A Claim about Christopher Columbus

It is a historical fact the Christopher Columbus accidentally sailed to America in 1492 in order to look for the rich resources of Eastern Asia. It is true that he landed on an island off of the coast of the American mainland and encountered native peoples who were more primitive that their European counterparts. This much is clear as far as historical accuracy or inaccuracy is concerned, however, from this event onward the true story becomes a bit hazy. There are multiple accounts of what Mr. Columbus found, why he was really venturing westward to begin with and what did he bring with him intentionally or not. After reviewing numerous sources that each explains this chapter of history and it is well within my personal opinion as a student that Christopher Columbus was undoubtedly searching for wealth and glory as a means of greed, obsessed with the supposed gold that he would find in his travels and, unknown to him at the time, would eventually bring and early form of negative colonialism to the natives of the American Islands.

            The very first accounts of Columbus’s travels date back to 1492 when he began writing his own journal of the journey he was about to take , however there is historical evidence that supports that he was born to an Italian wool craftsman and was educated in the process of mapmaking by the time he was in his late teens. During the time period of which he lived, a great majority of the population had certain misperceptions about the world outside of what was already discovered or claimed. For instance, one account depicts the Atlantic Ocean as “…a few miles from land, the sea ended in darkness and was inhabited by frightful monsters; and that if any ship should sail out too far, it would be swallowed up and never return.” Columbus was educated enough to understand that the earth was round and that a direct course to Asia would prove economically beneficial to Europe because it would eliminate a dangerous and time consuming journey on land from East Asia to European nations.

Columbus then approached King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain in order to provide funding for his self created experimental voyage and was eventually granted access to three ships to search for the new route to Asia. What many people don’t know, however, is that there were many added bonuses to Columbus’s journey that would probably pushed to be a little more valiant than the depictions we find in today’s textbooks and internets research sites. Howard Zinn, an acclaimed historian known for his works in the fields of American history, explains in his writing in chapter one of A People’s History of the United States, “In return for bringing back gold and spices, [the king and queen] promised Columbus 10 percent of the profits, governorship over new-found lands, and the fame that would go with a new title: Admiral of the Ocean Sea.” This proves that if Columbus found anything in the Atlantic he would have returned to Spain a wealthy man and withholding the glory of a successful explorer. This statement is a direct reason why Columbus would even risk such a dangerous and uncertain and it can be summed up in one single term hat would follow him everywhere he went: Greed.

As soon as Columbus landed on where he thought was India (he was actually in the Caribbean Islands and claimed the award of 10,000) he claimed the land in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella or more appropriately in the name of himself for he would have governorship over whatever he found regardless of whom already settled there. Upon direct contact with the native inhabitants of the Island, who were by nature and culture a peaceful and sharing community that very rarely fought and shared absolutely everything with each other, Columbus immediately took hostages in order to interrogate them about the whereabouts of the self envisioned fields of gold according to Zinn. Contrary to popular believe as well as what the textbooks and online bios of Columbus explain, the initial friendly interaction between the Spaniards and the natives was extremely short lived based on the soon following gold search and sudden decline in the overall population of native inhabitants. The accounts in Columbus’s personal journal, exist somewhat contradictory statements for he says in his entry upon the first day landing on the island, “As I saw that they were very friendly to us, and perceived that they could be much more easily converted to our holy faith by gentle means than by force, I presented them with some red caps, and strings of beads to wear upon the neck, and many other trifles of small value, wherewith they were much delighted, and became wonderfully attached to us. Afterwards they came swimming to the boats, bringing parrots, balls of cotton thread, javelins, and many other things which they exchanged for articles we gave them, such as glass beads, and hawk's bells.” Yet, he goes on to say later on, “They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” I find this is in no way an attitude that would represent the intentions of someone who truly wanted to help people for even reasons as meager as opening up new trade routes.

After Columbus’s eventual death in 1506, The Spaniards eventually realized they were in an entirely new continent and began to colonize everything possible. Among some of the new waves of settlers to these newly forming lands, was a priest by the name of Barhtolemé de las Casas. He is credited with writing about the early forms of foreign colonialism that was present after Columbus had conquered the Island of Hispaniola. He was originally a priest for the Christian forces who were settled on Hispaniola and was even a property owner before he realized the atrocities that were being committed against the native people He openly expresses in his memoirs that he had never before come across such cruelty and abuse of power over any group of people. I find this particularly shocking and real for me because of Casas’s position as a Catholic priest, a position that defines honesty and compassion for others. If there was anyone who could provide a real report of what was actually happening in that place at that time period it would have been him.

So where does this all add up? I suppose you could say that Columbus was ignorant of what could have happened when he landed where he did and his primary intention was to find direct trade routes to Asia but I would claim that this is untrue. If money were not involved in the voyage to quite literally find more wealth, Columbus would never have left the docks of Spain. I think that this predetermined path of greed and European expansion is what pushed Columbus to accidently discover the Americas and eventually destroy a culture. Sure, you could blame the way things were back then as far as Europeans seeing themselves as the “Super-Race” but when it comes to basic human morals and integrity, there is no excuse for the unrightfully takeover of land, the enslavement of an innocent people and the eventual downfall of not only an island civilization but an entire continent. Therefore, is quite fair to say that Columbus in his entirety was a villain.