Christopher Columbus example essay topic

For the most part, when the name "Christopher Columbus" is mentioned, everyone recognizes the celebrity. In the article I read by Dr. George Sprecace, he writes as a response to a TV special he view on America's earliest settlers. He saw the special as depressing and tragic, as it referred to the plight of the Native Americans throughout history. One man commonly demonized for hostility towards the Native Americans is Christopher Columbus.

According to Dr. Sprecace, Columbus is always getting the blame, however unfairly, for initially breaking the trust between "Indians" and the "White Man". He is held responsible for the start of slavery in the Americas after taking over the Arawak tribe is the Greater and Lesser Antilles (also known as the "West Indies"). Sprecace refutes with a lesson from history. "Slavery already existed in the Americas, especially in Central America, at the time of Columbus' arrival", comes the facts from the Encyclopedia Britannica. This detail comes from the writings of Cortez on what he found in the Mexico City of the Incas.

Native tribes, such as the Arawaks and Carib tribes, practiced slavery, hostile takeovers, and even cannibalism. On Columbus's e cond voyage, he returned to Spain with 500 natives as slaves, the same natives who had killed the Europeans left behind from the first voyage. The main reason for enslaving these natives was "to justify the expenses of his voyages" and to make up for his lack of discovered gold. On his third voyage, Columbus was sent back from the New World in chains because of reports of poor administration of the colonies. He was known as "A good Admiral, but a bad Governor". Dr. Sprecace saw Columbus as "a great seaman, a great navigator, a great Admiral, a fine organizer and businessman, a poor administrator, a faulted man of his age".

He points out that Columbus made his inevitable discovery first. Columbus achieved this by only using his knowledge of the seas gained over his life from age 14, extensive readings, and his strong sense of observation and deduction. Sprecace summed it up to say Columbus "is and should be one of the giants of history, much more for good that bad... It is not history that is good or bad - history merely is.

It is human nature that is good and bad; and we are all a part of that. Let's celebrate it whenever we can, each in our own ways". In conclusion, Columbus is still remembered today as a great man. No one is perfect, everyone has his or her faults, but generally, we still celebrate his discovery.

He is a man who has done great things in the past that are celebrated in the present. I think a person is a victim of the times they live in. Slavery was accepted and taking over land for your country was honorable. Although Christopher Columbus may have had difficulty governing his new colonies, he was just a man who was very capable of making mistakes. I foresee Columbus Day continuing well into the future.

As long as elementary school children are taught of Columbus' accomplishments, he will continue to be revered as one of history's greatest heroes.