Who discovered America First - Essay Example

1. To a larger extent, Christopher Columbus can be credited with discovering America. Though history shows that Eriscksson and the other Vicking explorers arrived in America about 500 years before Columbus’ first visit to America, it can be seen that even today Columbus is credited of discovering America. In this case, credit is not given to Columbus on the basis of who was the first to visit the place but contribution that has been made to American history. Columbus’ visit was well documented and it significantly contributes to American history today.

On the other hand, the history of Ericksson who is believed to be one of the first Europeans to visit America has not been documented in written form like that of Columbus. It has been mainly recorded in oral form. 2. The discovery of America has had both positive and negative impacts on the western hemisphere. The movement of the Europeans to the western hemisphere resulted in depopulation of the Indian Americans as a result of skirmishes that took place between the Europeans and the native people of America (http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/history/ch1.htm). This became known as the great dying as they introduced various organisms that caused diseases which lead to death of the native Americans.

However, on appositive note, the western hemisphere significantly benefited from the discovery of America. The place witnessed rapid industrialization since it had abundant of resources such as corn which was a staple food in this region. On the other hand, the discovery of America led to religious and civil conflicts between the native Americans and Europeans. As such colonies were established and this led to slavery of the native people. positive benefits were later to be reaped but the early years of American discovery had negative impacts on the lives of native people in both hemispheres.

Works cited“An outline of American History.” . ND. Web. 02 September 2014.