A Hero or A Murderer

"Christopher Columbus, the brave captain that risked his life to discovered America."  No, how about Christopher Columbus, the greedy discoverer that took advantage of the Native Americans and killed them for something they didn't have. Christopher Columbus is a European explorer that used his knowledge of the world against the Native Americans. He first discovered "the new world" in hopes of getting rich and finding gold. When he got there he discovered that the Natives wore gold and to Columbus that meant that they were rich. However, the small gold chains that the Natives wore was all they had for gold. Once Christopher Columbus saw the gold he immediately took control of the Natives and forced them to find gold for him. He would have monthly gold collections from each person. If they had enough gold to offer each month they were awarded by wearing a coin around their neck. If the Natives did not collect enough gold to Columbus's liking he would have their hand cut off and they would have to wear it around their necks. Christopher Columbus also hung many Natives and began war against them. The Natives were welcoming people and once Christopher Columbus came they were willing to do anything for him. That should not mean that Columbus is allowed to take over their land and kill innocent people. The Natives offered him many goods from their people however the goods they presented him weren't what he came to collect. He also treated his crew very poorly. Almost half of the people that went on voyages with Christopher Columbus died on the way. Christopher Columbus treated the Natives so poorly that when he went on his forth voyage to the new world he compiled a Book of Privileges. He created this book because when he left people were concerned with whether Columbus was doing the right things. It shows that even people in Europe were questioning the things that Christopher Columbus was doing. No one agreed with Christopher Columbus but he still continued his tactics so he would become rich. Christopher Columbus was a rich, greedy man that didn't care about the lives of others. 

The question that many Americans are still trying to answer is the fact that we still have Columbus day and if it is actually something worth celebrating. Christopher Columbus does deserve some credit he connected Europe and the Americas. That is an extraordinary discovery. He was also capable of telling when an eclipse was going to be and the cycle of the moon and stars. However, the way that Christopher Columbus is presented to younger kids through Columbus day should not be celebrated. Christopher Columbus did take a risk on going on a journey where no one else had gone. We are taught in a manner that seems like Christopher Columbus took a huge risk.That may be true, but he had pretty much known that he was going to hit land. He may have discovered something different from what he was looking for but he still hit land. The way we celebrate Christopher Columbus should be changed. I think that we should still celebrate this holiday, but it should be viewed differently. Rather then making the holiday all about Christopher Columbus it should be altered to be celebrating the achievement of the Europeans. This should be the way we look at Columbus day because Christopher Columbus did not discover America by himself. He had many sponsors and crew to sail the ships. So, rather then us celebrating someone who started the slave trade we should focus more on the whole achievement and the factors that went into it to be accomplished. Christopher Columbus may not be the most model citizen, but he deserves credit for a major discovery. 

Links to Christopher Columbus resources: 

Columbus's report on his first Voyage, 1493 
http://www.edline.net/files/_5PJlR_/716be5ec5e1ee8c33745a49013852ec4/Columbus_reports_on_his_first_voyage.pdf 

Christopher Columbus Mini Biography
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My8Vd-NZ8Qo&feature=youtu.be

Columbus' Cook of Privileges
http://www.history.com/topics/exploration/exploration-of-north-america/videos/columbus-book-of-privileges

The Conflicts of Truth

The Scientific Revolution was a great change in the medical field from what it used to be. Almost all of the most important discoveries were made by using the scientific method. The scientific method if a series of steps used to test new ideas and theories. The seven steps of the scientific method are state the problem, gather the information on the problem, form a hypothesis, experiment to test the hypothesis, record and analyze the data, state a conclusion, and repeat the steps. Usually scientist would repeat these steps over and over multiple times to make sure that their data was accurate. There were multiple ways in which they understanding of science changed in this time. The understanding of astronomy was greatly impacted during the scientific revolution. The understanding had always been that earth was in the center of the "world." This was how people understood it because the Roman Catholic Church taught people that god had created the earth first so it would have to be the center. However then a scientist called Nicolaus Copernicus came along and said that the universe was heliocentric, which means that it has a sun center. People didn't believe him because it went against the church teachings and that would mean the first thing in the Bible was wrong. Then Galileo cam along and proved Copernicus's theory. Galileo had proof because he had built a telescope so he could actually see the sun sand planets. The Roman Catholic Church was so appalled that Galileo was going against everything that they had taught that they made him go too trial. They said if he didn't take back what he had said then they would kill him. The church was so scared because they new that if Galileo was right people would start questioning all that the church was teaching them. Galileo said that he didn't mean what he said and would never say it again. Boyle was another famous scientist who discovered the process of combustion. He made air pumps to test pressure and made up the formula PV=K, which means pressure times volume will always equals a constant. Their was also Paré who was a military surgeon and a royal surgeon. He discovered the use of prosthetic limbs and ligatures for binding arteries. All of the scientists at this time were hoping to discover something that hadn't been discovered yet. This mock primary source was written in October of 2014 from the perspective of a merchant, who is a devout Catholic reacting to the scientist who are dissecting human bodies. 

I just found out that the scientists are going against the rules of the church. If they aren't following the rules of the church then no matter what their discoveries are they will always be wrong and inaccurate. Da Vinci, Vesalius, and Harvey they are great scientists who are using their knowledge against everybody else. They aren't allowed to study a corpse of a person. Everybody should get properly buried by the Roman Catholic Church, after they have passed. The scientists shouldn't put people they may not even know at risk of not going to heaven. Who knows if once someone dies if they go directly to heaven what if it takes awhile and then when they are dissected then they don't go anywhere. They may be studying the human body, but until then can actually help anybody they shouldn't have the privilege to take apart someones resting body. Da Vinci, Vesalius, and Harvey may be sacrificing their entrance into heaven. They shouldn't be dragging anybody else with them. Who knows if god will change his mind about where they go when they pass. I support the Roman Catholic Church one hundred percent. It is wrong for these scientists to be able to worry anyone about what is happening. I refuse to believe anything that they are doing because the Church and God are the ones who make the rules and tell us what we need to know. If we needed to know more about the human body then the Church would inform us, but to prove the church wrong is going against everything. That would be like saying that the god didn't create anything. These scientists are wasting their time on studies that will go nowhere. Who would believe then after they have defied the church? The Roman Catholic Church should overrule these scientists studies and say that they are no longer allowed to dissect human bodies. 

Da Vinci

Harvey

Vesalius

A Time of Achievement and A Time of Sorrow

The Printing press was the greatest invention of its time. Before the printing press was made people who weren’t church or royalty could not afford books. Books were originally hand copied by monks. If they wanted to make another copy of a book they would need to hand write the whole thing over again. This made it so books that were written at the time had a lot of mistakes in them and they took a long time to make. Since the book took so long they were priced very high. So citizens weren't able to afford them. This meant that ideas and knowledge weren't spread as easily. Once they invented the printing press it allowed them to be able to make multiple copies of the same page in a much faster time. This made it so the books were lower priced and everybody could afford them. Now that everyday people could afford books people became more literate and therefore they were smarter and more intelligent overall. Since ideas could spread more quickly the reformation spread quickly also. They used paper pamphlets, discussions, news ballad, and woodcuts.  The printing press helped spread ideas throughout Europe much faster than they were every spread before.

This is a fictional conversation between two people that lived in Europe during the time that Mary Tudor ruled. Sarah and her boyfriend, Jack who lives a couple miles away are reacting to the events happening around them.

Sarah: Jack I really need you right now. My parents are fighting about Mary as queen. They are worried that she will have strict rules and they won’t pay attention to me. #needy

Jack:Why are you parents so worried? Mary was raised as a Catholic she can stop the Protestant religion from spreading more. Mary can help us by becoming queen.

Sarah: That’s the problem yesterday she did something that goes against everything that I believe. There was a woman four months away from having a baby and she was burned. #scared

Jack: I’m scared too. I don’t know if that was right, but I want to be able to practice my catholic faith and Mary will help me achieve that. #sidemary

Sarah: My parents will do anything to save their religion. We are Protestant. If my parents do anything that’s not catholic my whole family will be punished like that woman.

Jack: Just become Catholic. Forget about that Protestant. It’s the only way to stay safe. Otherwise Mary will kill you. #protectyourself

Sarah: I’m sorry I can’t go against my religion. I will be the burning flesh you smell for weeks after my death. Sorry Jack.