Was Christopher Columbus A Hero Or Villain?

The letter Christopher Columbus wrote back to Spain to report his findings in the New World sparked intrigued me and sparked my imagination. Why I have been so absorbed in this letter I can not explain. This letter is supposed to be about describing an unknown land, a land that has not been seen by anyone besides the natives, but it seems that there is more to it than that. Columbus is known in elementary schools as the man who found the New World, and is regarded as a hero. To the contrary, historians who have done more research on Columbus say that he was driven by fame and fortune and that he was tyrannical in his ways with the indigenous peoples of the places that he came to find. I feel that the contradictory tones Columbus uses

Christopher Columbus was manipulative. My final piece of evidence, from Document 2 says that "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." This shows the mindset of a conniving man because he exploited the Native Americans in order to get what he wanted which was gold. This was a selfish reason that resulted in the pain of so many Native

When you think of Columbus what comes to mind? A hero? A villain? Most people think he is a hero, but many do not think of the things he did to people such as slavery, beatings, raping, etc. He is most known for discovering America, but he only got to the Bahamas. Columbus was an Italian explorer that sailed the ocean blue in 1492. Columbus Day should not be celebrated because of the awful things that don’t make up for the discoveries that Christopher Columbus did.

     Throughout all of our years that we are taught about world history, we are led to believe that Columbus was one of the greatest explorers of all time. In my mind there is no question about whether Christopher Columbus discovered America; of course he did, its Columbus! However, this is a highly debated issue and through writings by authors Jeffery Hart and James W. Loewen we will investigate the true importance of Columbus.

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.

Christopher Columbus did not do a single good action in any of his four voyages in the late 1400's. Christopher Columbus was not the founder of the Americas we live in today because he did not discover it, even if he did there were already the natives who inhabited the land. It was just luck that he discovered the Americas, because he wasn’t even coming here, he got here because his ships went the wrong way and “Oh Surprise!” “We got something here to bring to Spain”

Columbus was no exception. The Indians, Columbus reported, "are so naive and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts.” (A People’s History By Howard Zinn). Columbus took some of the friendly natives by force just so that he might know where the treasure was hidden. He goes on to say, “I was very attentive to them, and strove to learn if they had any gold. I gathered from them by signs that... there would be found a king who possessed large vessels of gold, and in great quantities.” (-- Christopher Columbus (1492)) The Native’s strong belief in sharing, unfortunately, caused the Europeans to fall into greediness. They took advantage of their kindness beyond the limit. Furthermore, he came up with a cruel system. In this system “they ordered all persons to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Those without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death (-- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (1980)). “ Columbus and his crew went to an extreme here in order to

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, explorer for Spain, is he a hero or a villain? Columbus started a new age of exploration when he set sail in 1492. He asked many leaders if he could sail for them, but they said no and that they were happy with the way things were. He sailed west for the Indies, but found America instead. Columbus should not be judged by today’s standards, he is hero and should be treated as one.

“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.

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.

In the beginning of October, millions of kids are relinquished from school to celebrate a holiday dedicated to one man: Christopher Columbus, a man perceived as a valiant hero credited for discovering America in 1492. Generations of Americans have passed down the belief that Columbus was an amazing explorer, but tend to overlook the horrific deeds that Columbus committed. Despite his monumental accomplishments, Columbus was a historical figure closer to Hitler than to Martin Luther King on the morality spectrum. Due to his use of slavery, treatment of Native American slaves, and the tricks he used to deceive others, Columbus was not a hero but rather a villain.

Throughout history, Christopher Columbus was seen in quite contrary ways. Some would view him as a valiant hero who discovered the New World and vanquished the primitive ways of the savage and barbaric native people. Others would see Columbus in a much different light, describing him as an interloper who spread disease to and enslaved an entire native people. These two statements above describe two vastly different visions of Christopher Columbus. In fact, the hard evidence would support that a bit of both of the above visions are indeed factual. Christopher Columbus was a man with several wonderful achievements, however some of these achievements had several negative repercussions. Columbus's discovery of the New World led to a more diverse society, a new social system, and the exploitation and eventual extermination of the Native peoples.

Before we can truly label Columbus as a hero or evil, we must first define what is viewed as a hero. Many dictionary definitions exist having the meaning of a hero as one with courageous or noble qualities but seeing as these definitions are extremely objective, the definition of a hero I will be using for the purpose of defining Columbus will be, quoting Joseph Campbell, “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” Christopher Columbus clearly demonstrated giving and self sacrifice in his investments of time and risking his life for his voyages with “commercial expeditions resembling warlike cruises” and at some points in his travels being away from home for 29 months. The rewards that Columbus, along with the rest of Europe, reaped from his efforts include the new access to vast expanses of resourceful land, as well as the eventually successful, even flourishing, colonization of America, not to mention, that Columbus, “[the] founding figure of a new world” laid the framework to modern day globalization as well as played a key role in the creation of one of the most significant, powerful, and impactful nations existing today. The fact that Columbus grew up in poor conditions and being completely self taught in the art of navigation and seafaring only adds to the magnitude of his immense accomplishments.