Columbus Dbq

In the year 1492, explorer Christopher capital of Ohio sailed from Spain to what he believed to be India. That is a fact which cannot be disputed. However, it is often the case that historians are biased in their writing and add their own personal beliefs and interpretations into accounts of what happened. An example of this is historian Davis E. Stannards moot book, American Holocaust Columbus and the Conquest of the New World.Stannard uses facts to support his belief that Columbus and the explorers to follow in his footsteps are responsible for a mass race murder of the Indian peoples. Columbuss captains log does much to contradict Stannards views. Columbus states that he wishes for the natives to develop a friendly military position toward us the Spanish explorers and settler. Columbus wants no harm to come to the Natives and makes sure that trade between the natives and his men is not unfair.He may have been a irregular misguided with his attempts to covert the natives to Ch ristianity, but he himself writes that they are a people who can be made free and converted to our Holy Faith more than buy love than by force. Columbus does not want to bring any sort of harm to the Natives, and believes that in all the world there cannot be better or more gentle people. The impression one may have of Columbus solely from reading this document starkly differs from the view of Columbus that Stannard emphasizes.Bartolome de Las Casas History of the Indies sheds a light on the cruelties that the Spanish were not just capable of, but committed on a twenty-four hours to day basis. De Las Casa helps support Stannards thesis and showcases the horrible deeds performed by the Spaniards often. The Spanish soldiers would slaughter the Natives like sheep in a corral. They would often place bets to measure their strength, such(prenominal) as who could cut a Native in half with a single blow, or slice of their heads the quickest.They has no mercy, and made sure to prevent I ndians from strikingness to think of themselves as human beings or even having a minute to think at all. The soldiers didnt blink an eye at working good tribe to death or just killing them for sport, strongly supporting Stannards claim of destructive genocide. Travels in Quivira by Francesco Coronado gives no support to Stannards thesis. In fact, the document serves to dispute Stannard completely. Coronado was exploring present day Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. He was searching for the legendary Seven Cities of Cibula.The natives had told him that these golden cities were located to the north and Coronado harmed them in no way. After finding no gold, Coronados guides revealed to him that they had, at the orders of the Natives, led him through uninhabited desserts in an attempt to starve him and his company to death. Stannard is firm in his authorship that it was the Spanish who were wrong, not the Natives. While this document is just one example of the Natives wrongdoings, it showcases that both parties had their component part of wrong doings as easy as their share of kindness.The exploration and settlement of the New World was not handled as well as it should have been, but both the Natives and the Spanish had their share of heroes and villains. Columbus fell into neither of these categories. He truly believed that he treated the Natives justly, and, for the most part, he did. He did, however, open the door for other, crueler, people to come in. The Natives cannot be lumped into good or bad in this situation either. There were kind Natives, such as those who met with Columbus, but there were also cruel Natives, such as those who attempted to lead Francesco Coronado to his death.