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A new "revisionist" movement, sometimes epitomized by historians like Howard Zinn, seeks to correct these historical errors and treat the Amerindian cultures in a more balanced, less Eurocentric, fashion (See, for example: Troura; Restall).
The crux of this piece, Zinn's Chapter 1 of a People's History of the United States, focuses on the great civilizations which populated Meso and South America long before the Spanish arrived. The Toltec, Maya, Aztec, and Inca were the predominant cultures who had reigned in the area at least 3500 BCE, with most of the advanced and classical periods of their civilizations from 200-1200, and experiencing a decline from 1200 to the Spanish Conquest. While our understanding of the nature of the Amerindian classical civilizations is skewed due to so much material being destroyed by the Spanish, we do know that for several hundred years before Cortes landed there had been a great deal of infighting and unrest between the indigenous tribes, weaking the culture through a combination of mass warfare and human sacrifice. Instead of seeing the conquest of Mesoamerica as the destiny of Europeans, Zinn (like other revisionists) believses that it was a combination of technological advantage and shock and awe that made Cortes successful (groups of...
Montezuma, in giving Cortes numerous gifts of gold and precious stones, was trying to remind Cortes that he, Montezuma, was all powerful and could bestow any form of wealth on any lesser being. This, unfortunately, had the opposite effect and only made Cortes' avarice grow. Much, too, has been said that the Aztec's thought Cortes a reincarnation of one of their Gods, a fairhaired traveller from the sea. However, just how much Montecuzma was convinced of this remains speculative. All this, was a cosequence of the manner in which Christopher Columbus interacted with the Arawak indians. Columbus' exaggeration of the amount of wealth the new World offered was indeed the reason that fueled the lust and greed of Spanish Conquerers. "Like other states of the modern world, Spain sought gold, which was becoming the new mark of wealth more useful than land because it could buy anything" (Zinn, History is a Weapon).
Zinn's ability to paint a culturally relevant picture with known facts allows the reader the opportunity to continually rethink and reevaluate past knowledge. This, in fact, seems to be his main purpose -- do not accept history as fact, but ask, what do the facts support? For instance, Zinn allows us to see the ways in which the conqueror
224). The truth about Columbus, Vizenor asserts, is that he was "an untrue concoction, the ruse of his own representation. He is the overstated adventurer, to be sure," and moreover Columbus is the "master of neocolonial celebrations in a constitutional democracy" (Vizenor, 225). The author of this article in the peer-reviewed journal Boundary 2 quotes from the book The Devastation of the Indies (by Bartolome de Las Casas): "Here those Christians
Christopher Columbus, Mariner by S. Morison. Samuel Morison turned a personal life interest into a passion as he studied the life and journeys of Christopher Columbus. Morison believed that given the expedition which Columbus undertook, and the misinformation on which he based his journey that Columbus qualifies as one of the greatest explorers and sailors of all time (Morison, p. 4). While the modern view of Columbus has been rewritten and
Cristoforo Colombo Europeans were interested in exploration before Columbus' journey because they were eager to establish new trade routes. Over the preceding centuries, sophisticated trade routes had developed around the world. There was the Silk Road that took goods between China and Europe. The Middle East was linked with India, Southeast Asia and with the east coast of Africa. However, because of the failure of Christians to dominate the Middle East
Irving's book "A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus" cannot be considered as an adequate authentic source because he put the book together speedily and impulsively, in the process sacrificing the deliberation needed for creating an accurate, reliable, and original work, as preferred by historians. Irving was even persuaded from time to time, perhaps to recompense for the impracticality of undertaking comprehensive and far-reaching research, to fully
When Christopher Columbus set foot on Hispaniola, he encountered a civilization entirely different from his own. Although Columbus seems to be in awe and even respectful of the indigenous people, he is ultimately arrogant and ignorant in the assumption that converting to Christianity would make their lives better. In fact, Columbus’s statements are ironic given he seems to admire the generosity, kindness, and trusting nature of the people while simultaneously
legend of Christopher Columbus has lasted for five decades and he still remains a very controversial and mysterious figure who has been described severally as one of the world's greatest mariners of all times, a mystic, a visionary genius, an inexperienced entrepreneur, an unsuccessful administrator, and a wicked and selfish imperialist[footnoteRef:1]. He was a master admiral and navigator of Italian origin whose four main transatlantic voyages of 1492-1493, 1493-1496,