Compare And Contrast Christopher Columbus And Cortes

In the fifteenth century, Spain had the indication of traveling to the New World, which consisted of present-day South America along into parts of North America. The noted explorers, Columbus, Cortés, and Las Casas each had the confidence of fulfilling this expedition to the New World. Along the way each explorer encountered different experiences with the indigenous people including their values and beliefs. The explorers’ eyes were open to a new world and experienced many hardships. However, the explorers came across great colonization’s of the New World, including trading routes and goods, along with the discovering of new plants and animals. Each confront with the New World was different for the explorers allowing for different experiences. Some had different intentions along with experiencing different obstacles with the indigenous people. They each though led a success route allowing for the Spain to connect with the New World.

The Spanish and Aztecs, who were both very powerful empires in their regions during the 15th and 16th centuries had man differences as well as similarities in their daily lives. They had similarities and differences in their daily lives from religious practices, leadership, social hierarchy, and education. This essay will compare those similarities and differences.

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.

Conquistador, written by Buddy Levy about the famous ventures of Hernan Cortes, places the reader in the 16th century, or the era c.1450-c. 1750 ce. During this time, the idea of exploration was spreading quickly, as kingdoms and empires in Europe sought to expand their territory. Portugal, with Spain following after, led the way for exploration as they headed south. Spain, however, ventured west, driven by a patriotic attitude of expanding past their borders. Levy tells the story of Hernan Cortes, originally setting sail from Spain, as he sailed from Cuba to the shores of Mexico in 1519, eager about the discovery of new lands. Cortes, as well as many other explorers during this time, was inspired by the Three G’s: God, gold, and glory. He planned to conquer the new lands for Spain, to convert the natives to Catholicism, and to obtain the riches of the land, mostly gold.

Christopher Columbus as we know is the historical person credited for the discovery of the New World. Zheng He was a Hui-Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa. Each men and their fleets had two completely different reason for their travel. Christopher Columbus purpose was to find a new trade way to the Asian countries. Zheng He's purpose was to enlarge empires control of seaway trade. Zheng He's voyages took place in the Indian Ocean and Christopher Columbus's took place in the Atlantic Ocean. Though their voyages were different they both made a huge impact on the politics, economics and human civilization.

Religion played a huge role in the Aztec society. Religion was the most important thing to the Aztec people . The Aztecs used omens and stars to tell the future. The Aztecs had believed that a god named Quetzalcoatl would and destroy the entire Aztec civilization and he would return in the year of the seed. In 1519 a Explorer named Hernan Cortes discovered Mexico in 1519. 1519 was the seed year according to the Aztec calendar. The Aztecs Believed that Hernán Cortés was Quetzalcoatl.So they treated him great respect. Hernan Cortes had lunch with the Aztecs and after lunch he killed all the Aztec people. The aztecs could not attack him first because they believed that he was a god and they had to treat him with great respect.Hernan Cortes killed 5% of the aztec empire. The 90% died from smallpox and the 4% died in the attack. The spanish brought the other 5% with them to Spain as slaves. On August/13/1521 most of the Aztecs race died and Hernan Cortes was declared

When Christopher Columbus saw the Native Americans, he knew right away that they were gullible but smart people. Christopher Columbus was an Italian navigator and explorer. He was sponsored by the Spanish monarchy. He made 4 trips to the New World and his first trip was in 1492.Then New

The Aztec people dominated the 14th through 16th century Mesoamerica. They are one of the most noted cultures recognized in history books today and they deserve as much recognition for their accomplishments and errors as much as any other civilization because their works were much the same. Their religious practices were similar to that of the ancient civilizations throughout the entire world. The magnificent capital, Tenochtitlan, displays accomplishments other cities had achieved thousands of years before the Aztecs marched through what is now Mexico. Even the fall of their empire was like that of the far away Celtic civilization and countless others.

On March 15, 1493 Explorer Christopher Columbus wrote a letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Castille announcing his discoveries in what he thought to be the eastern side of China, but was actually the first European contact with America. Columbus’ intention was to show how easy it was to conquer the “New World” and convert its denizens to Christianity.

I believe that the Spanish conquest was quite effective because they achieve their goal of establishing territorial gains. The Spanish also demolished one of earliest civilization in history. In the book it mentions that the Maya knew not to go against the Spanish Masters because their military was much stronger than the Mayan warriors. There were very much loss with the Mayan Empire because of the conquest itself.

During his journey he found an air passage that will help transport goods to the new world, he also found that the trip west took longer than anticipated and Columbus lied on the distance they traveled so the crew does not worry ( eyewitnesstohistory.com). Once Columbus crew found out that he had lied to them he promised them and if they don 't see land in the next two days they will turn back and head home (eyewitnesstohistory.com). That next day Columbus and his crew had spotted land and all of the crew members were anxious to set foot and discover what they have found (eyewitnesstohistory.com). Once they got close to land Columbus knew that he did not find Asia but instead he found the Caribbean islands (eyewitnesstohistory.com). After meeting the locals or the Tainos they encountered that they had gold, silver, pearls, and salves (history.com). Columbus also found out that the Taino were easily able to convert to Christianity, in the mist of all things he wrote in his journal and saying that the natives “would easily be made Christians because it seemed to me that they had no religion” (dairy). Without the despite the locals disapproved his action. In one of his journal entries it said that "Shortly after landing, many of the island 's inhabitants assembled on the beach and Columbus gave those gifts of red hats and beads. The natives reciprocated with gifts of parrots, cotton and other goods. In describing the Taino natives, Columbus wrote: "They go as naked as when their mothers bore them, and so do the women, although I did not see more than one girl. They are very well made, with very handsome bodies, and very good countenances."(Christopher Columbus Discover America, 3). Through this discovery, Columbus thought in

Equiano in the page (45) uses very vivid description to show what is being done to him and his people. He uses words such as “loathsome” and “pestilential” to describe what horrid conditions they were forced to exist in. Unlike Equiano, Columbus spends most of his time describing the expensiveness of the lumber and various fruits. For example, Columbus describes “This island exceeds the others in beauty and fertility” (62). Simply stated, this is much different from Equiano's descriptions. Another of Equiano’s descriptions is of a sailor who took pity on him and his curiosity. The nearest similarity in Columbus's journal is his run in with the natives. Columbus tells of them sharing with him to fulfill his curiosity about the various other islands around the caribbean. These descriptions have once again shown what is important to the authors to Columbus it is the funding that he thinks he should receive, and to Equiano it is help for him and his enslaved

Compare Christopher Columbus's letter to Santangel (1493) regarding the first voyage to his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella (1503) regarding the fourth voyage. Discuss the apparent differences in the motivation and purpose of each letter. Also discuss what the letters suggest about the relative value of kings and great cities, the power of Spanish explorers, or the relative importance of the "people without number" who already inhabit the islands. essay

The second monday of october is when many celebrate Columbus Day. A holiday designed to honor Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, who set foot in the new world on October 12, 1492, five hundred twenty five years ago. He intended to find a western sea route to China, India and Asia where gold was rumored to be found in abundance. Instead he landed in the bahamas. He didn’t realize until his third voyage that he didn't land in china but a land that the Europeans had no knowledge on. People have celebrated this day as early as the eighteenth century, but it did not become an official federal holiday until 1937. The holiday was made to celebrate the beginning of settlement in america by the europeans. People from all over the world may honor it many different ways such as a celebration of Italian-American heritage and to honor Native Americans. However many people do not celebrate this holiday inspired by the Italian explorer. They find hardship in celebrating the fact that he destroyed the native population, basically helped to start slavery in America and he was terrible to

Acknowledgement: Columbus’s actions were perhaps a form of self-defense in response to the violent and aggressive Taíno people.