So You Think You Know Christopher Columbus?

  • Thread starter Thread starter moonman239
  • Start date Start date
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
4 replies · 12K views
moonman239
Messages
276
Reaction score
0
In fifteen days, America will be celebrating Christopher Columbus's arrival in 1492. Does it deserve to be celebrated? I don't think so. Read the essay I have attached for info on why I don't think so.

Tell me what you think. Do you agree with me? Am I using proper grammar?
 

Attachments

Physics news on Phys.org
moonman239 said:
In fifteen days, America will be celebrating Christopher Columbus's arrival in 1492. Does it deserve to be celebrated? I don't think so. Read the essay I have attached for info on why I don't think so.

Tell me what you think. Do you agree with me? Am I using proper grammar?

To be honest, it is a bit simple in its tone and execution. Is this from an assignment for school?

It would be much stronger and more compelling if you cited a few historical references (not a wikipedia-type reference, but an original source) to support your points. You could add a few more quotes, and give links to the sources, for example. Especially for PF consumption, it is always best to give a link to the source of quotes that you use.
 
Last edited:
First of all, that is not an essay, that is some tiny paragraphs. Second of all, I agree with your point, the best description I've ever read for Columbus was:
Thande on alternatehistory.com said:
Yeah, Columbus is not defensible. It's not a case of "he was a man of his time", he was considered a cruel, ignorant << Profanity in quoted text deleted by the Moderators >> even by other people of his time. The strange part is that it might be that very quality that led him to be the man who discovered America--everyone else knew that Asia was too far away to be worth trying to sail westward too across the great world ocean, only Columbus was stupid and stubborn enough to get the calculations wrong and try anyway. Even then though he insisted he had landed in Japan to his death and would hunt down and kill any of his sailors who said differently.
EDIT: sorry about not censoring out the profanity, although perhaps that message has greater effect. :)
 
Last edited:
Yeah I concede with the comments above. This was very poorly written and not persuading In the slightest. I think it should be celebrated just out of tradition and if we could decide again maybe not have dedicated a day for him.
 
If you want to read interesting and poetic attacks against Columbus read latin amaerican literature.


Of the most interesting attacks was in:
Open Veins five centuries of rape and plunder of a continent

And Genesis

Both are by the same author Eduardo Galeano.


Of notable mentio is Carlos Fuentes the Buried Mirror and one of his other books forgot which one.