When reading world history, the book often introduces Columbus as a great navigator and explorer.
If you knew that this Italian, who had a strong desire for wealth, had the greatest desire of his life to take the "Armada" to find India and China in the eastern world, did you still think he was "great"?
If you knew that "Zheng He went to the West" a full 88 years before him, do you still think that his adventures are unparalleled in the world?
Columbus was born in 1452 to a family of textile workers in Genoa, Italy. Because of his family's poverty, he had not yet had time to complete his formal education, so he plunged into the seafaring career that swept Europe and became a small crew member. Soon, his seafaring talent came to the fore among countless people and he had his own team.
At this time, the era of great navigation in the West had just begun, and the Portuguese had taken the lead in digging up the first pot of gold in the age of navigation. However, the "circle of the earth" is not yet accepted, and only Columbus is convinced!
Because, it all comes from an Italian we know, Marco Polo!
In 1298, Marco Polo, who had been returning to his hometown in Venice for 3 years, was captured in the war and imprisoned in the prison of Genana. Here he met the novelist Rusty, and the two collaborated on Marco Polo's Travels. Subsequently, this fantasy travelogue was widely circulated throughout Europe.
The opulence of the Eastern world shocked the Europeans, and the Portuguese drew a broader navigation map accordingly, transformed the compass passed from the Silk Road, built the second powerful fleet in the history of the world, and began a crazy plunder!
The lucky Portuguese easily discovered Morocco and West Africa, plundered a large amount of wealth, and became the hegemon of Europe, which made Europeans more convinced of the authenticity of Marco Polo's Travels. Not to be left behind, Spain quickly aligned itself with Portugal, recruiting pirates, soldiers, and adventurers throughout Europe, encouraging them to take guns and ammunition and ride their fleets to plunder the world!
In the early 15th century, capitalism was already budding in Europe, and the power class was full of greed for wealth!
Oriental luxuries such as Chinese porcelain, silk, Indian spices, and precious stones became necessities of life in high society. However, the rise of the Ottoman Turkish Empire cut off the trade routes in Central Asia, and the Red Sea was monopolized by the Muslims. Religious feuds, combined with an extreme desire for the wealth of the East, led the Spaniards to decide to launch a great voyage that used all Europeans to plunder wealth!
Columbus, who had a wealth of experience at sea, was deeply attracted by the "Marco Polo's Travels", which was widely circulated in his hometown. Combining years of sailing experience and travelogues, he believed that the world should be round, and that India and China in the East must exist, and began to sell his new navigation plan everywhere.
To this end, Columbus spent 2 years convincing the Queen of Spain, capitalized by his many years of experience in navigation and his investigation of the origins of Marco Polo's Travels, to offer Spain 10% of the proceeds of plunder and the title of Governor of the New World.
The king of Spain finally agreed to his disrespectful request, and from then on, Columbus began a voyage that shocked the world.
On August 3, 1492, Columbus was sent by the Queen of Spain to lead three hundred and ten tons of sailing ships from Puerto Barros, Spain, with a letter of state to the Monarch of India and the Emperor of China. Just 70 days later, he discovered the Bahamas and named it San Salvador.
A delighted Columbus thought he had found Quanzhou or Hangzhou in China, but this place was clearly different from Marco Polo's account, and he continued along the coastline.
Over the next 10 years, he made three trips to the Atlantic Ocean and discovered other islands in the Caribbean sea and the American continent connected to it. He thought it was another eastern country, India, and called the inhabitants of the continent "indias."
Columbus wrote in his logbook: "They brought us parrots, cotton balls, spears, and many other things, and exchanged these things for our glass rosaries and eagle bells, which they were more than happy to exchange for everything they had... They are physically strong, well-proportioned and good-looking. ”
The "ExpeditionAry Commander" Columbus observed everything in detail with the locals, and he did not express his friendliness to the Indians, but had other plans!
"They don't have iron. Their short spears are made of bamboo poles... It would be nice to use them as slaves... With fifty men, we can conquer them all for our use as we please. — Columbus's Voyage Diary
After that, Columbus came ashore with guns and ammunition and began enslaving the Indians to find gold for himself. For the Indians who did not pay the gold sands on time, Columbus's punishment was: cut off their hands.
Before the British arrived here, the Spaniards, led by Columbus, began a frenzy of demand and exploitation, and gold was their only target!
Engels once said: "The Portuguese searched for gold on the coast of Africa and throughout the Far East, and the word gold became a spell that drove the Spaniards across the ocean..."
In order to cloak himself in the beauty of his cruelty, Columbus declared that he was fighting to proclaim the glory of the Lord and Christ. But the king of Spain was not sympathetic, and soon after he discovered the American continent, he announced the dismissal of his governor and commander of the expedition, stripped of his honor and wealth, and Columbus died of depression and resentment.
Today, Columbus is still used in many places as a great symbol of exploring the unknown world. But these books and people who abuse the "great" forget to introduce him as a greedy, a robber, and a bloody conqueror!
#不只是历史故事 #