Christopher Columbus Impact

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Regarded as a hero of American history for “discovering the new world,” Christopher Columbus never actually set foot on North America. Mooring his ships to land he suspected to be Asia in 1492, Columbus’ discovery was a chain of islands in the Western Atlantic, today known as the West Indies, several hundred miles off the southeast coast of what is modern day Florida. In fact, of the four voyages he made across the Atlantic, he never traveled any further north than the Bahamas. Discoverer is an accurate word when referencing Columbus, but it is an inaccurate description. Using only this one landfall to build a character portrait for the man is unjust, the legacy of his impact should be examined on a global scale. “No other person changed the …show more content…
As a direct result of Columbus’ influence in the region, a new era of international trade was fostered. Known as the Columbian exchange, it was the new mass migration of people, animals, religion, and disease between the new and old worlds. Continents isolated from one another by oceans were now connected. Europeans brought things never seen in the Americas before like horses and poultry, while carrying back home dietary staples like corn and tomatoes that kept populations alive during hard times in Europe. The advent of the Columbian exchange launched an old world globalization that saw the entire world become accessible, it also speaks to the true legacy of …show more content…
The most famous statement ever made about Columbus, it serves to herald a celebration of someone who, by historical accounts, isn’t the hero of American history he is portrayed to be. Probably a victim of circumstance – if it hadn’t been him then it most certainly would have been someone else - the results of his expeditions changed the world. His impact felt far and wide, Columbus can easily be credited, though not intentionally, with initiating the demise of the Native American population, and facilitating the rise of one of America’s darkest hours, the slave trade. He doubled the size of the world and left the Americas forever changed. While judgement could be, and maybe should be, passed on Columbus for his behavior in his personal ambitions, the magnitude of his impact on human history can never be

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