What Is Cristobal Columbus A Genius

Christopher Columbus degrades and belittles the Native Americans by describing them as potential “good servants” and easy targets to implant Christianity in. Columbus sees the Native Americans as only one step above animals, labeling them with only one human attribute, intelligence. Although Columbus calls the Indians “intelligent,” he merely means that they can be converted to Christianity easily because they can somewhat understand him. He sees the Indians as intelligent enough to follow orders sufficiently but not to be able to think on their own, which is the main trait that makes us human. Columbus then completely overlooks the culture of the Indians when he says that they “appeared” to have no religion.

He used information that was already found and went to America. He was not the first to even arrive at America. In the text, it says that, “The inhabitants were primarily hunters/gatherers”. This is to show how Columbus did not even come close to discovering America and other people were already there. Columbus ruthlessly took the credit of America’s discovery. Another reason Columbus is a villain, is that he decreased the Indian population by 99%. This is a huge decrease that put the Native American population into poverty. So far, Christopher Columbus has only been harming the Natives. Now for his own allies, he treated them at a low level as well. It says in a video, “he was brutal even to other colonist he ruled”. This seems very harsh and I would not want a leader like this? These show how devious and unruly Columbus was and how he was an outlaw.

According to Document 6, Joel Barlow a renowned historian, Columbus was a remarkable young man who was proficient in geography, astronomy, and drawing, all of them necessary for his pursuit of navigation. His courage and perseverance had been put to test many times making him a universally known and respected man. But, even though he was well respected, he was not a good man. He was barbaric to the Native Americans even when they treated him with respect and fervor. He enslaved them for the good of “Christianity” and manipulated them because they were “idiots”.

Columbus never even walked on what we now call the United States of America. Where ever he did land, he was motivated only by his own greed. Columbus came for the gold, spices, and slaves. In his diary, he mentioned gold 75 times just in the first two weeks, alone (Katz 13). Indians who weren’t able to find gold, were punished by having their hands cut off. Most slaves died en route to Spain. Many Indian females were taken as sex slaves, some as young as nine and ten years old. Columbus forced cooperation from the Indians by disfiguring them and using them as examples. Even worse, he used hunting dogs to tear the Indians apart. Many natives committed suicide, and murdered their own children to save them from such a horrible life. Those who survived the voyage were worked to death. Still, another huge portion of these Indians died from disease brought over by Columbus and his

     In addition to opening up a New World to Europe and inspiring a spirit of adventure, Columbus’s experience also showed the importance of diversity. Columbus was an Italian, but he learned to sail from the Portuguese, and his trip was funded by the Spanish. He needed the help of several different countries to accomplish what we now know him for today. Conversely, Columbus’s confrontation with the Natives shows how cultures conflict when they do not understand each other. Columbus and his troops massacred thousands of

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.

Even though Columbus did everything that was stated above he wasn’t that bad. He overall really helped the development of the nation that we now know. He is one of the most celebrated explorers and for good reason. Stated by Dr Thomas C Tirado in Christopher Columbus and his legacy “The routes he took to and from the newly found lands are the ones we still use; his choice of the Atlantic Canary Current

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”

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,

Columbus is seen as a great man who colonized the Americas but in reality he introduced three horrible acts which include slavery, genocide, and racism. Columbus was the first man to introduce slavery with native people from the Caribbeans. He encouraged his men to rape women as young as nine and forced labor which eventually led to malnutrition and disease. Columbus started transatlantic slave trade by imported numbers of Africans from Haiti to work for him which lead to depopulation. In the Americas Columbus was wiping out a whole population of native Americans so that he could claim the land for himself. This first started when Columbus hung natives in rows of thirteen “in honor of the Redeemer and His 12 apostles.” Columbus eventually ruined two generations of native Caribbeans along with his Spanish discoverers. We shouldn’t celebrate Columbus day because we’re practically being racist towards both native Caribbeans and Hatians because we’re teaching the victims that what happened to their people was perfectly fine. Columbus should not be praised with his own holiday because of his cruelty to native Caribbeans, native Hatians, and native

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.

People may try to argue that nobody would know about the Native Americans if Columbus did not “discover” them. If Columbus did not discover the Native Americans, more people would probably know about them because around 8 million of them would not have died. Though Christopher Columbus praised the nature he “worked so hard to discover”, he failed to mention the people there for obvious reasons. In his second letter to the king and queen of Spain, our preconceptions about what kind of person he was is confirmed. He acted entitled and somewhat rude towards the royals. If that was how he treated his superiors that funded his trip, you can only imagine how he spoke to the natives.

In every story that we’ve the main issue is the mistreatment of the people and how one group is superior than the other. In the book “A Young People’s History of the United States.” by Howard Zinn the author speaks about Christopher Columbus and the relationship he had with the Native Americans. Columbus treated the Native Americans dreadfully because he thought he was better and that he had the right to do what he did. Instead of working with the people like he was suppose to he mistreated them and made them want to leave their own land.

Secondly, Columbus is no more of a hero then Hitler. After embarking in the Bahamans on October 12, 1492. Columbus first interaction with the natives of Hispaniola was remarkable and in retrospect very depressing. The Lucayans, Tainos and Arawak’s where described as friendly, warm hearted and passive people. Columbus even said himself that they were striking, beautiful and rather clever people, emphasizing that the Arawak’s were especially kind and friendly. An event that accentuated their good will occurred when the Santa Maria was marooned, the Arawak’s worked tirelessly for hours in order to save the crew and the cargo. It is safe to say that the impression the Arawak’s initially left on Columbus what a good one. In Columbus diary, he even