Colombus - A Real American

Colombus is infamous for "discovering" America.  His discovery of a new world is both praised and criticized.  On one level, he started the progression towards the inhabitance and development of our country from the west.  On the other hand, his discovery inevitable lead to the destruction of countless indigenous people and the "imperialist" policies that acquired the Native American's land.  Now whether it's fair to blame Colombus for what happened, I feel that it is not. I've attempted to explain my argument regarding this in class but I'm not entirely sure that this was fleshed out well enough.  I decided to evaluate this issue in consideration to the time-bound nature of the question.  I feel that the actions and interactions he had at the time were justified and inevitable.  I want to back this up with an understanding of western imperialism. 

Generally, imperialism is correlated with colonial and territorial policies couple with economic and/or military dominance and influence.  This was due the materialistic mindset that existed at the time.  European history had been deeply rooted in expansionist policies that was evident throughout the Roman Empire.  The reason behind this expansion were the economic benefits from collecting resources from foreign lands or colonies.  Obtaining these resources was only possible by guaranteeing they were secure.  To ensure this, control was exerted through military means.  While states were clearly attempting to ensure their own security, the easy access to resources with virtually no resistence was an opportunity they couldn't afford to ignore.  At the time, France, Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom were spreading colonies throughout the world.  None of the nations wanted to be left behind so they seized every opportunity that was available.  Because this mindset existed at the time, the result of Columbus discovering new and rich land was inevitable.  The way expansionist policies existed at the time meant that it was only a matter of time before some country found the "New World".  His actions were fair for the time being because he couldn't have predicted that colonizing foreign lands would be criticized in the future due to their fair nature at the time.

A second facet of the inevitability of Columbus' actions is the philosophy of the world that existed at the time.  While material gains were extremely important for countries, their philosophies on life were rooted in Eurocentric thought that prioritized the white male over other beings.  This prioritization of life caused these countries to believe that the people that inhabited the land they were occupying were less than human.  This justified violence against them because they weren't of equal status with the Europeans.  Also, the Europeans felt that it was their religious duty to God to attempt to convert these new populations.  Any resistence to their attempts to convert were instantly stifled.  The material and superior mindset that existed at the time made the actions against the Native Americans inevitable at the time.