Christopher Columbus And Native America Case Study

Samuel Eliot Morison- A Harvard historian, most distinguished writer on Columbus, the author of a multivolume biography Christopher Columbus, Mariner, and was himself a sailor, retraced Columbus 's route across the Atlantic and tells about the enslavement and the mass genocide of the natives

Zinn argues that the perspective of indigenous people should not be omitted and argues that their perspectives are as significant as any other. He provides insight and perspectives of the Indians to describe how the heinous acts of the Europeans were unjustified. He also discusses that the Europeans had a continual motive of exploring during that time which was to increase the power/authority of the Spanish Crown by whatever means necessary, usually leading to violent wars.

Christopher Columbus was an Italian Explorer,colonizer.He was one of the most outstanding navigator in human history.In 1492, Columbus sailed to the Americas for the first time. It was the beginning of the 21st century large-scale sailing, the beginning of the connection between the old continent and the new continent, and caused a great variety of ecological changes.He traveled four times across the Atlantic from 1492 to 1502 under the support of the King of Spain. Since Columbus’ discovery in 1942,the Columbian exchange began.The Columbian exchange was a biological and cultural exchanges between the old world and the New world.The exchanges of animals , diseases,plants,and technology etc, affected and transformed European and Native American’s way of life from 1492 to 1607. The plants involved in the Columbian Exchange changed both the economy and the culture of the new and old worlds.There was a lot of new plants discovered in the Americas.There were many new plants in the Americas that Europeans had never seen.The most prevalent was sugarcane.According to some information “The Columbian exchange sugarcane preparation sugarcane originates from new Guinea. It then spread to the Tropical regions of south Asia through trade routes.Sugarcane was taken by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage from the canary islands to what is now the Dominican Republic ” (Katherine Hurley).Eventually,the large scale production of sugar in the Americas was because of that.The

Within a generation of Columbus’ death, Spain had taken control of most of the New World. They thrived on ideas of power and conquered the Inca. The explorers moved further west and found the Aztecs, who had a population of two hundred thousand people. The Spanish conquered them in two years. They did not always treat the natives with so much disrespect, though. The Columbian exchange allowed for new materials, foods, and more to be brought to and from these worlds. Cattle, pigs, goats, and more were brought to the Americas from the Old World. Various plants that had been accidentally imported from Europe caused a lot of damage to the ecosystem in the Americas. The Americas introduced to Europe things such as corn, potatoes, yams, and much more. Spanish explorers eventually continued to move west in search of their precious gold, and still kept with their idea of killing any natives that stand in their way, until they reached New Mexico, where the Spaniards decided to live with the Native Americans in peace. The Spanish colonists were often a selfish group of people who took what they wanted from natives and tried to force them to convert away from their own religious beliefs, then killed them off. Finally, the settlers decided to live with them peacefully after killing hundreds of thousands of natives over the

Among the more notorious dimensions of the age of exploration and colonization is the impact which this massive wave of maritime transmigration would have on the indigenous populations of those locations where European settlers made landfall. And perhaps no historical figure is as emblematic of this impact than Christopher Columbus, who in his ambition to bring gold, spices and cotton home from the lands he believed to be the West Indies, would help to set off one of the most complete genocides in human history. As the text by McKay et al (2003) demonstrates, Columbus approached the natives that he encountered in the Caribbean with a sense of European superiority that would come to define colonialism and to justify its attendant ethnic cleansing. Indeed, the perspective offered by Columbus is that of a conqueror establishing dominance over a people quite vulnerable to subordination.

Before Christopher Columbus came and found the Americas. About 14,000 years ago there was a land bridge connected by Siberia and Alaska. But due to the last ice age water levels had been increasing. This led to the land bridge going under water. Now fast forward 14,000 years later Christopher Columbus had reached as what was known as the New World in 1492. When they discovered there were many native people on this land. Native American tribes were all over the place. Well two of the biggest tribes were the Incas and the Aztec people who each had over 25 million people in their tribe.

Europeans sailed to explore and find new lands where they could share their religions and gain glory for the finding of new islands. The indigenous people were on the verge of extinction due to the exploration and colonization of the Americas. Everyday, the Natives were forced to destroy their own culture, former beliefs, and selves. The Spaniard colonizers used inhumane acts as attempts to control the Natives and force them to complete tasks for them. The Spaniards viewed their lifestyle as superior and attempted to convert the indigenous people to follow their clean lifestyle. Spaniards did not view the Natives as equals which caused the justification of why they treated the Natives so poorly. The exploration of the Americas resulted in the

Throughout history, key individuals are simply the product of their times, happening upon their destinies through luck or inevitability rather than personal motive or talent. Christopher Columbus did not set out on his voyage, intending to discover a new continent and change the course of the world so dramatically; and if he had not played his role in the colonization of the Americas, someone else would have. Likewise, the cascade of events that led to World War I could be blamed on Archduke Ferdinand, his assassin, or even his driver, but the Great War would have erupted even if the assassination had never taken place at all. Sometimes, though, the power and personality of an individual is capable of diverting the course of history, their influence overpowering the cumulative current of events like a ship 's rudder.

The United States, before it was called “The United States”, was a vast region west of Europe that housed people of previous indigenous ancestors, the Native Americans. Before Europeans arrived to this New World though, the population was said to be around two to ten million. However, after these land-seeking, gold-hungry European explorers and colonists arrived, the population of the Native Americans eventually decreased dramatically. Diseases like smallpox contributed. Back to pre-Columbus times though, Native Americans were spread out all over North America, and there was large diversity between different Native tribes. Most of these tribes were very centered on religion and the spirit world. A lot of them believed in a single creator,

The writer develops an effective argument that examines the three key factors (location, size, and material) a group or agency should consider in memorializing an event or person and in creating a monument in order to “effectively pay homage to deep sacrifice or honor moments of great achievement.” The sources selected illustrate a critical understanding of each source’s position, allowing the student to convincingly engage the sources to facilitate the student’s own argument.For example, in the first body paragraph, the student argues that it was a good decision to place the statue of Christopher Columbus in a serene location in order to invite reflection on the “important role Christopher Columbus had in American history” rather than “behind

Columbus was both a navigator and explorer, born in Genoa, Italy in 1451. He grew up as the son of a middle class weaver and as a teenager he first took an interest in seafaring life. As a young boy, he attended trading voyages between the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. His first expedition to the Atlantic Ocean in 1476 was almost fatal. French privateers attacked the commercial fleet Columbus was traveling with and his ship burned down, leaving him to swim for his life. He washed up on a Portuguese shore and found his way to Lisbon. He furnished himself a niche there but eventually moved to Spain. He started his journies to gain information about the Atlantic currents and continued to seek faster trade routes across world

In Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress by Howard Zinn, the author wrote about the history of conquests and the significance of them. The author switched between the stories of conquests in North and South Americas and his idea about history. As Zinn added ideas of history and how it should be interpreted by people, the stories of the natives became easier to understand from both the european side and the native side. In one of the author’s comments about conquerors and conquered, he wrote “it is the job of thinking people (...) not to be on the side of the executioner” (page 10). I agree with this idea that history should not be seen only from the point of view of the side with power. As mentioned in the text, most historical references

The Spanish sought to obtain wealth and land and spread Catholicism. The Incas and the Aztec were not prepared for this encounter; these strange people brought with them weapons, armor, horses, and disease that would devastate the populations. Even though the conquistadors were well equipped and ready to take on the New World they were at a disadvantage; they did not know the lands well and were only trained to fight those who fought in a similar fashion, unfortunately despite this the Natives would be the ones who would suffer tremendously. The conquistadors were not kind to the natives; they would enslave and abuse them showing no mercy simply because of their cultural

After most of their population had been decimated, the remaining Indians were forced into slave labor that worked them to exhaustion. If they refused to work, they would lose their lives. When Columbus first arrived, he viewed the Indians as ignorant, and easily conquered. His first encounter with the Arawak tribe occurred when the two sides exchanged certain items. During this time, Columbus noted how the tribe possessed no iron, beared no arms, and used feeble spears made out of cane. This led to his idea that it would only require 50 men to subdue them all, and force them to do whatever he wished. From Columbus’ point of view, he was thinking as a great explorer that would conquer and use an entire race of people to establish a new civilization,

In the early morning of October 12, 1492, Columbus and his crew came upon an unknown and uncharted island. Approaching land, Columbus was met by the Arawak Indians, which were hospitable and generous people that offered anything they owned. However, Columbus was quick to notice that the Arawaks had no weapons and wore tiny gold ornaments in their ears. This observation was to set off one of the biggest and horrific genocides in history. In “Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress” of A People’s History Of The United States, Howard Zinn emphasizes this and the way America was taken over by the Europeans. After reading Zinn’s chapter it would be hard to dismiss the truth behind these atrocities committed in the name of progress. It is easy