Amongst a great many Western historians, the question is often asked if Christopher Columbus, the Spanish explorer, had an overall positive or negative impact on the people’s and culture of the Americas and broadly, the Western world. Curiously, there is a somewhat stark divide as what the best answer is since arguments can be solidly made for each. Still, consideration should be taken to a greater extent not just the effects Columbus had on America during is lifetime, but for the centuries afterward; yet considering them, one must consider as well the positive effects on the West. Since the founding America pushed the scope and influence of the Western world across the entire globe. Ultimately, taking history seriously into account the question
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With Columbus, not only did he bring in Europeans who maligned and subjugated the native populous, since they were viewed as primitive and “Child-like” (Schuman 17). When Columbus returned he brought with him a plethora of ships and men with the aim of obtaining “gold and slaves” (Zinn 3), where they went from island to island taking Indians and making them slaves. Yet, as Castronovo points out, the “European concept of slavery was rooted in the Aristotelian concept,” that if someone is captured “they’re legitimately a slave” (Castronovo 3). A quandary, but just enough of a justification to override the Spanish’s Catholic sensibilities. Many people fell to diseases brought from Columbus and his milieu, firstly, the ‘Tainos’ who were for many years considered ‘wiped out’ but Columbus. Though untrue, so many of them were killed or suffered the fate of becoming slaves that the news of the extinction was far exaggerated (Castronovo …show more content…
Both of whom exemplified in distinct ways this uniquely ‘American idea.’ Columbus was a foreigner, a man who landed, in the beginning, far from mainland America. Yet his influence spilt not only in his exploits as a explorer, but a purveyor of European diseases and moral ideals that formed the root of the eventual American consciousness. The thought of him has evolved, surely, over the centuries. Still, there are many who see him as the first American, in the terms that the nation was founded when his foot reached those tropical islands and he mingled and traded with the primitive peoples of the
With Columbus, not only did he bring in Europeans who maligned and subjugated the native populous, since they were viewed as primitive and “Child-like” (Schuman 17). When Columbus returned he brought with him a plethora of ships and men with the aim of obtaining “gold and slaves” (Zinn 3), where they went from island to island taking Indians and making them slaves. Yet, as Castronovo points out, the “European concept of slavery was rooted in the Aristotelian concept,” that if someone is captured “they’re legitimately a slave” (Castronovo 3). A quandary, but just enough of a justification to override the Spanish’s Catholic sensibilities. Many people fell to diseases brought from Columbus and his milieu, firstly, the ‘Tainos’ who were for many years considered ‘wiped out’ but Columbus. Though untrue, so many of them were killed or suffered the fate of becoming slaves that the news of the extinction was far exaggerated (Castronovo …show more content…
Both of whom exemplified in distinct ways this uniquely ‘American idea.’ Columbus was a foreigner, a man who landed, in the beginning, far from mainland America. Yet his influence spilt not only in his exploits as a explorer, but a purveyor of European diseases and moral ideals that formed the root of the eventual American consciousness. The thought of him has evolved, surely, over the centuries. Still, there are many who see him as the first American, in the terms that the nation was founded when his foot reached those tropical islands and he mingled and traded with the primitive peoples of the