Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain?
By: Angel Lam
Primary Source:
Columbus, Christopher. “Discovery of the New World.” Discovery of the New World, 8/1/2017, p. 1. Web. 16 Feb 2018.
ABSTRACT: This letter is written to noble Lord Raphael Sanchez, the treasurer to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. It describes his first voyage and documents his journey to various islands along with his interactions with the Natives. Columbus recounts the Natives’ behaviors towards him and his crew.
NOTES: “…Although they have been with us now a long time, they continue to entertain the idea that I have descended from heaven.” This observation that Christopher Columbus has shows the reader that he is well aware of his exploitive behavior. He knows that because the Natives think he is a higher being, he will be treated like a god and thus able to obtain anything he and his crew desires. This also debunks those who argue in favor of him for his evangelism because if he truly took the voyage to spread Christianity, he would not have let the Natives think he was a “celestial race”.
Academic Journals:
Fee, Elizabeth*. “The Wages of Sin.” Lancet, vol. 354, Dec. 1999 Supplement 4, p. SIV61. Web. 16 Feb 2018.
ABSTRACT: This article discusses the social issues that arise from the rampant spread of syphilis after Christopher Columbus’s return from the Americas. Countries blamed each other for the contagion and some people viewed the disease as divine punishment for social and sexual deviance.
NOTES: “Travellers were, indeed, responsible for bringing the disease across social, geographical, or cultural borders… The controversy has long continued whether syphilis was imported to Europe from the Americas with Christopher Columbus’s crew or constituted a change, perhaps a mutation, in an already existing infection.” It would be too much of a coincidence to say that syphilis mutated at the time of Columbus’s return. As the article states, travelers tended to vector disease across borders, and Columbus did just that by coming from another continent, introducing Europe to various foreign organisms.
*Chief of the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine and professor of history and health policy at the John Hopkins University.
Howarth, William. “Putting Columbus in His Place.” Southwest Review, vol. 77, no. 2/3, Mar. 1992, p. 153. Web. 16 Feb 2018.
ABSTRACT: This article explores many of Christopher Columbus’s failures such as his inability to properly communicate with the Native Americans. It goes into depth about the oral, written, and visual communications used for interaction.
NOTES: “Because the language of home could not fully contain such experience, at times he wrote descriptions that he knew were ignorant and paltry, and he lamented not being able to say what he saw or felt.” This does not excuse Christopher Columbus and his crew of their unnecessary and intentional behavior. His complaints about his ignorance does indeed reveal that he has at least some sense of humility, but his actions certainly do not align with his words. Whether his intention was good or bad, he left devastated the native community.
Other Sources:
4) Giles, Thomas S. “How Did Native Americans Respond to Christianity?.” Christian History, vol. 11, no. 3, Aug. 1992, p. 20. Web. 16 Feb 2018.
ABSTRACT: This article recounts the responses of Native Americans to the introduction of Christianity by Christopher Columbus. Some incorporated Christianity into their own beliefs while others rejected it.
NOTES: “In many instances, the conquistadores employed violence to force natives to accept baptism. But often this brutality only provoked dogged resistance and outright rejection of the soldiers’ beliefs.” This reveals that not only did the conquistadors exploit their resources but they also conducted violence to make the Natives conform to their beliefs. The Natives were essentially conquered and stripped of their culture.
5) Wilson, Samuel M. “Columbus, My Enemy.” Natural History, vol. 99, no. 12, Dec. 1990, p. 44. Web. 16 Feb 2018.
ABSTRACT: This article recounts the experiences of the Taino people who encountered Columbus and his fellow Spanish conquistadors. It details the impact that the Europeans had on the Natives and how their lifestyles changed to adjust to the foreigners’ orders.
NOTES: “They did not eat just the food that was ready to be harvested; they also ate the manioc that normally would have stayed in the ground for another six months, and so after they left, famine followed.” The Spaniards did not consider the lives of others, thus deeming themselves as a superior race. Along with pointless slaughter and exploitation of resources, they also ravaged their land for food. Eating is not a crime, but the fact that they caused severe devastation from it makes them malefactors of society.