Columbus Was No Hero free essay sample

Columbus Was No Hero History textbooks and stories passed down generation have always seemed to portray Christopher Columbus, the daring European explorer, as a man of heroic qualities and benevolent intentions. No American History textbook is complete without the heartwarming story of an ambitions sailor born to a poor Venetian carpenter who thought outside of the box, discovered the Americas, and at the same time, changed the world forever. However concrete evidence and undeniable fact shows us otherwise. Christopher Columbus was an opportunist, in the sense that he would go wrought any meaner possible to attain wealth. As for what deems him a hero in the public eye, his discovery and his legacy; it is arguable whether he was indeed the first European to land on the Americas and, due to his apparent character flaws, the main long lasting global affect his conquest seems to have had is the introduction of a master white race in the Americas, stemmed from slavery made necessary by genocide he incited in the Caribbean, which has led to deep rooted racism in the new world. We will write a custom essay sample on Columbus Was No Hero or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page No hero would bring this upon a nation. To no extent was Christopher Columbus a hero. In elementary school children learn about the man who went against society to say the world was not flat and that it was indeed spherical, but Christopher Columbus was no radical. In truth, few people on both sides of the Atlantic believed in 1492 that the world was flat. Most Europeans and Native Americans knew the worlds to be round. (Lone, 56) Nor was he the first European to have traveled west to the new world. There is now sufficient evidence to assume that Norse tribes had actually reached Greenland and Canada far before any Spanish hip set sail towards the Americas. Columbus sure learned of Greenland and probably also of North America if he visited Iceland in 1477 as he claimed to have done. (Lone, 49) Therefore Columbus was not a forward thinker but more an opportunist. The Spanish Inquisition of the early sasss significantly weakened the Spanish Empire. There was nothing to lose in sending Columbus with three ships though uncharted waters. He set out to find his own wealth i n new lands and when he returned with a taste of the richness of the new world; birds, precious metals, Indians, caused quite a stir in Seville. (Lone, 61) Therefore Columbus was not a heroic intellect and what followed with his next voyages further exposed his true villainous nature. In 1495 Michele De Cone wrote about accompanying