Lauren Wilhelm

December 2, 2013

GVPT 200

Prof Shirk

Columbus: Courageous Discoverer of Worlds, or Self-Serving Maverick

                While some view Christopher Columbus to be an extraordinary hero and discoverer of new 

worlds, others see him as a manipulative, egocentric explorer out to fulfill his own goals even at the expense of others. Columbus is viewed as the father of the Americas, and expander of the world, yet most people don’t realize he was not as understanding and open-minded as many think. When children learn about Columbus in grade school, they hear of a great explorer who wanted to discover a quicker trade route to India. They also learn of the courageous man who sailed into uncharted waters when the world was thought to be flat, so he could sail over the edge at any minute. Upon further research however, it is revealed that Columbus was in fact a man of many contradictions with self-interested incentives and a superiority complex. His journals are additional proof that his interactions with the Indians were not honorable and acceptant, but were actually exploitative.  Although Columbus did set out on an unknown journey to make discoveries, upon arrival in the Americas he took advantage of the Indians and the resources around him and was not the hero explorer many Americans today believe he is.

            Christopher Columbus is a household name all throughout America, and while he did open up the Americas to colonization by happening upon them, he is not as wholesome and deserving of praise as is typically assumed. It is known that Columbus voyaged west in 1492 to find a more direct route to India for trade, yet he was much more imperialist than most people believe. It can be learned from his journals that upon landing in the Americas, he believed the land to be part of Asia and actually believed he landed where he intended. His interactions with the natives there, as recorded in his journals, reflect his imperialistic nature. During his interactions with the Indians who inhabited the Caribbean, he learned their names for the islands. Yet, he renamed them all and claimed them for Spain. In doing this he was also showing a complete disregard for their languages, and had no desire to learn the linguistics of the natives at all. Columbus took the same entitled approach to the resources the natives shared with him. He took and used as much as he could, believing he deserved it. He justified it by saying it was a sign from God that the resources were shown to him and because of that they essentially belonged to him and the Spaniards. He claimed everything for himself and Spain, and took advantage of the generous but naïve natives to accomplish this.

            Many believe that Columbus’s interactions with the natives were originally peaceable, however, even in the beginning he was not as well intentioned as most would think. On one of his first days there he writes to Queen Isabella about how the Taino people will make great slaves for trade and he will bring her as many as she wishes. Due to their generosity he believes they are perfect for the slave trade because as Columbus puts it, they can be made to do whatever you want of them. Columbus further writes to the monarchs on how if the Indians do not comply he will torture and kill them, all the while allowing his men to commit heinous acts such as rape and murder anyway. The entire time, Columbus justifies his actions by claiming he does all of this with the end goal of converting the Taino people to Christianity to save their souls. His pre-conceived notions that the natives are savages, causes him to have a complete disregard for their lifestyle and allows him to justify any actions he takes by claiming he is helping to progress them. Columbus uses his advantages of knowledge and power to take advantage of the natives of the Americas, and treat them with contemptible hostility. Although Columbus is taught to be the brave, noble explorer who discovered the Americas, he was actually a cruel, manipulative opportunist, who took advantage of the natives of the Americas and all of the resources they had to offer in order to advance his own objectives.