Christopher Columbus - Hero or Villain - Free Paper Example

Introduction

Christopher Columbus, a man from Genoa, is one of the famous explorers who realized that America, as a nation existed. Historians have been asking themselves whether the man was a hero or a villain or whether he was a bold explorer or a greedy invader. In 1492 the man sailed through the blue oceans to America where he arrived in the Bahamas, and he began his adventurous journey. Christopher arrived at the coasts, currently the Cuban state, the Republic of Dominica, and Haiti. He then explored central as well as the South coastal American. At the age of 41, the famous explorer Columbus then led four voyages to the unchartered oceans using a wooden ship. They experienced a lot of challenges since the ships were not designed to travel in the large water body. During his adventure, he realized that it was possible to sail around the globe, although he previously underestimated the fact.

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Challenges

Christopher Columbus is considered a hero because of some of the things he did, although experiencing several challenges during his journey at sea. First, he was a hero in the sense that no one from his nation had used the western route to sail, so he was the first to take the challenge. He was sailing to India to meet the princes, the people, and the territories of that nation. They knew that the Indians lost their faith through their leader was recognized as a Great Can, which signified kings of kings back in Spain (Halsall, 1996). Being a great Christian in the Catholic Church, he wanted to explore why a nation with a leader whose name signifies a lot engages in adultery and rules of perdition. In the oceans, Columbus met with bars of salts and a strong breeze present in the ocean even if it was sunny in the morning; hence sailing was challenging, but they still managed to navigate through. Another instance that occurred during the journey on the 6th August 1492 that almost ruined the progress they were making was that the rudder of one of the ships almost broke since it becoming loose but the Pinta captain to control the issue and sorted it out.

Continued Journey

On 14th October 1492, as he continued with his journey to the north-northeast, discovering tones of land that he conquered, saying that he will give it to the highness but later changed that they will be his. With him conquering the land and possessing it showed his selfish side. He used a team of 50 soldiers to acquire land, which later became his. Columbus also slaved the Taino, who were indigenous individuals from Hispaniola who were traders. They traded animals as well as jewelry. The group was a friendly one with no issues, but Columbus took advantage of their politeness and enslaved them since he realized that the people would make good servants. Being slaves, they were forced to collect enough gold for Christopher. If not, the punishment was death or loss of their limb.

Though acquiring a heroic honor of sailing through a route that no sailor in Spain had never sailed through, Columbus took advantage of the opportunities he saw in front of him and begun to utilize the opportunities in his favor. He acquired a lot of wealth and power by sailing to different parts of the world after being permitted by King Ferdinand and his Queen Isabella with him signing the Santa Fe Capitulation contract, which was recognized by several governors and rulers. The contract mentioned that Columbus would keep 10% of what he acquired but later changed and never respected the deal because of greed. He did no king or ruler of any nation wanted him in his land with the bad things. It is evident even when King Charles VIII of the France nation and even John II, a Portugal ruler, rejected his request to come into their nation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Columbus though being a hero of voyages, is disliked by many because of his villain, acts. He even never obeyed the contract they signed with his king at first, and this made the Spanish government arrest him for the wrongful acts that he was engaging in. Therefore, he was a Villain though, starting as a hero.

Reference

Halsall, P. (1996). Christopher Columbus: Extract from Journal. New York: Fordham University. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/columbus1.asp.