How Did Christopher Columbus Discover America

1) The book, 1491, by Charles C. Mann gives readers a deeper insight into the Americas before the age of Columbus, explaining the development and significance of the peoples who came before us. Moreover, Mann’s thesis is such; the civilizations and tribes that developed the Americas prior to the discovery by Europeans arrived much earlier than first presumed, were far greater in number, and were vastly more sophisticated than we had earlier believed. For instance, Mann writes, regarding the loss of Native American culture:

• had a formal language to write, a type of counting system, an correct calendar, and a agri system that was ahead of the time

The credits goes to Christopher Columbus, who accidentally discovered the Americas in 1942. The Spanish opened the New World to European settlers who established settlements across the continent mainly in the South. They were in control of the

“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

Columbus DBQ Christopher Columbus created the social image of himself as a villain. Columbus didn’t necessarily create the image of himself by himself, but it did reflect it. He never really truly realized what damage he has done to the Indian and other race populace around him. Therefore, stating that the man that discovered America is actually a villain, evidence will be provided to support it.

Many people believe believed throughout history that the beginning of North America’s inhabitance was when Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the year 1492. They believed that he is the person who discovered America where in fact it was the Native Americans who made the initial discovery. Therefore, Columbus’s mission is considered more of a journey. One of the motivators behind the voyage was to move away from Britain and begin a new life in what was to them, land of potential opportunity.

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)

It should no longer come as any great surprise that Columbus was not the first to discover the Americas--Carthaginians, Vikings, and even St. Brendan may have set foot on the Western Hemisphere long before Columbus crossed the Atlantic. But none of these incidental contacts made the impact that Columbus did. Columbus and company were bound to bring more than the benefits of Christianity and double entry bookkeeping to America. His voyages started the Columbian Exchange, a hemispherical swap of peoples, plants, animals and diseases that transformed not only the world he had discovered but also the one he had left.

People have many opinion of Christopher Columbus varying from hatred and believing he’s a villain to believing he’s a hero to the Americas. I believe Columbus was a great contribution in the advancements in the Americas. He brought technology, food, and a new religion. Technology brought by Christopher Columbus had a huge impact on the Americas, and because of him we have what we have now. A document by Colombo describes the benefits of what he brought over and the impact of it.

Evidence: If he had not discover america then it would have let to the fact of what they could have or even just maybe how they do things because of how they were teached by the

Europeans first set foot in the Americas in 1492 when Christopher Columbus, sponsored by the Queen Isabel of Spain mistakenly discovered Cuba and other Caribbean islands while searching for Asia2.

The rhetoric used to describe how Columbus and other European explorers “discovered” the Americas is vanishing. It is much more accurate to say that these European explorers helped make the first contacts between two different worlds. Before the Europeans ever set foot in the Americas, Native Americans or Indians were inhabiting the lands. However, the peace in the lives of Indians would eventually be disrupted by disease and war over land when the Europeans arrived. Each group of Europeans that came over to the New World had a slightly different motivation. Ultimately, the role of Europeans in the previously “undiscovered” regions of the Earth would be reenvisoned.

If you ask Americans, who discovered America? they will tell you it was Christopher Columbus. However, the history books were wrong. Christopher Columbus was an explorer navigator. He is most famous for sailing across the Atlantic Ocean and claiming parts of America for the Spanish empire in 1492. Columbus initiated the colonization of the new world. However, Columbus was not the first to discover America. According to other historians there were many other explores that discover the continent. If Columbus did not discover the new world who did? America was named after an Italian explorer named Amerigo Vesovcci. Vesovcci demonstrated in 1502 that Brazil did not represent what Columbus believed to be Asia. Because of his discovery the continent

Most history textbooks take Christopher Columbus and put him on a pedestal. These textbooks make Columbus the fantastic hero who was the first person to discover the Americas. These textbooks were wrong in idolizing Columbus. One text called The Lies my Teacher Told Me contradicts these textbooks. The text states that there were already many different groups of people that landed in, explored, or colonized the Americas. The first group of people was the ancestors to the Native Americans that were living there when Columbus came in 1492. Also the Norse established a colony in Greenland for 500 years (Loewen, 8). While there, the Norse explored parts of North America (Loewen, 8). This evidence proves that Columbus was not the first person to discover the Americas. Columbus began the demise of the current Indian cultures in the area. While Christopher Columbus and the

The course in itself was highly educational, because I learned how the U.S evolved into what it is today. Furthermore the topic discussed in class that impacted me the most was, learning about the Indigenous people of the Americas. As a child, I was taught that “Indians” or Native Americans were already settled when Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. However, through the reading that was assigned in the book, 1491 by Charles C. Mann I learned that the Americas was not originally found by Columbus. There is evidence that civilizations have settled before his arrival, one of them being the Clovis culture.