Lesson 2 - The Man Who Changed the World Forever Syllabus/Lesson Plan
The Man Who Changed the World Forever:
Christopher Columbus
Grades 7-10
Subjects: World History / United States History / Economics
Categories: History and Society
Standards:
Please read the New Jersey Student Learning Standards at the end of the lesson. They will help you give explicit instructions to your students and help you create rubrics most appropriate for your class.
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
- Deduce whether Christopher Columbus was the most consequential figure in human history.
- Collaborate with others to determine the extent to which Columbus’ voyages contributed to monumental events that occurred subsequent to his discoveries.
- Decide and defend with evidence who is the most consequential man or woman in human history.
Abstract:
Students will examine the consequences of Christopher Columbus’ voyages to reach the eastern spice markets and how he offered his considerable skills as a seaman to look for a western route to the Indies. Columbus, or Cristoforo Colombo in Italian, was the first person to cross the Atlantic and establish a continued European presence in the New World. His introduction of the New World to the Old initiated the creation of the Hispanic peoples and their culture.
Key Terms:
Iberian Peninsula Latin Peninsula in southwest Europe. Portugal and Spain are located there.
Al-Andalus Arabic Muslim Moorish controlled land on the Iberian Peninsula from 711 and 1492.
Reconquista Spanish The gradual Christian reconquest of Iberia from the Muslims 711 to 1492.
Caribs Spanish Native tribes on Caribbean Islands, northern South America, and Central America.
Tainos Arawakan Native tribes on Caribbean islands. First natives to meet Columbus.
Black Legend English An English theorized historiographical tendency consisting of anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic propaganda.
Conquistadors Spanish Spanish for conquerors; Spanish warriors.
Background:
Historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote that a frustrated Christopher Columbus said, “Let those who are fond of blaming and finding fault, while they sit safely at home, ask, ‘Why did you not do thus and so?’ I wish they were on this voyage; I well believe that another voyage of a different kind awaits them, or our faith is naught.”
Elsewhere he wrote, “They judge me over there as they would a Governor who had gone to Sicily, or to a city or town placed under regular government, and where the laws can be observed in their entirety without fear of ruining everything.”
Columbus had landed in a completely new and strange world. On this colonial frontier, he oversaw a stone aged people, along with governing seasoned Spanish warriors who had just finished a long war with the Muslim Moors. These were men not used to the civility of polished society, and Columbus’ administration would be questioned and condemned many times, as his discoveries were simultaneously celebrated throughout Europe.
Today, there are copious opinions regarding Columbus and his times. This lesson looks to expose students to varying positions regarding Columbus’ accomplishments and actions as a navigator, administrator, and servant of the Catholic King and Queen of Spain. It will ask them to research these opinions and critically determine for themselves Columbus’ proper place in history.
In 1492, King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile, as the united Catholic monarchs of Spain, completed the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim Moors. After the Reconquista of Granada in the south, the Crown could now look to finance Christopher Columbus’ expedition to travel over the western ocean. Columbus wanted to bring riches back to the Crown, but also wanted to Christianize the Indies, much to the delight of the monarchs, especially Queen Isabella.
Columbus never reached his intended destination, the (East) Indies, but accidentally found the West Indies and the New World. He explored the islands and began Spanish settlements in the Caribbean. What to some would seem a failure turned out to arguably be the most consequential event in human history. Many assert Columbus has done more to change the world than any other human being who ever lived, especially at such a rapid rate. Although Columbus had researched his project thoroughly and was sure he would reach land, the novelty of this voyage and the uncertainty is comparable to a modern-day trip to Mars. Columbus and his crew spent endless days at sea, hoping they would reach land. They prayed they would not run out of supplies beforehand and could subsequently return home. Likewise, astronauts travelling through endless space will not know what they will find. They also will pray their supplies last, so they too can survive and one day safely return to their homes.
Through this lesson, students will examine Columbus’ accomplishments, along with behavior and policies we may find distasteful. They will “think historically.” As students of history, we must understand Columbus in his historical context. We can determine whether Columbus is a hero who changed the world forever, or whether he was a failure who caused misery for people at the time and for centuries that followed.
Procedure:
- Ask students to write whether they think Columbus was one of the most important men in history and why.
- Show students the video.
- Have students write five reflection points on the video and see if the video affected their opinion about Columbus.
- Show the students a copy of the Columbus Exchange picture in a handout or from the PowerPoint.
- Explain how the New World natives had yet to invent bronze, iron, or steel.
- They had not invented the wheel in the New World since they had no big beasts of burden.
- New World natives also had no written language.
- Have students answer in discussion: Based on the Columbian Exchange, why did the Europeans have major advantages over the indigenous American tribes?
(e.g., Beasts of burden for labor, a means of travel, and as sources of food; grains for food; and immunities from many diseases)
- What important items are not mentioned on the exchange?
(Some examples: Wheels, metal tools, and weapons)
- Have students read the essay: “An Examination of the Admiral of the Ocean Sea.”
- And/or present the essay content using the PowerPoint
- Divide students into five groups.
- Each group will take one of the following topics:
- Students will conduct research and answer the following questions in a five-paragraph essay form.
- Did Columbus’ voyages begin Western Civilization’s world ascendancy for the next 500 years?
- Is it true that without Columbus’ discoveries the New World would have developed much differently, and Europe would have never had the money to develop capitalism and experimental sciences?
- Without Columbus’ discoveries, would Catholicism have become the biggest organized religion in the world today?
- What might have developed in Europe and in the Americas?
- Without Columbus’ discoveries, would European powers have begun to establish colonies in the New World?
- What would they have done differently?
- Without Columbus’ discoveries would European powers have had the money to develop the armies and navies necessary to stop the Muslim Ottoman Turks’ conquest of Europe?
- How far could the Turks have gone?
- Without Columbus’ discoveries, would the Aztec Empire and the Inca Empire have continued to flourish?
- Would indigenous cultures continue to have practiced human sacrifice and cannibalism in the New World?
- Did Columbus’ voyages begin Western Civilization’s world ascendancy for the next 500 years?
- Students will conduct research and answer the following questions in a five-paragraph essay form.
- Each group will take one of the following topics:
- Once all groups are finished:
- A student from each group will give the other groups a five-minute overview of their answer.
- They may use PowerPoint.
- All students will receive a copy of the other group’s essays.
- A student from each group will give the other groups a five-minute overview of their answer.
Homework:
Once each group presents their results, each student will take the 5 essays and notes from the presentations and answer the following question:
- Was Columbus the most consequential figure in history? Explain.
- If he was, name another man or woman who was nearly as consequential in changing the world and explain your choice.
- If he was not, who was? Explain your choice.
Assessment:
Use the New Jersey Registered Holistic Writing Rubric to assess each group’s essay and presentations.
Use the New Jersey Registered Holistic Writing Rubric to assess each student’s analysis and answers to the homework questions.
Extension:
Have students examine the English Black Legend that offered copious anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic propaganda that still influences much of the examination of the Spanish treatment of the indigenous peoples, colonization, and slavery.
Using what students learned in the lesson, have them create a position paper condemning or supporting the English Black Legend, based on evidence, and comparing the Spanish experience in the New World with other world powers’ experiences as colonizers. Have them compare the lives in Spanish America with the lives of people in Spain, the Aztec Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Europe, China, Africa, and Persia, among others at that time.
The Black Legend can be replaced with any modern anti-Columbus, anti-Spanish, or anti-Catholic treatment of the time. Or, modern anti-Columbus positions and the Black Legend can both be used to compare with data the students had researched in the lesson.
Make sure students identify the authors, the publications, and the articles’ sources for biases. The possible biases might shed light on the materials’ conclusion in all circumstances. Also, have students explore whether documents cited in the articles might have plausible explanations, based on the primary sources’ biases.
Resources to help students think historically:
Sam Wineburg: Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past. 2001.
Teaching History.org. “What is Historical Thinking?”
https://teachinghistory.org/historical-thinking-intro
Resources: Books
Jacques Barzun. From Dawn to Decadence: 500 of Western Cultural Life, 2000.
Laurence Bergreen. Columbus: The Four Voyages, 1492-1504, 2012.
Kay Brigham, Christopher Columbus: His Life and Discovery in the Light of His Prophecies, 1990.
Captivating History. Christopher Columbus: A Captivating Guide to the Life of an Italian Explorer and His Voyages to the Americas, 2020.
Carlos Fuentes. The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World, 1993.
Hourly History. Christopher Columbus: A Life From Beginning to End, 2016.
Samuel Eliot Morison, Christopher Columbus, Mariner, 1997.
Rafael Ortiz. Christopher Columbus The Hero: Defending Columbus From Modern Day Revisionism, 2017.
Robert Royal. Columbus and the Crisis of the West, 2020.
________________. 1492 and All That: Political Manipulations of History, 1992.
Rodney Stark. How the West Won: The Neglected Story of Triumph of Modernity, 2014.
Articles:
Dinesh D’Souza. “The Crimes of Christopher Columbus.” November 1995
https://www.firstthings.com/article/1995/11/the-crimes-of-christopher-columbus#print
Mary Kovach, “Setting the Record Straight on Christopher Columbus with Author and Expert Rafael Ortiz.” Redazione. October 08, 2020.
https://www.italyusa.org/2020/10/setting-record-straight-on-christopher.html
Gerald Korson. “Christopher Columbus and Fake History: Once the Target of Anti-Catholic Sentiment, Columbus is Often Slandered by Those Who Misrepresent His Legacy.”
https://www.kofc.org/en/news-room/columbia/2017/september/christopher-columbus-fake-history.html
Philip M Mericle. “Revolutionary Myths Against Columbus – I: Rebuttal to the Lies about Columbus.” Tradition In Action.
https://www.traditioninaction.org/History/B_031_Columbus_1.html
____________. “Revolutionary Myths against Columbus – II Why Columbus’ Honor Was Maligned.” Tradition In Action.
https://www.traditioninaction.org/History/B_032_Columbus_2.html
Revolutionary Myths Against Columbus – Eight Article series
- Robert Petrone. “Christopher Columbus Is the Greatest Hero of the 15th & 16th Centuries: Introduction.” (Part I) Broad & Liberty. September 14, 2020.
- ________. “Christopher Columbus Is the Greatest Hero of the 15th & 16th Centuries: Columbus the Man.” (Part II) Broad & Liberty. September 25, 2020.
- “Christopher Columbus Is the Greatest Hero of the 15th & 16th Centuries: The Scientific Hypothesis.” (Part III) Broad & Liberty. October 5, 2020.
- “Christopher Columbus Is the Greatest Hero Of the 15th & 16th Centuries: The Discovery.” (Part IV) Broad & Liberty. October 12, 2020. https://broadandliberty.com/2020/10/12/robert-petrone-christopher-columbus-is-the-greatest-hero-of-the-15th-16th-centuries-pt-iv-the-discovery/
- “Christopher Columbus Is the Greatest Hero Of the 15th & 16th Centuries: The Second Voyage.” (Part V), Broad & Liberty. October 27, 2020.
- “Christopher Columbus Is the Greatest Hero Of the 15th & 16th Centuries: The Arch-Nemesis Bobadilla (Part VI) Broad & Liberty. November 19, 2020.
- “Christopher Columbus Is the Greatest Hero of the 15th & 16th Centuries: The First Civil Rights Legislation of the Americas.” (Part VII) Broad & Liberty. December 8, 2020.
- “Christopher Columbus Is the Greatest Hero of the 15th & 16th Centuries: The Final Voyage to Freedom”. (pt. VIII) Broad & Liberty, January 12, 2021. https://broadandliberty.com/2021/01/12/robert-petrone-christopher-columbus-is-the-greatest-hero-of-the-15th-16th-centuries-pt-viii-the-final-voyage-to-freedom/
Rafael Ortiz. “Did Columbus Rape Anyone? The Michele de Cuneo’s Letter.” Official: Christopher Columbus, Wednesday, August 8, 2018. http://www.officialchristophercolumbus.com/2018/08/did-columbus-rape-anyone-michele-de.html
Chris Tremoglie: “Leftists ‘Attacks On Columbus Are Bad History.” Broad & Liberty. July 8, 2020. https://broadandliberty.com/2020/07/08/chris-tremoglie-leftists-attacks-on-columbus-are-bad-history/
Publications that look at Columbus as a Conqueror:
Caroline Dodds Pennock. Bonds of Blood: Gender, Lifecycle, and Sacrifice in Aztec Culture, 2008.
Kirkpatrick Sale. Christopher Columbus and the Conquest of Paradise: Second Edition, 2006.
Francis Jennings. The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism, and the Cant of Conquest, 2010.
Matthew Bulger. “Don’t Celebrate Columbus. Honor Native People.” The Humanist.com, October 13, 2014. https://thehumanist.com/commentary/dont-celebrate-columbus-honor-native-people
Graham Keeley. “Columbus Exposed as Iron-fisted Tyrant Who Tortured his Slaves.” Independent, April 1, 2009. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/columbus-exposed-iron-fisted-tyrant-who-tortured-his-slaves-6094870.html
Dylan Matthews. “9 Reasons Christopher Columbus was a Murderer, Tyrant, and Scoundrel: Why Do We Even Celebrate Columbus Day?” Vox, October 12, 2015.
https://www.vox.com/2014/10/13/6957875/christopher-columbus-murderer-tyrant-scoundrel.
“Lost Document Reveals Columbus as Tyrant of the Caribbean.” The Guardian, August 7, 2006. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/aug/07/books.spain
Owen McCormack. “Columbus Was a Mass Killer and the Father of the Slave Trade: It’s an Uncomfortable Truth, but It’s Time to Recognize that Christopher Columbus was Responsible For Over 3 Million Deaths.” Irish Central. October 12, 2020. https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/columbus-mass-killer-slave-trade
James Nevius. “Christopher Columbus Was a Lost Sadist. There Shouldn’t Be a Holiday in His Name.” The Guardian. October 12, 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/12/christopher-columbus-sadist-there-shouldnt-be-a-holiday
Irwin Ozborne. “Celebrating Genocide – Christopher Columbus’ Invasion of America Wake Up World: It’s Time to Rise and Shine.”
https://wakeup-world.com/2015/10/11/celebrating-genocide-christopher-columbus-invasion-of-america/
“The Real Legacy of Christopher Columbus: Slavery and Genocide.”
Libertarian School, July 3, 2014.
https://liberationschool.org/the-legacy-of-christopher-columbus/
Black Legend
Roberto Fernández Retamar. “Debunking the ‘Black Legend’”. UNESCO Courier.
https://en.unesco.org/courier/aout-septembre-1977/debunking-black-legend
“The Black Legend”. Digital History.
https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook_print.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3571
Benjamin Keen. “The Black Legend Revisited: Assumptions and Realities.”
Hispanic American Historical Review (1969) 49 (4): 703–719.
https://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article/49/4/703/157405/The-Black-Legend-Revisited-Assumptions-and
2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards– Social Studies
Go to: Social Studies NJSLS 2020 (June) for specific Performance Indicators appropriate for your curriculum
6.2 World History / Global Studies by the end of Grade 8
Era 4. Expanding Exchanges and Encounters (500 CE–1450 CE)
The emergence of empires (i.e., Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas) resulted from the promotion of interregional trade, cultural exchanges, new technologies, urbanization, and centralized political organization. The rise and spread of new belief systems unified societies, but they also became a major source of tension and conflict. While commercial and agricultural improvements created new wealth and opportunities for the empires, most people’s daily lives remained unchanged
6.2 World History: Global Studies by the End of Grade 12
Era 1. The Emergence of the First Global Age: Global Interactions and Colonialism
The methods of and motivations for exploration and conquest resulted in increased global interactions, differing patterns of trade, colonization, and conflict among nations. Colonization was inspired by the desire to have access to resources and markets, often at the expense of the indigenous culture, population, and environment.
An Examination of the Admiral of the Ocean Sea
In 1492, King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile, as the united Catholic monarchs of Spain, completed the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim Moors. After the Reconquista of Granada in the south, the Crown could now look to finance Christopher Columbus’ expedition to travel over the western ocean. Columbus wanted to bring riches back to the Crown, but also wanted to Christianize the Indies, much to the delight of the monarchs, especially Queen Isabella.
Columbus never reached his intended destination, the (East) Indies, but accidently found the West Indies and New World. He explored the islands and began Spanish settlements in the Caribbean. What to some would seem a failure turned out to arguably be the most consequential event in human history. Many assert Columbus has done more to change the world than any other human being who had ever lived, especially at such a rapid rate. Although Columbus researched his project thoroughly and was sure he would reach land, the novelty of this voyage and the uncertainty is comparable to a modern-day trip to Mars. Columbus and his crew spent endless days at sea, hoping they would reach land. They prayed they would not run out of supplies beforehand and could subsequently return home. Likewise, astronauts travelling through endless space will not know what they will find. They also will pray their supplies last, so they too can survive and one day safely return to their homes.
Columbus’ discovery is considered monumental because no one person has changed the world so much and so quickly. He opened two large continents and many islands to Europe, then to Asia and to Africa. His discoveries initiated the Modern Era, stimulating and growing nascent capitalism in Europe, along with the experimental sciences. It enabled the Columbian exchange, where many different animals and crops were introduced from one hemisphere to the other for the first time in human history. His discoveries began the emergence of Western Europe’s economic, cultural, and intellectual ascendency. It spread Catholicism and Western Civilization to millions in the New World and Asia. Columbus’ voyages subsequently allowed the influx of New Spain (Mexico) silver into China through the Spanish Philippines. New World riches helped develop armies and navies to stop the Muslim Turkish Caliphate’s conquest of Central Europe. The voyages also resulted in the emergence of the Hispanic peoples. In addition, Columbus began the Age of Exploration and colonization not only for Spain; Portugal, France, England, the Netherlands, and Sweden quickly followed suit in the New World.
No one can minimize what Columbus did to irrevocably change the world. Some today, however, cast the chief founder of the modern world as a tyrant. Some seem to blame him for institutions that had existed for all human history and in nearly all global cultures. He is blamed for violence, conquests, and slavery of peoples who were quite used to violence, conquests, and slavery well before Europeans had arrived. He is blamed for African slavery in the New World; whereas slavery existed in Africa and the New World for millennia and no African slaves had come to the New World until years after Columbus’ death. He is often blamed for genocide of the indigenous peoples of the New World. Massive deaths among the natives did occur, but the overwhelming majority of those deaths came from Old World diseases for which the natives had no biological immunity. This happened in a time when no one understood what a germ or a virus was. To blame Columbus for these deaths would be analogous to blaming Asians for the Black Death that had decimated Europe during the 14th century, since the ships carrying the diseases came from eastern ports and infections were also passed from Mongols throughout the Golden Horde.
Columbus needs to be judged by 15th century standards. He could only operate within those parameters. He was not a 21st century man. Very few men and women of the past satisfy 21st century cultural demands. Examinations of ancient empires, kingdoms, other polities of the past, along with all tribal associations have myriad stories of conquest, plunder, slaughter, colonization, slavery, among others. When looking at the past, understand the cultures as products of their own times. It is fairer to contrast cultures within their own time period, and with cultures from earlier periods, to get the best understanding of the particular culture. We cannot demand they behave as we insist they should have behaved from our safer and much more comfortable cultural perspective.
Much of the negative material about Columbus comes from a report to the King and Queen by Francisco de Bobadilla, an official under the Crown of Castile. Settlers, who were upset with the “Italian,” Columbus’ iron rule and his protection of Indians, gave Bobadilla the information necessary for him to arrest Columbus and return him to Spain in chains. Once in front of the monarchs, he was exonerated, his property was restored, and he was eventually allowed to sail to the West Indies on a fourth voyage. Still, some scholars point out that Bobadilla’s report did show that 23 notarized witnesses spoke to Bobadilla. Columbus had owed Florentine financiers considerable sum for the first voyage. The Florentines had financed 50% of the trip. He also owed many people money for the second trip. Witnesses showed that he had worked to get those debts paid at the natives’ and the settlers’ expense, many times in a cruel manner. Reports from the settlers of atrocity and cruelty attributed to Christopher Columbus were mixed with reports on succeeding governors. Each succeeding governor investigated the previous governor, including two terms held by Columbus’ son, Diego. Each previous governor was cited for cruelty and mismanagement. This may be because the colonial frontier was extremely hard to administer. Many settlers did not comply with the laws from far off Spain, as students will see with King Charles V’s The New Laws of the Indies, 1542, in lesson three.
Students can investigate reports of these testimonies in the lesson. History established that Columbus was a fearless adventurer and an inspiring leader of his crews. Evidence, however, seems to point out he was a horrible, and even cruel administrator of a large number of people in the colony. Students will determine whether this was part of Columbus’ character or was his behavior, both heroic and objectionable, a product of his times and of governors on the colonial frontier.
Despite what some 21st century sensibilities might dislike about the Italian navigator, Columbus did initiate salubrious changes in the native cultures. He and the Spanish ended human sacrifices, cannibalism, infanticide, and ritualized killing. What are considered horrors in the present-day were thought equally horrible to the Spanish, though those practices were ubiquitous throughout the New World and acceptable to the indigenous cultures, as they were in the Old World many centuries and millennia earlier. For example, before Columbus in 1487, at the re-consecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan, an estimated 80,400 prisoners were sacrificed to Aztec gods.
Columbus was an intrepid explorer who connected worlds that were oblivious to one another. He was a pioneer, sea captain, navigator, missionary, businessman, administrator, and colonizer. From his courageous adventures, the world quickly moved in a direction that his contemporaries could not imagine.
Studying people in the past, we need to remember heroes are often praised, but they often receive equal condemnation, especially from those who never enter the fray or risk it all to accomplish great things. The words of President Theodore Roosevelt give perspective and appreciation:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Through this lesson, we will examine Columbus’ great accomplishments, along with behavior and policies we will find objectionable. As students of history, we must understand Columbus in his historical context. We can determine whether Columbus is a hero that changed the world forever, or whether he was a failure who caused much misery for people at the time and for centuries that followed.
