Essay On Why Did Christopher Columbus Discover America

On every twelfth of October, nations across the world, from Spain to the Bahamas, celebrate the voyage and discovery of the soon to be Americas led by the notorious European explorer Christopher Columbus. On August 3rd, 1492, Columbus led his “three ships - the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria - out of the Spanish port of Palos” in order to sail west until he reached the Indies where the riches of gold, pearls and spice awaited him! However, instead of landing in Asia he found himself in one of the Bahamian islands, being greeted by indigenous people in which he described “as naked as when their mothers bore them” and were “very well made, with very handsome bodies, and very good countenances" (Christopher Columbus Discovers America, 1492).

Their reason for settlement in the Americas had largely to do with the hopes of finding goods, wealth, and land. As a matter of fact, during Christopher Columbus’s first voyage he not only discovered the New World, but as well as conquered territories such as San Salvador, Cuba and Hispaniola as Spanish possessions (America, Spanish Conquest). At the time on his first trip he left behind a group of Spaniards in Hispaniola in order to colonize it and find gold. However, to his surprise they were all gone when he came back. Current historians do not have a specific answer to their disappearance but some say they were killed by the inhabitants of Hispaniola because of mistreatment. Although the second try for colonization was more of a success than the previous one. On the contrary, their attempt not only unlocked trade and expansion, but also death to the natives by the hands of the Europeans and ravish diseases. Diseases such as influenza, smallpox, measles and typhus that drastically reduced the indigenous population in the Caribbean within 50 years. And by the end of the sixteenth century, the population in the Americas that was once between 60-110 million was cut to a mere 6

Anglo-America, which was the newly founded United States, and Spanish-America. Due to Spanish-America becoming inevitably weak, despite having more resources, were nowhere compared to Anglo-America whereas they became powerful and stayed free from outside control. Eventually the United States of America created a new idea in mind called “Manifest Destiny”. Manifest Destiny was the idea that the U.S. had the belief that they had a “mission to expand, spreading democracy and freedom.” During the 19th century the term was mainly used for a political catch phrase. Meaning how it was “inevitable” and “obvious” for America to pursue expansion. Because of this new idea, the newly nation began taking as much land as possible from Latin America. One of the first signs was the Louisiana Purchase back in the year 1803. This decision of purchasing this large amount of land from the French placed a tremendous amount of pressure on Spain, who were currently dealing with multiple international affairs at the time. Ultimately giving up Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, and everything north of California. By the end of it all, Spain was only left with Cuba and Puerto Rico (Aske). However the United States didn’t stop right there. They continued to gain more land by starting the Mexican-American War in the year 1846 under President James K. Polk’s term. When