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Christopher Columbus
Who was Columbus?
This essay attempts to answer the question, "Who was Columbus?" through a comparative analysis of documents discussing the historical context in which Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the "New World" (or Americas) were analyzed. The following discussion argues that Columbus is portrayed differently by different sectors of the society, but is primarily elucidated by members of the scholarly community of early American history. The documents discussed in this paper are Timothy Foote's "Where Columbus Was Coming From" and Joel Achenbach's "Debating Columbus in a New World."
Foote's historical analysis puts Columbus' character in the context of socio-historical changes and dynamics happening in Europe during his (Columbus') time. The author puts into background the development of the Renaissance period and the Dark Ages, two vital events in the history of Western civilization that ultimately...
Indeed, Foote does concede on the fact that Columbus was indeed a 'slave trader,' but his article tries to explain why this has been the behavior and role of Columbus in 16th century Western history. One of the facts the author establishes is that Columbus was just playing a small role in the gradually increasing practice of slavery among European countries; this is in the midst of a continent (Europe) that was trying to win wars and gain power over vast territories and geo-political regions/areas. However, perhaps what truly shaped the behavior and actions of Columbus at that time is his strong Catholic belief and background, having lived in a society…
Columbus's Description of the Discovery of America (1492) When Christopher Columbus embarked upon his famous voyage of 1492, he was in search of a faster route to India and China, and instead became one of the first European explorers to have an encounter with the native peoples of the Americas. Columbus regarded these individuals as innately inferior both because of their pagan status and because of what to him seemed like
The key word in this passage is "pleasure" which indicates that Columbus's tone of voice is one of excitement and unbounded delight, due to "discovering" the many islands during his first voyage in 1492 which he was convinced held untold treasures like gold and silver which would help fill the coffers of the Spanish monarchy, thus guaranteeing that Spain would rule and dominate not only the lands but also
Queen Isabella initially challenged the basis of Columbus' right to enslave the subjects entrusted to her by the Pope. 4. How did Spain explain the purpose of the Encomienda system? According to their view, the Indians were to be rightfully Christianized by Spanish forces. Since they resisted their efforts, the Encomienda suggested that enslavement was a tool necessitated to overcome the Indians' reluctance to work and their "laziness." Their enslavement into
Columbus Author's Representation The book the American Story attempts to dispel common notions of the conquest of the New World. According to the author, "The story recounted first in Europe and then in the United States depicted heroic adventurers, missionaries and soldiers sharing Western civilization with the peoples of the New World and opening a vast virgin land to economic development. The familiar tale celebrated material progress, the inevitable spread of European values
When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death. The Indians had been given an impossible task. The only gold around was bits of dust garnered from the streams. So they fled, were hunted down with dogs, and were killed." Zinn details similar atrocities committed by Cortes against the Aztecs.
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