In the United States today we have a holiday called Columbus day named after the "explorer" of the same name.
I put in quotes because he was trying to find a cheaper route to the east to make profits from the lucrative spice trade. He did get this idea financed and sailed with three ships to get to the east to try to break into the Portuguese monopoly.
The world is round and while it wasn't universally accepted at the time it was accepted by certain people, including Columbus.
What happened of course is that he discovered or stumbled upon the Americas and thought they were indeed the Indies.
He was wrong and he started the period of colonization, and slavery that led to the world we inhabit today.
His place in history is assured, but was he a hero, a villain or just someone trying to exploit a new way to make money?
I'm pretty sure it was the last of those but he did take risks for it and that displayed certain heroic qualities.
He didn't treat the native peoples very well, sharing the general view of Europeans at the time that they were more civilized and superior.
Was what happened a catastrophe or a great expansion of Western Civilization?
Guess that depends o your point of view but of course it was still pretty common then as it would be now for the stronger people to simply oppress the weaker people.
Condemning this behavior is to condemn much of world history and maybe basic human nature.
A look at history clearly shows that we aren't very nice to each other, the animal kingdom or the environment.
We can certainly try to do better, but there will always be barbarians, and we have to guard against them.
They're just below the surface in all of us.
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