Christopher Columbus found new land that Europeans had never seen before and started an age of exploration like no other, or so we thought. Columbus, a well-known sailor from Genoa, Italy, was almost always thought of to be a hero, but not everything Columbus did was all that great. A hero is someone who performs good deeds for the sake of others and not for their own benefit. He started a huge trading system where many new things such as horses, cattle, pigs, grains, citruses, and sugarcane were introduced to the Americas, and many things such as corn, potatoes, tobacco, cocoa, squash, and turkeys were brought back to Europe. After he found the Americas, there was massive colonization, and Europeans also learned new farming techniques. With …show more content…
Simple, he wanted money. The first man to see land was supposed to get 10,000 maravedis every year for the rest of his life. A sailor named Rodrigo saw the early morning moon shining on the white sands and cried out, but Columbus claimed that he saw the light the day before. He ended up getting the reward. Also, when they reached land, Columbus was not really interested about the land, or the people, but more importantly, the gold that he fantasized. If he found enough valuables to pay off the expenses of the expedition, he would get 10% of the remaining amount. At that time, gold was more useful than anything else because gold could buy you anything. Columbus also wanted fame. If he was successful, he would gain the title of Admiral of the Ocean Sea, along with the fame of being the first man who reached what was thought to be Asia by sailing west, which is not true, but was believed to be true. Lastly, Columbus wanted governorship over newly claimed land. He wanted to be in charge. When he found all the natives in the New World, he thought that he could control all of them. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella promised him all of those three things in return for bringing back spices, gold, and other …show more content…
On the first island he reached, he took a few natives by force because they might know things about what there is in that area. Also, the Arawaks, the first natives Columbus met, wore tiny gold ornaments in their ears, so Columbus forced them to show him where they found the gold. As his journey continues, he forces a group of natives to make a trade where they gave him many more bows and arrows that they wanted to. Additionally, at that time, the main religion in Europe was Christianity, so when Columbus reached land, he forced all the natives he came across to convert into Christianity. Columbus also thought that the natives would make good slaves because they were very generous and didn’t argue with you much. On Columbus’s later expeditions, one thing he promised the king and queen of Spain was “as much gold as they need”. Since he couldn’t find that amount of gold, he forced the Indians to do the labor for