Week 2 – The Meeting of the Two Worlds

The Meeting of the Two Worlds

In the second week of the course, we discussed the Columbus’ discovery of the Americas, and how this interaction between the two different worlds led to the creation of the term ‘Latin America’.

In the previous week, we discussed how vague the term ‘Latin America’ from the past to the present day, because there are social, political, language and geographical factors that draws the line between Latin America and the not Latin America. So, in the upcoming week, we learnt about where this terminology derived from, and how the meeting of the two world’s effected this whole region.

I knew that the Columbus was not the first European to land in the Americas, because I read books about the vikings reaching to the Americas five centuries ago. However, I believe that the Columbus’ ‘accidental’ discovery of the Americas have changed the whole idealism of ‘exploration’ to ‘colonisation’.

I was taught in school that Columbus was the first person to discover the Americas. As a child, I thought he was such a courageous man who left his home for years and sailed off for a tough mission for crown’s fame. Although, since the readings, my perspective towards Columbus have changed.

When Columbus stepped his foot onto the Bahamas in 1492, it is said that it marked the beginning of ‘Latin America’. The word ‘latin’ describes the southern European empires which colonised ‘America’, so I agree about when ‘Latin America’ began.

Streets, cities and countries were named after him to praise his ‘achievement’ for voyaging to a new continent. His ‘achievement’ is the best point to argue and discuss. Would you call a purely accidental discovery an achievement? He was supposed to sail to East Asia and discover so-called India, but ended up in an opposite continent, and mis-naming the natives as Indians.

His constant search for gold made him greedy and there was a feeling of anxiety in him because he had to convince the crowd that it was worth the effort, despite his crucial mistake in his voyages. It was truly a selfish; self-justification for false recognizing a continent, however, I believe he deserves some credit for fostering the European empires.

I wonder how the modern citizens of Latin America feel about Columbus and how they would perceive his achievements. My thoughts have changed after reading Columbus describing this event in his own words. I imagine it would’ve been difficult for him to describe what he witnessed in the new continent because he constantly used similies.