Did You Know About Christopher Columbus
As an author, I am required to do a great deal of research; the results of which I am sharing with you.
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This article does not pretend to cover the life of the man regarded as the one who opened up the Americas for exploration and settlement. By the very nature of this article I can only give a brief, albeit true, synopsis of the man.
Christopher Columbus was born sometime between October 31, 1450 and October 30, 1451 in Genoa to a respected weaver and local politician. He died on May 20, 1506 a broken man and not knowing the true value of his discoveries.
Like many in Genoa he was a Catholic. I don't know how strong a Catholic he was, but you will see in a moment the influence of Catholicism. I was brought up revering Columbus and, in my early years, thought of him as the discoverer of America (he wasn't).
About the best that can be said about Columbus is that he was a great sailor and explorer. He believed the earth was round and that one could sail west from Europe to reach China. That in itself makes him important to our heritage.
But on the spiritual side, he appears to have been deeply influenced by Ferdinand and Isabella (think Spanish Inquisition at Seville). Although he initially talked of converting the natives to Christianity, his real aims seem to have been: a direct route to China for trade purposes, bringing home great treasures, and the enslaving of natives. The influence of Ferdinand and Isabella may have contributed to his attitude and ultimate treatment of the natives he discovered. Whatever the cause, it is a sad chapter.
Was he a man of his times or an extraordinarily cruel man as some depict? I will leave that up to others, such as Dr. William P. Grady (What Hath God Wrought). But the fact remains that when many people thought the earth was flat Christopher Columbus believed it was round. This in itself puts him head and shoulders above many of his contemporaries. His boldness and the discoveries he made opened the New World to exploration and settlement.
So you have two sides to Columbus: The one side is that he opened the New World for others to explore; the other side is that he was either directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of many natives and his sailors spread a previously unknown disease (syphilis) throughout Europe.
It is a mixed legacy. But the real tragedies are that (1) he never understood the havoc he wrecked upon native populations, nor the criminal activities done in his name, and (2) he never knew about America's existence.
-------
This article does not pretend to cover the life of the man regarded as the one who opened up the Americas for exploration and settlement. By the very nature of this article I can only give a brief, albeit true, synopsis of the man.
Christopher Columbus was born sometime between October 31, 1450 and October 30, 1451 in Genoa to a respected weaver and local politician. He died on May 20, 1506 a broken man and not knowing the true value of his discoveries.
Like many in Genoa he was a Catholic. I don't know how strong a Catholic he was, but you will see in a moment the influence of Catholicism. I was brought up revering Columbus and, in my early years, thought of him as the discoverer of America (he wasn't).
About the best that can be said about Columbus is that he was a great sailor and explorer. He believed the earth was round and that one could sail west from Europe to reach China. That in itself makes him important to our heritage.
But on the spiritual side, he appears to have been deeply influenced by Ferdinand and Isabella (think Spanish Inquisition at Seville). Although he initially talked of converting the natives to Christianity, his real aims seem to have been: a direct route to China for trade purposes, bringing home great treasures, and the enslaving of natives. The influence of Ferdinand and Isabella may have contributed to his attitude and ultimate treatment of the natives he discovered. Whatever the cause, it is a sad chapter.
Was he a man of his times or an extraordinarily cruel man as some depict? I will leave that up to others, such as Dr. William P. Grady (What Hath God Wrought). But the fact remains that when many people thought the earth was flat Christopher Columbus believed it was round. This in itself puts him head and shoulders above many of his contemporaries. His boldness and the discoveries he made opened the New World to exploration and settlement.
So you have two sides to Columbus: The one side is that he opened the New World for others to explore; the other side is that he was either directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of many natives and his sailors spread a previously unknown disease (syphilis) throughout Europe.
It is a mixed legacy. But the real tragedies are that (1) he never understood the havoc he wrecked upon native populations, nor the criminal activities done in his name, and (2) he never knew about America's existence.
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