Christopher Columbus Research Paper
The discovery of America, like most things in history, is not one hundred percent clear. It is accredited to Christopher Columbus although there were natives living in the regions he discovered. When he landed in the Bahamas in October of 1492, it was the first of many times Columbus set foot in the Americas. Funded by Spain, the textbook explains Columbus was convinced that “The distance from the west coast of Europe to the east coast of Asia was about 5,000 miles, instead of the actual 12,000.”(Western Civilization P363) By promising Spain the gold of Solomon and converting the new world into Christianity, Columbus received the blessing and funding of Spain. Upon landing Columbus believed he arrived in the Indies, which is why we still call
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Native Americans “Indians” to this day. Columbus was never convinced that he had discovered a new world which western civilization did not know existed. He was convinced until his death that he was one voyage away from finding the mainland of Asia. Although he is the first to touch land in the Americas, our country was named after Amerigo Vespucci, another voyager looking for a passage to the Indies. Many factors play into why the country was named after Amerigo and not Christopher. All of these factors hold no substantial evidence in justifying why our country was named after Amerigo. The United States of America should have been named after Christopher Columbus because he set foot onto the Americas first. “In 1501, after sailing along the coast of Brazil, the Florentine geographer Amerigo Vespucci drew the obvious conclusion from the information collected by Columbus’s explorations.”(Western Civilization P364) Amerigo came to the conclusion that Columbus had discovered a whole new continent not known to the classical world. In 1507, conveniently one year after the death of Columbus, America was put on a map for the first time by a highly credible German map maker, Martin Waldseemuller. Martin Waldseemuller labeled the continent we live in as North America, and the name has stuck ever since. The name Waldseemuller gave to our continent troubles me since it is obvious that the historical evidence points to Columbus as the man who discovered America. Some would argue that America was given its name because although Columbus discovered America, Amerigo was the first one to realize that it was a continent separate from the Indies.
However, Amerigo made this conclusion in 1501. Martin Waldseemuller did not give the New World the name of America until 1507. Why did Martin wait six years? I believe Martin knew that naming the New World after Amerigo would not be taken lightly by Columbus, therefor Martin waited until after Christopher Columbus had passed away. If it was a fair judgement for Martin to name the New World after Amerigo, Columbus would have not had a problem with it and therefore Martin would have put it on the map before the death of Columbus. Instead he waited to avoid problems. With Martin Waldseemuller being one of the greatest mapmakers of the times, who would argue over the name of the New World other than the recently deceased Christopher Columbus? Although the majority of people knew who really discovered America, it’s not always about what you know but who you know. Since Martin Waldseemuller was such a credible mapmaker, no one questioned his motives. It is said by historians that Waldseemuller later changed his mind about Amerigo’s credibility, but by then it was too late. The name had stuck.(Nebraska
Press) The fact that Martin changed his mind in regards to the credibility of Amerigo makes me question what motivated Martin to name the continent America in the first place. One lesson common throughout history is that money talks. Christopher Columbus’s voyages were funded by the queen of Spain. The funds were cut short when Columbus did not keep his promise of returning to Spain with gold. Columbus was not a wealthy man but was still praised for all of his discoveries and accomplishments. Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages were funded by an extremely rich family in Florence named the de’Medici’s. With money comes power and it is safe to say that the de’Medici family had plenty of power. After Amerigo came back with the information that the New World that Columbus discovered was not part of the Indies and was in fact a separate continent all together, the de’Medici family made a huge stink about it. Since they were rich and powerful, what they said mattered to the people around them. Amerigo became very famous in that point in time which is what led to naming the new world America. Maps were printed with help of funds from the de’Medici family.(LOC.gov) Because the de’Medici family was indeed so rich and powerful, their word meant more than the word of Christopher Columbus. Christopher Columbus’s name has not gone unnoted however. The capital city of Ohio, Columbus, and the country of Columbia, are just two of the hundreds of examples of important things named after Christopher Columbus. University of Nebraska Press published in article about Christopher in the fall of 1992. Upon discussing the popularity of Christopher’s name, the author explains “Christopher Columbus ‘has given his name to more geographical places than any other actual figure in the history of the world, with the exception only of Queen Victoria.’” (Nebraska Press P522) Although Columbus is indeed very famous, you must give credit where credit is due. I believe the credit is due in the naming of our country. Ronald Reagan, one of our country’s best presidents for introducing things such as supply side economics, was also quoted in the article published by University of Nebraska Press. While speaking publically to the nation, Reagan goes on to praise the work of Columbus, saying “’Columbus was the inventor of the American Dream.’” (Nebraska Press P522) The metaphor makes sense, in the sense that Columbus came to a new place looking to be successful which he ultimately did become. Today many people from other countries move to America with similar goals. They move to America in hopes of making better lives for them and their family. This is often referred to as “The American Dream.” When taking apart President Reagan’s quote a little more literally, it seems to prove my point even further. President Reagan was known for his smarts and leadership abilities. For one of the best leaders to have ever ruled our country to say that “’Columbus was the inventor of the American Dream.’”(Nebraska Press P522) would mean that the statement is indeed true. Not only did Columbus discover America, but by doing so he discovered the metaphor of the “American Dream”, a term not used for hundreds of years to come. Not only was America named after the wrong person, but so was the “American Dream.” All in all more than five hundred years later, historians and people all over the world have a mutual understanding that Columbus discovered America. Although Amerigo should not go unnoticed due to his significant role in the understanding of the Americas as its own continent, it is expressed in the wrong way. The name America might lead individuals to use common sense and distinguish Amerigo Vespucci as the man who discovered America. Because of the lack of funding by the queen of Spain, Columbus was not able to take another trip to the Americas. “He remained frustrated and embittered by the Crown’s refusal to support one more voyage.” (Western Civilization P364) That voyage could have led him to the same conclusions that Amerigo Vespucci made in 1501. The United States of America should have been named after Christopher Columbus because he set foot in the Americas first. Due to insufficient funds from the queen of Spain and the abundance of funds by the de’Medici family, Amerigo Vespucci was honored instead. Although money and popularity gave Columbus a disadvantage, he is still praised to this day for the discovery of the continent we live in.
Works Cited
"How Did America Get Its Name?" Library of Congress. Aug. 2003. Web. 01 May 2012. .
Noble, Thomas F. X. "Spanish Voyage of Exploration, 1492-1522." Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2011. 363-64. Print.
Vizenor, Gerald. "Christopher Columbus: Lost Havens in the Ruins of Representation." American Indian Quarterly , Vol. 16, No. 4, Special Issue: Shamans and Preachers, Color Symbolism and Commercial Evangelism: Reflections on Early Mid-Atlantic Religious Encounter in Light of the Columbian Quincentennial (Autumn, 1992), Pp. 521-532. University of Nebraska Press. Web. .
Native Americans “Indians” to this day. Columbus was never convinced that he had discovered a new world which western civilization did not know existed. He was convinced until his death that he was one voyage away from finding the mainland of Asia. Although he is the first to touch land in the Americas, our country was named after Amerigo Vespucci, another voyager looking for a passage to the Indies. Many factors play into why the country was named after Amerigo and not Christopher. All of these factors hold no substantial evidence in justifying why our country was named after Amerigo. The United States of America should have been named after Christopher Columbus because he set foot onto the Americas first. “In 1501, after sailing along the coast of Brazil, the Florentine geographer Amerigo Vespucci drew the obvious conclusion from the information collected by Columbus’s explorations.”(Western Civilization P364) Amerigo came to the conclusion that Columbus had discovered a whole new continent not known to the classical world. In 1507, conveniently one year after the death of Columbus, America was put on a map for the first time by a highly credible German map maker, Martin Waldseemuller. Martin Waldseemuller labeled the continent we live in as North America, and the name has stuck ever since. The name Waldseemuller gave to our continent troubles me since it is obvious that the historical evidence points to Columbus as the man who discovered America. Some would argue that America was given its name because although Columbus discovered America, Amerigo was the first one to realize that it was a continent separate from the Indies.
However, Amerigo made this conclusion in 1501. Martin Waldseemuller did not give the New World the name of America until 1507. Why did Martin wait six years? I believe Martin knew that naming the New World after Amerigo would not be taken lightly by Columbus, therefor Martin waited until after Christopher Columbus had passed away. If it was a fair judgement for Martin to name the New World after Amerigo, Columbus would have not had a problem with it and therefore Martin would have put it on the map before the death of Columbus. Instead he waited to avoid problems. With Martin Waldseemuller being one of the greatest mapmakers of the times, who would argue over the name of the New World other than the recently deceased Christopher Columbus? Although the majority of people knew who really discovered America, it’s not always about what you know but who you know. Since Martin Waldseemuller was such a credible mapmaker, no one questioned his motives. It is said by historians that Waldseemuller later changed his mind about Amerigo’s credibility, but by then it was too late. The name had stuck.(Nebraska
Press) The fact that Martin changed his mind in regards to the credibility of Amerigo makes me question what motivated Martin to name the continent America in the first place. One lesson common throughout history is that money talks. Christopher Columbus’s voyages were funded by the queen of Spain. The funds were cut short when Columbus did not keep his promise of returning to Spain with gold. Columbus was not a wealthy man but was still praised for all of his discoveries and accomplishments. Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages were funded by an extremely rich family in Florence named the de’Medici’s. With money comes power and it is safe to say that the de’Medici family had plenty of power. After Amerigo came back with the information that the New World that Columbus discovered was not part of the Indies and was in fact a separate continent all together, the de’Medici family made a huge stink about it. Since they were rich and powerful, what they said mattered to the people around them. Amerigo became very famous in that point in time which is what led to naming the new world America. Maps were printed with help of funds from the de’Medici family.(LOC.gov) Because the de’Medici family was indeed so rich and powerful, their word meant more than the word of Christopher Columbus. Christopher Columbus’s name has not gone unnoted however. The capital city of Ohio, Columbus, and the country of Columbia, are just two of the hundreds of examples of important things named after Christopher Columbus. University of Nebraska Press published in article about Christopher in the fall of 1992. Upon discussing the popularity of Christopher’s name, the author explains “Christopher Columbus ‘has given his name to more geographical places than any other actual figure in the history of the world, with the exception only of Queen Victoria.’” (Nebraska Press P522) Although Columbus is indeed very famous, you must give credit where credit is due. I believe the credit is due in the naming of our country. Ronald Reagan, one of our country’s best presidents for introducing things such as supply side economics, was also quoted in the article published by University of Nebraska Press. While speaking publically to the nation, Reagan goes on to praise the work of Columbus, saying “’Columbus was the inventor of the American Dream.’” (Nebraska Press P522) The metaphor makes sense, in the sense that Columbus came to a new place looking to be successful which he ultimately did become. Today many people from other countries move to America with similar goals. They move to America in hopes of making better lives for them and their family. This is often referred to as “The American Dream.” When taking apart President Reagan’s quote a little more literally, it seems to prove my point even further. President Reagan was known for his smarts and leadership abilities. For one of the best leaders to have ever ruled our country to say that “’Columbus was the inventor of the American Dream.’”(Nebraska Press P522) would mean that the statement is indeed true. Not only did Columbus discover America, but by doing so he discovered the metaphor of the “American Dream”, a term not used for hundreds of years to come. Not only was America named after the wrong person, but so was the “American Dream.” All in all more than five hundred years later, historians and people all over the world have a mutual understanding that Columbus discovered America. Although Amerigo should not go unnoticed due to his significant role in the understanding of the Americas as its own continent, it is expressed in the wrong way. The name America might lead individuals to use common sense and distinguish Amerigo Vespucci as the man who discovered America. Because of the lack of funding by the queen of Spain, Columbus was not able to take another trip to the Americas. “He remained frustrated and embittered by the Crown’s refusal to support one more voyage.” (Western Civilization P364) That voyage could have led him to the same conclusions that Amerigo Vespucci made in 1501. The United States of America should have been named after Christopher Columbus because he set foot in the Americas first. Due to insufficient funds from the queen of Spain and the abundance of funds by the de’Medici family, Amerigo Vespucci was honored instead. Although money and popularity gave Columbus a disadvantage, he is still praised to this day for the discovery of the continent we live in.
Works Cited
"How Did America Get Its Name?" Library of Congress. Aug. 2003. Web. 01 May 2012. .
Noble, Thomas F. X. "Spanish Voyage of Exploration, 1492-1522." Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2011. 363-64. Print.
Vizenor, Gerald. "Christopher Columbus: Lost Havens in the Ruins of Representation." American Indian Quarterly , Vol. 16, No. 4, Special Issue: Shamans and Preachers, Color Symbolism and Commercial Evangelism: Reflections on Early Mid-Atlantic Religious Encounter in Light of the Columbian Quincentennial (Autumn, 1992), Pp. 521-532. University of Nebraska Press. Web. .