...While reading “Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress” I noticed that I was agreeing with what the author was saying most of the time. His points were very interesting, and well established. Although, he only really had one main point; what was done to the Indians should be told, it is an important part of history that most historians skip over or touch on very little. “[Morison] does not omit the story of mass murder...he mentions the truth quickly and goes on to other things…” (8). I agree with the author because he believes that a historian can choose not to emphasize something when it is not a necessity. Even if the mass murder of The Indians was not important to the historian, it is a very important part of how we got here today, how...
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...“Columbus is a good man and was the first to discover America…” is what we have learned throughout the previous years from our textbooks; however Zinn looks at Columbus from a different perspective and portrays him in a rather negative way. Chapter one, “Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress”, starts off with Columbus arriving in America and the naive Arawak Indians full of wonder looking curiously upon him. They were quick to bring him food, water and gifts which Columbus wrote about and mentioned that they “willing traded everything they owned…they do not bear arms and do not know them”. Clearly the Indians were nothing but kind to him; however he treated them so poorly. Zinn explains how all Columbus wanted was gold and money and didn’t have a care for the natives....
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...Columbus: Hero or Villain As children we learned that Christopher Columbus was a hero, the discoverer of America. Was he? Perhaps he found a land that had not yet been discovered by Europeans, and bought about trades we know of today, but is that enough to be deemed a hero? He has been acknowledged as the man who discovered the world was round, yet “the Greeks knew, five hundred years before Christ, that the world is a sphere”. (Koning 29) So why was he continually credited for discoveries others made before him? To learn about the real Columbus we must look at all accounts regarding his travels, his contributions and most importantly his downfalls. Many people believed Christopher Columbus to have had good intentions, yet in fact, he was deceitful, murderous, and an enslaver of the people inhabiting the so called New World. Christopher Columbus was born Cristoforo Colombo to a merchant and his wife in Genoa. He was a seaman and a chart maker, but he enjoyed being at sea the most. He married and had a son. When his first wife died, he had another son with a mistress. He was looking for funding to set sail on the Atlantic. The year was 1492 when Columbus was finally ready to sail in search of new lands. He had tried several times to get funding for his voyages and it wasn’t until early in 1492 that he received all that he wanted and needed to prepare for his voyage. Despite the uncertainty they felt regarding Columbus achieving his goal of traveling west and finding new...
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...hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. For those who chose to dig deeper into this age old poem, they’d begin to question and discover who Columbus really was, and if there was more than him then being the beloved man who discovered America. Since first grade I’d been taught to admire and look up to the man and his legacy, but should we really be putting his name on a plaque? After discovering the man who Columbus really was, I think not. Due to Columbus, the Indian population dropped shockingly low, African slavery was started, and many fights and killings occurred. We should characterize Christopher Columbus and his legacy negatively, as his voyages led to hardships that hurt the world drastically. As a result of...
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...The Columbus Day Controversy Christopher Columbus has been recognized and praise as a hero since his suppose discovery of America. In which, Christopher Columbus was granted a holiday named Columbus Day after his legacy. To which, Columbus Day is a holiday celebrated on the second monday of October and is celebrated for the sole purpose that his exploration to the “New World” led to the discovery of America. Although many people today still celebrate Columbus Day it has caused great controversy throughout the nation and therefore should be exiled since it is an occasion to be mourned, he is a bad remodel to the American citizenry, and Columbus was a compulsive liar. To begin with, a issue to consider when removing Columbus Day is the fact...
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...Columbus Had Good Intentions Jessica Peace Wayland Baptist University Documentation of Columbus’s journeys and explorations has created profoundly different opinions from those who study him. Columbus was a not a “wholly bad”(Royal, 2000, p.36) person, he did have genuine care and concern for the land and the Indians but he had duty and honor to his country that took precedence over anything else. Columbus was an eager but flawed man with documented contradictory actions but nonetheless is the root of why we get to call America home. Columbus’s discovery was both an invasion and a discovery; the land was new to European knowledge but an invasion of Indian Territory. It is undeniable the land was inhabited by tribes of Indians whom Columbus respected but saw them as inferior creatures as “they bear no arms, and are all naked and of no skill in arms, and so very cowardly that a thousand would not stand against three” (Sale, 2000, p.33). Although there is evidence of generous and harsh treatment of the Indians, it is irrefutable that Columbus claimed occupied land. Columbus saw opportunity and seized it, just as we are encouraged to do today. The Indians had a wealth of opportunity before them and Columbus believed they were too ignorant to value it. Columbus is no different than an eager entrepreneur of the 21st century who grasps opportunities to take something and improve it. Columbus knew the trees and other resources “would be of great value in Spain, as dyeing materials...
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...between the Indians and Columbus and his crew. The passages go on to talk about traditions of how when someone is soon to die their legacy or power is passed down to his brothers, then to his sisters, then to his children that Columbus learned as they began to build the Virginia colony. The passages tell us of the treatment and lifestyle of the people whether it was the Indians or even the Spanish. Yes, this class the passages paint this picture of how everything we learned about Columbus was not true and that they told us nothing but the positives of Columbus and how he deserves to be credited for the discovery. While just being in college it has changed by perspective of how to look at Columbus and if we really want to get down to it, he really wasn’t the first to discover the America’s because there were people already living here and him and his country came in and took over what really wasn’t theirs. And I believe that as students we should have been told the whole truth Christopher Columbus. Columbus’s motives were to treat the Indians like savage people and work them like dogs till they were done with one of his projects and then they would have a break then they would work again for forty straight days with no breaks and then repeat that for however long Columbus wanted or until the Indian or Indians would pass away. Though his biggest motive was to find the gold that was believed to be in the America’s and he believed that the Indians knew where it was at. Columbus was willing...
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...Christopher Columbus is considered a villain by all the horrific things that he did. Which includes forcing the Indians into forced labor and he also brought in diseases which the Indians weren’t immune to. The forced labor that Christopher Columbus put onto the Indians was an inhumane and outrageous act that he committed. In Doc 9 it states ”they would carry dirt on their back to wash it in the river while those who wash gold would stay in the water all the time with their backs bent so constantly it would break them”. Columbus would force these Indians into these mines and make them work so that they could any gather gold and other resources they did this for the Spaniards personal gain. In Doc 8 it states “the Spaniards would refuse to...
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...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....
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...In the article, ”In Defense of Columbus, the author, Mary Ann Castronovo Fusco discusses the legacy of Christopher Columbus. She demits that it was a mixed one; on the one hand, he was a brilliant navigator who led a diverse group of sailors in dangerous waters in search of a new trade route to India. However he also encountered people different than the Europeans and in raciest manner, regarded them as inferiors. Fusco admits that Columbus did not discover America due to the obvious fact that there were people there before his voyages began. He was considered a Renaissance man, who applied new ideas in navigation in his quest for discovery. However, despite his intelligence and courage, Fusco states, “1”. Even if Columbus and his men did not personally slaughter the Indians or spread disease, he started the trend which allowed other Europeans from Spain and elsewhere to victimize the Indians and deny them social justice. It is interesting that Fusco is more of reporter than an analyst or historians, but she bases her article on interviews with historians such as William G. Connell at Seton Hall University and several Native American leaders. The article tries to justify the mass extermination of American Indians by stating that even if Columbus was a racist imperialist, he was a product of his time. Yet, that reason is faulty; it could be used to justify the institutions of slavery of blacks because, despite their obvious greed, the slaveholders wanted to...
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...Paper 1 Christopher Columbus andartolomé De Las Casas were both two men who B have left legacies that are admired, criticized, idolized, rationalized and despised by adventuring out to find the three motivators that have lead to the foundings of what we call America. Christopher Columbus and Bartolomé De Las Casas both set out with the three motives: God, Glory and Gold. God, Glory and Gold also known as the three G’s are labeled as the roots of the age of discovery during the midfifteenth century and ending in the midseventeenth century. Of the three motives each had a higher priority for each one and their priority of each motive led to different ways of exploration and conquering. While both Christopher Columbus and Bartolomé De Las Casas had similarities that we can compare, Christopher Columbus set out in his voyage with a craving appetite for Gold. On the other hand Bartolomé De Las Casas had other ambitions. Bartolomé De Las Casas set out with the ambition of converting the Indians to Christianity which supports that De Las Casas prioritized God over Glory and Gold. Even though both Columbus and De Las Casas were both on similar missions their desires differed when looking at the three G’s and their place in the discoveries with Columbus and the settling in the new colonies with De Las Casas. Christopher Columbus born in 14511506 was a sailor who was heavily influenced by the 13th Century voyages of Marco Polo...
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...they had never been to before, to spread Christianity for the expansion of their religious power and to win the economic competition. At that time, two explorers, Christopher Columbus and Bartolome de las Casas, sought the New World to spread Catholicism and to find gold for trading slaves that can perform free labor in Spain. Columbus and Las Casas are well-known in the history of Indians. Both Columbus and Las Casas might initially have similar views on Indians when they discovered the new land and met Native Americans. As written in Columbus’s letter on their first voyage, Indians “show as much lovingness as though they would give their heart.” Las Casas also wrote in Apologetic History of the Indies that “they are most humble peoples and obey their kings in a strange and admirable manner” and “the most humble, most patient, most peaceful and calm, without strife nor tumults; not wrangling, nor querulous, as free from uproar, hate and desire of revenge as any in...
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...Christopher Columbus is one of the most widely renowned “explorers” throughout the world. For nearly 80 years, he has been celebrated through a holiday dedicated to him known as Christopher Columbus Day. Christopher Columbus was the first to set sail to the west across the Atlantic Ocean in order to find a new trade route to India. However, instead of finding the lands that he set out for, he discovered the already inhabited New World; with this discovery he brought death, disease, and destruction to the innocent natives that lived there. The natives were decimated and enslaved for gold, land, and workers by a man celebrated as a hero in society today for a failed exploration mission: Christopher Columbus. Christopher Columbus was a man only interested in profit and used almost any means to get it. They treated the Indians as though they were “excrement on the public squares... thus depriving them of their lives and souls” (Document F). The lands were so rich and the natives so meek and patient that it was easy for Christopher Columbus to take advantage of them for his own selfish greed. Like the settlers, Columbus was there for one reason only:...
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...Columbus and America Where did Christopher Columbus first land in America? On his feet. In truth, no one actually knows for sure where Columbus actually landed in America. There are several theories about where he first discovered, but no one can quite be one hundred percent sure. Learning about Columbus can be quite a captivating event because of his significant accomplishments, impact on natives, and intriguing facts. Columbus is fun to learn about because of his significant accomplishments. First, he attempted to prove that the earth was round. “While no one literate at the time still thought the Earth was flat, no one, until Columbus, was prepared to actually test the theory that it was round to, in effect, stake his life on it” (The first immigrant). Second,...
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...Thesis: Christopher Columbus enslaved Indians for gold and labor, and brought them to Spain to sell and created a mass genocide, killing thousands of Indians. Christopher Columbus was made out to be a hero by some. He was an excellent sailor, found gold in new lands, and had a superb faith in god. But was he really such a good guy? Christopher Columbus was not always a truthful person. A sailor by the name of Rodrigo saw the moon shining on white sand, an island in the Bahamas. The first man to see land was to get a yearly pension of 10,000 maravedis for life, but Rodrigo did not get this. Christopher claims he saw land the evening before, and claimed the reward. He also took the Indians as slaves, and in his report to the Majesties claimed...
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