Summary Of The Clamor Over Columbus By Dr. Martin E. Marty

Chapter 1: The first chapter serves three purposes to the reader: Firstly, it provides unfiltered, detailed information regarding Columbus , the Indians, and how his voyage and decision making affected the continent both immediately, and years later, ultimately his treatment of the natives served as a gameplan for later explorers/conquerors. Secondly, it informs the reader of the existence of the darker side of history, and how there is often purposely left out portions of it. Thirdly it shows the reader what to expect from this specific author, and what kind of information is going to be presented by this particular author.

Imagine, living in a world where one is taught one thing in school, but then as time passes learns most about the topic and see’s they had been missing out on alot of information. As a child in school we are taught that Christopher Columbus had discovered the Americas but in reality there had been a lot of information missing in what we had been learning in school. Columbuses orginal goal was trying to direct the route of the spice trade, he had been seaching for a faster way to India, when instead he found America alterenatly. From the beginnings, Columbus was looking to only gain wealth for himself and the Spanish empire. He had thought that if he could persue a route to the East Indies he could get a direct route to the spice trade, and that if he could get there he would be able to remove the muslims and the italian men. Elinatining these men would initinally mean more profit for Columbus and Spain.

Christopher Columbus was sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel of Spain in 1492 to find an alternate trade route to Asia. The Reconquista was just wrapping up in Spain, and in hopes to continue the movement, the King and Queen encouraged Columbus to spread Christianity once he made landfall. Their goals for his voyage were similar to many at the time: find riches, spread faith, and claim any unconquered lands. Columbus was successful in all three, however, there is much controversy in the measures Columbus took to do so. Although Christopher Columbus caused the death of many indigenous people and ecological succession, his ultimate goal was to carry out the requests of the Spanish government, therefore he should not be found guilty because

During the 1400’s, a physical connection was made between Europe and the Native Americans by Christopher Columbus. Today, he is looked upon as a hero for discovering the land that the United States of America currently occupies. Beneath the glorified image of Columbus, there lies something much darker that people often overlook. Although Columbus began the migration of Europeans to America, he did not discover it first. In addition, the new formed connection between the Europeans and the Americas paved way for the genocide of many of the indigenous people.

The topic of Christopher Columbus is highly controversial throughout the world. Many say Columbus was a hero, using the facts of his discoveries of new territories, the many different establishments of trade, and many other positive things he accomplished. However, the attestations of the enslavement, torture, and murder of the natives, the spread of disease, and the proselytization of the Taino peoples demonstrate the villainization of Christopher Columbus. Visualizing and analyzing everything that happened to the Native Americans is fundamental to broadening one’s perspective on the vile acts of Christopher Columbus. Columbus’s violent acts towards the native peoples include enslavement, torture, and murder.

Despite the author’s bias, Columbus’ selfishness closely connects to history’s pattern of power corrupting humans, resulting in the abandonment of morality; therefore, Zinn’s sources detailing Columbus’ enslavement and extermination of the native races seem partially valid. Throughout the excerpt, Zinn inserts primary sources from Columbus himself, but mostly Las Casas, a former plantation owner who criticized the cruelty he witnessed daily. As Zinn struggles to include the perspective of those who positively view Columbus, the reader does not understand the whole story, decreasing the validity. Additionally, the account is only somewhat accurate as bias often leads to exaggeration, which limits the accuracy of a statement. For example, Las Cases remarks how Columbus wiped out three million Hispaniola natives, but modern historians believe there were only a quarter of a million. While primary sources may not always be completely accurate, these descriptions detail gory occurrences that

"In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue" is a nursery rhyme that can be heard repeated incessantly by elementary school students in America. It is used to help them remember when Christopher Columbus made his journey to the New World. Something that is conveniently left out of this nursery rhyme is how Columbus lead to the genocide of over a million Native Americans. Columbus is a villain that lead to the genocide of so many Native Americans. Howard Zinn and Arthur Schlesinger both evaluate Columbus’s role in the genocide of the Native Americans, however Zinn provides much better evidence, thus making his article the better of the two.

Throughout recorded human history, authors, leaders, and researchers, have documented the past from many different perspectives, and viewpoints. Not every historian has the same stance on a certain issue, therefore, differences in point of view occur in almost every writing. In the textbook The American Pageant, A People’s History of the United States by Larry Schweikart, and Michael Allen, and Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, the reader can see many different perspectives throughout each reading. The infamous explorer known as Christopher Columbus, has been documented in many different ways. Depending on the reading, Columbus has be called everything from a “[...]symbol of the new age of hope”, to an inhuman tyrant who captured Indians and turned them into slaves.

     Conversely, James W. Loewen, who did extensive research of high school history lessons to write his book Lies my Teacher Told Me, feels Columbus wasn’t really as great as he is made out to be. Loewen writes, “The history books make up all kinds of details to tell a better story and to humanize Columbus so that readers will identify with him” (38). Just as Hart pushes the idea that Columbus made a great new discovery finding the Americas, Loewen argues that “Columbus’s voyage was not the first, but the last discovery” (39). His importance has to do with the changes that were made in Europe and not having “discovered new land”. People from other continents had gone to America long before 1492. “Daring sailors reached America in a series of voyages across the North Atlantic, establishing communities on the Faeroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. The Norse colony on Greenland lasted five hundred years (982-c.1500)”. Loewen further goes on to argue against Hart on the issue of the Turks and their supposed land route control and describes the claims as a “falsehood”. Loewen also points out the several times Christianity is used as an excuse

On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus and his crew piled onto three ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria on a trip funded by Ferdinand and Isabella in hopes to spread Catholicism and to find new trades routes (Histroy.com Staff 5). Even though his voyage did kickoff a whole series of risky and dangerous explorations to the Americas, the consequences of these trips were detrimental to both Columbus and the people who inhabited these lands. The destruction of the territory and the diseases that were brought over, foreign to the natives, resulted in the demise of the Native American population over time while the Europeans turned a blind eye. These actions turned Christopher Columbus from a honorable, daring explorer to the catalyst to a mass genocide of innocent, unsuspecting native peoples.

While Columbus hopes to convince his superiors of smooth-sailings, Columbus’ letter displays discrepancies in his attempt to minimize the complications he comes across. Despite his eager attempts in creating fanfare, the contrast between the creation of the myth, and the reality of settling-and eventually conquering-the “New World do not reinforce the European myth. Au contraire, the inconsistencies in his first letter puncture the European myth of a peaceful “New World,” with Columbus’ naiveté of the land, the people, the colonization process, and the exposure effects on a population’s immunity as stipulated on his fourth letter written in 1503.

As Columbus Day approaches, it is important to remember the significance of the holiday to different ethnic groups in United States. I can never remember where Columbus is from. Now I know it is not only an error of my memory, but also Columbus’ own “pan-European mercenary’’ identity. I knew that Columbus’ legacy is a controversial one, but until I listened to the podcast, I did not know how much he meant to the Italian and Irish communities. I never thought Columbus being a Catholic would be of use to anything besides appeasing Queen Isabella, ------ It’s interesting how the immigrants of the United States embraced the legacy of Columbus and thought of him as a “founding father of sorts.”

Christopher Columbus’s life was filled with adventures and new beginnings that would leave a remarkable impression throughout history. Born in 1451 in Genoa, Columbus from an early age would become well acclimated to sailing as he began his career aboard a merchant ship and later study mathematics, astronomy, cartography, and navigation. Growing up and experiencing new thing Columbus began to come up with a plan different from all others to set sail across the Atlantic instead of going around the African continent. With his ideas being turned away from both Portugal and England it was Ferdinand and Isabella who took sympathy upon him and financial back his voyage as they both had hopes of gaining fame and fortune. In 1942, Columbus began his voyages and would carefully document each experience in the form of letters that would have a lasting impact on the world. I believe with the dramatic change in tones we see between the first and fourth letters it gives us the reader a true insight into Columbus’s mental and physical emotions over the years. Furthermore, these letters allow us to explore a part of history that is considered monumental while gaining information of what took place over a ten-year journey.

Christopher Columbus and Bartolome de la Casas are similar in most ways but have a major difference. They were both explorers of the New World and came to convert the natives into Catholics. The two explorers worked on the Spanish’s behalf. Columbus wrote accounts of the New World in his journal. La Casas wrote the Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. Both gave accounts of the native people they saw. Columbus’s journal entries aim to give a positive light on the Spanish and their relationship with the natives. La Casas’s Brief Account does the opposite. While this is true, both explores worked faithfully in favor of the Catholic Church, but they each held different beliefs on the treatment of natives as slaves.

Columbus has always been portrayed as an enlightened, peaceful explorer who “discovered” a new world, and became friends with the native people. Howard Zinn’s view on Columbus’s encounter with the natives is an entirely different perspective. Zinn describes Columbus as a man who is willing to torture and kill others to be able to accomplish what he wants; in this case he wanted to obtain gold and other resources to take back with him to Spain.