Analyzing the Legend of Christopher Columbus Research Paper

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legend of Christopher Columbus has lasted for five decades and he still remains a very controversial and mysterious figure who has been described severally as one of the world's greatest mariners of all times, a mystic, a visionary genius, an inexperienced entrepreneur, an unsuccessful administrator, and a wicked and selfish imperialist[footnoteRef:1]. He was a master admiral and navigator of Italian origin whose four main transatlantic voyages of 1492-1493, 1493-1496, 1498-1500 and 1502-1503, led to the advent of European exploration, exploitation, and subsequent colonization of Americans. For long, he is known as the discoverer of what is now known as the new world, though some Vikings like Leif Eriksson visited North America about five centuries before this time.[footnoteRef:2] [1: Library Congress, "1492: An Ongoing Voyage," Library Congress, March 2016, www.loc.gov] [2: Valerie, I. J. Flint, "Christopher Columbus; Italian explorer," ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, March 2016, www.britannica.com]

Christopher Columbus, in the company of his men, subdued the natives and enslaved them violently, in a bid to gather riches for themselves and to enrich their empire, converted them to Christianity forcefully because their religion was considered an evil one and introduced diseases that killed all Native Indians.

Columbus transatlantic voyages were made under Ferdinand 11 and Isabella 1, the Spanish Catholic monarch's sponsorship. At first, he was full of ambition and hope, an ambition that was partly indebted to his popular title, Admiral of the Ocean Sea, which was given to him in April 1492, and by the grants contained in the book of privileges, as record of his claims and titles.[footnoteRef:3] [3: Ibid]

According to Valerie Flint, in the Encyclopedia Britannica, several books came out in the 90s about Columbus, which led to considerable debate. There was equally a serious change in interpretation and approach; the ancient pro-European belief was replaced by one formed by the inhabitant's opinion of the Americans themselves.

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[footnoteRef:4] [4: Ibid]

Going by the older perception, the discovery of America was a huge victory, in which Columbus was the hero in completing the four voyages, by acting as the means through which great material profit was brought to Spain and all other European nations, and in making America accessible to European migrants. The more modern understanding, however, has focused on the critical part of the European triumph, laying emphasis on the disastrous effect the slave trade and the devastation brought by the introduced disease on the Indigenous Caribbean people and the entire American continent.[footnoteRef:5] [5: Ibid]

Summary: Why did Columbus do these things? What was his ethical perspective?

Just like most European explorers, Columbus came across a number of indigenous people during his voyages. Determined to succeed in his quest to discover riches and conquer new territories, Columbus and his co-travelers treated indigenes they encountered in their journeys as hindrances to the actualization of their travel goals. Three major sources of controversy have been examined on how Columbus interacted with the indigenes he met and named Indians: slavery and the use of violence, forceful conversion of natives to the Christian faith, and introducing several new diseases that would affect the native Americans dramatically for a longtime.[footnoteRef:6] Ethical issues have been brought forth by his interaction with the natives. [6: Ibid]

In an age where the international slave trade started gaining recognition, many native inhabitants of the West Indies were enslaved by Columbus and his men and they were subjected to severe brutality and violence. On his 1492 famous first voyage, Columbus journeyed for three years under tough conditions and arrived on one unknown Caribbean island. On the first day Columbus spent in the new world, he ordered that six of the natives be arrested because he believed they would make very good servants.….....

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