Christopher Columbus Dbq Essay

Some people say Christopher Columbus is the man who discovered America and is a hero. Others might say Columbus is a sadistic villain who destroyed the Native American people. There are valid points to each side of the argument for this and are good points. He went to America in 1492, not discovering it. Columbus became well known in America because of this and was made into a holiday. He has his own holiday because of America’s short history. In almost all cultures, they look up to an historical figure, except for America. Columbus had a huge impact in history according to Time who said that Columbus is #20 on the most significant figures. So why wouldn’t Columbus be looked at a hero? I believe, Christopher Columbus is a villainous figure

Christopher Columbus and Bartolome de la Casas are similar in most ways but have a major difference. They were both explorers of the New World and came to convert the natives into Catholics. The two explorers worked on the Spanish’s behalf. Columbus wrote accounts of the New World in his journal. La Casas wrote the Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. Both gave accounts of the native people they saw. Columbus’s journal entries aim to give a positive light on the Spanish and their relationship with the natives. La Casas’s Brief Account does the opposite. While this is true, both explores worked faithfully in favor of the Catholic Church, but they each held different beliefs on the treatment of natives as slaves.

It is thought by many that Christopher Columbus was a skilled sailor on a mission of greed. Many think that he in fact did it all for the money, honor and the status that comes with an explorer, but this is not the case entirely. Columbus was an adventurer and was enthused by the thrill of the quest of the unknown. “Columbus had a firm religious faith and a scientific curiosity, a zest for life, the felling for beauty and the striving for novelty that we associate with the advancement of learning”. He had heard of the legendary Atlantic voyages and sailors reports of land to the west of Madeira and the Azores. He believed that Japan was about 4,800 km to the west of Portugal. In 1484, Columbus wanted support for an exploratory

Christopher Columbus is known for being an explorer and is said to have made one of the most important voyages in world history without even wanting to. Something else that is also believed is that he “opened up” the Americas to European nations, which changed the course of American history. Before he went on his voyage though, he was in need of resources. So he asked Portugal, France, Italy among many other countries but they all denied Columbus and thought his statement was incorrect. Columbus’ statement was that he had found a faster way to get to Asia than the Portuguese had, which was going around the continent of Africa. Columbus lived a majority of his life in Spain, so when it came to setting sail for the west, Spain was one of the first nations he asked for funding. Though it took Columbus a little more than a few years to convince a nation to fund his voyage, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand from Spain subsequently granted to endow him in 1492. He would then leave for “Asia” on August 3, 1492. There are many unanswered questions and thoughts on why Spain decided to finally fund Columbus’ voyage, especially since he was an explorer that was born in Italy.

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;

Upon his arrival in the New World in 1492, Christopher Columbus brazenly labeled indigenous people “indians,” forced native inhabitants to convert to Christianity, and established a tradition of enslavement and violence against non-white men and women ("Columbus Reaches the New World."). Irony runs deep in the veins of the oppression of indigenous people because early colonists in pursuit of religious freedom were those to first call Native Americans ‘savages.’ Patriotic rhymes that praise America’s

Dr. Zinn references numerous accounts of innocent bloodshed, cruelty and the enslavement of Indians by Columbus and his soldiers from De Las Casa’s books prior to Columbus’ return to Spain. Dr. Zinn records the following statements from De Las Casa book in which he says; "Endless testimonies ... prove the mild and pacific temperament of the natives. But our work was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy; small wonder, then, if they tried to kill one of us now and then.... The admiral, it is true, was blind as those who came after him, and he was so anxious to please the King that he committed irreparable crimes against the Indians...." To please

During the Age of exploration, Europeans sailed the seas in search of spices from Asia, where Columbus ended up discovering America. While Columbus was at the root of the enslavement of many people, his discovery along with that of the Europeans changed the world for the better. The New World was colonized, an economy and way of life was established, and it lead to many great triumphs in shaping the world as we know it today.

The skills and qualities required of Christopher Columbus in order for him to lead a safe and successful voyage to undiscovered and unexplored lands weighed heavily on him, as he was initially placed in a headship position in the course of the planning of the journey because he originated and entertained the idea of finding a passage to China through unmarked waters. With his assiduousness and persistence, his appeal and intelligence, he was able to convince the King and Queen of Spain to fund his trip. These issues, along with the fact that he had never been a captain on a ship,

viewpoints from one another regarding the natives. Columbus viewed the natives as a source for income through various means, even though the natives attempted to be kind to him. Thus, Columbus took some natives as slaves and he also forced them to work. Also, Columbus viewed the natives as inferior and also noticed that they were lacking in weaponry compared to the Spaniards. In contrast, Las Casas viewed the natives as a more advanced people. He acknowledged that the way women were treated in native society was so well, that it startled some of the Spanish. Furthermore, he explained in his writings how the natives were peaceful and the Spaniards treated them poorly. However, similarly, both Columbus and Las Casas acknowledged that the natives were different from the

Although it was a visually compelling and convincing movie, it is filled with narrative mistakes, and historical inaccuracies. Columbus is portrayed as a highly ambitious, courageous man who fought for equality and defended the honor and lives of the “heathens” while the indigenous people, or the “Indians” were brute savages, killing and manipulating at whim. Many tried to thwart his every move, and those who didn’t ended up betraying him, despite how he “protected” them and viewed him as his equal. During the beginning of the story, Columbus says “if the natives are to be converted to our ways, then it will be by persuasion and not by force.” This quote is entirely misleading, considering the fact that he forced the natives to convert, and

Some would say that Christopher Columbus was a devout Christian. He believed that "his was a mission that would put Christian civilization on the offensive after centuries of Muslim ascendancy" (Dor-Ner 45). Columbus' original mission was to find a western route to the Indies. But when that failed, his mission became clear: convert these new people to Christianity. Throughout this paper I will show the view of the natives by Columbus and Christendom and how these views changed over a span of fifty years.

Columbus was deeply-rooted follower of Catholicism. He and his crew were both backed by the rulers of a Catholic country that believed so deeply in their religion that the started the Reconquista. It is because of this that he brutally forced the native peoples to uproot their beliefs and accept Catholicism. As shown in document 14, the Aztecs believed that their God’s created a world in which blood had to be shed to sustain itself. This illustration was created to portray and explain Aztec religion and culture, and does so with a drawing of a sacrificial killing. As for Columbus’ rules for the new followers, El Requerimiento in document 5 is a perfect example. El Requerimiento was written for the Aztec citizens explaining to them that if they did not accept Catholicism whole-heartedly they would be subjected to “the yoke and obedience of the Church”, their families would be put into slavery, and that all “mischief and damage” possible would

When he landed on the small Island, natives greeting them with generosity. In one hand, he saw the opportunity to convert the natives that he called “Indians” into the Christianity in the name of the Christian church. On the other hand, he realized that the natives were friendly and illiterate because they did not have arms and iron to defend themselves, “They should be good and intelligent servants, for I see that they say very quickly everything that is said to them”. Last, Columbus and the King of Spain intentions were to find gold and natural resources to enrich Europeans, because he noted that natives were wearing jewelry and ornaments. (Fraser 29).

During some of his first encounters with the natives he already begins to make drastic claims. From his entry on October 11th, Columbus describes the natives with the following: “I could see that they were people who would be more easily converted to our Holy Faith… They must be good servants, and intelligent, for I can see that they quickly repeat everything said to them. I believe they would readily become Christians; it appeared to me that they have no religion.” Without spending a large amount of time with the natives, Columbus already deems them easily susceptible to Christianity; due to the fact they did not appear to have a religion. This ties into Todorov’s thesis, the natives did not possess the communications skills that the Spaniards did, and therefore, they could not communicate to an effective degree to the Spaniards what kind of people they were, and that they did have a faith they believed in. In addition to this, in his October 14th entry Columbus states, “These people have little knowledge of fighting… for with fifty men one could keep the whole population in subjection and make them do whatever one wanted.” Again, Columbus makes these grandiose claims of these people, and is able to write this down and have it be read. Columbus is using these writings paint a picture of the natives, of which they could comprehend, giving Columbus and his crew