This week’s reading dealt with the date when Christopher Columbus “discovered” the Americas. In junior high, I learned what I thought to be a great deal about the voyage of Christopher Columbus and how he called the indigenous peoples “Indians” because he believed he had found a new route to India. I was briefly taught that he was known as a hero because he discovered a new land and brought power and riches to his country. The only “bad” thing I knew Columbus had done was that he brought natives back to his country to show the king and queen that he had indeed found something that was worth the investment.

The texts, however, brought the other side of the story to light. I believed that he was a hero that discovered the Americas and that is one way of viewing his actions, but another view is that he was a European who invaded the lands that were inhabited by the natives for thousands of years. From this perspective, one can view Columbus as the villain of the story. Moreover, what Columbus did to the natives further strengthens his position as the antagonist in history as his actions can only be described as horrendous.

Finally, the reading altered my view of Columbus. Junior high taught me that he was a hero and an adventurer, but I now believe that he was more of a businessman. The number of times he mentions “gold” in his journal just crossed the border of obsession and it appears that it is this obsession with gold that caused him to act the way he does. Also, the way he reported to the queen signifies he was a businessman. There were so many repetitions of “Your Majesties,” that one could read his journal with a tone of flattery which is justifiable because it was royalty who funded his voyage and without them, his journey would not exist.A