Christopher Columbus Voyages

Christopher Columbus Voyages

Upon completion of first grade, it is likely that children in America will have learned about the famous maritime explorer and navigator, Christopher Columbus. Born in 1451, Columbus was a Genoese captain commissioned by the king and queen of Spain to find a route to the Indies. However, he sailed the opposite direction of his intended goal by crossing the Atlantic and landing in the Americas, resulting in the discovery of the New World for Spain. Like all major figures in history, Columbus has left behind a legacy that people will always remember him for. The nature of this legacy in question is what remains controversial. It can be summed up with two opposing camps: those that view Columbus with a positive, respectful regard that he changed history for the good and those that polarize him into a negative category, as an individual who had no true achievements of his own and ultimately caused unwarranted harm to human life.

Many Indians were enslaved in mines before it was decided that Africans were "stronger" and should replace Native Americans as forced labor. New diseases were unwittingly introduced from Europe, which devastated the Native populations. The different settlers (Spanish, English, French, Dutch) clashed with and ultimately drove away many of the Native peoples into the poorest lands

Many of the people who lived in the Americas (Peru, for one) were attacked, robbed, pillaged and killed by the Conquistadors from Spain. Because Columbus charted his route there and spoke of the gold that was waiting for them, many other countries also attacked and killed many natives who lived in the area.

One of the main issues with Columbus is whether he should be seen as a hero, or as a pitiable individual. Harvard professor Samuel Eliot Morrison championed the former, saying, "Christopher Columbus belonged to an age that was past, yet he became the sign and symbol of [a] new age of hope, glory, and accomplishment. Aware that Norse voyages beat the voyages of Columbus in transatlantic contact, supporters maintain their view of his achievement because his discovery was the first recorded and fully documented account, something the Vikings did not achieve. On the other side there are those that devalue the achievements of Columbus and emphasize his morality as their basis for his negative image. 19th century historian, Justin Winsor was among the first to share this view. Winsor and other fellow members of his camp believe Columbus did not change world history, and that labeling it as such is dubious, "It is extremely doubtful if any instance can be found of a great idea changing the world's history, which has been created by a single man. There are always forerunners whose agency is postponed because the times are not propitious. Essentially, they believe that a single person cannot be credited for an achievement of this caliber because it requires an individual to be at the right place and time, and that someone would reach this point sooner or ...