American history has always been vaguely misinterpreted through our children's textbooks. It is noted that Christopher Columbus, whose real name is Cristobol Colon, discovered the Americas. He is also credited with the opening of North America to the Europeans. If only our children knew the actual facts about Christopher Columbus' voyage to the new lands. It is the interpretation of a "Disney version of history."
In the year of 1451, Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy unaware of the potential opportunity that history would describe about him. Columbus' father was Domenico Colombo, a middle-class wool weaver and his mother was Susanna Fontanarossa, who bore five children. At the age of fourteen, Columbus attended the prestigious Prince Henry's school of navigation in Sangres, Portugal. In his writing, he claims to have gone to sea at the early age of ten.
In 1470, Columbus, who spoke a Genoese dialect, was hired in the service of Ren of Anjou to support his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Naples. After success in his service to Ren of Anjou, Columbus worked as a business agent to the important families of Centurione, the Di Negro, and the Spinola families of Genoa. From 1476 to 1479, Columbus made a success of trading in several colonies in the Aegean Sea. He sailed to Ireland and Iceland in 1477, returning to Lisbon, Portugal where he would meet his soon-to-be wife Filipa Moniz Perestrello, the daughter of the Porto Santo Governor Bartolomeu Perestrello. In 1480, his son, Diego Colon, who would become the fourth Viceroy of the Indies, was born.
Columbus has been described as one of the best navigators of his time, inspired and influenced by the renowned Italian explorer Marco Polo, who gained fame worldwide as one of the first westerners to travel the Silk Road to China. It was time for Columbus to venture to China and India for the valued goods that bestowed indulgence such as silk, spices, and gold.
The underestimated calculation by Columbus posed a threat since he believed the circumference of the Earth and the distance between Europe and Asia would be uninterrupted. As the 15th century developed historically, Columbus was on route to America, rather than to Japan, which gave Spain the competitive edge in establishing an overseas empire.
In 1485, Columbus presented his elaborate plans to John II, King of Portugal. He proposed that the king to equip him with three sturdy ships and grant him a one year sail time out into the Atlantic Ocean, to find a route to Asia and return home. Also, would request to be made the famous "Great Admiral of the Ocean" and become governor of any and all lands he discovered. John II submitted the proposal to his experts, which they rejected. Columbus on several occasions tried to persuade his majesty of Portugal. Inevitably, Portugal declined to become part of Columbus' financial investment, since their native Bartholomeu Dias rounded on a successful trip to the tip of Africa.
Columbus traveled to Genoa and Venice to find investors, but he was unsuccessful. He than traveled to England to persuade his majesty King Henry VII to sponsor his expedition, hoping the English monarch would take his proposal more realistically. As well, unsuccessful, he would seek out an audience of the monarchs from Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, who had united the largest kingdoms in Spain by marrying.
In 1486, Columbus presented his proposal before Queen Isabella. Both King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were skeptical about the possibilities of a route to Asia. Their experts inclined citing that the expedition would be too impractical because Columbus' calculation to Asia was too short.
After two years of lobbying and negotiating with the king and queen of Spain, Columbus would succeed in 1492. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella provided unusually generous terms. If Columbus discovered any islands and/or mainland; he would receive a portion of all profits because the Spanish monarchs were not expecting Columbus to return if he succeeded. On the evening of the first of August in the year of 1492, Columbus sailed with three sturdy ships: the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina.
Roughly around two in the morning on the twelfth of October in the year of 1492, land was visible (which is now The Bahamas). In his book, A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn illustrates Columbus' discovery of the mainland, he believed he arrived in the Indies, which later to proved inaccurate, however, the indigenous natives that inhabitant the land would be identified as Indians, which he quotes from Columbus' log: "Theybrought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears. They willingly traded everything they ownedThey were well-built, with good bodies and handsome featuresThey would make fine servants" (Zinn, 1980). These natives were the Arawaks of the Bahama Islands, the indigenous Americans.
Zinn adds an important quote from Columbus' log that is the significant in the perception of the Indians: "They are so nave and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone" (Zinn, 1980). What seems so unrealistic for Columbus was not the fact that he sailed and found what is to be India, but how valuable the Arawak Indians would become in Europe. The truth about Columbus is not explained thoroughly in American history. Yes, he is a very important historical figure, both positively and negatively, but his legacy is never forgotten through his responsibility for killing, torturing, and enslaving the indigenous people in the West.
The twelfth of October every year, the United States celebrates Christopher Columbus for his discovery, but put simply how do we celebrate a historical hero when he is responsible for the enslavement and mass genocide of the indigenous people? The Spanish Colonization in the Americas is no doubt the greatest conquest in the Western Hemisphere, but to excuse Christopher Columbus of the annihilation of the indigenous people is wrongfully inhumane.