Question

Why has the way people think about Columbus and what he did changed over time?

Answer 1

Columbus never discovered America
Even if you were to overlook the not-so-minor fact that millions of people were already living in North America in 1492, the fact is that Columbus never set foot on our shores. In fact, October 12 marks the day of his arrival to the Bahamas. While he did reach the coasts of what today are Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as well as explore the Central and South American coasts, he never unfurled a Spanish flag in North America. (Leif Eriksson is the first European believed to have sailed to North America, having reached Canada 500 years before Columbus set sail to the west.)

He had struck a lucrative deal with the Spanish
Columbus stood to gain significant wealth and power from his voyage, terms he negotiated with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. His contract with the monarchs, called The Capitulations of Santa Fe, named Columbus the admiral, viceroy, and governor of any land he discovered. It also stated that Columbus could keep 10 percent of any “merchandise, whether pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices and other objects” that he “acquired” within the new territory. Columbus may indeed have had noble intentions when he sailed west, but his agreement with Spain suggests his intentions were far from selfless.

He enslaved and mutilated native people

When Columbus first set foot on Hispaniola, he encountered a population of native people called the Taino. A friendly group, they willingly traded jewelry, animals, and supplies with the sailors. “They were very well built, with very handsome bodies and very good faces,” Columbus wrote in his diary. “They do not carry arms or know them....They should be good servants.” The natives were soon forced into slavery, and punished with the loss of a limb or death if they did not collect enough gold (a portion of which Columbus was allowed to keep for himself). Between the European’s brutal treatment and their infectious diseases, within decades, the Taino population was decimated.

He was arrested by the Spanish Government
In 1499, the Spanish monarchs got wind of the mistreatment of Spanish colonists in Hispaniola, including the flogging and executions without trial. Columbus, who was governor of the territory, was arrested, chained up, and brought back to Spain. Although some of the charges may have been manufactured by his political enemies, Columbus admitted to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella that many of the accusations were true. Columbus was stripped of his title as governor.

Several European countries had rejected Columbus
For nearly a decade, Columbus lobbied European monarchs to bankroll his expensive quest to discover a western sea route to Asia. In 1484 he tried unsuccessfully to get support from King John II of Portugal, whose experts believed Columbus had underestimated how far he would need to sail. Three years later, he appealed to King Henry VII of England and King Charles VIII of France but was once again turned down. He was even rejected initially by Spain in 1486, but the Spanish monarchs changed their mind and eventually agreed to fund his trip.

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