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Through The Eyes Of The King: Was Christopher Columbus A Hero?

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In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. This is a childhood rhyme which is meant to portray Columbus as a hero. However, it fails to mention the negative impact he caused on the native population in the New World. His trip was originally dedicated to discovering trade routes to the far east, however, his ships ended up on the shores of the Bahamas. This voyage symbolized the discovery of the New World in the eyes of the King and Queen. This explains how Columbus was seen by the King and Queen because of them letting him take on this endeavor. Christopher Columbus who was seen as a hero was actually a historical villain because of his brutal treatment of natives, his contribution to the population decline, and the systems …show more content…

This included brutally murdering the Native Americans. He also caused a mass suicide by requiring the natives to become his slaves. Loewen states, “Occasionally a hundred have committed mass suicide. Trie women, exhausted by labor, have shunned conception and childbirth . . . Many, when pregnant, have taken something to abort and have aborted. Others after delivery have killed their children with their own hands, so as not to leave them in such oppressive slavery” (53). Columbus required the natives to become his slaves in order to do things for him which resulted in mass suicide. In addition, as a form of punishment towards the natives for not following the rules that Columbus had set their ears or noses were severed. Loewen states, “To ensure cooperation, Columbus used punishment by example. When an Indian committed even a minor offense, the Spanish cut off his ears or nose. Disfigured, the person was sent back to his village as living evidence of the brutality the Spaniards were capable of” (54). Columbus made these specific things required and if they were not followed the natives would be punished in the way that Columbus believed, cutting off their ears and noses. Columbus cutting off the ears and noses of the natives was one of many things he was responsible for. He also helped with the decline of their entire …show more content…

He contributed to the population decline by causing a mass suicide while he was forcing the natives to become his slaves. Columbus was also guilty of genocide as he systematically set out to destroy large populations of people native to the New World. When Columbus went back to Spain, he left Bartholomew in charge and he completed a census of the Indian population. Loewen states,”Estimates of Haiti's pre-Columbian population range as high as 8,000,000 people. When Christopher Columbus returned to Spain, he left his brother Bartholomew in charge of the island. Bartholomew took a census of Indian adults in 1496 and came up with 1,100,000” (54). By observing the numbers of the Indians at the time before and after Columbus, it is shown how he had a contribution to the decline of the population. The ecosystem was also destroyed by Columbus arriving in the New World. Many things had to change and respond in order to adapt to the things Columbus brought with him from the Old World. Loewen states,”Beyond acts of individual cruelty, the Spanish disrupted the Indian ecosystem and culture. … The intrusion of rabbits and livestock caused further ecological disaster. Diseases new to the Indians played a role...” (54). The decimation of the ecosystem was caused by the things that Columbus brought from the Old World such as livestock, rabbits, and diseases that were new to the natives. This caused death for many of

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Christopher Columbus Hero or Villain ? Christopher Columbus is a Villain. On some accounts he can be a Hero. But on many other accounts he's a vicious Villain. Yes he discovered America ;

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When the Spanish first landed in the Bahamas, they were greeted by the natives, which Columbus described as “childlike innocents”. After the natives catered to the Spanish’s every need, Columbus had the thought that “They ought to make good and skilled servants” (Horwitz 61). He departed from the island two days later, with 7 captured natives for the King and Queen. In addition to slavery, there were also European men raping native women. When looking for gold, Columbus began island hopping through the Bahamas, taking many captives.

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(1) This shows Columbus’s ignorance towards other people and his use of a militaristic approach due to capturing innocent people. Columbus has not only caused problems in his era but also to this day. Today Natives are still constantly struggling socially because they have been overlooked for so long, some could argue beginning first with Columbus and Colonization. In September of 1493, when Columbus set sail for his second voyage, he became much more aggressive towards the Arawak’s since he had already captured

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Although he did not find a water route to the Indies like he had intended, he found many valuable foods native to only the New World, and he found gold which became a high demand to search for among fellow explorers and conquistadors. His findings greatly increased his country’s economy, and later the New World offered a place for religious freedom from the Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Anglican church for anyone who wanted to chose a different denomination of Christianity. Columbus also started the Columbian Exchange, which allowed the newly discovered goods from the New World to be transported and traded within and around Europe. While Christopher Columbus made many advancements towards the evolution of Europe and sea routes for trade, I still consider him a villain due to the many lives that he took, because I feel that he could have made these same advancements for Europe, but without as much bloodshed as he

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Him and his Spanish counterparts slaughtered men, women, and children alike. They would decapitate the innocent, burn humans alive, and beat young children to death (Las Casas).  When Columbus originally encountered the natives, he recounted that they were a  peaceful, generous, and loving peoples (Columbus). Yet he still chose to participate in this torture. Columbus also never actually stepped foot onto North America.

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After sending them on a search for gold, the ones who found nothing had their hands cut off, and they ultimately bled to death. If some tried to defy his laws, they were hanged or burned at the stake. Columbus and his men literally had total control over the natives, which led to complete domination. With their lack of weapons, they were unable to fight back. Some of his soldiers were so despicable, they rode on the backs of the natives, like they were horses.

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Some say Christopher Columbus was a hero because he was the explorer that discovered America. In reality, Christopher Columbus had an incredibly negative impact on the world because he enslaved the Native Americans, didn’t help the kind Natives when they got infected by diseases that the Spaniards had brought to America, and killed off most of the Native American population. The tactics he chose to use were violent and destructive by the standards back then and now. First, Columbus treated the Native Americans like uncivilized people by enslaving them and forcing them to work for him although they greeted him and his crew peacefully. ” They could make fine servants,”(document 2) he wrote in his journal,”I took them by force.

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