Evaluate the good and bad sides of Columbus

What do you think of Columbus’s “discovery” of America? Foreign academic circles have been arguing endlessly for hundreds of years. Bourgeois historians regarded the discovery of America as Columbus's personal contribution and praised Columbus, saying that it was Columbus' discovery and European colonists who brought civilization to the Americas. Many scholars in the Americas have exposed and accused Columbus of the various disasters he brought to the Americas, viewing Columbus as a criminal in history. Therefore, the evaluation of the discovery of America is actually the evaluation of Columbus. Over the years, opinions on Columbus have been divided.

Chinese scholars’ evaluation of Columbus generally has four meanings: 1. Columbus is a product of the historical era, and “his contribution to the development of human society should be fully affirmed from a historical perspective; 2. Columbus committed genocide against Indians, which should be completely denied; 3. Columbus had both merits and demerits in his life, but The merits outweigh the faults; 4. Columbus has equal merits and demerits, and can be said to be the chief culprit.

Those who hold the first view believe that Columbus’s contribution to human society is huge. When Columbus, the navigator, took the initiative to cross the Atlantic for the first time in human history, he did not even have the correct and detailed navigation information necessary for Atlantic navigation that any ocean-going captain has today, which he relied on to sail westward. All he had was a Ptolemaic globe, a rough or even incorrect map of the world, and a still-controversial copy of a chart of the Atlantic said to have been provided by Toscaneri. His own navigation experience and macroscopic belief in the round-earth theory sailed into the vast unknown waters, which fully demonstrated Columbus's confidence and courage. Through the inspection of Columbus's navigation skills in America, scholars believe: "The rigor of his plan. His careful consideration and rich experience cannot help but impress his colleagues even today. "During the voyage westward, Columbus's discovery of geomagnetic deviation and his successful use of this discovery, his attempt to use astronomical positioning to determine longitude at sea, and his outstanding sailboat maneuvering technology are his great contributions to human navigation, which fully demonstrate It reflects his bold and prudent style and superb and skillful skills as an excellent sailing navigator. The level reached by this skill will never fade whether it is yesterday, today or tomorrow.

Scholars believe that in the history of human navigation, before Columbus, whether it was Zheng He’s massive voyage to the Western Ocean or Dias sailing southward around the Cape of Good Hope, humans had always sailed along coastal waters. Columbus was the first ocean navigator to cross the Atlantic Ocean. He was the first person to make an expedition record of the Atlantic Ocean. His careful observations and records of the Sargasso Sea, the northeast trade winds and currents left a lot of information about the Atlantic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. The information on American navigation knowledge has a significant impact on geography, oceanography, and history. He is "one of those historical figures who once stood on the threshold of navigation history and took a decisive step forward." His successful voyage to the west The great significance is "no less than that of contemporary mankind's moon landing plans and actions."

In addition to affirming Columbus's achievements from a navigational perspective, scholars believe that before Columbus, although people had already visited the Americas. , however, "Only Columbus's voyage and his 'discovery' truly broke the isolation of the American continent and played a role in changing world history and the destiny of mankind." Historical materialism believes that it is not people's wishes or talents that determine history. It is the supreme economic power. “Columbus’s achievement lies precisely in opening up the world market, and the establishment of the world market greatly promoted the development of world history.” Therefore, “it can be said that Columbus was the first person to go to the world. ”, “Connecting the world into an organic whole is a major achievement of Columbus, and it is also the starting point for his evaluation.” Scholars do not deny that the “discovery” of the New World had many negative motives, and the results brought great consequences to the people of the Americas. Despite all the disasters, "this was a great revolution on earth and a pioneering achievement in human history."

Scholars who hold a negative attitude toward Columbus believe that Columbus's achievements in discovering the New World will always be recorded in history. , Columbus's greatest "contribution" should be "creating the history of early colonialism around the world" and the colonialists' "barbaric and cruel atrocities against all the peoples they could enslave around the world." It is unmatched by any barbaric, ignorant, cruel and shameless race of people at any time in history.”

As for Columbus himself, he was not only a "money worshipper" and a "hypocritical Christian", but also a "colonial pirate". Throughout his life, he had "a certain disturbance in his mental state." Columbus went to America to colonize and plunder gold. He initiated the slave trade, slavery and tribute system of American Indians. He was the pioneer of colonialism that enslaved the American continent. The disasters and genocide that Columbus brought to the Indians were no longer ordinary class exploitation, let alone the improvement of workers' personal status like ordinary social changes, but heinous crimes.

Scholars who hold the third view believe that Columbus was a historical figure with dual identities. As a pioneer, he "discovered" the New World and established contact between the old and new continents; as a colonist, he carried out barbaric invasion and massacre of the American people. However, it was colonial plunder that greatly promoted the process of Europe's transformation from feudalism to capitalism, and "the Indians in the 15th century only stepped out of their primitive barbaric state after the arrival of the first colonists in Western Europe headed by Columbus." , entering the era of civilization." This objectively brought new production methods to the Americas and "shortened the historical process of American society entering the era of capitalist civilization." "This role and influence cannot be matched by anyone before Columbus." Therefore, “When we assert that Columbus’s activities played a role in promoting the development of capitalism, we are faced with an unavoidable question, that is: colonialism objectively promoted the progress of history, and those pioneers of colonialism They (Columbuses) became the pioneers who promoted history!”

Scholars who hold the fourth view believe that there were two main major events that Columbus did in his life: First, he opened up the Atlantic Ocean to reach America. a new route; first, a new way of primitive accumulation through colonial plunder. This clearly shows that Columbus was a navigator in the period of primitive accumulation of capital and the first colonist to invade the Americas. The two identities, which are both different and connected, are dialectically unified in one person, Columbus, the pioneer of capitalism. "It is incomplete to only see any one aspect of him." They believe that Columbus is a historical figure in the alternation between the old and the new era, and he exhibits the characteristics of two eras: he is the hero of the discovery of the new "continent" and the helper of the spread of colonialism; he is a devout Catholic, He retained his belief in medieval divine power, but persisted in the pursuit of scientific knowledge; although his navigation was completed under the control of the feudal production method, his actions were funded by big businessmen, and objectively he was more Reflects the interests of the commercial bourgeoisie. Therefore, "he has both the glory of the new era and the imprint of the old era", "a man who combines glory and sin", and can be said to be the "culprit".