What Is Christopher Columbus Greatest Achievement
The courageous and unwavering spirit of Christopher Columbus led him to make the single greatest achievement of his time, discovering the New World. Columbus’ achievement, however ironic it may seem, set a precedent for future explorers through his perseverance and determination to blaze a trail into the unknown. Christopher Columbus’ claim to fame is discovering the New World, but he did so in a serendipitous fashion and completely unbeknownst to him. At the time, many countries were in search of valuable routes to India, which bypassed the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa. When Columbus set sail in 1492 to find one of these heralded trade routes, he stumbled upon one of the greatest discoveries in history: the New World. Without hesitation, Columbus wrote to his benefactors and sovereign the King and Queen of Spain to praise the many riches of the islands he uncovered.
Columbus, upon arriving in the Caribbean Islands, immediately starts naming them after important Spanish figures of the day. In a letter addressed to Luis de Santangel, a royal official and financial supporter, Columbus make several detailed observations of his surroundings on his first voyage to the Indies. Columbus …show more content…
notes in his letter the presence of honeybees as well as the nightingale song bird, both of which are not indigenous to Asia. Furthermore, the overwhelming excitement of finding profitable ventures for Spain as well as his determination to prove his expedition worthwhile may have caused Columbus to remain unaware of these telling signs of geography.
However, Columbus’ good fortune would soon diminish. During his final voyage, which he commissioned partly to rejuvenate his “tarnished reputation”, Columbus writes another letter to plead for his freedom to Ferdinand and Isabella. In 1503, in what is now Jamaica, renegades imprison Columbus on a ship with his brothers for attempting to “rise against” the King of Spain. Incidentally, he was eventually rescued from the island, but not before persevering to his breaking point after enduring shipwreck, imprisonment, and torture.
After this discovery, Kings and Queens all over Europe engaged in a frenzied land grab in the Central and South Americas.
This led to the exploitation of millions of Africans as slaves in Central and North America as well as the genocide of millions of Native Americans and the indigenous peoples in the Caribbean. Christopher Columbus brought more death and destruction to the world than any other person in history; however, he was inadvertently responsible for the wealth in Europe that brought about our current elaborate consumer economy. Fatuous students and historians scoff at the ironies of Columbus’ false positive discovery, nonetheless, he played a critical role in setting the tone of discovery and exploration that proliferated through the 16th century and
onwards.
Columbus, upon arriving in the Caribbean Islands, immediately starts naming them after important Spanish figures of the day. In a letter addressed to Luis de Santangel, a royal official and financial supporter, Columbus make several detailed observations of his surroundings on his first voyage to the Indies. Columbus …show more content…
notes in his letter the presence of honeybees as well as the nightingale song bird, both of which are not indigenous to Asia. Furthermore, the overwhelming excitement of finding profitable ventures for Spain as well as his determination to prove his expedition worthwhile may have caused Columbus to remain unaware of these telling signs of geography.
However, Columbus’ good fortune would soon diminish. During his final voyage, which he commissioned partly to rejuvenate his “tarnished reputation”, Columbus writes another letter to plead for his freedom to Ferdinand and Isabella. In 1503, in what is now Jamaica, renegades imprison Columbus on a ship with his brothers for attempting to “rise against” the King of Spain. Incidentally, he was eventually rescued from the island, but not before persevering to his breaking point after enduring shipwreck, imprisonment, and torture.
After this discovery, Kings and Queens all over Europe engaged in a frenzied land grab in the Central and South Americas.
This led to the exploitation of millions of Africans as slaves in Central and North America as well as the genocide of millions of Native Americans and the indigenous peoples in the Caribbean. Christopher Columbus brought more death and destruction to the world than any other person in history; however, he was inadvertently responsible for the wealth in Europe that brought about our current elaborate consumer economy. Fatuous students and historians scoff at the ironies of Columbus’ false positive discovery, nonetheless, he played a critical role in setting the tone of discovery and exploration that proliferated through the 16th century and
onwards.