In the beginning of the lecture for week two, Professor Murray questions Latin America’s existence, proposing that it may be only an idea rather than anything else. This seems to take me back to my geography class today, where Latin America was listed among other regions (Europe, USA, Canada, Asia, and Africa), showing its individual population. I wonder how both, my geography professor and fellow colleagues define Latin America.

Kind of a weird way to to start off my blog, but I could not stop thinking about this. Please bear with me!

Continuing with the video lecture, I have to admit that until now I was unaware that Columbus had no idea he was founding anything. I always thought that he had known he had landed on the present-day Bahamas. He assumed he had landed somewhere in East Asia, completely unaware of the new territory. He simply believed it was just a new route to Asia. I wonder how things would be different if he was aware of where he had sailed to. Any thoughts? Would he have been more of a hero? More or a villain? This brings me to the next subject in the video lecture.

Ignorant to much of Columbus until now (I wish I could say I remember more of what I learned throughout my childhood), I thought that we celebrated Columbus for his findings and I also just assumed that he was a friendly, genuine man, although it turns out that he was more of a villain than I ever would have thought. I always thought that he was friendly towards the native inhabitants, although it turns out that I am incorrect. He more so annihilated them. So in conclusion to a question asked by Professor Murray in the video lecture, I would have to say that my impression of Columbus did change after reading accounts. I almost find it strange as to why we celebrate him, not to mention that he did not technically “discover” America rather than raise European awareness.