Christopher Columbus : Hero Or Villain?

He used information that was already found and went to America. He was not the first to even arrive at America. In the text, it says that, “The inhabitants were primarily hunters/gatherers”. This is to show how Columbus did not even come close to discovering America and other people were already there. Columbus ruthlessly took the credit of America’s discovery. Another reason Columbus is a villain, is that he decreased the Indian population by 99%. This is a huge decrease that put the Native American population into poverty. So far, Christopher Columbus has only been harming the Natives. Now for his own allies, he treated them at a low level as well. It says in a video, “he was brutal even to other colonist he ruled”. This seems very harsh and I would not want a leader like this? These show how devious and unruly Columbus was and how he was an outlaw.

The way Columbus said those words so nonchalantly really gives me an idea of what kind of man Columbus really was and what kind of mission the Spaniards were really on. What does “I have already taken” mean? To me it means that Columbus now owns these “Indians” and their freedom was most likely taken by force. It means that he has already enslaved these people and they must have not put up much of a fight. He just kind of threw those four words into a sentence in the letter, did not mention how they have taken them or what happened, he just mentions that there are “Indians” and he is letting the monarchs back in Spain know that he has taken them. He mentions nothing more of the people he has just conquered, but moves on to mention how he named their island Hispaniola. This was just a preview for the more barbarism to come.

Most children in the United States, grow up with the stories of the brave and heroic Christopher Columbus, who risked his life to connect the western and eastern hemispheres. There is even a day dedicated to his "good work" and "heroism". But the stories don't explore the whole truth. Since his discoveries led to the founding of America, history turns a blind eye to his immoral actions and the consequence of his deeds. Christopher Columbus is a villain because he enslaved, wiped out and manipulated the populations of the Native Americans in the Indies.

     Conversely, James W. Loewen, who did extensive research of high school history lessons to write his book Lies my Teacher Told Me, feels Columbus wasn’t really as great as he is made out to be. Loewen writes, “The history books make up all kinds of details to tell a better story and to humanize Columbus so that readers will identify with him” (38). Just as Hart pushes the idea that Columbus made a great new discovery finding the Americas, Loewen argues that “Columbus’s voyage was not the first, but the last discovery” (39). His importance has to do with the changes that were made in Europe and not having “discovered new land”. People from other continents had gone to America long before 1492. “Daring sailors reached America in a series of voyages across the North Atlantic, establishing communities on the Faeroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. The Norse colony on Greenland lasted five hundred years (982-c.1500)”. Loewen further goes on to argue against Hart on the issue of the Turks and their supposed land route control and describes the claims as a “falsehood”. Loewen also points out the several times Christianity is used as an excuse

School taught us about the infamous Christopher Columbus who was known as the hero who found the Americas in 1492, but is that the truth? Is Columbus really the hero that grade school portrayed him to be? Columbus was not. Columbus was a greedy man who destroyed an entire race of people with genocide just so only he could benefit and become a man of money and power.

Columbus has always been portrayed as an enlightened, peaceful explorer who “discovered” a new world, and became friends with the native people. Howard Zinn’s view on Columbus’s encounter with the natives is an entirely different perspective. Zinn describes Columbus as a man who is willing to torture and kill others to be able to accomplish what he wants; in this case he wanted to obtain gold and other resources to take back with him to Spain.

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.

Him and his men went in groups to look for gold and round up any natives. They would take women and children then force them into being sex and labor slaves. In 1495 they went on a very large raid of the land and ended up putting 1500 men into captivity. Captivity as in they were put into cages like animals guarded by the spaniards and dogs. Of the 1500 they captured, the ones who they thought were the most healthy and fit were put on sale in Spain, but only 300 of them arrived. Only 300 arrived because on the way there 200 of the “best specimens” perished. Columbus still hadn’t lived up to his promises, so he had people search for copper. The “indians” who searched had to hang the copper they found around their necks, like a necklace. If they came back empty handed, you’d get your hands chopped off, and left to bleed out and die.

All my life, I have been hearing about Christopher Columbus. Since little, first, my family talking about him, then in school learning about him. I really thought he was a hero. The way they teach you about him in grammar school or middle school makes you think he really is a hero. But later on, doing research on him, looking for what he really did, where did he came from etc. I realize that he is not a hero. There are many reasons why people think he is good as well there are many reasons why they think he is bad. Personally I think Columbus is a villain, he did a lot of bad things that most people don’t know a bout. However if they know them, it would make them think a little bit deeper if Columbus is the Hero

Christopher Columbus is commonly known as the “discoverer” of the Americas. From a young age students are taught all the wonderful things he did for our land and how well he interacted with the Natives. Although the truth is disregarded and as students grow, they come to learn that Columbus was not a hero in fact. Columbus came close to causing a genocide of the Native Americans, and basically began the “white power” movement that America is forced to deal with today. The truth of what Christopher Columbus did makes him no better than Hitler, yet America still praises him as an important figure in our history. The actions of Columbus has impacted all Americans lives since the 1400’s when he first landed on American soil. Although it did make America into the super power it is today, the structure within the borders will never be equal because of his abuse of power back then. Christopher Columbus is not the hero American students are taught from a young age and does not deserve any of the praise or recognition that we as American citizens continue to give him on a daily basis.

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.

Throughout history, Christopher Columbus was seen in quite contrary ways. Some would view him as a valiant hero who discovered the New World and vanquished the primitive ways of the savage and barbaric native people. Others would see Columbus in a much different light, describing him as an interloper who spread disease to and enslaved an entire native people. These two statements above describe two vastly different visions of Christopher Columbus. In fact, the hard evidence would support that a bit of both of the above visions are indeed factual. Christopher Columbus was a man with several wonderful achievements, however some of these achievements had several negative repercussions. Columbus's discovery of the New World led to a more diverse society, a new social system, and the exploitation and eventual extermination of the Native peoples.

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

In the year of 1492, the man who brought tragedy to the Americas was seen as a hero to us, but little did we know what he really did. Every elementary kid learned that Christopher Columbus found America in an honorable way. We also have a national holiday just for him. They never told us though how he was looking for the Indies and thought he was in China. In reality he was lost and had no clue he was in America. They also did not show us how he actually treated the people on the islands when he met them. He was cruel to them just because they could not understand him and he took away their land just because he wanted to. Christopher Columbus was a really bad man, but was taught to us as a good man. What really happened in the year