A Comparison Of Christopher Columbus And Cabeza De Vaca

When Columbus came to the island, he first noticed the way that the natives paint their bodies without any regard of what the colors could possibly mean religiously, socially, or culturally. Also, Columbus notes their use of weapons and how they are different than typical European swords without any understanding of how dangerous the bow and arrow could be. Finally, before closing the journal entry, the author notes wounds on the bodies of the natives, and he assumes that the wounds are from weakness and

Firstly, a main point both Columbus and Cabeza de Vaca find about Native American is that

Columbus and Cortez believed the Spanish cause is worthy and all of their actions were justified, De Las Casas also did believe the Spanish cause was worth but to some extent. Columbus stated “their Highnesses can see that I will give them as much gold as they require, if they will render me some very slight assistance; also I will give them all the spices and cotton they want … I should have done much more if the ships had been reasonably serviceable, but this is enough” (Columbus,122). Columbus is stating in this in the conclusion of his letter, which means he will give the natives whatever they want in exchange for taking them as slaves, in this sense giving them whatever they want it is justified for enslaving them and taking them to Spain. Cortez stated “I forbade them

Both Christopher Columbus’ and Bartolome de la casas writings are examples of primary sources. Columbus kept his writing as more of a log book than a journal. De La Casa’s writings were more of a journal. They were first hand events about what they saw themselves. De La Casa’s writing also included firsthand stories he recorded from what others had saw.

The descriptions which Christopher Columbus and Alvez de Vaca reveal are entirely different. Columbus wrote information that was insignificant. His explanations are very vague and are only somewhat in depth when something interests him greatly, like his "discovery" of the beautiful Espanola. Columbus wrote about the Indians and their land as if they were "nothing of importance." The majority of his descriptions of explorations were about himself or based on himself.

The main argument of Columbus in his diary from October 11-15, 1492, is that the natives that populated America before he “discovered” it are ignorant brutes who should be enslaved into servants and taught to be Christian. Columbus clearly supports his thesis as shown by three pieces of evidence. The first piece of evidence he gives is that the natives are ignorant: “They do not carry arms nor are they acquainted with them, because I showed them swords and they took them by the edge and through ignorance cut themselves.” He writes about how they do not even know what a sword is and how they use primitive weapons without iron. Another piece of evidence is that they are poor in everything: “All of them go around as naked as their mother bore them; and the women also . . . Our Lord pleasing, at the time of my departure I will take six of them from here to Your Highness in order that they may learn to speak.” The natives don’t understand about covering their bodies to preserve modesty, and they still need to be taught to speak properly. The final piece of evidence Columbus gives is that the natives are savages. He alludes to the fact that the natives do not understand how the world works and that they are cannibals who are a threat to society. The source did add to my own understanding of the topic. Before I read Columbus’s account of meeting the natives, I did not know that he thought the native inhabitants of the West Indies were deserving of torture, murder, and enslavement;

The Natives that Christopher Columbus came across upon embraced the Spanish with open arms. Columbus in his writing addressed how he felt about the Natives: "The Natives are an inoffensive people, and so desirous to possess any thing they saw with us." (Columbus, Journal, Par. 9). Columbus states on Sunday, 14th October that he and the Spanish stumbled upon two or three new villages. The native people all came down to the shore: "Calling out to us and giving thanks to God, Some brought us water and others victuals: others seeing that I was not disposed to land, plunged into the sea and swam out to us" (Columbus, Journal, Par. 10). At three o' clock Columbus acknowledges when he sent the boat on the shore: "The natives with great good will directed the men where to find it, assisted them in carrying the casks full of it to the boat, and seemed to take great pleasure in serving us." (Columbus, Journal, Par. 15). Compared to Christopher Columbus, Hernan Cortes also was embraced with open arms by the Aztecs. Cortes introduction to the Aztec people began

Columbus and Cabeza de Vaca had very different experiences when the visiting the “New World”. Columbus tells of a wonderful world filled with promise. Cabeza de Vaca however, tells a more realistic journey filled with harsh winters and the true lifestyle of natives.

Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492 on a mission to find an all water route to the western Indies, instead Columbus reached North America where he continued his search for gold and trade.

de la Casas describes the second voyage that he embarked upon with Columbus. He described how each island was depopulated and destroyed. His observations of the land were no so descriptive of the native people and the land, but of the gruesome images the Spanish painted upon the Indies. de la Casas says, “…the Indians realize that these men had not come from Heaven (9).” He goes into detail about how the Christians would take over villages and had no mercy describing one particularly crude act to show how ruthless the Spanish were. He says, “Then they behaved with such temerity and shamelessness that the most powerful ruler of the islands had to see his own wife raped by a Christian officer (9).” The Spanish were so coward and angry anytime an Indian was actually capable of slaying a Spanish man that a rule was made; for every Christian slain, a hundred Indians would die. Natives were captured and forced to work jobs like pearl diving where they would very rarely survive due to man eating sharks or just from drowning and holding their breaths

Christopher Columbus accepted the only offer he received to start his journey across the ocean to prove his round-earth theory. Columbus, determined to find a new route to India, set sail in 1492. However, instead of India, Columbus landed in a “New World” that he claimed for the country of Spain. The crew aboard Columbus’ ship, and Columbus himself, set out to explore and learn more about their newly claimed lands. After uncovering the island had inhabitants, Columbus and his crew interacted with the natives of the land. During the time that Columbus spent on the island, he recorded, in a journal, his thoughts on the land. Many people believe that he elaborated when describing the area, the natives, and the resources it offers. This led to the questioning of Columbus’ moral character. Inspecting three different sources--Columbus’s Journal, Walt Whitman’s “Prayer of Columbus,” and Joaqin Miller’s “Columbus”-- Columbus’s moral character gets scrutinized.

Explorers like Christopher Columbus and Bartolome de Las Casas have very different views on exploring the world around them and how to treat the people they encounter. From the year they were born to their outcomes Columbus and Las Casas are very different. While Columbus was born in 1451 and was a Genoese sailor, Las Casa was born in 1483 and was a priest who spoke out zealously against forced labor, torture, and murder. Las Casas was actually in the parade to honor Columbus’ return. While Columbus was influenced by the thirteenth century voyages of Marco Polo, Las Casas was at first influenced by Columbus until he became convinced of the injustices perpetrated against Indians by 1514 when he started taking holy orders and reaching to god

Christopher Columbus and Hernando Cortes were both very skilled intelligent men, they both came to the New World (soon to be United States) searching for different but similar things. The point of my paper is to tell you some similarities and differences Columbus and Cortes had. Both men were from Spain but, with different routes and causes.

Both of the explorer stories have their similarities and differences, however de Cárdenas’s story is more accurate because he does not exaggerate as much and has many different point of views. Columbus and de Cárdenas are similar because they are on a journey to find new land. For example, Columbus and his crew discovered new land, “At 10 o’clock, we arrived at a cape of the island, and we anchored, the other vessels in company.(Columbus 15)” In the same way, de Cárdenas was also on a journey with a group of men, “... de Cárdenas there with about twelve men to explore this river.(Castañeda 38)” Columbus and de Cárdenas’s experiences are similar because they are on a journey to find new land to settle in. While Columbus anchored at an island and de Cárdenas explored a river they both

One of the European explorers was Christopher Colombus. In the late 15th Century Columbus wanted to sail across the Atlantic Ocean rather than go all the way around Africa to make it to India. With the competition of the spice trade was getting intense, Columbus was able to convince the King and Queen of Spain to fund his expedition. Colombus was given command of three ships: the Pinta, the Niña, and the Santa María and 90 men. On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail to what they believed was going to be India. Columbus and his crew landed in Cuba on October 20, 1492, believing they were in China. Columbus and his crew searched for the Emperor of China but had no such luck. They were able to find a colony of 200 000 called the Taíno people who greeted Columbus and his crew with hospitality. Colombus and the only surviving ship the Pinta made their way back to Europe on January 16, 1493. Columbus then returned to the Taíno people and enslaved them looking for gold, even though, the Taíno people did not even know what gold was. By 1542, the Taíno population had gone down to only 200. Columbus spent the last years of his life going around the Caribbean slaughtering innocent people. And the entire time, he had thought he had made it across the Atlantic Ocean all the way to India.