How Did Christopher Columbus Discover North America

Great Essays
Remember that day in school when your history teacher said Christopher Columbus discovered America? Well, they were wrong. Christopher Columbus was a Genoese sailor who wanted to find a western route to the Indies. He made four voyages, each taking him to different locations in the Caribbean. He sailed under Spain and his voyages were sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Along his voyages he encountered storms and the Santa Maria broke into pieces. He met very many natives and explored their land. I believe Christopher Columbus did not discover North America, I believe this because his locations were not in North America, other people lived in and reached North America, and there are misconceptions about Columbus and his …show more content…
He also sailed to Panama on his last voyage. If you were to look on a map of Columbus’s voyages you would see that Panama is southwest from the Caribbean. You would also notice that he is getting farther away from North America. That’s not the only thing taking him farther away away from reaching North America. “On December 25, the Santa María ran aground… (Minster,1).” This happened after the ship landed on San Salvador, Cuba, and Hispaniola, which are islands. We can tell that the Santa Maria did not reach North America because it landed on some islands not a continents. Now that we are discussing the ships I want to tell you interesting information.”Little is known about either ship (Lee,1).” The article is referring to the Nina and Pinta. This leads me to believe that these ships did not discover North America because we would have some evidence that they touched our continent. It also arouses the question, if we don't know a lot about the ships do we really know a lot about Columbus? Now I would like to take a look at some of the maps of his voyages. On Britannica Kids it shows the map of all of his voyages. It also shows Columbus not touching North America at all. When comparing the Santa Maria, Nina, and Pinta’s routes in the intro of “The story of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Howard Zinn’s book was more reasonable, due to the fact that it gives information about the bad things that happened to the United States. His story explains what Christopher Columbus has done. Columbus wanted the Arawaks to be his slaves because of how built they are, they cut themselves for ignorance, and Columbus notice that their weapons were not made of iron. The book by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen explains of how great the United States is, but do not know what kind of violence that occurred and gave the United States a lot of items. Zinn explains what Christopher Columbus did to trick the Arawak.…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    One voyage that is brought up in every history class is Columbus “discovering” the New World. It is said that Christopher Columbus founded America, but in reality people have been living in the New World long before Columbus “discovered” it. Columbus’ discovery changed the way the Native Americans and Europeans lived. When Columbus landed in America, he wrote a letter to the King Sanchez and Queen Isabella.…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Christopher Columbus was an explorer who has been debated as a hero and as a villain, Columbus was a hero because of his transformation and modernization of America. Columbus is also a hero for bringing government into America. Christopher Columbus set foot in America in 1492. Native Americans had discovered America but some authorities and assets give Columbus the credit for the founding of the foundation. Christopher was claimed to have made America’s population a more modern civilization.…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As we know, the Santa Maria crashed into the shores of the new world, leaving Columbus and his crew with one less boat. He decided to leave behind a boat of men with enough supplies to last them for a while, until they could sustain themselves. Although this mission to colonize failed, Columbus took a huge step for Spain that would ignite the flame of exploring the Americas. Many countries such as France and England wanted to expand their borders and imperialize the land and resources. This would soon lead to the further development and colonization of the Americas.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    They had been living here for a while when he got here. So how could “he” have “discovered” America and everything in it? That is something I have been wondering for years now, but I guess that is a question that will never get answered… By anyone. There is also another MAJOR reason that Columbus day should not exist.…

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The explorer had three ships: Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria, and his discovery led to many things. Not only did Columbus leave a permanent mark on the New World he discovered, he also deeply impacted…

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Columbus was someone who used his imagination to try and find land that was not even what he thought it was. For example, while Columbus was on America, he thought it was East Asia and used inferences to make him believe that it was East Asia instead of America. This shows that Columbus was also human. It shows that Columbus also made mistakes like others. According to George Santayana, “Columbus found a world, and had no chart, Save one that faith deciphered in the skies.”…

    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The controversy as to whom discovered America still rages on today. One of the most disputed characters in history is indeed the Italian Christopher Columbus. Although not stated as a villain or a hero in the Social Studies Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), Columbus is still acknowledged as one of the most important historical figures whose expeditions to the New World led the way to other expeditions of Europeans to America. During Columbus time, the belief that the earth was round was widely accepted. He didn’t set out to an expedition believing that he might fall off the earth like many people believe.…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The day we call “Columbus Day” is soon approaching stirring up a debate that has occurred in the last couple years. People are torn on whether Christopher Columbus is a hero or villain. Despite the dispute, the United States of America should continue to celebrate Columbus Day and not treat Columbus as a villain. Spanish exploration before Columbus was rather limited, the Portuguese had gone up and down the coast of Africa before Spain could come in and lay claim to a lot of land. In 1492 Columbus came to America and claimed the land for Spain (even though he thought the land was Japan).…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Christopher Columbus allegedly discovered america during 1492 although he is not the first person to reach America. Leif Erickson, a viking, and his men reached North America 500 years ago. He set sail in 1492 with santa maria, pinta and nina, reaching the bahamas 36 months later. He is celebrated on october 12. He is not worth celebrating .…

    • 322 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Was Columbus A Hero?

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages

    While many have depicted Columbus as a benevolent explorer who discovered the New World, he wasn't particularly kind, and some think he didn't discover the New World. We now have evidence of many explorers that had reached the Americas before him. Also, he only visited islands near North America. Therefore he never made it to North America. When Columbus landed in 1492, it is estimated there were between 10 and 15 million indigenous people in the area that now constitutes the United States.…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Laurence Bergreen, Columbus: The Four Voyages (New York:Viking Penguin , 2011) 423 pp. Christopher Columbus, the man who “discovered” America is one of the most controversial people in world history. With his adventurous self and crew, they arrived on numerous amount of islands which determines Columbus as a brave and so-called heroic explorer. Laurence Bergreen, a historian and biographer wrote,“Columbus: The Four Voyages” which analyzed Columbus’s actions and decisions during his travels. Turns out Columbus isn’t as heroic, courageous and honorable as everyone thought.…

    • 864 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Columbus Day is a well known holiday because it was considered the discovery of the Americas and the exploration of new world, It also help develop the world the way the today. Under all of that joy and happiness is a cruel reality of pain and suffering under the Spanish. America should not memorialize Columbus Day because he did not discover the Americas, and his legacy was all about death and destruction for the people that were there already. Columbus did not accomplish anything he only found land that was discovered already. In source 1 Michael S. Berliner states that columbus did not discover America because people lived there for thousands of years.…

    • 241 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Thesis: Christopher Columbus was a man responsible for the decimation of three major civilizations, as well as the ultimate genocide of the indigenous peoples as a whole, one of the largest in human history. Columbus alone committed an array of horrific acts, using the Indians as sex slaves and extorting them for labor, stealing their land and goods, and hunting them for sport and dog food. His choices and treatment influenced how other would later view and deal with the Indians, eventually leading to their near extinction. Most of us know very little about the people who roamed our lands before we “discovered them”, and instead praise one man’s inaccurate claims. and that is why we should replace Columbus Day, which credits a man for deeds…

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Presentation, Potency, Prejudice and Pride Challenged by Perspective Since the discovery of The Americas there has been a discussion on who the Natives were and where they belong in history. Early settlers discussed the presence of these natives on what was believed to be undiscovered land. It has become an endless debate, reflecting on the different perspectives of history. It seems to be a tale as old as time, however; the crime inter-twined into history recently resurrected the discussion of when Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean in 1492. He believed he found land that lead to the discovery of Central America, South America, and North America.…

    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays