Christopher Columbus Journey According To Dc Selwood Summary

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 changed the culture of the Indians as he forced, captured, and enslaved most of them. Natives that were forced into labor had to gather gold and if they didn’t wear a copper coin had their hands chopped off and bled to death. Captured natives were forced on to ships and were transported to Europe for slavery but more than half of them died on the way. Natives that were enslaved had to do long hardworking labor and would also have been raped by the soldiers of columbus. The Natives resulted in revolt against these crimes against them. Indians would go against Columbus’s men by either running away or fighting back to reclaim their land. Most runaways were chased down by dogs and killed. The Natives that fought back were

He simply took over these lands, even going so far as to rename them all. In order to let everyone know of his great discovery, he returned to Spain with many new items, including kidnapped Indians (Fernandez-Armesto 89). He was attempting to glorify Spain and its monarchs while creating fame for himself.

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;

The first reason Columbus was a negative influence on the native american was that he helped spread disease. Up to 30 diseases were introduced or worsened in the americas like smallpox, measles, the flu, and chickenpox. He also brought syphilis back to Europe which he got from raping many people. He also brought back polio, hepatitis, and encephalitis. There are many other diseases that were shared and he obviously wasn't the sole carrier of any of them but he inspired more exploration

According to “Christopher Columbus and Caribbean Population Decline”, the Indian tribe quickly declined because it was already weakened by diseases and the mass murder was the principle cause of the genocide of the Tainos. (Tinker and Freeland 38). Christopher Columbus sped up disappearance of the Taino people by killing and bringing disease into the islands. He used cruel methods such as torture and rape to get what he wanted out of them and as a result of the first voyage to the Americans, was that “Seven and a half million human beings were subjected to murder, torture, oppression, slavery, and cultural dislocation, all of which exacerbated the continual onslaught of the diseases brought with the European invaders (Tinker and Freeland 36). Christopher Columbus was the initiator of Native American genocide. Columbus slaughtered Native people if they did not comply and banned Natives to access basic needs. Christopher Columbus was responsible for the continuing of violence and slavery that later prohibited food, water, medicine and the practice cultural rituals to the Taino natives (Tinker and Freeland 37). Columbus and his people took away many resources that helped Taino Natives

Columbus may not have been committing the wrongdoings himself, but it was his example they followed, and his expeditions that started the flood of injustice. “The cruel policy initiated by Columbus and pursued by his successors resulted in complete genocide” explains Bartolome de las Casas. Columbus started a wave of abuse that rippled throughout the Americas by means of the Spaniards that followed in his footsteps. The ceaseless suffering the Native Americans went through lead to mass deaths on top of the cold-blooded murders. Las Casas illustrated the extent of the issue in saying the Spaniards “thought nothing of knifing Indians by the tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades.” This type of pointless torment is unjustifiable by any standards and was entirely unnecessary for the colonization of the land. It is hard to call someone a hero if they are responsible for such inhumane acts. Being responsible for such inhumane acts makes it hard to call Christopher Columbus a hero. Columbus’s successors brought his personal actions to a grand scale that ultimately outweigh his

Brooke, you make a good point about that Columbus was a genius by venturing on his journey, and who dared to do the impossible for his century. However, he committed acts of violence and brutality with Native Americans, he became a murderer. The Native Americans especially the Arawak Indians were very good, warm, and friendly people who did everything that Columbus wanted. Unfortunately, for them they ran out of gold, and there had started their problems. All For the ambition of a man who is called Cristobal

Christopher Columbus may have discovered America and taken an immense step towards globalization, but the way he did is what is being criticized and frowned upon. The Columbian Exchange was extremely beneficial and convenient for the advancement of the human race, however a population of approximately three million people had to die in order to make this possible. “Among the Arawaks, mass suicides began, with cassava poison. Infants were killed to save them from the Spaniards. In two years, through murder, mutilation, or suicide, half of 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead.” These people were being killed on their own land at the expense of searching for gold. Once Columbus realized there was no more gold to search for, he began to enslave these people and ship them off to Europe. Once the enslaved Indians arrived in Europe, they began to die. Their bodies were not accustomed to the weather, or the diseases that the Europeans have become immune to. Still paying off his debt, Columbus kept sending slaves, despite the massive number of deaths that were occurring on the voyages to Europe. He had no mercy and no remorse for the atrocities he was

Columbus may have brought the Europeans that colonized the Americas over, but Columbus really brought over death to millions of men, women, and children. Bartolome de Las Casas, a settler of the New World, participated in killing natives. Only there is something different about him, his western views changed and he tried to advocate for the natives(FACT FILE: 8 Facts About Las Casas). Columbus and Las Casas’s views and descriptions of the natives have great distances, one believes that the natives are people to be used, while another believes the natives should be treated with their own rights as if they are Europeans.

First of all, Columbus used violence. He lacked respect for the indigenous people he encountered. He also forced the so called “Indians,” to be Christians. The third thing Christopher Columbus did, was spread diseases from one place, to another, from his different interactions.

Throughout the colonial time many of the Native Americans were very poor people living in small villages. This was an on going stable process until Christopher Columbus stepped in the picture and everything turned into a huge horrifying gruesome mess. Christopher Columbus forced Native Americans into Christianity and subjected them into violence due to

As a result of Columbus’s voyage, Spain accrued multiple advantages. According to the primary source, due to the expedition, Spain inherited new islands discovered by Columbus. Throughout the journey, Columbus kidnapped native men to help him acquire information about the islands. Not only did the inheritance of new lands gain power for Spain, but all of these islands included many different assets, such as outstanding rivers containing gold, seaports, spices, and fertile grounds for planting, pasturing, and building new towns. All of these resources are vital for survival and benefitted Spain. In addition, throughout the journey, Columbus was able to get hold of great amounts of cotton, mastic, lign-aloe, rhubarb, and cinnamon and slaves for Spain. Columbus even promised in his letter to the King and Queen of Spain that even more things of value will be found because he left men behind to continue to discover these new lands.

Columbus enslaved natives’; he forced many to convert to Christianity, and used violence against them. On his first day in the “New World”,Columbus wrote in his journal that he enslaved six Natives, believing they would be great slaves. Columbus forced many to work for profits. He sent thousands of Indians from the island of Hispaniola to Spain

Although nearly every phase of any exploration had its good and bad outcomes the benefits of Columbus' discovery of the New World far outweigh the negative results of that enterprise; because his discovery stimulated further development of both Europe and the New World. His voyage was an epochal and magnificent discovery in that it confirmed the roundness of the earth and gave new validity to science, expanded trade and opened new markets and led to the industrialization of Europe, and opening the doors to a new world because the Old World was overcrowded and torn by strife. Columbus' did not just discover land and resources rather he discovered the New World. A New World that offered hope, freedom, and a new