The Personality of Christopher Columbus
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The personality of Christopher Columbus is shrouded in myth. As noted by Kirkpatrick Sale in The Conquest of Paradise (1990), historians have turned Columbus into a "larger than life character" (p. 346). School children today are presented with an image of the man as a national hero beyond reproach. However, as Koning (1991) notes, "the standard textbook image of Columbus is false" (p. 12). In reality, Columbus was seeking personal gain when he set out in search of a westward passage to Asia. Furthermore, he was the first European explorer to exploit the land and labor of the "New World." Many students of history are surprised when they learn that Columbus showed extreme cruelty toward the American Indians, and that he was responsible for setting in motion the chain of events which would severely decrease their population within a short period of time. In the words of Wilford (1991), the true legacy of Columbus is one of "pettiness, self aggrandizement, and a lack of magnanimity" (p. 264). Despite the importance of Columbus' discovery, it is apparent that the opening of the New World had both good and bad effects. When Columbus set out on his first westward voyage across the Atlantic, the nations of Europe were interested in finding new trade routes to the Far East. At that time, Europe depended on its trade with India and China for such luxury items as spices and silk. However, the trade routes of the Middle East were cut off when the Turkish Moslem Empire sei
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were unable to act on it for several years because they were busy dealing with a war to expel the Moors from the south of Spain. Finally, in 1492, the Spanish monarchs agreed to finance Columbus in his westward exploration. He was provided with three small ships (the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria), as well as a crew of approximately one hundred men. On August 3, 1492, the three ships set sail on their fateful journey.
The popular legend of Columbus indicates that his crew was near mutiny when they finally sighted land. A great deal about Columbus' character is revealed by the fact that he stole the credit for being the first to sight land. The King and Queen of Spain had offered a substantial reward to the first crew member to accomplish this feat. Early one morning, a lookout named Rodrigo saw land in the distance and called out to the others. However, Columbus brazenly claimed that he had seen a light in the distance on the night before and thus claimed the reward for himself (Koning, 1991, p. 51). On October 12, 1492, the three ships finally arrived at a small island in the Bahamas which Columbus named San Salvador. Based on his personal calculations, Columbus assumed that he had reached an island on the outsk
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Approximate Word count = 2353
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
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