The Image of Christopher Columbus Essay -- American America History US

The Image of Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus is honored as the man who opened the doors to an Age of Discovery and exploration. Although he may not have been the first European to set foot onto the Americas, he did begin a wave of exploration in a new hemisphere. The time period of the age of discovery follows the end of the Middle Ages, which Columbus himself is a product. If it were not Columbus that brought European settlement to the New World, then it would have been some other explorer who probably started out with the same goals and ideas. However, there are many individuals who would disagree with the above statement. They would say that Columbus destroyed all that was beautiful in the New World with his thirst for greed and fame, that he raped the lands and the women, and disrupted a civilization that lived for hundreds of years. The question then becomes â€Å"Who is Christopher Columbus?† Is he really the man that some Americans describe as a hero, whose â€Å"journey was the first step in a long process that eventually produced the United States of America† (Royal 1) and to the â€Å"North American Revolutionaries, he was the Founding Fathers’ father† (Gates 29). Or is Columbus’ character flawed as other Americans might suggest. Some describe him as a ruthless slave trader who raped the virgin islands of the Caribbean and started the slave trade between the Old and New Worlds. So which image is right? That question is one that has been debated for years and will continue to be for years to come. It is one in which an individual alone can answer because it not only deals with historical facts but also ethics. This paper will present two opposing sides with enough facts concerning the controversy of the myth of Col... ...n, John. â€Å"Columbus: For Gold, God, and Glory.† 12/91, vol. 6 no. 12: 357-321. Gates, David. â€Å"Who was Columbus?† Newsweek Magazine. Fall/Winter 1991: 29-31. McNeil, William H. â€Å"How Columbus Remade the World.† NEH Humanities. Vol. 1 no.6: Dec 1985. (CIRS McNeil1.ART) Royal, Robert. â€Å"Columbus on Trial: 1492 v 1992† (CIRS Royal02.ART) Sale, Kirkpatrick. Conquest of Paradise. A Plume Book. New York, NY 1990. Sanoff, Alvin P. â€Å"The Myths of Columbus.† U.S. News and World Report. 8 Oct. 1990. (CIRS Sanoff01.ART) Schroeder, Richard C. â€Å"Should We Scuttle the Admiral of the Ocean Sea?† The Times of the Americas. 29 May 1991: 20+. (CIRS Schroed1.ART) Sokolov, Raymond. â€Å"Stop Knocking Columbus.† Newsweek Magazine. Vol. 1 no. 6, Dec. 1985. (CIRS Sokolov2.ART) Todorov, Tzvetan. The Conquest of America. Harper Perennial Publishers. New York, NY 1982.