Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain? Essay

     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:

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

In elementary school students are taught that Christopher Columbus is some godly hero who discovered that the earth was round and a shorter route to “Asia”. They even have a day dedicated to him. Typically, children are gullible and just believe what they are taught, rather than actually researching and learning the history on their own. As a child one’s brain is not developed enough to possess a sense of moral discernment. Also, children are not taught any other version of the story. However, as one grows and matures and learns more about Christopher Columbus, one can see a darker side of him. According to research, he took advantage of the kindness of many indigenous land

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.

He was loved in Spain because of his discoveries. Later that year he left to sea once again, this time he went to explore more of the Islands in the Caribbean. Columbus and his crew found the Navidad settlement destroyed and everyone was killed. Since the Queen felt slavery was offensive, Columbus created a forced labor policy to rebuild the destroyed settlement. He rebuilt the settlement to find gold and other goods to sell. He found small pieces of gold and sold it, but a lot of the people disliked what he did. Before he returned to Spain, Columbus left his brothers in Hispaniola and explored more of the Caribean thinking it was Islands of China. Columbus’s third voyage led him to finally exploring the mainlands. He discovered the Orinoco River, which is now in Venezuela. The Hispaniola was also falling apart at the time because of the poor leading of his brothers and because people thought they were being deceived by Columbus. The Spanish Crown sent an official to arrest Columbus and took his authority. He returned to Spain to go to the Royal Court, but his charges were later dropped. Columbus lost his ability to be governor of the Indies and for a while, lost his riches from his voyages. Columbus later convinced King Ferdinand to go on another voyage and he promised to bring back a lot of riches. He went on his last voyage ever in 1502 and this time he was traveling along the eastern coast of Central America. He was unsuccessful in finding a route to the Indian Ocean. A brutal storm left them stranded in an island of Cuba. Islanders eventually got tired of their gold obsession and unfair treatment, they decided to starve the Spaniards. Columbus decided to punish the islanders by taking away the moon. On February 29, 1504, There was a lunar eclipse and it startled the islanders, so they made trades with the Spaniards again. The Royal Governor of the Hispaniola sent people to rescue the stranded Spaniards. In July, Columbus and

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

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

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.

Using basic knowledge of geography Christopher Columbus proposed a voyage to Asian trading posts by traveling west. The Spanish monarchy decidedly financed this mission in hopes of expanding Spanish influence in the Asian trading community. Thus, in 1492 Columbus set off on his mission to the West Indies. However, his journey did not lead to the West Indies, but rather to the Americas. This is considered to be a blessing in disguise for the Spanish because, not only were they able to discover other tradable goods but also fertile land for the

In the beginning of October, millions of kids are relinquished from school to celebrate a holiday dedicated to one man: Christopher Columbus, a man perceived as a valiant hero credited for discovering America in 1492. Generations of Americans have passed down the belief that Columbus was an amazing explorer, but tend to overlook the horrific deeds that Columbus committed. Despite his monumental accomplishments, Columbus was a historical figure closer to Hitler than to Martin Luther King on the morality spectrum. Due to his use of slavery, treatment of Native American slaves, and the tricks he used to deceive others, Columbus was not a hero but rather a villain.

When Columbus saw the people on this land, he assumed they were people from the West Indies, therefore he called them  “Indians”. In Columbus’ letter to Lord Sanchez, he described the people as “savages, [who are] naturally timid and full of fear” (document 13).  In document 2, his letter to Santangel, he goes so far as to say that when he tried to establish trading relationships with the Indians they acted primitive and uncivilized. Columbus also states in document 2 that he hopes they will become fond of the Spanish and establish trade relationships as had been requested. Obviously this would be a difficult feat because of the lack of coherence between cultures. Columbus worked very hard to ensure the development of trade relations.  As seen in document 9, Columbus writes many letters back to the King and Queen of Spain reporting on the status of his mission and updates on the relations with the people. One key detail from this document is Columbus’ opening line where he includes the statement “in obedience to your Highness's’ commands.”  This is significant because it shows that Columbus is working under the King and Queen's commands and that he is not entirely to blame for his actions. Columbus should not be held responsible due to the fact that he was abiding the orders of the King and

S2:Columbus uncounted the arawaks people witch were very peaceful and friendly. Columbus saw their gold ornaments so he took some of the arawaks captive to show him were the source of gold

He used these Indians as his servants, making them search for gold, food, etc. After his first trip to the New World in 1492, he took a few Indians back to Spain with him. He showed these Indian servants to the King and Queen and promised them that he would come back from his second expedition with an abundance of gold and silver and as many slaves as they requested. He took off for the New World again with seventeen ships and twelve hundred men. They went from island to island in the Caribbean and took the Indians as captives. But word spread quickly through the Indian population and Columbus and his crew began finding more and more empty

Before we can truly label Columbus as a hero or evil, we must first define what is viewed as a hero. Many dictionary definitions exist having the meaning of a hero as one with courageous or noble qualities but seeing as these definitions are extremely objective, the definition of a hero I will be using for the purpose of defining Columbus will be, quoting Joseph Campbell, “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” Christopher Columbus clearly demonstrated giving and self sacrifice in his investments of time and risking his life for his voyages with “commercial expeditions resembling warlike cruises” and at some points in his travels being away from home for 29 months. The rewards that Columbus, along with the rest of Europe, reaped from his efforts include the new access to vast expanses of resourceful land, as well as the eventually successful, even flourishing, colonization of America, not to mention, that Columbus, “[the] founding figure of a new world” laid the framework to modern day globalization as well as played a key role in the creation of one of the most significant, powerful, and impactful nations existing today. The fact that Columbus grew up in poor conditions and being completely self taught in the art of navigation and seafaring only adds to the magnitude of his immense accomplishments.

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