Below is Research found by Megan
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Click here to view outlook on Columbus as a Hero.
Click here to view outlook on Columbus as a Villain.
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Abstract: This source contains letters Christopher Columbus wrote about his four voyages to the Americas.
Observations and Excerpts: “All this passes through the interpretation of two of the Indians who had gone to Spain in the last voyage, who were the sole survivors of seven who embarked with us, five died on the voyage” “ I made a pretence of throwing [the idols] on the fire, which grieved them so that they began to weep” “ for all the inhabitants of this great island …. And the punishment that we shall inflict on those who do wrong, will hasten to submit” Columbus and his crew seem to pretend to be nice to the natives in order to control them.
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Abstract: Columbus’s account of his first voyage to the Americas. This includes every day from when they left Europe to sailing home.
Observations and Excerpts: “They should be good servants …I, our Lord being pleased, will take hence, at the time of my departure, six natives for your Highnesses, that they may learn to speak.” “After breakfast I went on shore, and found only one house, in which there was no one, and I supposed they had fled from fear, because all their property was left in the house. I would not allow anything to be touched, but set out with the captains and people to explore the island.” “I gave him some bells and glass beads, which made him very content and happy. That our friendship might be further increased, I resolved to ask him for something; I requested him to get some water.” “Five came on board, and I ordered them to be detained. They are now here. I afterwards sent to a house on the western side of the river, and seized seven women, old and young, and three children.” Columbus was nice to the natives at times but did kidnap some of them.
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Abstract: This journal goes through the history of our views on Christopher Columbus. He was mainly considered a hero until about 1970 when articles were published showing the darker side of his discovery of America.
Observations and Excerpts: “ The first important commemorations of the 1492 landfall occurred on its 300th anniversary in 1792, when the discovery of America was called ‘the greatest event in the history of mankind since the death of our Savior’ (de Lancey 1893)” “Columbus continued to be idealized through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries” The idea that Columbus is a villain is a newer one. “Fewer than 4 percent characterized Columbus in the Villainous terms advanced by revisionist writers and protestors”. This was based off of a survey they conducted in 1998.
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Abstract: This article talks about how Columbus treated the natives on his different journeys.
Observations and Excerpts: “As we all know, the Viking, Leif Ericson probably founded a Norse village on Newfoundland some 500 years earlier.” “Columbus was so impressed with the hard work of these gentle islanders, that he immediately seized their land for Spain and enslaved them to work in his brutal gold mines. Within only two years, 125,000 (half of the population) of the original natives on the island were dead.” “Slavery was so intolerable for these sweet, gentle island people that at one point, 100 of them committed mass suicide.” The author is right to question why we celebrate Columbus Day.
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Abstract: This website article goes through the entire life of Christopher Columbus, including his life before and after his voyages to the Americas.
Observations and Excerpts: “In 1479 he met and married Felipa Perestrello e Moniz, a member of an impoverished noble Portuguese family. Their son, Diego, was born in 1480.” “Christian missionary and anti-Islamic fervour, the power of Castile and Aragon, the fear of Portugal, the lust for gold, the desire for adventure, the hope of conquests, and Europe’s genuine need for a reliable supply of herbs and spices for cooking, preserving, and medicine all combined to produce an explosion of energy that launched the first voyage.” This information will be good to use in the introductory paragraph of my essay.
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