Christopher Columbus: The Villain Essay

Many plants that were not native to the Americas were brought over on trade ships and began to grow there. For instance, bananas, apples, almonds, etc. Africa traded spices over to the Americas like black pepper. Brown rats and earthworms also made their way into the America’s wilderness where they grew and spread in the new habitat. Plants like wild oats and tumbleweeds were introduced as well, changing the environment of those involved forever.

Columbus was a villain because he had raped women, mutilated bodies, and did lots of other horrible deeds. Document #6 explains that Columbus’ trip meant doom for the Natives because the population dwindled down significantly more or less because of him. This means that his ‘discovery’ was in fact lethal to the Native Americans. Therefore the fact the population had went down due to his visits proves Columbus was a villain.

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

Christopher Columbus was a villain, he was cruel and violent and should never be classified as a hero. Columbus was conceited and selfish, he had enslaved millions of Native Americans, and he had been brutal and violent to the Native Americans, in which were peaceful and nice to him and his crew. Columbus shouldn’t have the right to be excused from his crimes and celebrated for only his glories. He was inhumane and a barbaric leader, explorer, and person. Columbus was a terrible person and should be known as a villain.

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.

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.

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,

The domesticated animals that the Europeans brought carried over diseases such as small pox and measles which ultimately decimated the Native American population along with numerous animals and thus harming the ecosystem. Furthermore, after numerous crops from the New World was introduced to the Old World, there came a rising demand for those crops. This eventually led colonists to mass produce these crops in hopes of selling them for extra money. Excessive farming eventually led to deforestation for farm land along with depletion of the nutrients in American soil (Nun 174). Soil depletion then resulted in poor farming which followed starvation of the colonists and the destruction of American land. This early example shows the dangers of deforestation and poor soil that people still risk today by harming the

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.

When Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas he stole land, kidnapped people and started a massacre. This all started August 3, 1492, when Columbus started his trip to India. According to Document B, “I took possession of all of them for our most fortunate King...no one making any resistance.” This was written by Christopher Columbus in 1493. In this quote he is referring to the people of the islands he discovered, saying that he has kidnapped them for the King. It also states, “ In the island, which I have said before was called Hispana, there are very lofty and beautiful mountains, great farms...and well adapted for constructing buildings.”, which describes reasons they should take over the land. Additionally, according to Document C,

Christopher Columbus was a villain. Christopher Columbus was a villain. According to James Loewin, in the book Lies My Teacher Told Me, it states, “Columbus not only sent the first slaves across the Atlantic, he probably sent more slaves -- about five thousand -- than any other indivisual.” He brought

Europeans released pigs into the wild. This impacted the native animals there because, "Pigs consumed the foods on which deer and other indigenous species depended, resulting in scarcity of the game native peoples had traditionally hunted." (U.S. History). Once this happened animals became extinct. Not only did animals become extinct, but the animals that the Europeans introduced also ate the Native American’s crops.

No one is perfect. Every great man has had or has enemies. Christopher Columbus was this man. It is Christopher Columbus that sailed around the world and accidently discovered the “New World” in 1492 according to an article by frontpagemag.com. This was no ordinary man, Christopher was brave and willing to take risks. Keep in mind Christopher Columbus was living in a world where “a lot of ordinary people thought the world was flat" (Almasy, CNN).