The story of Christopher Columbus is filled with great controversy and mystery, as historical accounts and myths are often used interchangeably by individuals without consciously knowing it. The children's biographies function as a prime example of the confusing custom of myth, misunderstanding, and legend surrounding Columbus; more often than not they serve as primers of prejudice and colonialism. Commonly using blissful tones and phrases like “great adventurer” and “the greatest sailor of his time,” biographies written for children often tell a story of heroism and faulty perspective. Yet behind this narrative of courage, luck and discovery lies the confusing reality of greed, intolerance and incessant intervention. With the original version of Columbus's journal gone from the public sphere, historians are left with only an inadequate summary of Columbus's accounts in the New World. From his remaining accounts, however, it can be determined that: "Yes, in 1492 Columbus sailed the blue ocean, but he did much more." Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay From the beginning of his voyages, Columbus' motives for exploration consisted of wealth, power, and fame. Successfully convincing Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon to finance his dubious voyages, Columbus accomplished a task of great difficulty, also demanding ten percent of all the wealth brought back to Spain along his trade route cutting edge. Asia. To carry out his outrageous orders, Columbus ordered that his family should inherit all of his prosperity and required that this agreement be maintained and honored by the Spanish monarchs for all eternity. Lacking unfathomable amounts of wealth that could be secured through safe passage to the West Indies, the Spanish monarchs acquiesced to Columbus's demands, granting him the authority to explore and conquer whatever he might “discover” during his voyages. For a man like Columbus, land is money. He didn't care that the lands he encountered were already inhabited; if Columbus “discovered” it, he took it. Due to the fact that almost all slaves died on the voyage to Spain, finding that slavery was not as profitable as he had hoped, Columbus focused his attention on finding untold riches of gold. Regarding his quest for gold, Columbus ordered the native peoples of the islands he invaded to surrender a substantial share or be punished for failing to meet established expectations. As a result of Columbus' decree, hundreds of thousands of natives of these islands lost their lives, unable to meet Columbus' demands for their gold and resources. Children's biographies of Columbus acknowledge his unreasonable demands, going so far as to praise his greed and selfishness as the goal of adventure. “Of course Columbus wanted a lot! What was wrong with that?” James de Kay tells it to young readers in his work Meet Christopher Columbus. Columbus “would claim the new lands he had found for Spain and convert the people he found there to Christianity.” But this expedition to seek wealth as a motivating factor for his travels is diminished in light of the feat and adventure. “Exploring” meant traveling to “unknown places” where “stories of untold wonder” could be found. Essentially ignoring Columbus' motivations of wealth, greed, and power for himself and the Spanish Empire, Columbus literature for elementary-age students emphasizes themes of religion, adventureand curiosity; causing children's understanding of international affairs to be immensely imperfect. It should be noted, however, that all of these highlighted aspects of Columbus' voyages are irrelevant without the power and economic desires of the Spanish Crown. These books also encourage children to misunderstand the fundamentals of foreign policy, discouraging them from analyzing a “less altruistic explanation” for why the United States is involved in issues abroad. From the bibliographies analyzed it can be seen that most of the children's literature that mentions Columbus avoids the "dirty" details of his voyages and the Spanish conquest of the Caribbean. Instead, these books for young readers paint Columbus in the wrong light of affection and admiration, even calling him by name. “It was fortunate that Christopher was born where he was, otherwise he would never have gone to sea.” "Once upon a time there was a boy who loved the salty sea." “Yes, the Queen would help Columbus!” “After all these years, Columbus would have had his own ships!” Structured as a conversation between father and son, Gleiter and Thompson's Christopher Columbus portrays Columbus as a kind and compassionate admiral of the ocean sea, illustrating him with straight white teeth and a bold jaw. Ironically portraying Columbus as a real human being with real thoughts and feelings, accounts of children's literature do not bother to mention the native populations of these invaded islands and what they might have wanted. With each biography encouraging him towards the Indies, children are constantly presented with the story of Columbus from his point of view; and the "unhappiest part of his great adventure" was that of the delay in the arrival of his crews on the islands. If one of Columbus' men had asked the Indians, they would most likely have disagreed, arguing that the liquidation of most of their people was slightly more "unfortunate" than an inconvenient delay. Perhaps the most evasive and misleading accounts in children's literature about Columbus are those of Jean Fritz's Where Do You Think You're Going, Christopher Columbus? and Christopher Columbus: The Intrepid Mariner by Sean J. Dolan. Diving into the core of his logic on the second page of his work, Dolan highlights the influence religion had in Columbus' life by stating, "Columbus believed that the majestic beauty that surrounded him could only be the work of the one true God." , and felt secure in the protection of his Lord and Savior. “If only my crewmen shared my belief,” thought Columbus. Dolan's tale continues on this "Columbus as Saint" tangent for one hundred and seventeen pages, almost strangling his readers with Columbus's virtuous halo. Similar to Dolan's religious portrayal of Columbus's expeditions motivated solely by his faith, Fritz also deceives young readers through his use of euphoric language; claiming that Queen Isabella "was such an enthusiastic Christian that she insisted that everyone in Spain was Christian too... In fact, she was so religious that if she found even Christians who were not sincere Christians, she had them burned at the stake." While adopting a somewhat skeptical tone, Fritz's implicit criticism is probably not taken into consideration by upper elementary school students; the target audience of your book. The recurring theme of Christianity, along with the close associations made between God and Columbus throughout children's literature, discourages young students from criticizing any of Columbus's wrongdoings. “Columbus marveled at how God had arranged everything for the best.” This statement alone indirectly encourages children not to question Columbus's conduct and motivesEnterprise. Setting aside religion and biblical references, Columbus biographies written for young students do not encourage children to think critically or analyze texts; rather they must simply sit and absorb the information like incompetent sponges. Once again, the opinions of the natives, along with their feelings towards the pillaging of their homes on the islands by the Spanish, are excluded from these accounts; making Columbus' expedition one of the first encounters "between two peoples – Us and Them – where children will learn that 'God is on our side'". At the basis of Columbus's tale is the notion that he and his crew “discovered” America. During the research process for their book, The Worlds of Christopher Columbus, written by William D. Phillips and Carla Rahn Phillips, the two authors examined more than two hundred and forty history textbooks used in schools throughout the United States throughout of the 19th and 20th centuries. centuries. Their study concluded that American children's literature rarely painted a uniform picture of Columbus and his foreign voyages. The same is found in most children's books that mention Columbus; one might assume that the same author wrote each book, just with slightly different details in each edition. In his work Meet Christopher Columbus, de Kay tells the story of Columbus's arrival in San Salvador and his encounter with the natives by stating, "He tried to talk to the people...but they couldn't understand him." Obviously Columbus couldn't understand the natives either, yet "the inability to understand is attributed only to the Indians." Once again, the authors of Columbus literature written for children offer a subtle injustice towards the natives of the islands; letting young readers understand that the Indians' ignorance is what allowed strange armed men to invade their land and claim it as their own in the name of a kingdom on the other side of the globe. While inserting indirect biases, at least some authors managed to mention the existence of the indigenous people who inhabited the islands. Unlike the others mentioned above, Robert Young avoids the indigenous controversy altogether in his work Christopher Columbus and his Voyage to the New World, not educating his young readers about the islands' indigenous inhabitants at all. Within his works, readers will only find illustrations of palm trees and deserted beaches, lands without people. This scene of Columbus' interactions with the native Indians - most likely, a scene that almost every American child has read or been taught in school - creates an incredibly moving metaphor regarding the relationships between nations and their peoples; one who not only teaches about the world more than five hundred years ago, but who also teaches about the world today. “Modernised”, Christian, light-skinned men, armed with “advanced” weapons from a more developed country, “discover” a land inhabited by “uncivilized”, non-Christian, unarmed, naked, dark-skinned men – and claim it in the name of their country of origin or hierarchy. Although it does not directly tell young readers that this type of behavior is acceptable, Columbus literature for children implies to them that whites should rule over people of color, Christians should "civilize" non-Christians, and more developed nations should control less developed nations. Every indirect answer that the students were able to glean from the language and images of their books undoubtedly indicates and rationalizes colonialism and prejudice: “it is acceptable for one people to determine the destiny of another people; it is acceptable for white people to control people of color. "In most cases, literaturefor children about Columbus and his voyages to the New World features the natives of the islands as "mere background noise". Although the indigenous people who inhabit the islands are mentioned in most children's books, the values ​​of their thoughts and lives are not taken into account. Columbus literature for children conveniently only talks about Columbus and his thoughts on native peoples, not the other way around. Demonstrated in Christopher Columbus: Admiral of the Ocean Sea by Mary Pope Osborne, Osborne states that Columbus “thought that the Indians could easily be kept under control and that they had no religion of their own. He wrote that they would be 'good Christians and good servants'.” Once again, despite mentioning the Indians, Osborne fails to create a critical text that young readers can analyze by neglecting to raise the question of how the Indians felt about the actions of Columbus and his men. Like most of the literature of Columbus for children's authors, Osborne's Indians have no thoughts, feelings, or verbal communication. Featured in much of the children's literature about Columbus, these silent Indians consequently imply a message that most would find unfavorable to young readers; white people in technologically "advanced" societies have conscience and representation, but the people who inhabit Third World places are distracted and voiceless objects. The consistent language and images that students are exposed to in these texts inevitably lead to their belief that “they are not like us.” Ideas of dissociation and isolation develop in their minds that we are more qualified than them in terms of deciding what conditions are best for them socially, economically and politically. Interventions around the world, including Vietnam, Chile, Grenada and Panama, Nicaragua and Angola, and countless others, convey to young students that the right to determine what is best for others is the primary conduct of our nation's foreign policy. The “classic” story of Columbus told to children across the United States as their early exposure to foreign policy pushes young people to recognize the uneven distribution of power around the world and accept it as valid. With some of the Columbus literature for children ignoring the Indians' existence, others conveniently ended their tales with the end of Columbus' first voyage. As a result, these authors avoided the comparison between slavery and genocide, completely ignoring the fate of the Indians. This clever avoidance of detail allows the Columbus myth to remain simplistic and pure in the minds of young readers; simple and untainted by violence to keep the traditional history pristine and healthy. By eliding Columbus's second voyage in February 1495, authors of children's literature neglect to inform young readers about the Taino slave raids of Hispaniola, where unnecessary violence and barbarism inflicted on the natives by the Spanish led to the liquidation of nearly a entire ethnic population. Acting out of greed and under the false sense that we should control these people because they are not like us, the Spanish's behavior towards the Indians cost the natives untold amounts of land, resources, and, most importantly, their lives. Although they mention the fall of Columbus following the taking of slaves from the islands, their criticisms are poor, as no children's book account educates its young readers about what slavery specifically entailed for its undeserving victims. One account in particular, Christopher Columbus of Monchieri, mentions that the forced removal of the natives from their island resulted in "a great failure ofColumbus... saw nothing wrong with enslaving the American Indians and making them work for the Spanish masters." Furthermore, Christopher Columbus: Admiral of the Ocean Sea by Mary Pope Osborne, states that "this terrible treatment of the Indians it was Columbus's true undoing." Both Monchieri's and Osborne's accounts fail to show the horrific and unjust aspects of the slavery in which Columbus and his men willingly took part. Supporting his reluctance to denounce Columbus for his inhumane actions towards the Indians, Osborne even goes so far as to justify his actions by saying: "Because Columbus felt desperate and disappointed at not having found gold in the Indies, he decided to be like the African explorers and try to sell these Indians into slavery." In both cases, neither author bothers to critically analyze the retelling of their story to explain the character of the slave. aspects of the white man's actions in the New World. In his work Where Do You Think You're Going, Christopher Columbus?, Jean Fritz defends Columbus' taking of slaves by saying, "African explorers always sent the Africans back to the Spanish slaves."markets...also the natives were all pagans. It wasn't as if he was selling Christians into slavery." Once again, without presenting readers with a direct critique of Columbus's misdeeds, authors for young readers promote the ideas of racism and imperialism. This notion is particularly highlighted in Dolan's account: "Because the Indians were not Christians, Columbus believed they could be enslaved and converted without the Spanish feeling guilty." Dolan goes on to state, "Given the attitude of men in general, however, Columbus had no choice but to give his approval to slave sallies." This statement alone can be condemned, however, any account that remotely acknowledges the Indians still manages to fail to speak on their behalf at all. Instead, each child's story identifies only Columbus' rationalizations for his actions committed against the natives of the New World. “Between 1494 and 1496 one-third of Hispaniola's native population was killed, sold, or driven out of fear.” Although Fritz manages to talk about the punishments of Indians who did not meet Columbus' daily gold quota, his use of the passive voice in the previous sentence serves to protect the offenders from acts of misconduct. These accounts written for young readers raise no doubt about the conduct of Columbus and his men, nor about the economic and social systems they represented. These atrocities affected hundreds of thousands of real people with real feelings that go unexplained because they are presented to readers like everyone else. According to most children's literature about Columbus, students must value courage, cunning, and diligence over humans' right to life and autonomy - us over them. Through the strategic use of euphoric language, playful tones, and avoidance of gruesome detail, authors of children's literature about Columbus “encourage a passive relationship between reader and text.” With these accounts only delving into Columbus and his perspective, the natives' perspective is completely left out, deeming them, as well as their lives, priceless and irrelevant. Rather than encouraging young minds to think critically about Columbus, his motivations, his actions, and the social, political, and economic systems he represented, accounts of children's literature about Columbus encourage young readers to sit back, listen, and absorb information as indisputable facts. . This presentation of.