How Did Columbus Describe The Landscape Of The New World

The wind is also carrying Columbus forward, so he decides to stop waiting for the weather to change and to trace his path back to a harbor that he knows. After he does this, he sends some men to go out into the land to find out if there are any kings or big cities. These men soon come back because all they found was more little hamlets. Columbus figures out from the Indians he had taken that the land is an island, so he follows the east coast and ends up finding another island that he names Espanola. Columbus goes to Espanola and follows its coast north. Columbus then says how fertile all the islands are, all the rivers they have, and all the different geological features they possess. He describes how the islands are many different shapes and they have tall trees that never lose their leaves. Columbus continues to describe

The “new world” that Columbus boasted of to the Spanish monarchs in 1500 was neither an expanse of empty space nor a replica of European culture, tools, textiles, and religion, but a combination of Native, European, and African people living in complex relation to one another. »full text

This researcher has reached this conclusion after examining many secondary sources including…(list sources)… Important information was provided by primary sources from Columbus’ journal and letters written to (wherever). Valuable information was also gained from in class lectures and discussions.

When Columbus describes the environment of the land they have discovered, he gives it much praise. Columbus gives a vast description of Hispaniola, saying that the mountains and trees are beautiful, but then saying that they were as lovely as the trees in Spain. Speaking of the mountains Columbus said, “They are most beautiful, of a thousand varied forms, accessible, and full of trees of endless varieties, so high that they seem to touch the sky, and I have been told that they never lose their foliage. I saw them as green and lovely as trees are in Spain in the month of May.”

Columbus has always been portrayed as an enlightened, peaceful explorer who “discovered” a new world, and became friends with the native people. Howard Zinn’s view on Columbus’s encounter with the natives is an entirely different perspective. Zinn describes Columbus as a man who is willing to torture and kill others to be able to accomplish what he wants; in this case he wanted to obtain gold and other resources to take back with him to Spain.

In the book The Conquest of America by Tzvetan Todorov, Todorov brings about an interesting look into the expeditions of Columbus, based on Columbus’ own writings. Initially, one can see Columbus nearly overwhelmed by the beauty of these lands that he has encountered. He creates vivid pictures that stand out in the imagination, colored by a "marvelous" descriptive style. Todorov gives us an interpretation of Columbus’ discovery of America, and the Spaniards’ subsequent conquest, colonization, and destruction of pre-Columbian cultures in Mexico and the Caribbean. Tzvetan Todorov examines the beliefs and behavior of the Spanish conquistadors and of the Aztecs.

Christopher Columbus and Cabeza de Vaca were both well experienced explorers of the New World. They both traveled to the New World to find out what was out there and if what they would find, could help them and their country. In the narratives, “Letter of Discovery” by Christopher Columbus and Castaways by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, they exemplified the overall environment of the New World. Each explorer had quite the experience within the New World and interactions with the natives but they were not quite the same. Columbus’ journey consisted of learning about the new land and obtain resources to bring back to his country. Cabeza de Vaca also wanted to find resources and goods but mainly wanted to explore the land and try to understand if it was possible to create a society alongside the natives. As they went into the New World, they had found new discoveries but their purpose of the journey lead them down paths that would give off two different perspectives.

Columbus experienced a world filled with people who welcomed them with open arms sharing and trading all they had. Islands with beautiful mountains all green and lush. Columbus states in his letter “[islands] all beautiful with thousand different formations, all accessible and full of trees”. He saw natives with large amounts of gold and no sense of its worth. Some crew members took advantage of this misunderstanding “there was one sailor who for a needle got gold weighing two and

Christopher Columbus set out on his voyage in 1942 on the West Indian islands, to find a new world for the Europeans. When he landed on the Caribbean Island the Indian Natives that lived there were at first scared but greeted him in a friendly manner. The conquest and settlement of the Western Hemisphere opened new opportunities for other Europeans such as the French, Dutch, English and Spanish to come to the island and colonize the Indian's land. For the Europeans to colonize and move in on Native land they had to find a way to interact with the Indians. Through their interaction they found cultural understandings and confusions that were documented by both the Europeans and the Indians. In the book, "Major Problems in American Colonial

To Columbus the Natives did not seem to be sophisticated or technologically advanced in his encounters with them. Some of them lived in villages with houses built in the shape of tents and the only architectural structures that I can recall being describes were these houses and the very high chimneys. They did know how to make cotton thread and traded these twenty five pounds of thread with the Spaniards and the they wore pieces of gold in their noses, wearing it in bracelets on their arms and legs. They traveled by canoes on the water and by foot on land and lived off the fruits from the land as well as fish, shellfish and birds. Most did not wear clothes and if they did it was by determined who wore what by status and age. At some island they saw cotton cloth covering some of the women. Some of the people did have the same language and customs as from the other islands visited on this voyage and appeared more civilized than others.

The New World was surrounded in mystery. The hope of prosperity, a new start, or a chance to solidify a legacy drove thousands to shed the “Old World” they knew. This action of embarking beyond the familiar boundaries and happening upon a land untouched by the rest of the known word was pure chance. In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of Guanahauni and the world would never be the same. The effects of the Columbian Exchange are still evident in today’s geographic landscape.

During Columbus’ journey, he had found the people of Espanola to be very generous with all of their possessions but they behaved very timorous. He perceives them as barbaric and uneducated because of their use of clothes and weapons, “… all go naked, men and women, as their mothers bore them… they

The people on the island had no clue what a sword was so they would cut themselves when they would touch the blade. Christopher Columbus thought it was going to be easy if needed to fight with them. They had no way of protecting themselves. He and his men ended up killing these poor people little by little. Even when they tried to help them out by directing them to find gold or help them when they got hurt. On his trip when he arrived in Hispaniola the Taino people living on the island welcomed and were gentle with him and his men. When Columbus left the island he left forty of his men and those men raped and fought the Tainos after they helped them out.2 On his second trip Columbus set up a permanent colony and again his men raped, stole gold ornaments and food that provoked war with the Tainos. The Spanish killed tens of thousands out of population and the ones who did survive the Spanish ended up chopping off their hands if they did not provide their allotment.3 At the end the Spanish wiped out the islands either by killing the people or they left to surrounding countries.

The fact that Columbus is able to walk around the "garden" shows that he believes he is such a pure figure. Columbus also stresses that it is only by God's permission that one can enter Eden, "no one can enter except by God's leave." Thus he has been chosen by God to rediscover heaven on earth and has been given a divine purpose. Throughout his logbooks, Columbus portrays himself as a righteous man on a quest for God, therefore implying the wholesomeness of all his actions.

Having set sail in early August of 1492, it took Columbus and his crew around two months until they would “discover” land around early October. It is in the early instances of contact that Columbus shows signs of superiority through language. When he encounters an island, one of the first actions Columbus takes is to claim and name the island. From his journal entry on October 15th, Columbus and his crew encounter a piece of and Columbus writes, “From this island I sighted another larger one to the