Critiquing the Analysis of Peers Paper - Book Report/Review Example

This is also dependent on what one interprets to be a hero or villain and also the ability of a person to compare the achievements of Christopher Columbus and the atrocities he committed in his alleged discoveries. While he was considered great explorer, thinker and navigator, he was also bad man who subjected the people he conquered to a lot of suffering. He is also believed to be a tyrannical man through his acts of enslaving the people he found on those lands that he discovered. The historical analysis work analyzes whether Columbus could be considered a hero or villain though it majorly leans on the fact that despite his heroic exploits, his actions and those of his fellow voyagers were atrocious to the natives.

Depending on the point of view that an individual takes in describing Columbus as a hero or a villain, one is likely to look at his actions as compared to the atrocities he allegedly carried out. From the point of view of a fifteenth or sixteenth century Spaniard, Columbus is likely to be viewed in positive light thus a hero who sailed the Atlantic to discover the Americas. According to Carter (1999), a modern day Spaniard may find Columbus to be a villain who introduced European culture in the Americas which eventually eroded the culture of the Native Americans and also subjected the locals to slavery and other acts of atrocities.

This is due to the fact that Columbus and his men subjected Native Americans to brutality while at the same time enslaving others. Through his voyages, he initiated colonization by Spain that entrenched Spain as a superior power then. Therefore, this historical analysis slightly confirms that Columbus is the one who initiated contact between Europeans and other non-Western nations through the discovery of the New World and the Americas. McNeese (2006) argues that the voyage of Christopher Columbus helped discover the Americas to the Europeans that came with immense benefits such as new agricultural techniques from the indigenous or Native Americans.

The Europeans also came to acquire new crops such as maize, tomatoes, potatoes and cocoa. Therefore, through exploration conducted by Christopher Columbus, most Europeans view him as a hero who through his discoveries was able to increase volumes of trade and resources such as silver and gold being brought back to Europe. The work accurately displays this by quoting Bartolome de las Casas who says that ‘The Admiral was the first to open the gates of that ocean which had been closed for so many thousands of years before”.

With all the literature talking mostly of the good things that Columbus brought to the world especially in Europe, it is also important that people understand that he was also a terrible man who did bad things to the Native Americans. Through the discovery of the Americas, the culture of the natives was ruined and the military conquests by the European forces led to slavery and severe diseases. According to the Spanish law applicable at that time of military conquests, if the natives peacefully accepted takeover by the Europeans, they would be protected from any acts of slavery, while if they refused the same, they would be subjected to war and made slaves.

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