How Did Christopher Columbus Successful

Christopher Columbus was an Italian born navigator who sailed in the service of Spain. He is commonly described as the discoverer of the New World America. Although Columbus was in search of a westward route to Asia by sea, the discoveries he did make were more important and valuable than the route he failed to find. It is certain, however, that Columbus was not the first European to cross the Atlantic. Documentary evidence supports claims that the Vikings reached the New World about A.D. 1000. And there is good circumstantial evidence, though no documentation, to suggest that both Portuguese and English fishing vessels made the crossing during the 14th century; they probably landed in Newfoundland and Labrador. Columbus, though he sailed a
different route, followed many Europeans who earlier had crossed the Atlantic.
Bartolome de Las Casas on the other hand, was a Spanish historian and Dominican missionary who was the first to expose the oppression of native peoples by Europeans in the Americas and to call for the abolition of slavery there. His several works include Historia de las Indias (first printed in 1875). A prolific writer and in his later years an influential figure of the Spanish court, Las Casas nonetheless failed to stay the progressive enslavement of the indigenous peoples of Latin America. To begin with, Christopher Columbus landed on an island in the Bahamas. He called the island San Salvador; but “the Indians called it Guanahani.”(Columbus pg 1) Columbus explored the Caribbean; mainly the islands of Juana. Columbus returned back in Spain and wrote a letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella telling them about his discoveries. While discovering the islands, Columbus gave his impression of the islands and he described the different natural
advantages when he states, “the island and all the others are very fertile to a limitless degree, and this island is extremely so.” (Columbus pg 2) Columbus goes on and states, “Its lands are high; there are in it many sierras and very lofty mountains, beyond comparison with of Tenerife. All are most beautiful, of a thousand shapes; all are accessible and are filled with trees of a thousand kinds and tall, so that they seem to touch the sky.” (Columbus pg 2) Columbus’s letter also imparts observations of the native people’s culture and lack of weapons. Columbus described the natives as savages, timid, and that they couldn’t fight back when he states, “They have no iron or steel or weapons, nor are they fitted to use them. This is not because they are not well built and of handsome stature, but because they are marvelously timorous.” (Columbus pg 2) Columbus also states, “They have no other arms than spears made of canes, cut in seeding time, to ends of which they fix a small sharpened stick.” Columbus proclaims that the land could easily be conquered by Spain, and the natives might become Christians and willing to love our King and Queen and Princes and all the people of Spain, “might become Christians and be inclined to the love and service of your Highnesses and of the whole Castilian nation.” (Columbus pg 3)