Galaxies Realm

Columbus Day is approaching in the US, and once again we're hearing mixed views about his legacy. So I figured I'd ask, was Christopher Columbus good or bad, a hero or villain?

I don't consider him a hero or a villain. He was a great explorer and a human who was not a cut and dry cardboard archetype.

What happened because he discovered the Americas is not his fault. It's not like he ordered his men to go around raping, pillaging and decimating the locals or to do anything that was meant to be harmful.

(10-05-2010 05:54 PM)Quest21 Wrote: [ -> ]I don't consider him a hero or a villain. He was a great explorer and a human who was not a cut and dry cardboard archetype.

Exactly. He was just a guy, out to discover a new route to Asia. He was neither a hero or a villain, just one of the main players of a historically important moment.

Simply being the first of a long wave of European settlers and adventurers does not make him anything other than an unfortunate victim of the eventual historical tragedies.

Columbus was a smart guy, who loved the promise of adventure and discovery and who made a mistake which led to a crossroads of history. He was in the right place in the right time. His motivations were no different than any other European was at the time.

He does NOT deserve any of the blame for what Cortez or anyone else did. Sure, he did subjugate the locals somewhat and took some slaves, but didn't do wholesale slaughter of the kind that came later with others.

Columbus was neither a hero nor a villain, just a great and historically significant explorer. He may not have been the nicest guy ever, but he's certainly not the genocidal maniac some consider him to be.