Why is Christopher Columbus looked at so differently?

Question

Some people think Christopher Columbus is a saint who preached religion to the people in Americas (although he died believing it was Indies!)

Some people think that Columbus was an evil man who helped set up slave trading in Americas, and causing a lot of the "indians" harm. Who was he really?

Answer 1

Well, he wanted to find a new way to India. The thing is, a the time, slavery was considered "normal" (I'm not saying it was). A lot of people at the time thought that slavery was not problem, and that was the case all over Europe. They also tended to use religion as a way to control people. Personally, the fact that he was preaching doesn't make him a saint. It actually makes him evil.

Most Europeans were "evil" when confronted with other populations, you know.

Answer 2

To the Italians and people of Italian descent, it's a matter of national pride - since he was the Italian who first discovered what would come to be called the New World.

To others, he was the man who brought about slavery and destruction of the indigenous cultures already present in the New World. He was the man who started the colonization of the New World, with the result that the Native American people suffered from oppression.

Answer 3

If you read Columbus's own logs, you will see that when he encountered the indigenous people of the "New World", he had thoughts of enslaving and using them as labor (which is what eventually happened).

So the perception that Columbus was evil comes from straight from his own writings. Historians largely agree that Columbus had less than egalitarian motives. The only people who believe that Columbus "just discovered" America also believe in the tooth fairy and Santa Claus.

History is rarely simple. Many horrible things have happened in history. They must be acknowledged and not sugar-coated.

Answer 4

columbus never intended on preaching religion though he took with him priests on his voyages. his main intent; at least in the eyes of spain, was to find a short passage to india to acquire the exotic, rich spices. his main intent; in his eyes, was to conquer any new land he found. he did not find the americas, but rather hispaniola which is comprised of haiti and the dominican republic. the taino peoples living there treated him and his men warmly and almost immediately he enslaved them.

Answer 5

An explorer who thought he found India, when in fact he didn't. He was neither good nor evil, though I am sure he was a man of religion.

Answer 6

HAHAHAHA. :) regularly. your'e fantastic my well-liked is 32. 28 isn't real although..... i once peed in a urinal status up and it became tremendously problem-free. and dudes were given something to carry on to. yet each so often that is proper in case you bypass over. see you later as we dont ought to bathe it up. thats what we ***** about,

Answer 7

Anything to discredit any European! This PC crap has got to stop.

Columbus was no saint, but who amongst can say that we're all that saintly? History has to be judged by the moral standards in effect in that era. He did nothing illegal or immoral by the standards of the 15th century. He is vilified today because people are judging him by our modern standards.

How will future generations judge us by our current actions? (abortion, racism, sexism, pollution, etc, etc, etc ad infitinitem?)

Answer 8

He was both. He was a man who had a dream and went after it and that had a lasting effect (good or bad) upon mankind.

Answer 9

He was neither of those things. He was a guy looking to get his name in the papers, and maybe make a few bucks while he was at it.