Analyze the causes and effects of Christopher Columbus’ exploration of the Americas. In your essay, respond to the
questions: Should Columbus be judged by today’s standards? Should we continue to celebrate Columbus Day?
Document A
Source: Brinkly, Alan. American History: A Survey. “Christopher Columbus” pp. 13-14. 2008.
Christopher Columbus, who was born and reared in Genoa, Italy, obtained most of his early seafaring experience in the
service of the Portuguese. As a young man, he became intrigued with the possibility, already under discussion in many
seafaring circles, of reaching Asia by going not east but west. Columbus failed to win support for his plan in Portugal, so
he turned to Spain. The Spaniards were not yet as advanced a maritime people as the Portuguese, but they were at least
as energetic and ambitious. And in the fifteenth century, the marriage of Spain’s two most powerful regional rulers,
Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile had produced the strongest monarchy in Europe. Like other young
monarchies, it soon grew eager to demonstrate its strength by sponsoring new commercial ventures.… His [Columbus]
voyages were inspired as much by his conviction that he was fulfilling a divine mission as by his interest in geography
and trade. A strong believer in the biblical prophecies, he came to see himself as a man destined to advance the coming
of the millennium. “God made me the messenger of the new heaven and the new earth,” he wrote near the end of his
life, “and he showed me a spot where to find it.”
Document B
Source: Dobbs, Rebecca G. “Why we should abolish Columbus Day: A Speech.” Summer 1997.
We should cease to celebrate Columbus Day, first because it is ludicrous to say a place already inhabited can be
“discovered”; second because Columbus failed to add anything new to the pool of European knowledge; and finally
because the celebration of Columbus sends a message of hostility to the very peoples who have paid most dearly to
establish the great nation of which we are a part.
Why do I use the word “ludicrous”? Consider what it was that Columbus allegedly discovered: a vast set of lands.
Estimates of the pre-Columbian population of these lands vary widely, but numbers proposed in recent years by
authorities on New World demographics such as Henry Dobyns suggest some 145million people lived in the hemisphere
in 1492, with some 18 million of those north of Mexico. These estimates are cited by David Stannard in his book
American Holocaust as well as by others. Stannard goes on to show that this 145 million figure is roughly equal to the
estimated 1492 populations of Europe, Russia, and Africa put together. Clearly, the lands visited by Columbus could not
be said to be empty by any stretch of the imagination.
Document C
Source: Roosevelt, Franklin D. “Statement on Columbus Day.” October 12, 1940.
The voyage of Christopher Columbus and his diminutive fleet toward the unknown west was not only a prelude to a new
historical era. For the brave navigator it was the culmination of years of bold speculation, careful preparation, and
struggle against opponents who had belittled his great plan and thwarted its execution.
Expounding the strange doctrine that beyond the ocean stood solid, habitable earth, Columbus had first to make his
views plausible to his doubting patrons and then to overcome the seemingly endless array of obstacles with which men
of little minds barred the way to the fitting out of a fleet.
