Picturing Christopher Columbus and the Colombian Exchange
No images of Christopher Columbus survive from his
lifetime. Every portrayal is designed to convey a message
about Columbus and the Colombian Exchange. While
Columbus claimed to be from Genoa, a port city in
northwestern Italy, the image on the left shows a Germanic
looking young man with wavy blonde hair. The woodcut
below it is a fictional scene that depicts King Ferdinand and
Queen Isabella seeing Columbus off before the his first
voyage from the harbor of Palos on the Gulf of Cadiz.
The images below tell different stories about the arrival of
Columbus’ small fleet in the Indies. The image on the left
shows a peaceful “exchange” between Columbus and native
people. The image on the right shows Columbus claiming the
land for the Spanish crown.
The Library of Congress has an on-line exhibit about
Columbus
at
http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/1492.exhibit/
Intro.html. An excellent source on the impact of his voyage
on the world is Rethinking Columbus, available from
http://www.rethinkingschools.org.
A Spanish priest named Bartolomé de las Casas was outraged at the treatment of the native people of the Indies.
He wrote a book protesting against their enslavement and detailing the methods used by Spanish conquistadors to
conquer, torture and kill. The book, which was illustrated by Théodore De Bry, describes people being burned
alive, babies fed to dogs, forced relocations, beatings to make people work, and people having their hands
amputated if they failed to deliver a monthly quantity of gold to their European conquerors. De Bry was a Flemish
Protestant who had been driven into exile by Spain. Students should discuss whether his personal experiences
invalidate his work. Source: Théodore De Bry (1598), “Brevísima relación de la destrucción de Las Indias” de Fray
Bartolomé de las Casas http://www.holycross.edu/departments/mll/cstone/survey/debry.html.
Assignment: Based on your knowledge of Columbus, the impact of the voyage on world history and these images,
write a 500 word essay, a poem or a rap explaining whether you believe Columbus Day should be celebrated?