Maritsa Cardona

Columbus Paper
HIST 75
4-15-18
The youth in America are told the narrative of Christopher Columbus, the man who
discovered the Americas, in elementary school. He was spoken about in a manner of praise. In
America he is celebrated with Columbus Day. Columbus was regarded as a hero for hundreds of
years. It is hard to blame those who believed as such because of the information they were given
to base this image of Columbus off of.
In the movie clips of 1492, Columbus is painted as a hero engulfed with the passion of
finding a better passage to India and achieving it. (Scott, 2003) In the movie it seems that he is
credited with the idea of stating the earth is not flat; assuming that in this context everyone else
assumes the world is flat. As a child, I do also remember being told that Columbus was the one
who proved the Earth is not flat. However, as stated in lecture, people before Columbus such as
Aristotle and Ptolemy, knew the Earth was a sphere. (Levy, Lecture One, 2018). Not only were
the great philosophers aware of the Earth not being flat, but sailors and people with an education
as well because of their understanding of navigation by stars (Levy, Lecture One, 2018). This
movie seems to strongly suggest that Columbus is credited for a fact that I believe is undeserved.
Cinematically, the movie makes the audience feel the need to cheer on Columbus and his
crew. They had been of an excruciating voyage, it had seemed like they had been to hell and
back, and they finally arrived at their marvelous destination. This seems like it is very much
paralleling the feeling Columbus gives off when he explains the lands that they have reached in
his letter to Luis de Santangel. (Columbus, Letter from Columbus, 264). Both the movie and
Columbus himself seem to be advertising how amazing the land is, and how even more amazing
that Columbus was the one to “find” it.
Overall, because of the information provided, many Americans believed that Columbus
knowingly discovered the Americas who knew the world was not flat and was depicted as a hero.
I myself, was one of those who believed so until I went to college and given a better education
on the topic. Simply stated, people only know what they are told, and most of the time a
narrative is given leaving out ugly truths in order to create the narrative desired, in this case, the
hero.
 References
Columbus, Christopher, Letter From Columbus to Luis de Santangel (Wisconsin: Historical
Society, 2003),261-272.
Levy, Juliette. “Lecture One”. Canvas, Riverside. April, 2018.
Scott, Ridley, Alain Goldman, Roselyne Bosch, Vangelis, Gérard Depardieu, Armand Assante,
Loren Dean, Ángela Molina, Fernando Rey, Michael Wincott, Tchéky Karyo, Kevin

Dunn, Mark Margolis, Botto J. Diego, Achero Mañas, and Sigourney Weaver. 1492:
Conquest of Paradise. , 2003.