It was interesting to read through Columbus’ journal entries and see his point of view on his expeditions. One interesting point of focus is his opinion of the natives. Columbus essentially enslaved and abducted natives for his cause – it’s rather disturbing how he writes in his entries as if he’s doing the right thing […]
It was interesting to read through Columbus’ journal entries and see his point of view on his expeditions. One interesting point of focus is his opinion of the natives. Columbus essentially enslaved and abducted natives for his cause – it’s rather disturbing how he writes in his entries as if he’s doing the right thing […]
Reading through Christopher’s entries, how the world looked like to him, his point of view on the natives, it was shocking to read through. I’ve always known a brief history of what had happened after he arrived, his diary entries bring a clear idea to how bias and Christopher Columbus was. Upon arrival as the […]
To be very honest, the first few pages I find extremely boring as it kept on repeating itself, I did not have much will to continue reading when I realized the next couple pages were still exactly the same… However it did get more interesting when it got to the point where they found the…
Christopher Columbus is such an iconic figure in history. Every child in Canada learns about him in school from an…
Posted in Blogs, Week 2 | Tagged with Christopher Columbus, Columbus, Journal
Reading Cristopher Columbus’ journal was both captivating and nauseating all at once. Having never read any direct accounts or descriptions of pre-colonial indigenous communities, I was fascinated by the way Columbus described his first encounter with the “islanders” and must admit that his writing allowed me to imagine the scenario he describes with relative ease. …
It’s really interesting to read Columbus’ own writings and obtain a real look into the way he thought of himself and the King and Queen of Spain. I mean in the first few sentences, it’s so hilariously clear how much sucking up Columbus has to do to app…
It’s really interesting to read Columbus’ own writings and obtain a real look into the way he thought of himself and the King and Queen of Spain. I mean in the first few sentences, it’s so hilariously clear how much sucking up Columbus has to do to appease the royalty of the Spanish Court — he used the phrase “your majesties” at least five times within one paragraph. I know… it’s a small detail, and I’m not trying to nit pick, I understand that at the time Spanish royalty were heralded as the most sacred beings… but it doesn’t mean it’s not funny to see brown nosing was not a new concept in the 1500’s.
However, reading his journal does make me sad, it’s clear that Columbus never had any decent or good intentions when exploring the Americas. I mean on the first day he met the indigenous Native Americans he wrote in his journal that one of his immediate thoughts was how easy it would be to subjugate and enslave them. A few days later he notes to the King and Queen that all they would need to dominate the entire island is 50 men. Even with the gifts, kindness and love the indigenous people showed him, he was still trying to find ways to manipulate them and exploit them. Throughout the journal he doesn’t explicitly say that he thinks the people are naive or stupid, but with almost every sentence he implies it, it was almost as if he was constantly mocking them.
I know there’s a tendency to cast people as heroes or villains, and I vacillate between throwing people into those boxes and trying to understand the complexities. But for a man like Columbus I find it really difficult to not cast him as a villain because he did terrible acts; he can literally be traced as the first man to start the genocide and subjugation of millions of Native Americans.. How do you find a hero in that, not even, how do you find a single redeeming quality? Nobody ever thinks about Hitler and recalls fond memories of him, why shouldn’t I offer Columbus the same treatment? His actions leave punishing consequences even in the present day. I’m aware that it’s complex, the time he grew up in, the ideologies that were instilled, etc., but I don’t think you can excuse it and frame him in any way other than the classic villain.
Some questions I had while reading his journal:
1) Does creating the narrative of Columbus as a conqueror and the Natives as vulnerable pure people who were taken advantage of rob the Natives of their agency and power? Or does it create good meaningful conversation?
2) Do you think if the indigenous population had attacked Columbus and his men, would they have won? Or would they have lost? And how would that change the narrative of what we’ve been taught today?
3) A lot of people pose the theory that if not Columbus who discovered the indigenous people and the “Americas” someone else would have and they would have killed the entire indigenous population, do you think that’s true? Would history have unraveled the same way it had with a conquerer and a conquered or could there have been relative peace throughout the territories and mutual respect?
It’s really interesting to read Columbus’ own writings and obtain a real look into the way he thought of himself and the King and Queen of Spain. I mean in the first few sentences, it’s so hilariously clear how much sucking up Columbus has to do to appease the royalty of the Spanish Court — he used the phrase “your majesties” at least five times within one paragraph. I know… it’s a small detail, and I’m not trying to nit pick, I understand that at the time Spanish royalty were heralded as the most sacred beings… but it doesn’t mean it’s not funny to see brown nosing was not a new concept in the 1500’s.
However, reading his journal does make me sad, it’s clear that Columbus never had any decent or good intentions when exploring the Americas. I mean on the first day he met the indigenous Native Americans he wrote in his journal that one of his immediate thoughts was how easy it would be to subjugate and enslave them. A few days later he notes to the King and Queen that all they would need to dominate the entire island is 50 men. Even with the gifts, kindness and love the indigenous people showed him, he was still trying to find ways to manipulate them and exploit them. Throughout the journal he doesn’t explicitly say that he thinks the people are naive or stupid, but with almost every sentence he implies it, it was almost as if he was constantly mocking them.
I know there’s a tendency to cast people as heroes or villains, and I vacillate between throwing people into those boxes and trying to understand the complexities. But for a man like Columbus I find it really difficult to not cast him as a villain because he did terrible acts; he can literally be traced as the first man to start the genocide and subjugation of millions of Native Americans.. How do you find a hero in that, not even, how do you find a single redeeming quality? Nobody ever thinks about Hitler and recalls fond memories of him, why shouldn’t I offer Columbus the same treatment? His actions leave punishing consequences even in the present day. I’m aware that it’s complex, the time he grew up in, the ideologies that were instilled, etc., but I don’t think you can excuse it and frame him in any way other than the classic villain.
Some questions I had while reading his journal:
1) Does creating the narrative of Columbus as a conqueror and the Natives as vulnerable pure people who were taken advantage of rob the Natives of their agency and power? Or does it create good meaningful conversation?
2) Do you think if the indigenous population had attacked Columbus and his men, would they have won? Or would they have lost? And how would that change the narrative of what we’ve been taught today?
3) A lot of people pose the theory that if not Columbus who discovered the indigenous people and the “Americas” someone else would have and they would have killed the entire indigenous population, do you think that’s true? Would history have unraveled the same way it had with a conquerer and a conquered or could there have been relative peace throughout the territories and mutual respect?
After reading the entries made by Christopher Columbus my initial thought is that his writings are rather phoney. It seems as if Columbus was writing the entries for a specific audience. Which in this case would be the King and Queen of Spain who were funding his voyage. I also feel as if he uses religion […]
