Christopher Columbus1 Essay Example For Students

Christopher Columbus1 Essay Christopher Columbus was born in the port city of Genoa, Italy in 1451. His father was a wool weaver named Domenico Columbo. As a boy, Christopher had no schooling. He and his younger brother Bartholomew helped their father by carding raw wool. Christopher grew up to be a tall, red-haired, quiet and deeply religious man. He worked for his father until he was 22. He went out with the sardine fishing fleets, as other Genoese boys did and he sailed along the coast to Corsica on business for his father. Genoese traders had their own schooners as did Christopher Columbus father. He made at least one trip to the North African coast. On long trips such as these, Christopher learned the elements of seamanship. In 1476, Columbus sailed as a common seaman aboard a Genoese merchant ship that was headed for Lisbon, England and Flanders. That he was out exploring for his mother country, that is the story we all hear in school and it also shows a side that we dont hear. The one that shows Columbus as this great guy and the other story which I am writing on Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress by Howard Zinn, shows the opposite side. The side that is more two sided. The story by Daniel J. Boorstin has the type of elementary school ring to it. By it being the story that you hear most about Columbus. If you have heard this story then you know that it is very easy to believe and you have most likely fallen for it. People make it sound like he struggled his way across the ocean, in a ship that was falling apart. But Zinn says,His voyage was something like a Caribbean cruise(400). You may have questioned the story or maybe not, but for some people like Howard Zinn it just didnt sound right. His side of the story is that Columbus was going out just for himself, to make himself money and to make himself famous. He tell about how Columbus was friend with the Indians and then when they would not give his men what he had asked them for he was now there enemy. He told the Indian people that they had to collect so much gold every month and if they did not do so their hands would be cut off. Columbus had promised people back in his homeland that he would bring slaves back with him. Where do you think these slaves came from? They were the Indians. He would load them up by the thousands, but by the time that they would get to their destination most of them would be dead. Both stories has things to support themselves. It is rather interesting the story that Zinn brings up because most people never hear anything like that. Bibliography: .