What are your opinions on Christopher Columbus and how has he contributed to US history?

Question

gotta write a 5 page paper due today i need help!!!!!!

Answer 1

I think he was just a man doing his job and then became a scape goat.
He contributed to showing Spain that it IS feasable to travel to this general area. I'm not sure if Columbus even came to the United States of America but he did come to THE Americas. He contributed indirectly as the horses migrated to the North and into the U.S. The resulting migration of Catholic Missions also came North.

Answer 2

Christopher Columbus has gone down in history for being the last man to find America. The vikings found it over a hundred years before he did.

Answer 3

This from a well respected professors book (Howard Zinn's "Peopless' History of America):
Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:
"They... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned.... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane.... They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."
These Arawaks of the Bahama Islands were much like Indians on the mainland, who were remarkable (European observers were to say again and again) for their hospitality, their belief in sharing. These traits did not stand out in the Europe of the Renaissance, dominated as it was by the religion of popes, the government of kings, the frenzy for money that marked Western civilization and its first messenger to the Americas, Christopher Columbus.

Answer 4

He didn't do much. It was the French who discovered the North American continent. Settlers would obviously scatter everywhere to every piece of land they can find. How Columbus made it to the history books is beyond me, but I do know that he did die a homeless man.

Answer 5

He got credit for being stupid and finding somthing many had already seen. It's pretty sad that even today, with most people knowing what really happened that we celebrate him. I guess it is just an excuse to take a day off of work and school...can't argue with that...but I still dislike some people's stupidity on the matter...