MOST of us know, or think we know, what the first Europeans encountered when they began their formal invasion of the Americas in 1492: a pristine world of overwhelming natural abundance and precious few people; a hemisphere where -- save perhaps for the Aztec and Mayan civilizations of Central America and the Incan state in Peru -- human beings indeed trod lightly upon the earth. Small wonder that, right up to the present day, American Indians have usually been presented as either underachieving metahippies, tree-hugging saints or some combination of the two.…
Columbus a hero or a villain?, This question has plagued historians thru out the ages and its based on this question that Zinn and Schweikart answer in different ways. Howard Zinn in the first chapter of his book “A People's History of the United States” talks a bout…
The fascination of the voyages of Christopher Columbus will forever be told and celebrated by many. Gloria Deak answers the questions about Columbus' historic endeavor to fill in the blank spots on who he was ,what he set out to accomplish, and where he succeeded. Deak describes Columbus as a great sailor whose success in crossing the Atlantic Ocean was an unequaled feat of navigation. She goes on to explain that very little is given accurately in the information we have on him to suggest that he was the gallant Renaissance figure often depicted in schoolbooks. She paints Columbus as an imaginative, courageous, and contained man with a capacity for extreme cruelty. One key aspect to his character she nailed down was his intense religiosity. He had a deep-seated belief in the Bible and logic of destiny that was noticeably messianic.…
“In spite of criticisms by some revisionist historians, Christopher Columbus, and other sixteenth century explorers, acted with a daring and courage that brought both wealth and pride to their patron nations. By viewing these men within the context of the historical periods in which they lived, they truly deserved to be called heroes.”…
“Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492...” This popular poem has become engraved in the minds of many children for years. From a young age, certain facts about the discovery of America are taught. What is not being realized is that many specifics are being omitted from lessons. This being said, it is important to note that it is no longer as simple to just explain that Christopher Columbus discovered America. Even in many history textbooks throughout modern America, some of the truths are absent. Columbus has recently become so controversial, especially at the time of his quincentennial, because of this oblivious ignorance of the facts of history. Many believe…
The purpose of the article written by Dr. William F. Keegan is to provide two differing opinions on Christopher Columbus. Dr. Keegan wrote the article, “COLUMBUS, HERO OR HEEL?” for the VISTA Magazine. The purpose of the article written by Dr. Warren H. Carroll, is to persuade readers to praise and honor Christopher Columbus. The article, “Honoring Christopher Columbus”, was written by Dr. Carroll for the Summer 1992 issue of “Faith & Reason”.…
Christopher Columbus is one of the most well known names in the western world because of what he accomplished during his lifetime. He was an explorer, a navigator, and a colonizer and, with his unrelenting determination, he would be the man to “discover” the New World. Although he thought that he found India and a better route to Asia rather than sailing around the southern tip of Africa, he had really stumbled upon the Americas. While he may have had the actual location wrong, his accidental discovery has effectively changed the timeline of human existence greatly, and has helped shape the world as we know it into what it is today.…
Lester, touches upon the different portraits of the famous explorer across various time periods, their origins, and their impact on society. Right from when I started reading this piece, I still had the memory of the previous article fresh in my head. Christopher Columbus was the one who started all that tragedy, wasn’t he? If he had never discovered the Indians and their land, the natives could have lived peaceful lives on their own. That is not the way things went down though, and at the cost of the natives’ peace and even their lives, Columbus found a gold mine; which can be interpreted in two ways. One: He found a pretty primitive population who the Spanish could use as slaves; and two: he found a brand new land, filled with untapped minerals and resources. To be completely honest, the beginning of this reading which talked about celebrating Christopher Columbus and his deeds did not appeal to me much. I agreed more with the outraged American Indian groups who said he was a man who “makes Hitler look like a juvenile delinquent,” because it can indeed be argued that his deeds were worse. Moreover, as the reading continues, different portraits of Christopher Columbus, hailing from different artists and time periods, are examined. I think the fact that there were so many different and unique portraits of him shows us that no one really knew what Christopher Columbus looked…
Howard Zinn takes an interesting side when it comes to Columbus and his exploration in A People's History of the United States. While others praise Columbus for what he discovered, Zinn condemns him and attempts to shed light on what treacheries that where committed during the explorations. His focus on the more negative outcomes causes a shift in perspective than most are used to and shows details that many historians may have left out or simply glossed over.…
Las Casas directly displays the evil wrongdoing and savagery of the Spaniards and Christopher Columbus when he displays the empirical data of the Island of Hispaniola. The island was once so densely populated, estimated to have roughly 3 million inhabitants, now a population of just two hundred people. (Casas) This contradicts the notion of Columbus as a hero because it depicts him as a rabid exterminator. A hero saves people and the manner in which Las Casas describes Columbus’s actions are anything but heroic. In Columbus’s own journal he describes the events that transpired on his voyage in a way that make him appear as if though he were not the hero many people gave him credit for. One specific example from Columbus’s Journal that display this lack of heroism is the following line, “I understand the natives but imperfectly, and perceive them to be so poor that a trifling quantity of gold appears to them a great amount.”. (Columbus) I believe this quote to portray Columbus in a way that almost certainty conveys greed and prejudice, because after he says this he begins to slaughter anyone that stands between him and this gold that is ever so valuable to these natives. Heroism is not stealing from the poor in order to gain for yourself, a hero displays qualities of charity and not thievery. Christopher Columbus has been celebrated throughout history as a hero, but in a growing popularity of opinion, he is beginning to be questioned. These questions deserve to be raised and examined, so that we can better understand our…
After some things were uncovered about Columbus people started to question if we should celebrate him. The evidence points in the direction of changing Columbus…
May have went extinct because of drought, locusts.. bad seasons, warring tribes, internal tribal warfare, natural disaster, disease…
In the essay ‘Rethinking History Class on Columbus Day’, the author is able to argue that Columbus Day is a controversial issue by providing many sources that prove that people have very different opinions of the holiday. He overwhelms the readers with a collection of facts, stories, and records of Christopher Columbus; in fact, the essay seems like a research paper by manner because it is a compilation of sources. The author does not include any opinions, instead he uses sources, twenty-one to be exact, that support and rebut whether Columbus Day should exist. By doing so, the author allows the readers to conceive their own judgments. Therefore, there will be contrasting attitudes towards Columbus Day made by the readers. The author’s…
With Columbus Day rapidly approaching us, a day celebrated by millions upon millions of people who dearly believe that he is a hero, you begin to wonder. Do these people know what they are celebrating? While yes, he “discovered” the New World, however people fail to acknowledge that Columbus was in fact a mass murderer. In all likelihood, he brought to life “the worst case of genocide imposed on one nation of human beings by another”.…
First Americans: Many believe that the first Americans were Indians(Native Americans), but recent studies have shown that the first Americans may have been decedents of the native Aborigines in Australia who are believed to have migrated to the Americas long before the Native Americans, who are descends of the Mongoloid people from northeast Asia.…