Essay on Christopher Columbus Villain or Hero - 1521 Words

For more than five centuries Americans have lifted Christopher Columbus to heights of greatness and god-like. We celebrate his life as though he was a man that had done us a great favor. In resent years Christopher Columbus has come under scrutiny, his life and works being questioned more than celebrated. There have be many great men and women that contributed to the building of our great nation but they do not receive anywhere as much recognition as Columbus. When a person begins to study the actual accounts of the finding of the New World they begin to wonder if Columbus should adored or hated for his actions. As a child I was taught that Columbus was a great man that had accomplished great things for the sake of humanity, but in†¦show more content†¦Gold became his journeys fleece and grail. A few days before departure he was still tracking rumors about an exceedingly great quantity of gold in Hispaniola, where he could get it for nothing. That search continued on all fou r of his voyages, but the Indies never yielded him much treasure (William Howarth). Columbus journey didnt start out to be a bad idea, he even gave examples of how he tried to reason and befriend the indigenous people of the Americas. I, he says, in order that they would be friendly to us--because I recognized that they were people who would be better freed [from error] and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force--to some of them I gave red caps, and glass beads which they put on their chests, and many other things of small value in which they took so much pleasure and became so much our friends that it was a marvel (Columbus Quote from Christian History). Columbus did do the world a great service when he made his exploration and some people would argue that to their own graves. The greatest event since the creation of the world, excluding the Incarnation and death of Him who created it; Francisco Lopez de Gomara (1552). After 500 years the Columbian legacy has created a civilization that we ought not, in all humble piety and cultural relativism, declare t o be no better or worse than that of the Incas.Show MoreRelatedChristopher Columbus : Hero Or Villain?884 Words   |  4 PagesRian White Crawford 3rd Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain? In elementary school students are taught that Christopher Columbus is some godly hero who discovered that the earth was round and a shorter route to â€Å"Asia†. They even have a day dedicated to him. Typically, children are gullible and just believe what they are taught, rather than actually researching and learning the history on their own. As a child one’s brain is not developed enough to possess a sense of moral discernment. Also, childrenRead MoreChristopher Columbus Hero Or Villain1658 Words   |  7 PagesChristopher Columbus is an internationally celebrated explorer, due to his voyages to Central America during the Age of Discovery, a period between 15th and 16th centuries where explorers would be supported by countries to claim land. Columbus was an Italian explorer, on a conquest for gold and riches, who was sponsored by the monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, to travel to Southern Asia. Columbus proposed the idea of traveling from East to West, rather than travelingRead MoreChristopher Columbus: Villain or Hero? Essay458 Words   |  2 PagesIn 1492, Christopher Columbus unintentionally discovered America, when he landed in the Caribbean Islands, while looking for a direct sea route to Asia. Despite the fact that Columbus believed he had found a direct sea route to India, he has been called the discoverer of America and hailed as a hero. 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