Verified Document

Analyzing The Legend Of Christopher Columbus Research Paper

¶ … 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, 1498-1500 and 1502-1503, led to the advent of European exploration, exploitation, and subsequent colonization of Americans. For long, he is known as the discoverer of what is now known as the new world, though some Vikings like Leif Eriksson visited North America about five centuries before this time.[footnoteRef:2] [1: Library Congress, "1492: An Ongoing Voyage," Library Congress, March 2016, www.loc.gov] [2: Valerie, I. J. Flint, "Christopher Columbus; Italian explorer," ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, March 2016, www.britannica.com] Christopher Columbus, in the company of his men, subdued the natives and enslaved them violently, in a bid to gather riches for themselves and to enrich their empire, converted them to Christianity forcefully because their religion was considered an evil one and introduced diseases that killed all Native Indians.

Columbus transatlantic voyages were made under Ferdinand 11 and Isabella 1, the Spanish Catholic monarch's sponsorship. At first, he was full of ambition and hope, an ambition that was partly indebted to his popular title, Admiral of the Ocean Sea, which was given to him in April 1492, and by the grants contained in the book of privileges, as record of his claims and titles.[footnoteRef:3] [3: Ibid]

According to Valerie Flint, in the Encyclopedia Britannica, several books came out in the 90s about Columbus, which led to considerable debate. There was equally a serious change in interpretation and approach; the ancient pro-European belief was replaced by one formed by the inhabitant's opinion of the...

Parts of this document are hidden

View Full Document
svg-one

The more modern understanding, however, has focused on the critical part of the European triumph, laying emphasis on the disastrous effect the slave trade and the devastation brought by the introduced disease on the Indigenous Caribbean people and the entire American continent.[footnoteRef:5] [5: Ibid]
Summary: Why did Columbus do these things? What was his ethical perspective?

Just like most European explorers, Columbus came across a number of indigenous people during his voyages. Determined to succeed in his quest to discover riches and conquer new territories, Columbus and his co-travelers treated indigenes they encountered in their journeys as hindrances to the actualization of their travel goals. Three major sources of controversy have been examined on how Columbus interacted with the indigenes he met and named Indians: slavery and the use of violence, forceful conversion of natives to the Christian faith, and introducing several new diseases that would affect the native Americans dramatically for a longtime.[footnoteRef:6] Ethical issues have been brought forth by his interaction with the natives. [6: Ibid]

In an age where the international slave trade started gaining recognition, many native inhabitants of the West Indies were enslaved by Columbus and his men and they were subjected to severe brutality and violence. On his 1492 famous first voyage, Columbus journeyed for three years under tough conditions and arrived on one unknown Caribbean island. On the first day Columbus spent in the new world, he ordered that six of the natives be arrested because he believed they would make very good servants. All through the years he spent in…

Sources used in this document:
Bibliography

BBC. "Ethics and Slavery." BBC. 2014. www.bbc.co.uk.

History.com. "Columbus Controversy." History.com. 2009. A+E Networks. http://www.history.com

Library Congress. "1492: An Ongoing Voyage." Library Congress. March 2016. https://www.loc.gov

McGraw Hill. "The Journey of Christopher Columbus; Native Peoples - the Indians." Glencoe Online. 2015. www.glencoe.com
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Chocolat There Is No Better
Words: 4622 Length: 14 Document Type: Term Paper

Clarence-Smith 6) In so doing the commodity market and global trade developed a new history for chocolate, one that makes it a very fitting liberator in the small French village depicted in the film. This new history is a story of sweetness and power, that is, the power to define what constitutes refined taste (Mintz 1985). All these accounts relate how Spanish nuns or monks were the first to domesticate a bitter,

Coetzee and Defoe Coetzee's Novels Like Foe
Words: 4684 Length: 15 Document Type: Essay

Coetzee and Defoe Coetzee's novels like Foe and Dusklands are an explicit rejection of the old cultural and literary canons, of which Robinson Crusoe has always been part. Indeed, his stories reverse the standard narrative of white male narrators, adventurers and colonizers, who explore and conquer the 'savage' regions of the world and mold them in the image of Western-Christian civilization. White men literally tell these stories, while blacks, Asians, American

Rime of the Ancient Mariner Critical Analysis
Words: 1871 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Coleridge "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is much revered in Western poetical tradition, and it has survived despite the fickle reading audience's drastic turn towards the novel and other forms. Poems were once the acknowledged leader as a written form, but they have long been secondary, or even tertiary, because a novel is said to be easier to

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now