Compare And Contrast Christopher Columbus And Zheng He

     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

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.

Although Zheng He was great, Magellan was a better captain overall. Magellan was a Spanish explorer who was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean. He set sail on a voyage that was supposed to go around the World, but Magellan was killed before he made it. Although he did not make it around the world, he had the skills to get all the way to the Philippines. Zheng He was a Chinese admiral who led seven voyages. He was also a great captain, but he did not almost make it around the world. Instead, he stayed in the same area and stopped in the same places multiple times.

During Christopher Columbus’ lifetime, new technology and worldwide trade was in the process of being spread. Columbus and other European mariners searched for a trade route to Asia. This was one main reason for Columbus’ voyage to the New World. He was sent by Spanish king and queen, Ferdinand and Isabel. Additionally, religion played a big part in the everyday lives of people in the Iberian peninsula because of the Reconquista and Inquisition. In fact, the spread of Christianity was one of the main reasons for his exploration. Although Christopher Columbus contributed to the spread of Spanish agricultural techniques, like the use of iron tools and the cultivation of apple and pear trees, he is responsible for the deaths of many indigenous

During the 1400’s, a physical connection was made between Europe and the Native Americans by Christopher Columbus. Today, he is looked upon as a hero for discovering the land that the United States of America currently occupies. Beneath the glorified image of Columbus, there lies something much darker that people often overlook. Although Columbus began the migration of Europeans to America, he did not discover it first. In addition, the new formed connection between the Europeans and the Americas paved way for the genocide of many of the indigenous people.

Each explorer has contributed to their country advancing the society in multiple ways. Bartholomeu Dias was a Portuguese explorer that set sail in 1487 to sail northeast into the Indian Ocean. He set sail with “two small caravels and a slower supply ship.” As stated in the textbook American Journey. After Dias was overseas for a couple days, there was a huge storm lasting two weeks. Throwing Dias off his original course, the strong winds pushed him southward in sight of land. Dias had realized that he had sailed past the southernmost point of Africa called a Cape. In 1487, Bartholomeu Dias also found a direct water route to India providing the Portuguese with another way of trading food, for different goods. In the Primary Source Packet document 2, it states, “In 1487 Dias sailed to India, finding a direct water route to India forming another trading route for the

People argue that Zheng He didn't accomplish anything, but in Document B it states, ¨Voyages; 7; (1405-1433).¨ This tells us he was traveling for twenty-eight years out of his whole life, so at least he tried. Also not everything you try gets accomplished, it was just his luck he couldn't explore anything new. From information that I have gathered from Document A, it clarifies that in total, he traveled one hundred five thousand, three hundred miles in total! He was also very intelligent by going back to Nanjing each voyage for new crew, and repairments.. For his great intelligence, that gives one good reason for recognition

Without the desire to acquire a safer trade route over sea to Asia, no one would have ever tried sailing west to get east. “The explorers of the fifteenth century and early sixteenth centuries did not set out to make a revolution in knowledge, but that is what they achieved,” wrote Christopher Farman in “The Ocean Adventures” found in Voyages of Discovery (Document 4). This quote shows how many of the explorers did not set out to find the Americas, but once they knew what it was the Americas were quickly integrated with their own world. Many of the foundational thoughts and ideas of today’s society would have never developed if not for this link between continents. Arthur M. Schlesinger makes note of this writing, “In fact it was precisely the contact with the Americas that stimulated Europe to develop further some of the principles we take for granted today as the basic minimum of human rights…” in Columbus on Trial (Document 5). Without all of this exploration the world would have continued to be stuck in isolation until inevitably some other group of people decide to explore the sea. Contact between the Old and New world would have happened at one point or

The Age of Exploration was an era when European explorers sailed for their mother countries to chart the uncharted and find new and faster routes to the Far East. These expeditions not only led to the European discovery of the Americas but also proved that the Earth was round. One of the big benefactors of the Age of Exploration was Christopher Columbus, who “accidentally” sailed to the Americas. His discovery led to the Columbian Exchange, which sent goods between the Americas and Europe, changing the lifestyle of millions. Though the Age of Exploration was a great advancement in both exploration and navigation, it came with many repercussions towards the surrounding countries and the indigenous people of the new found land. Not only did these

Document A is a poem that was written in 1948. The poem says positive/ good things about Christopher Columbus. The point of this document is that it celebrates when Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas on October 12.The point of view is shown through describing Christopher with positive decisions. “This point of view can be interpreted as limited or biased because ”the poet only talks about the good side. Also the meaning of this document is to teach Christopher Columbus is a hero.

Columbus' journey didn't start out to be a bad idea, he even gave examples of how he tried to reason and befriend the indigenous people of the Americas. "I," he says, "in order that they would be friendly to us--because I recognized that they were people who would be better freed [from error] and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force--to some of them I gave red caps, and glass beads which they put on their chests, and many other things of small value in which they took so much pleasure and became so much our friends that it was a marvel" (Columbus Quote from Christian History). Columbus did do the world a great service when he made his exploration and some people would argue that to their own graves. "The greatest event since the creation of the world, excluding the Incarnation and death of Him who created it;" Francisco Lopez de Gomara (1552). "After 500 years the Columbian legacy has created a civilization that we ought not, in all humble piety and cultural relativism, declare to be no better or worse than that of the Incas.

Christopher Columbus once said, “Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World.” His journey to the west unfolded many possibilities which started the Age of Discovery and the Age of Exploration. Endless possibilities came about and the new land became one of the fastest developing countries in the world. The world became a better place when Christopher Columbus found the new world because new trade expanded the market, the economy grew and proof of land was discovered which sparked curiosity in explorers. The commence of the Americas started with a hopeful explorer who turned out to make one of the greatest discoveries that ultimately changed the world.

This essay will be examining the literary work of Columbus, De Las Casas, and Villagra to understand the individual viewpoints and the true motives of the Spanish Conquistadors. Christopher Columbus attempted to hide his desire for wealth and power behind the idea that all his actions were justified because he was acting out God’s will. Additionally, Gaspar Perez De Villagra thought that his mission of establishing a colony in New Mexico and converting the Native Americans would be successful because God was on the Conquistadors’ side. At first, Bartolome De Las Casas accepted the horrible behavior of the Conquistadors, but he began to realize that the Conquistadors were doing the opposite of God’s work. Bartolome De Las Casas rejected the

As mentioned in the letter from the editor, this magazine is about lives that made history. Lorenzo de Medici and Prince Henry the Navigator were both powerful and significantly influential people of their time. While Lorenzo de Medici was passionate about being a patron to the arts, Prince Henry “The Navigator” had a passion for exploration and navigation, as suggested by his name. Both men were merchants – amongst other occupations –who were majorly influenced by humanism, and held a secure, both economical and political power. Lorenzo De’ Medici was a heir to his extremely powerful banking family’s incredible legacy which consisted of being the “unofficial rulers of Florence in 1434”

Most of us live and work in similar surroundings, usually in places where we grew up or