The Real Columbus

Everyone knows Christopher Columbus as the brilliant man who founded our beautiful country, America.  But how well do we really know Colombus?  The real Christopher Columbus started out as a man born in a sea town in Italy.  He was a very smart person who could navigate impressingly well.  When he became older he wanted to sail across the world to find new land on other sides of the world.  He wanted to find a country called India so he made his proposal to Portugal, who negated it.  His second proposal was to Spain, who ended up sponsoring his voyage.  He set out on three modern ships- Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria- to sail across the world to India.  Columbus arrived in “India” (really America) and saw that people were already on the land.  He got spices and some gold from these Indians, so thinking that this place was rich, he brought the souvenirs, along with some Native Americans, back to Spain to show the King and Queen how easily the Native Americans could be overpowered and subjugated. Columbus then decided to go back again, but this time when he got there the settlement was destroyed and many men were dead.  Due to this, Columbus then killed many Native Americans because he was mad his settlement was destroyed.  He mismanaged his voyages, so he was arrested and put into jail back in Spain.  Christopher Columbus died thinking he founded India, but it was really America, a whole separate continent.  Christopher Columbus’s true legacy is that he really founded America, but he was extremely harsh to the Native Americans, he took some to Spain as slaves, and he was arrested for abusing his privileges.  Some people might have negative opinions towards Columbus, while others might have positive ones.

The second monday of every October we celebrate the holiday known as Columbus Day, which honors Christopher Columbus’s arrival in America on October 12th.  Most kids like the holiday because they get Monday off from school, making it a long weekend from Friday after school to Monday night.   Most kids don’t do anything that day in remembrance of Columbus, so some say it’s a waste of a day that could be put towards getting out earlier for the summer.  But if Christopher Columbus arrived in India like he had planned rather than in America, it could’ve taken hundreds of years before anyone ever founded our land. So people should really give credit to Columbus even if he thought it was India the whole time.  If it wasn’t for him, others wouldn’t have also travelled to America.  A great population doesn’t know Columbus’s true legacy and how he treated the Native Americans by killing and enslaving them.  After hearing about that, many people will get negative opinions about Columbus, but they have to remember America might not be like it is today without Columbus making it under control of Spain.  The United States should continue to celebrate Columbus Day in his name and his discovering of America.  And even if people have a negative view of him, it’s still a day off from school, and it’s on a Monday.

The Church or the Scientists?

     The Scientific Revolution was a great change away from old ways to new one in favor of science and scientific discoveries.  New inventions were created, scientists were coming up with theories and people began to question the teachings of the church.  The scientific method was found, and it changed the way people searched for answers because now they tried to prove their theory's themselves, instead of looking to the church for answers.  A new scientific method was astronomy, the branch of science that deals with celestial objects, space and the physical universe as a whole.  Scientists like Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei studied the universe and began to question the church.  Copernicus discovered that the sun was the center of the universe, and that earth was one of the few planets that revolved around the sun, which was the opposite of what everyone was being taught by the Roman Catholic Church. The Church taught that that everything revolved around Earth because God created Earth first and therefore everything else revolved around the center of Earth.  Scientists like Robert Boyle, Leonardo Da Vinci, Andreas Vesalius  and Ambroise Pare discovered many things through drawings and dissections.  Vesalius's dissections of the human body and his descriptions of his findings  corrected misinformation previously taught by the church.  Boyle discovered the process of combustion and the properties of gas, especially under changing pressure conditions.  Leonardo Da Vinci dissected 30 deceased corpses to gather information about the brain, muscles, lungs and the heart. This process didn't go over well with the Roman Catholic Church because they believed that humans shouldn't be used for scientific purposes, but rather buried forever and they didn't like that scientists were questioning the teachings of the church and the Bible.  Ambroise Pare was a surgeon who used science to study people who lost limbs in war.  He created ligatures for binding arteries and encouraged people to use prosthetic limbs.  As technology got more advanced, scientists discovered more things about our planet and people are started to question the teachings of the Church and the Bible.

Leonardo Da Vinci's study of a skull

     I am a merchant and I just heard about the medical discoveries of Da Vinci, Vesalius and other scientists while on a business trip.  I learned that their discoveries are the topic of heated debate between the Church and the scientific community.  I am a devout Catholic so I understand how this is an issue between the Church and the scientific community.  I was taught by the Church that since God created Earth first, then everything else revolves around the center of Earth.  But now I am hearing that the sun is the center of everything. and Earth is only one of the many plants to revolve around the sun.  Scientists are also dissecting human bodies to use as evidence in their discoveries which the Church does not like because scientists shouldn't be questioning the teachings and shouldn't use human bodies for science.  Us Catholics are very devoted to our religion and don't test the teachings of the church but if many professional scientist are proving otherwise, I am starting to listen to them rather than a book.  The scientists aren't just coming up with a theory but have evidence, drawings and have done dissections.  I am not saying I believe the scientist over the teachings of the bible and my religion, but I am intrigued about this conversation, and I want to learn more to see what scientists are seeing before I make a final judgement on this debate.  I don't really like how scientists are using and destroying bodies that should be buried for scientific discoveries, but if that person devoted their dead body to science, the Roman Catholic Church should have no rule over the bodies being buried.  Even though others, including me, will begin to question other teachings of the church and bible because they may be wrong about the creation of the universe and science in humans, I will always believe other teachings from the Church, the Bible and from God.

Twitter in the 15th Century?

Similar to how we use the internet, phones and television to spread information around the world, in 15th century Europe they used one of the most important pieces of technology ever invented to spread information-the printing press.  Before this wonderful invention, news spread mostly via word of mouth, and it took weeks for news to travel.  Information could also be shared through handwritten books, but since those were expensive and time consuming, most people couldn’t afford them, and it was really difficult to spread information.  But in the mid 1400’s, the printing press changed everything.  People were able to print many page copies in a very short time, drastically reducing the time it took to produce a book.  Books were then mass produced and since they were less expensive, more people were able to afford them and learn to read and gather information.  Ideas spread a lot quicker after the printing press was invented.

This is a fictional interpretation of events that happened during the spread of reformation and the catholic church in the 1500’s.  These two ordinary people live in England during the rule of Henry VIII and are tweeting about his ruling and his new religion he created.

John123

Anyone switch over to Anglicanism cuz I haven’t

Mary445

@john123 I have, everyone in my family and our neighbors have #anglicanism

John123

@mary445 Really? I dont want to cuz I dont respect how many times Henry VIII got married and treated his wives #wedandbehead

Mary445

@john123 haha I heard he’s marrying a lot just cuz he wants a male heir

John123

@mary445 yeah the kid’s gonna have like 5 step-moms tho #awkward

Mary445

@john123 I wonder if everyone will go back to the Catholic Church once Henry VIII dies, what do you think?

John123

@mary445 I bet some will, unless his heir carries Anglicanism by force #religionissues