilla Ice cream, for trading purposes(Document 6). All of those
Although Columbus was increasing the wealth and strength of Spain, he was “a catastrophe for the indigenous inhabitants of the lands” (Belasco 67). He had no remorse for the natives as he proceeded to establish plantations, enslave them, slaughter them, and create a new colony called Espanola on their lands. According to Schuman, Howard, Barry Schwartz, and Hannah d’Arcy, Christopher Columbus “deserves condemnation for having brought slavery, disease, and death...
The Native Americans For at least fifteen thousand years before the arrival of Christopher Columbus and Thomas Hariot, Native Americans had occupied the vastness of North America undisturbed by outside invaders (Shi 2015 pg. 9). Throughout the years leading up to Columbus’s voyage to the “New World” (the Americas) and Hariot’s journey across the sea, the Indians had encountered and adapted to many diverse continents; due to global warming, climatic and environmental diversity throughout the lands (2015). Making the Native Americans culture, religion, and use of tools and technology very strange to that of Columbus’s and Hariot’s more advanced culture and economy, when they first came into contact with the Native Americans. To start with,
Although this essay is historically accurate it lacks important details, which might paint a different view of Columbus. Boorstin writes favorable of Columbus and depicts him as a heroic and determined figure who helped shape history, but he neglects to include Columbus’ unethical acts committed in the world that was not supposed to exist, the Americas. When Columbus first discovered the New World, he took care that the royal standard had been brought ashore and he claimed the land for Spain in front of all, including the indigenous population who had been sighted even before Columbus made landfall. According to the medieval concepts of natural law, only those territories that are uninhabited can become the property of the first person to discover them. Clearly this was an unethical act. Thus, the first contact between European and non-European worlds was carried out through a decidedly European prism, which ensured Spanish claim to the islands of the Americas. Faced with a colony in an inhospitable area, the Spanish soon inaugurated the practice of sending regular military parties inland to subdue the increasingly hostile natives. Members of the indigenous population were captured and enslaved to support the fledgling colony. The object of Columbus’ desire changed from exploration and trade to conquest and subjugation.
When reading the first hand account of Columbus’s voyage, it is in many ways hard to believe that what Columbus was saying was actually the truth. In no way did he talk about his voyage in a negative manner. He talks about how the Indians treated him and his crews like kings. Instead of making himself look like a failure, I feel that he made himself and the Europeans in general look like very greedy people.
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