Extract of Christopher Columbus

     In the extracts from Christopher Columbus's journal he speaks about his journey from Europe to the Americas. I think one of the key points of this piece is in the beginning preamble before the article even begins. The preamble begins by saying "The meaning of this voyage is highly contested." this is referencing the journey Columbus was sent out to sail has two sides of the argument of what the main goal of the voyage was. The first reason is, "it is witness to the tremendous vitality and verve of late medieval and early modern Europe - which was on the verge of acquiring a world hegemony." saying he was sent on the voyage as Europe was at a point where they were financially and political flourishing making them able to begin exploring other parts of the world. The other side of the argument is "he direct result of this and later voyages was the virtual extermination, by ill-treatment and disease, of the vast majority of the Native inhabitants, and the enormous growth of the transatlantic slave trade." this was probably not a factor the Europeans were thinking about when sending Columbus but ended up being an affect. The Europeans used religion and world hegemony as reasons to be able to conquer the rest of the world. This justified the killing and stealing of the Native American's lands without any consequences. In Columbus's journal he talks about all the things he sees making them property of Spain basically taking inventory of the new land 

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  1. shawnAugust 24, 2020 at 12:42 PM

    Good note of the ill-treatment of Natives in the west while Columbus was voyaging. They treated some well, but many poorly and enslaved/killed those that did not convert to Christianity. Disease also contributed to wiping out the natives, although, it may have been a non-intentional cause.

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