Impact of Christopher Columbus

In today's time, Christopher Columbus is known through the United States as the one who found the country we currently live in. But is that actually true? Over many years, his history has sparked a controversial debate that is still going on to the present day. Many people say that he was only a man with a passion for exploring, while others believe he is the mastermind behind the genocide of over 250,000 Native Americans. I personally believe that Christopher Columbus had good intentions which may have borderline between glory for his nation and personal glory.

According to "A People's History of the United States", it states that Columbus believed the Native Americans " would make fine servants.." and " with fifty men he could subjugate them all and make them do whatever he wanted". Facts similar to these led people to believe that he was responsible for the mass murdering of the Indians who already inhabited the land he mistakenly found. However, he did bring general awareness of the Americas to Europe which jump started an age of exploration still discussed today. Despite all this, I believe some people fail to realize that all Christopher Columbus was only a man with a goal. To me, it is too late to discuss if what he did was either right or wrong since the debate and the controversy will never disappear because we were not there during the time. At the time, Christopher Columbus did not realize he was opening the Natives to European diseases and did not plan to because he did, in fact, need them. He was an explorer with money as his motivation along with the privilege of being remembered throughout eternity. In "A People's History of the United States", Las Casas felt strongly against Columbus's tactics and the treatment he showed the Natives. He believed that Columbus was the King's lap dog stating that, "he was so anxious to please the King that he committed irreparable crimes against the Indians..." He also goes to tell how the Spaniards, who came after Columbus paved the way, mistreated the Natives also. But in the process, Spain was able to find new lands and in doing so, their culture spread. Columbus had made colonization possible for the British which caused a war with France to drive them out (the French and Indian War).

We humans today know that when something new comes into the picture, something old must come out. No matter which side people choose, they all agree that Columbus made a major impact on the Americas. He brought our ancestors to the country we all came to know at the cost of almost wiping out an entire native society. I believe that the whole moral debate about how Columbus did things does not get us anywhere. Revisionists use today's morals to judge the actions of people 500 years ago, a time where the world was much different than the one we live in now. So, to me, that's