Christopher Columbus Impact On America

Christopher Columbus, perhaps the most well-known explorer from Italy, made several voyages in his lifetime, but his most famous excursion was in the New World in the Americas. In 1492 there was not much advanced technology available to Columbus and his men, so they relied on maps, magnetic compasses, and even celestial navigation. Since 1492, technology has evolved and progressed tremendously and rapidly. Columbus’ voyage would have been altogether simpler if he was exposed to just some of the technology that society has access to today. Since technology is used for all aspects of life, including communication, directions, and machinery, Columbus’ voyage could have been easier planned and carried out if he was able to use the technology advancements of today. Technology would have impacted the length of the voyage, his communications with Spain, and he could have also explored more of the world.

     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

The arrival of Columbus in 1492 has been viewed with mixed feelings with others believing the day should be viewed as an occasion for mourning. Some activists advocate for the day to be replaced with a day for ethnic diversity. The belief that he discovered America is not to say that he was the first to set his eyes on America, it meant that he opened up America to new opportunities. This was by bringing America to the attention of the New World by bringing the civilization of Western Europe to its residents. It was the discoveries of Columbus that led to an interaction of ideas and people and different cultures that made America what it is today.

“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”, these words are taught all around the states and are meant to help teach and remember the year that the now notorious Christopher Columbus went on his renowned exploration. Columbus was an Italian that was sent by the Queen and King of Spain to find riches in other lands, and during this voyage he stumbled onto the Americas. During his time in the Americas he enslaved the Native Americans, forced Christianity onto them and brought over diseases that would result in the eventual deaths of Native American. For a long period of time though, Columbus was known as the “man who discovered America”, nothing more. Now he is thought of as a murderer and a thief for stealing the land and lives of many Native Americans.

When Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, he ended up in the islands of the Caribbean, which is not America. Furthermore, there were already humans there, so he wasn't the first to

“In fourteen hundred ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” One of the first things we learned in primary school was that Christopher Columbus discovered America, they also made us read Christopher 's Journals (1493) such as: “ They … brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks ' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned... . They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane... . They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” Here he was describing what he encountered with the “Taino indigenous peoples of Hispaniola.” However, we as students never questioned how is it Columbus “discovered” America. In his journals (1493) he states that he encountered people that lived there before he arrived, even though it wasn 't really America. The word discover is defined as “ to obtain sight or knowledge of for the first time.” There is evidence that validate Columbus did not discover America. One evidence that validates Columbus did not discover America is the inaccuracy in his studies. Columbus and his cohorts believed and

12 October 1492- Columbus arrives in the Americas- Christopher Columbus had the support of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. Columbus set sail in April of 1492. It took him nearly six months for him to touch land. Although Columbus was not the first to actually discover the Americas, he has been given that credit despite there being evidence that Vikings actually discovered the Americas around 1000 AD. “Icelandic legends called sagas recounted Eriksson’s exploits in the New World around A.D. 1000. These Norse stories were spread by word of mouth before becoming recorded in the 12th and 13th centuries.” (History.com/Vikings) The significance of Columbus coming to America over the Vikings is that following the voyage of Columbus, is when settlers really began to start traveling to the Americas and “a new phase of civilization began.” (Reference.com)

Even though Columbus did find his way to the Americas, it was not North America he discovered. In fact, he never stepped foot in the United States during his four expeditions. Columbus actually made landfall in various islands located in what is now known as the Bahamas, which had hundreds of thousands Native American inhabitants that had already made

Christopher Columbus was famous for being the man to “discover” the New World. In America, he is widely revered as the man responsible for finding the country that exists today. Although well known for his admirable sailing skills and abilities, Christopher Columbus was anything but a hero and his legacy was nothing but a mere miscalculation. There is much more to the story of the explorer than what we were taught to believe was true. The only thing that was true was that he discovered a land that was not yet known by the “civilized” world. However, that does not cover up for the fact he was a murderer who basically erased the existence of the natives who inhabited the land previous to their arrival. To believe that every history textbook depicts him as this legendary person who discovered the Americas and his bravery was well recognized by the people that we created a

Columbus was an illustrious hero in America history books since most people didn't know the truth. But as time goes and people begin to read, they realized that he was the person who discovered America. He set sail on a dangerous journey across the Atlantic Ocean with three ships: the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. His crew almost called a revolution, but then land was spotted in 1492

My own thinking about Columbus was that he did not discover America but did eventually land on America. I also believed that Columbus tried to gain control of the Indians but he met some resistance.

The culture and character of the English colonies that developed in America were the result of both English history and tradition combined with conditions unique to the New World. The Settlers who came to the Americas brought with them the customs and conventions of their native land, and as they began to adapt to their new life and environment, those customs began to change as well.

Columbus gets a lot of credit for "discovering" land that already had people living on it, a land that has already been encountered by other people way before Columbus was even born. In 70,000 to 12,000 B.C. Siberia explorers sailed to Alaska. In 10,000-600 B.C., Siberians also went to Canada and the state we now call New Mexico. A little more recently the Vikings in 1000-1350 came from Greenland and Iceland. They traveled to Labrado, Baffin Land, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Cape Cod and further south. Around 1311 and 1460 explorers from West Africa came across to Haiti, Panama, and Brazil (Loewen 48). These were only a few of the many encounters of the Americas. A result of these explorations was the establishment of Indian villages and the life they began to lead.

When I was younger, my teachers used to tell of this great man that explored the world in search of a new route to Asia, how brave and fearless he was. I was taught that he discovered the Americas, not only was that a misunderstanding, but come to find out that most things I had learned in school were people trying to turn Columbus into this hero that never existed. They would talk of the variety of goods, plants, animals, spices, and land that he had discovered. I used to look up to Christopher Columbus and strived to be like him, but then I grew up and learned the hard truth.

Christopher Columbus is an Italian explorer,navigator,and colonizer was born in the republic Genoa. Columbus is actually not the first European to cross the Atlantic ocean. Word is that Norse ,who is a viking, was believed to land on the Atlantic ocean around 1000 A.D., Which was five centuries before columbus even set sail to make this trip. What most people don't know is that whenever columbus returned to spain he was returned in chains in 1500.So therefore Columbus didn't discover America because the vikings were there way before columbus and his crew arrived but Columbus didn't know that. If you think about it columbus never set foot in America. Let's also not forget he did not prove that the earth isn't round. For years we have been taught that when christopher columbus set on his voyage to find a new route ,he thought that they would all fall off the face of the earth because as he quotes”the earth was flat” However Columbus did land on the Caribbean islands. He was a brutal governor to them,he terrorized Spanish colonist,which was stated in the book Columbus’ by Laurence Bergreen. Even with all of this he was still a great explorer. His goals were to go over there and expand the Spanish empire with new territories and turn the natives into Christians. He wanted land and he wanted power so that is what he strived for. When Columbus younger he set out on his first voyages. Later on he got married and they had one son together but whenever his wife died, he moved to