Essay Example on We celebrate the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus

Every year in the United States we celebrate the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus There has been an abundance of backlash towards Christopher Columbus due in our progressive environment The goal of this essay is to give a full and holistic view of who Christopher Columbus really was From his beginnings to his travels and finally to how he affected the Native Americans Christopher Columbus born Cristoforo Colombo was born in 1451 in Italy He was born to a middle class family his father Domenico Colombo a wool weaver and businessman and his mother Susanna Fontanarossa Columbus first set sail as a teenager by engaging in trading excursions in the Mediterranean On one of his voyages in 1476 to Portugal Columbus was aboard a commercial ship that was burned by French privateers He was forced to swim to the Portuguese shore 

This was Columbus first near death experience at sea Columbus eventually married Felipa Perestrello the daughter of the governor of a Portuguese Island and settled down in Portugal but she died and he moved to Spain Columbus came from humble beginnings but who knew a simple man would go on to not only commit mass genocide but also set into gear the most powerful country in the world When Columbus arrived in Spain Spain was repairing itself from a a civil war They just forced out the Moore s and were in economic despair Because they didn t have money they were searching for new economic endeavors but Britain was dominating the world so when Columbus came to Ferdinand with his proposition they saw it as a money maker Columbus eventually got Spain to pay for his expedition to America and set foot there on 1492 It has become widely known and accepted that Columbus in fact did not discover America Not only were there countless Native American tribes located across the country that had been living there for thousands of years there were Europeans and Africans that reached the New World before the Italian The Vikings step foot on this land nearly 500 years before Columbus was born In addition Professor Leo Wiener of Harvard University in his writing The Presence Of Negroes claims blacks were in the Americans long before Columbus His argument is based on the proliferation of statues that posses typical Negro features and African like monuments located through Central America Moreover it is evident of the Negro influence throughout the continent because even Mexicans had a black god Ixilto which means black faced Africans had a cultural and religious influence throughout the 

Native Americans were depicted as savages that needed to be placated by the white man and his Christianity But the European man that met them first that was recorded wrote in his journal that the Natives were a very loving race and without covetousness and suitable to any use and declare to your highness that there is not a better country nor a better people in the world Contrary to popular belief the Natives were pacificistic compared to Europeans and focused more on their culture and technology This lack of warfare in their pre European development became their downfall in the fight against the Spaniards In conclusion Christopher Columbus was an amazing voyager who did expose Europe to the New World which built the foundation for the capitalist nation we live in today He was regarded as the discoverer of this country which is false but he did help clear out the Native Americans so that Europeans could settle All in all Columbus met his end in a cell in Spain after they accused him of hiding gold still believing he traveled to India Work Cited http www history com news the viking explorer who beat columbus to america https www britannica com biography Christopher Columbus Carew Jan Fulcrums of change Race Class vol 26 no 2 1984 Schaefer Eric Dirty Little Secrets Scholars Archivists and Dirty Movies The Moving Image vol 5 no 2 2005