Christopher Columbus As A Hero

     Columbus was like a God in the eyes of the Native Americans and they believed that he could save them. They followed him around and wanted to find out more about these strage people who had landed on there territory. The natives saw no harm in Columbus and his men and offered them most of the things they had as gifts. They were willing to give the Europeans anything they wanted. All of the things the Europeans had were new to them. For example in Columbus’s own journal, I Take Possession for King and Queen, he states that:

Document #1 explains that the first thing that caught Columbus’ eyes was gold. This means that he was blinded by his greed the first time he even laid his eyes upon the ‘New World.’ Therefore the fact that he killed Natives for their wealth, and implied this by writing about this in his own diary, proves that Columbus was a villain.

As soon as Christopher landed in the “New World,” he claimed the territory for Spain, immediately. It seems he failed to realize there were already land occupants among it so how can he claim this for place for Spain, and to make matters worse he decided to enslave the land’s civilization. According to biography.com “The natives were soon forced into slavery, and punished with the loss of a limb or death if they did not collect enough gold (a portion of which Columbus was allowed to keep for himself).” He came to their place of inhabitant claimed it for Spain’s then took advantage of them and enslaved them to find gold. Thus proving how much of a selfish man he was and how much of a villain he actually was rather than the esteemed hero with a holiday we are instilled to believe from a young age.

Columbus viewed the culture of the native people of the islands as inferior to his own which resulted in a belief that he and his men have the right to harm and treat them harshly. ‘…On my arrival, I had taken some Indians by force from the first island that I came…’ By enslaving some of the Indians, Columbus showed that he believed that he had the right to enslave them because they were inferior to him in some way. ‘…to bear witness that he before all others took possession of that island for the King and Queen…’ With this statement, Columbus stated the belief that the Island did not even belong to the native people to begin

Columbus never even walked on what we now call the United States of America. Where ever he did land, he was motivated only by his own greed. Columbus came for the gold, spices, and slaves. In his diary, he mentioned gold 75 times just in the first two weeks, alone (Katz 13). Indians who weren’t able to find gold, were punished by having their hands cut off. Most slaves died en route to Spain. Many Indian females were taken as sex slaves, some as young as nine and ten years old. Columbus forced cooperation from the Indians by disfiguring them and using them as examples. Even worse, he used hunting dogs to tear the Indians apart. Many natives committed suicide, and murdered their own children to save them from such a horrible life. Those who survived the voyage were worked to death. Still, another huge portion of these Indians died from disease brought over by Columbus and his

In the year 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the Atlantic hoping to land in Asia, but ended up in the New World. The world where he met Native Americans and called them Indians. Hoping to find spices, he found enough to trade between continents that ended up being called the Columbian Exchange. His rediscovery marked a new chapter in textbooks which many are still arguing whether it makes him a hero or villain. Christopher Columbus should be remembered as a villain because his encounter, with the intention of taking advantage of Native Americans, lead to many deaths.

Columbus noticed that some of these Indians had little golden ornaments in their noses and ears, This made him take some of the Arawak Indians that they help prisoner onto the ship and insisted they guide him to where they were the source of the gold was, this had lead him to sail to what is now Cuba then to Hispaniola.# There bits of gold were visible in the rivers. Columbus and his crew built a fort and left thirty-nine crew members there to collect gold and store all they would find.

Christopher Columbus is an internationally celebrated explorer, due to his voyages to Central America during the Age of Discovery, a period between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries when explorers were sponsored by eastern countries to claim land. Columbus was an Italian explorer, on a conquest for gold and riches, who was sponsored by the monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, to travel to Southern Asia. Columbus proposed the idea of traveling from East to West, rather than traveling along the borders of countries and continents, such as Africa and Asia, to eastern countries for gold, spices, and other riches for the monarchs. When Columbus succeeded in landing in the New World, he believed he landed in Southern Asia, but rather he landed in Hispaniola, modern day Haiti and Dominican Republic. The “New World” was a term used for the area Columbus landed in, on October 12, 1492. When Columbus landed in the New World, it was inhabited by native people, who were used by the Spaniards to help navigate and understand the landscape of the islands and as workers to find gold. Columbus has a mixed legacy because he had positive and negative attributes; he made the Columbian Exchange, which increased biodiversity in the New World, and is an important explorer in American history, but also began the African slave trade and caused population devastation due to slavery and diseases in the native populations. The legacy of Christopher Columbus should be remembered as a villain because he was greedy for wealth and power, he introduced diseases to the New World, and enslaved and used violence against the natives.

The Arawak people welcomed Columbus and his men as if they were gods. In return, Columbus took advantage of their generosity and responded with enslavement, torture, violence and mass killings. A person who takes advantage of an innocent person or group in these ways is not a hero, a good leader, or a good person.

Columbus was no exception. The Indians, Columbus reported, "are so naive and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts.” (A People’s History By Howard Zinn). Columbus took some of the friendly natives by force just so that he might know where the treasure was hidden. He goes on to say, “I was very attentive to them, and strove to learn if they had any gold. I gathered from them by signs that... there would be found a king who possessed large vessels of gold, and in great quantities.” (-- Christopher Columbus (1492)) The Native’s strong belief in sharing, unfortunately, caused the Europeans to fall into greediness. They took advantage of their kindness beyond the limit. Furthermore, he came up with a cruel system. In this system “they ordered all persons to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Those without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death (-- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (1980)). “ Columbus and his crew went to an extreme here in order to

In 1492, Italian cartographer and explorer, Christopher Columbus, set off on a mission from Spain in order to find a quicker, alternative route to Asia. With him, Columbus brought eighty-seven men and three ships, the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María, to sail across the large and vast Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately for Columbus, a new route to Asia was never discovered by Spain that year because he had arrived in the Caribbean, which was found in North America. Thinking that he had just entered the Indies, he started to call the people of this land, “Indians”. These Indians were actually Native Americans who had lived on these lands for thousands of years prior. Immediately, letters from Columbus to the King and Queen of Spain were sent by boat back to Europe and soon Columbus was seen as the man who helped create a bridge of prosperous trading and riches between Europe and “Asia”.1 While this discovery proved that Columbus was a hero-like figure to Spain, it’s what he did within the new land that actually makes him one of the biggest villains to ever set foot on Earth. But what classifies this explorer as a villain? Columbus captured thousands of natives, many of which were sent back to Spain to live and work as slaves. Along with that, Columbus also forced the Christian religion onto them, spread diseases that killed thousands of lives, and used violence as a means of persuasion and control.2 Corrupted by his pursuit of riches,

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who received credit for the discovery of the Americas in 1492. His goal was to discover another route to India instead, he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in Hispaniola which is present day Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Although, historians argue he did not technically discover the Americas, he opened trade routes between the Old World and the New World. He influenced later explorers and impacted the development of the Columbian Exchange. The historians present their attitudes towards the consequences and outcomes of Christopher Columbus and his discovery. They also state their argument on his controversial legacy about whether Christopher Columbus should be perceived as a hero or a villain.

When Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas he stole land, kidnapped people and started a massacre. This all started August 3, 1492, when Columbus started his trip to India. According to Document B, “I took possession of all of them for our most fortunate King...no one making any resistance.” This was written by Christopher Columbus in 1493. In this quote he is referring to the people of the islands he discovered, saying that he has kidnapped them for the King. It also states, “ In the island, which I have said before was called Hispana, there are very lofty and beautiful mountains, great farms...and well adapted for constructing buildings.”, which describes reasons they should take over the land. Additionally, according to Document C,

Columbus's arrogance and exploitation regarding slavery began on his second voyage. Ferdinand and Isabella had ordered that the natives be treated kindly. In opposition to this order, Columbus began exporting slaves in great numbers in 1494. It was because he was not making any real profit elsewhere on the island that he decided to exploit the one source of income--people--he had in abundance (Fernandez-Armesto 107). When word reached him that the crown did not want him sending more slaves, Columbus ignored it. He was desperate to make his expeditions profitable enough for Ferdinand and Isabella's continued support. Evidently he was not reprimanded because thousands of Indians were exported. By the time they reached Spain, usually a third of them were dead. Bartolome de las Casas wrote that one Spaniard had told him they did not need a compass to find their way back to Spain; they could simply follow the bodies of floating Indians who had been tossed overboard when they died (17). It is horrible to consider that the exportation of these natives resulted

Christopher Columbus is mainly known for being the one to uncover America. He had been labeled as a brave voyager who discovered new land, and started settlement there.