The New World through the Eyes of Christopher Columbus - Research Paper Example

 The New World through the Eyes of Christopher Columbus Before traversing onto different lands, the Earth was a mystery to most scholars, explorers and colonizers. Most people remained confined to their own territories and only wondered what lay beyond in other regions, if there even was a broader territory. From the Republic of Genoa in Italy, Christopher Columbus, a young explorer interested in taking on the voyage of the world emerged and sailed across the Atlantic. This particular voyage helped him realize that life beyond extended onto the American continents in the Western Hemisphere or the ‘New World’ as he had coined it. However, it must be noted that this so called New World was not discovered by him because there were other sailors and explorers that had embarked upon the similar journey earlier; however since Columbus was from Europe, this voyage helped the European mind to grow and develop in a way that the European nations gained confidence due to this move and that was when they began planning the annexation and colonization of other nations across the world. (Meltzer, Milton) In the year 1492, when Columbus found the New World, a large number of changes were taking place all over the world. The European nations at the time were undergoing vast changes with respect to imperialism as well as striving to improve their economies in comparison to economies of other lands. This was when the mercantile era began to fully flourish and grow; agricultural production had also begun to slowly reach a high. Thus, developing nations and countries were trying hard to eliminate all kinds of competition from in and around them in order to gain the maximum amount of power and somehow try and rule the world. Thus, this exploration or voyage by Columbus really helped the European nations to triumph over other nations and get a good head start in terms of production and trade. In no time, these nations indeed did take over many other nations in what came to be known as the colonial period established by the Europeans. The modern day Americas and Australia were first referred to as the New World by Columbus during the middle ages; he had neither chanced upon any other person that had travelled to such far off lands; and nor had he any inkling whatsoever of the same with the help of maps or compasses. This helped to expand the geographical horizon of the planet further. The usage of the words “New World’ is historically very important because the coning of this term helps to divide the time periods of the planet on the basis of geographical discoveries. It is used to provide a description of places that were mainly dominated under colonialism by the Europeans and also to divide the period between the Spanish conquests and other such historic events that took place during the colonial periods. Columbus underwent a great amount of confusion on his journey. After having access to three ships and food stocks for a year, he left for his voyage towards the West. Soon he and his crew reached what he thought were the Indies and thus names the people that belonged there, the Indians. When he got to Cuba, Columbus was under the impression that that was China. This is how he had wrong information about different lands and had underestimated the world to be larger than what it actually was in its true size. However, these accidental voyages helped him discover the New World and helped the Europeans understand that there was a larger world with more territories beyond the maps that they had already made for themselves. There have been theories stating that Columbus was earlier under the impression that the Earth was flat because he believed in the Church and that was what the religion at the time preached. Due to this notion, he was not able to prepare his maps and travels well as he assumed the existence of vast lands and territories to be much lesser than what they were. This was one of the downfalls in his plan that later brought him to terms with the fact that the world was in fact much more beyond what he could have even imagined. Since a large amount of reference was made with the help of celestial navigation, mariners and sailors were by the middle of the medieval period beginning to understand that the world was a sphere and not flat. This they found out with the help of the positions of the sun and the moon. Columbus had made a few mistakes in his estimation of the Earth; he had presumed the European or Eurasian landmass to be much larger and dominating over the rest of the land on earth, and he had also thought that Japan was farther east than the coast of China. (Index of Documents) Columbus had a good amount of knowledge about the trade winds that blew in the regions where he was sailing and it was because of the westerlies that he was able to reach the Iberian Peninsula and safeguard himself against any kind of potential hazards. All in all, throughout his life, Columbus was able to complete four famous voyages around the world. His first was between Spain and the Americas. On this voyage, he had set his eyes upon an island which he then named San Salvador, which is the modern day region of the Bahamas. There, he chanced upon a number of indigenous people who were probably slaves of the region. Before returning, he explored the coast lines of Cuba as well as Hispaniola and took back some natives with him to Europe. Better prepared on his second voyage, Columbus encountered a number of Black Africans, the Dominica as well as a number of regions within Spain. From there he moved on to Puerto Rico and Hispanic lands, and then finally Cuba again, naming it Juana and Jamaica to end his trip. On his third voyage, Columbus sought to explore more of the Americas as he reached Trinidad and Tobago through the Canary Islands. He was known to be a very harsh man and after returning back to Spain, even had a number of the natives that he had captured as his crew workers, hanged as he did not know what to do with them, and according to his faith, they could not have been converted into Christians. On his fourth voyage that he embarked upon with his brother and his son he travelled to Hispania again, moving to Santo Domingo. Since he had studied weathers and the seas, he was aware of a huge hurricane brewing however the governor of denied him shelter there. So he moved to Rio Jaina and in the process lost most of his ships in the storm. Further, he travelled to Panama and the Bay Islands in the hope of completing his journey and establishing the New World that he had discovered and chanced upon, with full certainty. Most of these journeys have been preserved because of the diaries that Columbus kept and wrote in. It was only with the help of his personal writing that people today are aware of the kind of hardships he endured in order to find out new lands and open up the eyes of the entire world in terms of reaching out to farther lands and different kinds of people. Despite his achievements, Columbus was a crude man and initially before embarking on his journeys, he had presented forth certain demands to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. His demands consisted of requests to be given knighthood, and to be made an admiral of the Ocean Sea. Columbus wanted to become the governor viceroy of all the lands that he was about to discover and he also wanted one tenths of the wealth and values of the lands that he discovered. His main purpose and dream in life was to find out new places and people and preach his religion to all the far off lands. Despite his copious attempts at making sure all his demands were met, Columbus was only granted a vast fleet of ships as well as supplies for keeping him well stocked throughout his entire journey. He had great ambitions and taught his son all that he knew as well. He wanted to find parts of the world that people did not believe in, and in turn try and gain all the power and authority that he could. He wanted to call those lands his own and claim them as his personal property because he felt that he had found them and so they belonged to him. Thus, in the eyes of the great and renowned Christopher Columbus, the New World was a much bigger expanse of land than he had estimated or ever imagined it to be. He was able to discover the Americas as well as Australia during his sea wide conquests. Not only this, but he also travelled to the Americas on a series of four exciting voyages which helped the European nations gain more confidence in the rest of the world. (World Book Advanced) It was because of Columbus’ ideas of travelling that further helped these nations to indulge in colonial practices and take over a number of territories all over the world. This is how the Europeans were able to extend the power of their economies and make their trade practices flourish world over. Therefore, the New World through the eyes of Christopher Columbus was much more than just European landmass or small territories existing beyond the east coast. It was more than a whole new world that had unravelled right before his eyes, and he was the proud claimer of having not only discovered them but letting the rest of the world do so as well. Works Cited Meltzer, Milton. "Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) | Scholastic.com." Teaching Resources, Children's Book Recommendations, and Student Activities | Scholastic.com. Web. 27 Mar. 2011. . "Columbus, Christopher | Article | World Book Advanced." PDS Images Archive. Web. 27 Mar. 2011. . "The Voyages of Giovanni Da Verrazzano." Index of Documents. 1970. Web. 27 Mar. 2011. . "European Voyages of Exploration: Christopher Columbus." Home | University of Calgary. Web. 27 Mar. 2011. . "Christopher Columbus and the New World Part 1: To the Ends of the Earth." Social Studies for Kids. Web. 27 Mar. 2011. . Read More