ipl-logo

Columbus And Western Civilization Essay

732 Words3 Pages

Past, present and future, seen as distinct periods in time yet are far more interrelated than people assume. Without today there would be no tomorrow thus, no yesterday. In the piece “Columbus and Western Civilization” Howard Zinn begins with a quote by George Orwell “Who controls the past controls the future. And who controls the present controls the past” (Zinn 2009, 89). Those who dominate presently affect how individuals interpret the past, by writing their own versions of history, to serve the purpose of manipulating the future. This view is commonly shared and agreed upon in the works of McNeill, Marchak and of course, Zinn. Today our social realities are very far from our own, ideologies are moulded onto everyone. Thus, people are …show more content…

Power surrounds individuals continuously and the relations it forms are constantly under its pressure. These unwritten conventions that society blindly follows are the deficit that stray us off the true path. What we perceive on a daily basis is automatically seen as reality, but we hardly ever question if this is truly so. The distinction is never made of whether or not we truly know something or just believe something. This problem is detrimental to every human being exposed to the external world and its accomplice ideology. “Ideology is the shared ideas, perceptions, values and beliefs through which members of a society interpret history and contemporary social events and which shape their expectation and wishes for the future” (Marchak 2011, 62). An analogy can be formed between Marchak’s definition of ideology and George Orwell’s quote. This comparison is significant because it shows that ideologies shape past present and future, just as adequately as those in power presently control the past henceforth controlling the future. Ideologies are sublimely used as a form of control; I believe that those in power have mastered this tool flawlessly. This is demonstrated in society today, we view

Show More
Related
197 Words | 1 Pages

When Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas he had the plan to sail through the Indian river to get to Asia, but because you aren't able to sail through America to get to Asia he ended up in Hispaniola an island in the Caribbean. In my opinion, I think that Columbus set sail to Asia but ended up in Hispaniola In the beginning the Hispaniola were very kind to the Spaniard, but after a while the Spaniard started to take over their land and eventually killed most of the Hispaniola population and sold the rest as slaves. I say this because In document B (the letter) Christopher Columbus had said that “I took possession of all of them for our most fortunate King...no one making any resistance. This shows that Christopher Columbus had taken over

Read More
405 Words | 2 Pages

In the Non-fiction book, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus, Charles Mann aims to debunk an array of beliefs about Native Americans that most scholars once insisted were true. Mann’s research suggests that the native people of the Americas are more intelligent and sophisticated than previously predicted, live in higher numbers and greatly impact the natural landscape. The book is split into three parts: Numbers from Nowhere, Very Old Bones, and Landscapes with Figures. These parts focus on the population, culture, origins and the environment. Mann builds his arguments by reassessing a myriad of pre-existing views about the Americas prior to 1492.

Read More
231 Words | 1 Pages

In my opinion I feel as if the backlash occurred because of the prior events that the Native American population has encountered, they did not agree with Christopher Columbus because they were in a sense comfortable in their trades, survival, and land that they worked hard for. With that being said, the Indians have a negative view of Christopher Columbus and do not see the good in what he was doing. I am a celebrator of Columbus as I have also been taught in school of how courageous he was despite the hardships that were going on in the world at this time. However, until I read up on this I did not realize that Christopher Columbus in a sense invaded the Native Americans land I believe Christopher Columbus open the doors to many things through

Read More
605 Words | 3 Pages

It was October 12, 1492 when Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world and it is also the day in which citizens of the United States celebrate this cultivated man. Many see Columbus as the hero that discovered America, but countless people only know that one perspective. Howard Zinn, the author of Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress deepens the story of Columbus sailing the ocean blue and exhibits a whole different outlook on the events that took place. Zinn’s eloquent depiction spawned interest everywhere due to the graphic and unique portrayal of the so-called 1400’s hero. The author tries to prove (his thesis) the cruelty and immorality of the Italian explorer by giving a commoner’s perspective and clear evidence on how Columbus

Read More
922 Words | 4 Pages

The marketing of products and ideas influence all people 's lives and has been a part of the human experience for thousands of years. This marketing can take on a number of different forms, but one of the most common forms is propaganda. According to Fleming, propaganda is the use of specific "techniques to influence thinking in whatever direction" the author wants and in most cases to "sell" an idea or product (3). Two of the earliest accounts of this popular marketing method, in Western Hemisphere, come for the letters and reports of both Christopher Columbus and John Smith. Both of which tried to marketed the newly discovered and settled North American continent.

Read More
924 Words | 4 Pages

The Differences of the New World Indian Encounters by the Spanish Christopher Columbus and Hernan Cortes were two explorers that came into contact with the two native groups. Columbus was born in 1451 and grew up as an explorer and navigator completing many voyages. He reached Asia (the Indies) in 1492 discovering the New World. He believed that he was reaching India, but was mistaken when he analyzed the scale wrong and ended up on the opposite side of the globe. Cortes was born around 1845 and grew up as an explorer and Spanish conquistador.

Read More
1008 Words | 5 Pages

Howard Zinn’s point on how we regard on how we teach and learn about Columbus is that the historians only focus on one criteria on how Columbus had found this land but didn’t focus on the crueler facts that the Arawaks faced, like how they were enslaved to work for the Spaniards. Howard Zinn thinks that we should rethink the Columbus Legacy and it’s implications for the present and future because of the factors that the historians didn’t put in their teachings and books. In History textbooks, Christopher Columbus is known for the man who founded North America. Which is technically not true since the Arawaks were already there.

Read More
1878 Words | 8 Pages

In 1492 Christopher Columbus missed named, people Indigenous to the Americas, Indians too. The opening statement is juxtaposition that plays on the familiar rhyme “In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue”. It is a mnemonic device that is taught to children to help them remember the date that the explore set out to “discover” America. The rhyme as well as most of the information that is taught about the the explorer are a gross understatement, unlike the opening statement. It is his mislabeling of the Indigenous people that left a mark on the people that has still not been erased today.

Read More
600 Words | 3 Pages

Despite the fact that it is over 500 years after Christopher Columbus came to the Americas in 1492, there is still a major debate about whether he should be celebrated or condemned, according to Bryan Brown from Upfront Magazine. Columbus was the explorer who brought the Europeans to the Americas, which overall impacted world history in severe measures. Columbus was the explorer who started interaction between the Americas and Europe, also known as the Columbian Exchange. When Columbus arrived, he traded with the Native Americans, but also did many things to benefit the Europeans that harmed and killed the Natives. Furthermore, unlike what many people think, Columbus wasn’t even the first European to discover the Americas; the Vikings came hundreds of years earlier.

Read More
1169 Words | 5 Pages

Aishah Al Tarmoum 0013962 American Lit. 1, 1:00 PM Christopher Columbus: An Explorer or a Victim? We all have plans and dreams for our futures that we cherish and nurture.

Read More
251 Words | 2 Pages

“Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”, chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States”, written by professor and historian Howard Zinn, concentrates on a different perspective of major events in American history. It begins with the native Bahamian tribe of Arawaks welcoming the Spanish to their shores with gifts and kindness, only then for the reader to be disturbed by a log from Columbus himself – “They willingly traded everything they owned… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Zinn pg.1) In the work, Zinn continues explaining the unnecessary evils Columbus and his men committed unto the unsuspecting natives.

Read More
1471 Words | 6 Pages

Conformity and group mentality are major aspects of social influence that have governed some of the most notorious events and experiments in history. The Holocaust is a shocking example of group mentality, or groupthink, which states that all members of the group must support the group’s decisions strongly, and all evidence leading to the contrary must be ignored. Social norms are an example of conformity on a smaller scale, such as tipping your waiter or waitress, saying please and thank you, and getting a job and becoming a productive member of society. Our society hinges on an individual’s inherent need to belong and focuses on manipulating that need in order to create compliant members of society by using the ‘majority rules’ concept. This

Read More
435 Words | 2 Pages

Quite simply put, Europeans viewed Africans and Native Americans as inferior to themselves. They were considered to be heathens and barbarians by the Europeans. And, at least initially, they were not Christian. It was believed that Europeans could save both Native Americans and Africans not only spiritually but also economically and socially. This type of attitude also most likely made it much easier for the Europeans to discriminate and exploit them.

Read More
395 Words | 2 Pages

Therefore this is intertwined with the will to power issue that we are faced with a battling urges continuously at war with itself. We judge things based on the relationship of conceptual thinking and how they can be truth or false. However, the

Read More
457 Words | 2 Pages

In this interview, it illustrates how power may ignite cultures to have a division based on their cultural group. It may cause a nation to become captivated by misleading mistakes and false representation of a political group. Although, segregation exists, individuals felt the need to react in ways that became unjustifiable causing destruction affecting beliefs, values, and other perspectives amongst other cultures, religions, and beliefs differently than their own. By taking the lives of innocent individuals and shaping and conforming lives according to their biases alters how children may shape their own human world views based on exceptionalism, power and segregation, and improving history and evolution through integration.

Read More

More about Columbus And Western Civilization Essay

Open Document