Christopher Columbus: History's greatest fraud

When talking about great explorers, many names come to mind, such as Ferdinand Magellan, Marco Polo, Lewis and Clark, and James Cook, just to name a few. Though one explorer stands out amongst the rest: Christopher Columbus. Known as the man who discovered North America, Columbus made four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, where he was able to discover new flora and fauna, gold, and new civilizations. While this is great, there were still many underlying issues with Columbus’s discovery of North America, such as the enslavement and mistreatment of natives on the island, which led to years of mistreatment that still has some effect on them today. Also, the fact that Columbus wasn’t the actual first person to find North America, but it was Leif Erikson almost 500 years before. This brings up the question: was Christopher Columbus really the great explorer he is known as today? Well, no, Christopher Columbus is one of the most overrated explorers in all of history, and should be recognized as that today.

Throughout Christopher Columbus’s voyages, one thing he is recognized for is his vast discoveries of new flora, fauna, cultures, and technology, while also bringing these discoveries back to Europe. Even though many of these discoveries were great, they came with other “unwanted” discoveries, such as measles, smallpox, syphilis, and other devastating diseases. With the arrival of these diseases, it devastated Europe, causing the loss of many lives who had never even been to North America. While diseases were spreading in Europe, the same thing was happening in North America with diseases from Europe. This greatly lowered the population of the native people in North America, allowing for the eventual colonization by the Europeans and years of torment and mistreatment, which effects still show today. So, in conclusion, Columbus ended up causing more harm than good for both Europe and North America, which shows why he is greatly overrated and should be recognized as such today.

With the transport of diseases being just one of the horrendous things Christopher Columbus contributed to in his lifetime, the effect he had on the enslavement and mistreatment of native americans was another. It has been stated that Columbus and his men ended up killing up to 6 million native americans throughout his four voyages to the Americas. Secondly, Columbus also committed other heinous acts, such as rape and enslavement of countless people. Finally, Columbus was the root cause of the Atlantic Slave Trade, which ended up existing in the world for the next 400 years. With the latter consequences, including the enslavement of native people in Africa, which caused years of turmoil for them in the United States and other countries, where they were not even treated as human beings. So, even with these issues, Columbus was still thought of as a great person and even ended up having a day named after him, even though he caused more harm than good and caused years of turmoil for many people.

Even though Columbus was fundamentally not a great person, some might say that he played an instrumental role in the development of Europe, and was the reason for world worldwide discovery of North America. While this may be true to some extent, it is false because, in actuality, the first person to discover North America was Leif Erikson. Arguably, being a greater explorer than Columbus, while in America, Erikson was able to found a settlement and also explore many of the local areas. Secondly, unlike Columbus, Erikson ended up not harming the environment and the people he found in the area. This supports the fact that Erikson was a better explorer than Columbus and that he was overrated, and caused more harm than good.

In conclusion the legacy that Christopher Columbus left behind is based on achievements that are not true, and major issues. Even though history makes him seem like the man who discovered North America, the real truth shows a history of enslavement, disease, and destruction that ruined countless of lives. From, distributing devestating dieseases across both North America and Europe to being the root cause for 400 years of slavery and mistreatment, the actions Columbus took ended up causing much more harm than good. Even though some might say that he was a key role in connecting continents, his “discovery’s” cost is something that can’t be ignored. Instead of making him seem like a hero we should realize the truth: Christopher Columbus wasn’t a hero, but one of the most overrated and damaging people in history.