Christopher Columbus was a villain.His motives for the voyages that made him the famous person that he is today weren't as pure as we originally thought. He only started exploring because he wanted to be the governor of what he discovered and he wanted one tenth of everything of value that he found on his explorations. Even before they reached the islands Columbus was treating his crew members badly. A reward of 10,000 maravedis was to go to the person who saw land first, at that time an able sailor could make about 12,000 maravedis a year. A lookout on the Pinta saw land first but Columbus being the cruel person that he was, pocketed the money himself, claiming that he had seen several lights the night before. The local Taino Indians were the first people that Columbus met when he arrived on the island of Hispanola. They helped him find enough gold and prosperity to save him from ridicule when he returned to Spain. On his subsequent trips to the new world Columbus and his men captured some of the people who had helped him on his first voyage and sold them into slavery. A mass decline in the native population occurred after Columbus and his followers arrived in the new world. Some of the natives were murdered directly. Some died indirectly as a result of contact with diseases for which they had no natural immunity for. On his second trip to the New World after it was learned that La Navidad(his first settlement) had been destroyed, Columbus enslaved many indigenous people to help with the construction of the new colony. After his second voyage many settlers became discontented and complained to the king and queen. The monarchs weren't as enthusiastic about his second voyage and waited almost and entire year before authorizing his third voyage. After being cleared of any wrongdoing, Columbus embarked on his third voyage from Seville on May 30, 1498. He was becoming more adventurous and his settlements were still deteriorating. When the monarchs learned of this, they sent a judge to govern and stripped Columbus of his ranking. Columbus eventually received the wealth that he felt was due to him but he never received the titles that were stripped from him on that third voyage. Thursday, October 9, 2008
Columbus is a villain
Christopher Columbus was a villain.His motives for the voyages that made him the famous person that he is today weren't as pure as we originally thought. He only started exploring because he wanted to be the governor of what he discovered and he wanted one tenth of everything of value that he found on his explorations. Even before they reached the islands Columbus was treating his crew members badly. A reward of 10,000 maravedis was to go to the person who saw land first, at that time an able sailor could make about 12,000 maravedis a year. A lookout on the Pinta saw land first but Columbus being the cruel person that he was, pocketed the money himself, claiming that he had seen several lights the night before. The local Taino Indians were the first people that Columbus met when he arrived on the island of Hispanola. They helped him find enough gold and prosperity to save him from ridicule when he returned to Spain. On his subsequent trips to the new world Columbus and his men captured some of the people who had helped him on his first voyage and sold them into slavery. A mass decline in the native population occurred after Columbus and his followers arrived in the new world. Some of the natives were murdered directly. Some died indirectly as a result of contact with diseases for which they had no natural immunity for. On his second trip to the New World after it was learned that La Navidad(his first settlement) had been destroyed, Columbus enslaved many indigenous people to help with the construction of the new colony. After his second voyage many settlers became discontented and complained to the king and queen. The monarchs weren't as enthusiastic about his second voyage and waited almost and entire year before authorizing his third voyage. After being cleared of any wrongdoing, Columbus embarked on his third voyage from Seville on May 30, 1498. He was becoming more adventurous and his settlements were still deteriorating. When the monarchs learned of this, they sent a judge to govern and stripped Columbus of his ranking. Columbus eventually received the wealth that he felt was due to him but he never received the titles that were stripped from him on that third voyage. 
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
You mentioned that Columbus killed hundreds of Natives.Besides actually killing them Columbus and his crew gave the Natives diseases like Smallpox.Is Columbus really a villain if he did not intentionally spread the diseases?
I agree with you on Columbus being a villain. But, do you believe that his intentions of doing the wrong things he did were planned in the beginning of the exploration or did greed take over as the trip proceeded?
I agree that Columbus is a villain. He was very violent and tortured many people. Although he did discover new lands, they were not quite what he expected. He deprived the Native Americans of what was theirs and ended up causing much exploration competition; which was a good and bad thing. Columbus I think is given much more credit than he deserves, not a hero.
I agree with you girl. Columbus was a bad man in many more ways tha he was a good! He killed much too many people to be considered a hero. :(
Post a Comment