Christopher Columbus Literary Analysis

Even though the voyage was short (in order to bring news to the Spanish monarchs as soon as possible,) Columbus and his crew made landings in two different places. After planting a flag in San Salvador, Columbus noted that he did not observe any religion being practiced in Cuba, and the natives were very gentle and timid. The land was fertile, and overall Cuba seemed like a promising land. Columbus viewed this as an opportunity to bring in Spanish missionaries. After leaving Cuba, Columbus and his men “discovered” Haiti, which is a hot and fertile land. Columbus interacted with the Taìno Indians and used them as labor, which escalated to forcing the natives into slavery. Columbus brought twenty natives on his return to Spain in 1493, but only seven or eight survived because of the bad conditions on the

According to Columbus the Caribbean is a much better island than any other island he has visited. Columbus describes the Caribbean to have a variety of many trees, mountains, rivers and mines of metal along with a great number of inhabitants. Along with the great scenery description, Columbus includes that the Caribbean is very welcoming because of its inhabitants even though they are very timid at first. Las Casas, in his account, lets us know that the island Hispaniola was known as the largest and happiest before the Spaniards took over. The way that Las Casas describes the island during the time that the Spaniards were taking action to take over, includes only destruction, brutality and struggles for the indigenous people and their land.

In the book Zinn, The author gives a point of view of Christopher Columbus that is usually not given. Most of the time the story of Christopher Columbus is told from a historian point of view. They usually tell you of his mission, and of the three ships that he takes in order to find gold and other new riches. Zinn informs us that he is not the hero that, that we all think that he is. It shows us that he tortured, abused, and overwhelmingly embarrasses the Arwark Indians. The book also shows us that he was dishonest. It shows us this by him making all of these promises to the people if they support his journey. According to the article, Honoring Christopher Columbus, they believe even though he tortured Indians, that he should still be celebrated

Christopher Columbus is a man who is known in society simultaneously as a hero and a villain of his time. What if the world had to pick only one, what would it be? Many new studies and scholars believe that Columbus was the villain of his story not a hero as past information would lead us to believe. Past documents were all written from the Europe’s point of view, this would lead to extremely biased documents because Europe was the side to profit unlike the Native

Christopher Columbus is portrayed as a hero in most discussions regarding him but in actuality he is a villain because of how changed the economic, religious, and social aspects of life in the New World with mass genocide of the native people, destruction of the native peoples’ homes, and the exploitation of the natives.

The source, Christopher Columbus’s Journal, is a personal written account by Columbus of his time sailing to the New World and exploring it. Columbus's original Journals were lost. The original copies were sent to the King and Queen, however the parts that are left are from Bartoleme de Las Cases, one of the first men to come to the New World. He did not agree with Christopher Columbus’s way of treating the Indians, so it is certainly possible that the remaining parts may be tweaked to make Columbus look bad in the eyes of the people. (The Expansion of Europe and Rise of the Atlantic World, Enter Christopher Columbus) However, it is accepted that the remaining experts are more or less accurate.

According to Christopher Columbus, the Taino people of the Caribbean Islands that he encountered “were much delighted, and became wonderfully attached to us” (Journal, page 6). The Taino people were fascinated with Christopher Columbus and his

2. Zinn first characterizes Columbus by emphasizing his self-proclaimed greed and barbaric tactics he used to dominate and enslave the Indians. He does not glorify what Columbus has done or

Christopher Columbus is a Villain. On some accounts he can be a Hero. But on many other accounts he's a vicious Villain. Yes he discovered America ; Yes we have a holiday that commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the New World on October 12, 1492. But here are some reasons to why he's a evil man.

Therefore, the elites could more easily condescend the servants, and keep their superiority. To add on, Zinn used testomonial evidence to back his thesis, as he described that “one observer testified:’"I have seen an Overseer beat a Servant with a cane about the head till the blood has followed, for a fault that is not worth the speaking of...." The Maryland court records showed many servant suicides. In 1671, Governor Berkeley of Virginia reported that in previous years four of five servants died of disease after their arrival. Many were poor children, gathered up by the hundreds on the streets of English cities and sent to Virginia to work’” (Zinn). Zinn uses this to effectively portray the mistreatment, and separation of the classes. Throughout this chapter, Zinn uses historical argumentation as he argues how each circumstance led to more racism, and separation of the classes. This consequently raises doubts about the past, as it questions how the upper and lower classes

Although they dressed well with various types of feather earrings and gold necklaces and earrings, they did not hold any value on gold or any other type of precious things they had. Whereas, the Spanish wanted gold because of money and this lead to them treating the Indians horribly so that they would become their slaves and help find them more gold to send back to their kingdom. The Arawak people were beaten to death, hung and endured other types of torture because the Spanish wanted more gold, but there was only a limited supply of gold on the land they were living on. Thus, this lead in many casualties of the Arawak people, and numerous Indians were later sold into slavery and brought to Spain, where they would endure even more hard labor

History is made from stories, stories that have been passed from generation to generation, eventually written down and recorded as a record. Most often History is written by the powerful, the victorious, and so facts can become twisted and history can grow to not truly reflect reality. In context, the winners of a game may justly say they won but intentionally leave out the penalties they took or the goals the other team scored. Similarly, this happens in history and so history must be revised upon the discovery of new facts and evidence to be able to do justice to the reality of events.

Loewen argues, “The authors of history textbooks have taken us on a trip of their own, away from the facts of history, into the realm of myth.” As historical events regress further into the past, writers may misinterpret facts that they may have studied. A story of discovery and friendship or a tale of conquest, murder, and greed, which of these are Christopher Columbus’ true stories? I believe the best method to teach American high school students about Christopher Columbus’ story is through historiography because historiography teaches students to compare and distinguish different outlooks from different writers’ point of views instead of just remembering misinterpreted facts. Historiography would guide and force students to study and learn history through a diverse set of historians who focused on the same subject and come to different conclusions. Historiography sets a better stage for an understanding of a subject and opens up a boarder class discussion dialog.

Sales' was far more critical of Columbus. In a 1990 book, Sales’ portrays Columbus as a “ruthless fortune hunter who set in motion the destruction of native peoples and the American landscape that continues to this day”. Sale’s also takes issue with the view of Columbus as a "master mariner." For all his navigational skill, about which the salty types make such a fuss, and all his fortuitous headings [accidental but lucky directions], about which they are largely silent, Admiral Colón [Columbus] could be a wretched mariner. “The four voyages, properly seen quite apart from bravery and fortitude [endurance], are replete [filled] with lubberly [clumsy] mistakes, misconceived sailing plans, foolish disregard of elementary maintenance, and stubborn neglect of basic safety . . . Almost every time Colón went wrong it was because he had refused to bend to the inevitabilities of tide and wind and reef or, more arrogantly still, had not bothered to learn about them; the very same reckless courage that led him across the ocean in the first place, and saw him through storm and tumult to return, lay behind his numerous

Again, there was no talk of cannibalism or violence by these people anywhere in the letter. It made it appealing to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to use the Natives as slaves because they were healthy and muscular and would obey their commands due to their timid nature. The Natives’ perception of Columbus being from the heavens also helped to boost the appeal in the letter because it boosts Columbus’ image. It depicts him as being somewhat of a god and they worship him, which depicts the Natives as being loyal followers. This shows that the Natives would also be loyal to the Crown. Economically speaking, the Natives would make great slaves for the Crown. They would be a great source of cheap labor and would be a great way to obtain the goods from the New World. These were all aspects in which Columbus hinted at in his letter to the Royal Crown. This was the vision Columbus had for the Natives and for the land that they