...Zheng He vs. Christopher Columbus When you hear the name Christopher Columbus the first thing that probably comes to your mind is that he was the one who founded America. However, if you actually do some research you will find out that he wasn’t the only one. Evidence shows that there was another man who discovered America seventy years before, Zheng He. He was a Chinese admiral during the Ming Dynasty, who also served as the Ming Dynasty Emperor and leader of seven voyages in the Indian Ocean. Christopher Columbus and Zheng He were both great travelers with great differences in their journey. Columbus’ story is one of great greed and domination while Zheng’s however one of a more noble cause. Very rarely, does the name Zheng He ever come up unless you’re in China. But he was a very important traveler in the world of discovery and he predates many of the more famous explorers. The purpose of his travel and explorations was to display the power of China while also creating better relations with other nations and setting up trade agreements in different parts of the world. One of the things that Zheng He’s voyages are known for is the size of the fleets that he commanded. In all, there were seven voyages headed up by Zheng He, including voyages to East Africa, India, and Arabia. Zheng He and his expedition exemplified the highest level of ancient Chinese propriety in terms of foreign trade. Zheng’s voyage stimulated and inspired the development of overseas trade....
Words: 767 - Pages: 4
...Christopher Columbus sailed for Spain in 1492 and claimed all islands around San Salvador looking for gold. Spain eventually sent Columbus back to create an Empire. America should not celebrate Columbus day because of Columbus cruel punishments towards others, the way he influenced today's world, and the way he did not prove the new world. Christopher Columbus caused cruel punishment by cutting people hands off, making dogs attack the Native Americans, and him and his men would hunt people for sport. Columbus influence today's world through slavery, integration, and genocide. Finally, Columbus did not prove the new world because people already lived in the new world, he never set foot in North America, and he didn’t prove the earth was round. We shouldn’t celebrate Columbus day because of his cruel punishment towards...
Words: 714 - Pages: 3
...celebration of Christopher Columbus and his “discovery” of America, has been drilled into elementary students’ heads. As recently as this year, my 1st grader and kindergartner were told that Columbus was the first person to find the United States, and his story was somehow tied into a lesson about Thanksgiving. The reason I bring this up is to show that the myth of Christopher Columbus is still alive and well. Unfortunately, this also proves that many people in the United States don’t understand the true history of this country, or don’t care enough to learn about it. My opinion of Columbus Day is this; just because we’ve made a mistake in the past due to ignorance, doesn’t mean that we should continue to make the same mistake once we’ve learned of our transgressions....
Words: 665 - Pages: 3
...1 For the first debate that we are talking about in class is if the Chinese actually discovered America before Christopher Columbus. The two arguments between the yes (Gavin Menzies) and the no (Robert Finlay). Menzies is the yes the Chinese found American first. He says that the Chinese spent four months exploring the pacific coastline and left substantial evidence that will support his contention that the chines found America way before the Europeans. Finlay believes that Menzies does not have concrete evidence that the Chinese found America because other historians have not come up with the same conclusion, that the Chinese discovered America first Robert Finlay talks about how Menzies is wrong and how he bases all his knowledge on facts and evidence that puts the Chinese on America before Columbus. Finlay accuses Menzies of “ignoring the basic rules of historical study and logic to concoct an implausible interpretation of the Chinese”. Finlay believes that Columbus found America first because they used the maps of the Chinese. When the Chinese explored the pacific coast they didn’t set foot on the land they just made a map that told there was land. The Chinese then used the maps that they made to trade with the Europeans for other goods. Then Columbus used the maps to find other land to colonize and make a new colony to spread. Finlay believes that Columbus explored the land and actually set foot on the new America, and expanded the map by putting new locations and land...
Words: 638 - Pages: 3
...The age of Exploration was a wonderful time when many new technologies, lands, and much more was discovered. Explorers included Henry Hudson, John Cabot, Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, Francis Drake, Ferdinand Magellan , and Jacques Cartier. While there was more explorers during this time, when one puts a magnifying glass over these particular explorers we can easily see the lasting effect on the countries that funded each individual explorer. As the age of exploration developed one can start to see Portugal emerge as a leading power. It all started when Vasco da Gama found a sea route from Portugal to India, that avoided taxes that would have to be payed if the the trip was made on land, and it also set up a direct trade system between India in Portugal. The voyage...
Words: 542 - Pages: 3
...Vespucci, Gale). Vespucci was the person for whom America is named, and was once thought to have discovered the New World before Christopher Columbus (Amerigo Vespucci, Gale). During the time before Vespucci set out on his exploration journey towards the New World, Columbus had made his first two voyages to the West Indies, and he returned from the second to Seville, Spain on June 1496 (Amerigo Vespucci, Gale). He and Vespucci met and talked, but Vespucci appeared to have been skeptical of Columbus' claim that he had reached the outskirts of Asia. He wanted to see the new lands himself, because he was a curious person who was determined to explore. He journeyed to the New World and sailed around South America, specifically Brazil....
Words: 530 - Pages: 3
...As referred to earlier, Spain and King Ferdinand sent Christopher Columbus on a voyage to find a new route to sail so they could ship goods to Asia faster and more efficiently. The best sea route to take from Europe was down the coast of Africa, around the horn, and back up again. Unfortunately, instead of finding a faster route Columbus found himself landing on the shores of an island in the Bahamas. Shortly after that, Spaniards began colonizing South America. Aided by diseases that the natives were not used to and technological superiority, the conquistadors quickly claimed the land that they sought. “After an initial wave of conquistadors—aided by military advantages and infectious diseases that decimated the native populations— defeated...
Words: 720 - Pages: 3
...Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain? Professors and poets gave their thought about Columbus through social, intellectual, and geographical influences. Columbus and his crew were cruel and greedy towards the Indians. Columbus enslaved many Indians and tried getting their gold. Columbus was responsible for over 50 million Indian deaths, which many people are not aware of. The Indians welcomed Columbus and his crew willingly to trade what they had for anything Columbus was willing to trade. Columbus started to gather information about a king in an island, which whom possessed large amounts of gold. Finding out this information and discovering gold was way more important to Columbus than building a relationship with the Native Americans....
Words: 380 - Pages: 2
...of Faith: Politics, Wealth and Wonder in the Voyages of Columbus A Leap of Faith: Politics, Wealth and Wonder in the Voyages of Columbus In 1492, Christopher Columbus concluded what amounted to an elaborate business arrangement with King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. He would receive titles, property and revenues from his discoveries and the Spanish crown would gain access to what would become a pipeline to the unimagined riches of the New World. It was a true leap of faith on the part of the world’s leading Catholic monarchs, who were fresh from the conquest of Granada and the reuniting of European Spain. Ferdinand and Isabella would come to believe their expulsion of Spain’s Moorish masters as their true legacy. Yet it was Columbus’ fateful mission that would open the way to wealth and world power for the resurgent Spanish nation. This was the promised payoff, the real return on investment for the Spanish monarchy. Columbus and the Spanish sovereigns came to terms at a time when European nation states were seeking any advantage they could find in an unfolding international game of exploration and economic competition. Under these circumstances, the advantages conferred by new trade routes and the acquisition of new lands and resources could mean world supremacy. Columbus claimed to know where such advantages could be obtained, and...
Words: 2349 - Pages: 10
...Like many of the era, the discovery of riches across the sea or new trade routes enthralled Christopher Columbus' sense of adventure but left him addled morally. After securing patronage from the Spanish Crown,Columbus sailed West with miscalculated estimates on the distance of his journey [page 3]. North and South America luckily were between him and Asia, otherwise the ill-suited estimates he had made would have ended in the starvation of all ninety men on his three ships [ page 9]. Running into the islands of the North Caribbean,he claimed the “ uncivilized” region for Spain [page 4] and proceeded to dehumanize the inhabitants because of their lack of Catholic faith and civilized practices. This, however, was not confined to Spaniard beliefs...
Words: 283 - Pages: 2
...development of these nations? - Haiti and the Dominican Republic is an island with two countries of Hispaniola. Haiti makes up 1/3 of the island while the Dominican Republic makes up the rest of the 2/3 of the island. The Dominican Republic contains a mix blood of Afro-European population with the history of Spanish colonialism, while Haiti has African-caribbean population with the background of french colonialism. 2) What role did colonization have in the development of the concept of race in the Dominican Republic? What are the differences between the concept of race in Haiti and the Domincan Republic? What is the meaning of the term "Indio" in the Domincan Republic? How do Indios see the Haitians? - In 1492, Christopher Columbus was a huge influence in the colonization of the Dominican Republic. The hispaniola island originally had the majority of the population of african americans. The colonization had a diversity of european and african mix. The Dominican Republic has more of a lighter skinned population whereas Haiti has more of a darker skinned population. People in the Dominican Republic describe individual races by blanco which means white and indio which means darker skinned. Indios reject Haiti and are in denial of african ancestry. 3) What is the role of the sugar cane industry in both countries? How did the change to cattle raising affect slavery in the Dominican Republic? -The Dominican Republic is one of the largest sugar exporter in the world. The...
Words: 688 - Pages: 3
...On October 20th 1492, Christopher Columbus and what will become the Spanish empire landed on a shore they have never seen in search for a shorter route to Asia. Only, this shore was the in the Bahamas, and the two worlds that had been separated for all of history had now been connected. Throughout nearly the next 200 years, the New World would be changed and in the Spanish minds at the time, for the better. However, those that were not Spanish and the good Catholic they held so highly in their society, this world was no longer home. This severe change has come through the use of an iconic Spanish greed. The term iconic Spanish greed is used to explain the values in their socioeconomic society which had three main categories: gold, God and glory;...
Words: 999 - Pages: 4
...The price of goods increased as it exchanged hands from various countries and continents. The Old World and the New World also exchanged goods which still appear in America today (Documents 3 and 6). Global trade came to be because of the international exchanging of goods.The Age of Exploration was the reason why America was discovered and established.The things that Americans have now would not be possible without Christopher Columbus (Document 6). Christopher Columbus opened the eyes of the Europeans and showed them that there was something beyond Europe which was the New World. Religion was huge back in the Age of Exploration time period and many of the religious people tried to convert people to their religion thus creating the spread of religion. Missionaries were sent to various places including the New World to convert people to Christianity. The spread of religion also influenced new religions, cultures, and forms of government. The Age of Exploration had a variety of positive and negative effects that still influence the world today. God, Glory, and Gold were the things that everyone at the time wanted. The spread of diseases, the Triangular Trade, and war resulted in death. The exchange of goods, America being established, and the spread of religion were favorable advantages....
Words: 724 - Pages: 3
...Neo-Indian Exchange What have been is what will be, and what has been done, is what will be done and there is nothing that will reverse it. The incipient world as we know it has been undergoing a drastic era for biological globalization since the landing of the Europeans between the fifteen and the eighteen century. This era is known as the Columbian exchange and commenced in the year 1492 when Christopher Columbus and his crew sailed the Atlantic, exploring more advantages. Beckles & Shepherd suggest in his book Liberties lost, “that the European’s instinct was to reach Asia by sailing deep into the Western Atlantic. His quest was to find Asia, craving for the riches of Asia. Lost in the Caribbean Sea, he found indigenous people of Bahamas whose posture of welcome ushered into a global era.” (2004, p.35) Columbus’ first voyage was one of revelation in which he took the prospect to explore much places as he can. As history tells us, he made a series of voyages scooping new discoveries and engagements with the people who he encountered with on his journey. He first landed in the Bahamas. Columbus took with him soldiers, conquistador, murders, farmers and people of all classes who were moved by greed, and thirst for a better future. In this essay we will take an explicit look into the Columbian exchange, how it affect the Indian society, its impact on the old and new world. “The Columbian exchange” can be described as the exchange of plants, increase in human populations,...
Words: 2427 - Pages: 10
...During the 15th and 16th centuries, Maritime trade transformed global networks of trade and power. Thanks to the efforts of Portugal and Spain, Europe had several advantages during this time of exploration which would greatly impact their sphere of influence in regards to trade and territory. These advantages Spain’s military might, knowledge of the current navigational routes, as well as their advances in technology. Spain was motivated to explore during the Maritime trade period for several reasons. Like Portugal, they also wished to find a route to East Asia by sea. This would allow them to circumvent the land trade routes which were controlled by the Muslims. Ferdinand and Isabella wanted to increase their territory, as well as spread the religious beliefs of Catholicism. These goals were made possible by the Conquistadors. “By 1492, when they expelled the Muslims from Granada in...
Words: 631 - Pages: 3
