Hitler or Colombus, Who is worse? Options

[picaso_smile]

Who do you think is worse? Consider the facts. Colombus is responsibe for killing far more than Hitler. He really started the war between white men and "Indians" and hs voyage brought many diseases to America that killed even more people (The natives weren't immune like the Europeans and couldn't fight off the illnesses)

Then again Hitler was evil. But he was crazy too. In the courts if you commit a crime you can plead insanity and get out of it so........ i'm not really sure which way I'm leaning.

[Spirited Away]

well, although he certainly wasnt as terrible as he was thought to be by whoever started this topic, he was not a good man. he did rape people, and such. he only found the islands of the west indies by accident, and even the he could not recognize that he was in fact not in india.

So? The fact that many discoveries are made by accidents isn't anything new. Why must Columbus be any different from any explorer at that time? His purpose was to find a way to the spice trades in India but found lands that will begin the exploration of the Americas. It's no news that exploration of the unknown can lead to surprising discoveries.

Remember that he was funded by the Queen of Spain at the time and was subject to pressure of finding the Eastern spice market. Upon NOT discovering such, he had to give the Queen something else to ruminate on: gold. Of course he fell into disgrace after not giving Spain the wealth he promised.

Washington Irving was the first to introduce the idea that Columbus found the Americas.

i assume he did eventually though, did he not? im a bit rusty on my american history. but anyway, he was not even the first explorer to discover the islands that he landed on, as others arrived there first. he was merely the cockiest of them all, and thus ended up recieving the most credit.  but basically, he did not accomplish any of what he is celebrated for. you have a point in saying he forged new pathways and inspired further exploration, but thats not why we have columbus day, or atleast thats not why they tell little kids we celebrate him for. ask my little sisters, or most any american really, what we have columbus day for and theyll most likely say he discovered america, which is untrue

In history there was always someone who stumbled on an idea, and someone else who made the idea better and famous. For example, the evolution theory existed before Charles Darwin. Anaximander, Xenophanes, Aristotle and a few more people have made assumptions about evolution, wrote about it and studied what they can about it with what knowledge of science was available during their lifetime. However, what we learned generally learn in school is that Darwin is much credited with formalizing the actual theory.

Why then must Columbus be looked down on if he wasn't the first to reached America? Like Darwin, he was only testing out his theory. Though miscalculated, know that the people of that era does not have firm knowledge on geography. What else do you expect from them? Perfection?

I don't think he ever reached Asia (I don't remember that either).

As for rape and pillaging, though unethical, it was nothing surprising to that era.