Blog 3

My first knowledge of Christopher Columbus and his voyages were in the first grade. The most detail that I remember is a catchy song to remember the year 1492. Other than that it was a pretty basic set of knowledge that we learned. In my United States history course however it was touched on a little bit more in depth than it had ever been before. I learned about the struggles of the inhabitants of the land and how devastating it was when disease and colonization ravaged through. In this week of the course I learned a lot more about the impact of Columbus’ voyage and the issues that it caused. There were many observations made that commodified everything including the people, and it was condescending. This shows the viewpoint towards native civilizations throughout history, as often times, those struggles are directly attributed to the idealisms of colonialism and the superiority complex of the colonizers themselves. These ideas paved the way for many other mistreatments and wrong doings of these indigenous civilizations throughout history and the major events that we view as evil in the present day. Discovery itself allowed for the expansion of these ideals, and heightened the interaction between these foreign civilizations. The triangular trade that shaped the landscape of the americas, more specifically the slave trade, shaped a lot of values reflective of Europe and brought forth these terrible actions with it.