Essay on Christopher Columbus and the Myth of Discovery

This assignment is worth 5% of your grade and must be submitted to on-line no later than October 9, 2020 at 5 p.m.  Assignments submitted after this time will not be accepted.   There is no research required for this essay.  No bibliography is required.  Do not consult sources other than those given below.  

The essay must be submitted either as a Word or pdf file.  Word count should fall between .  Include the word count on the title page.  Provide a title page with your name, student I.D., tutorial number and T.A. name.  The essay should be in Arial font, 12 pt, or equivalent and double spaced, with a 2.54 cm. margin on all four sides of the page.  Use separate paragraphs for each major point you make and number your pages.  

Do not use direct quotes or directly paraphrase (i.e. substitute other words within the structure of the original sentence) from the reading.   All the ideas you write must be expressed in your own words and be based on what you understand of the author’s ideas.

Review the PowerPoints and the Tutorial Guide for Unit Two, week of September 21, and reread the required reading for that week by Paul Heike, The Myths that Made America, Chapter 1, “Christopher Columbus and the Myth of Discovery”.  Here is the link to the e-book in the York Library.

Scroll down the first page and click on chapter 1 in the Table of Contents.  This takes you to the chapter text.  Since you have already done this reading to prepare for last week’s tutorial, this will be a refresher.  The more times you read this, the more ideas you will find.

Write an essay that incorporates answers to the following in paragraph form in your own words.  Do not copy/paste or use direct quotes.  Do not number your answers to each discussion  but put your analysis and discussion of each in the same order as below in order to present a unified essay.  Do not use subheadings.

When you refer to the text to prove your point, put the page number in brackets at the end of the sentence.  Do not use footnotes.

DISCUSSION POINTS.  Each of these should be in a separate paragraph no longer than ½ page.

 In your first paragraph, state the author’s thesis in your own words.  A thesis is a statement (not a question) of what the author says they are going to prove in the text.  Be concise – no more than two sentences.   Explain how he says he will prove this thesis.

Heike identifies “four Phases” in the making of the myth of Columbus.  Discuss what these are and explain the evidence he gives to prove them.

The author spends some time on the letter that Columbus sent to the Spanish monarchs.  Discuss the principal points that he made, and Heike’s criticisms of them?

Discuss the methods used by Columbus “apologists” in order to sanitize Columbus’ involvement in the enslavement and genocide of Indigenous peoples and to shift the blame to other colonizers.   Keep in mind, Columbus enslaved indigenous people and personally “owned” slaves.

The author believes that the myth of Columbus as a “founding father” to Americans begins at the time of the American War of Independence.  Provide at least three examples of how American writers and historians during the 19^th century “Americanize” Columbus.  What does Heike see as their motive for this?  Explain why it was successful.  

Discuss how Heike believes that the waves of immigrants coming to America from Europe in the late 19^th century changed the meaning and interpretation of the importance of Columbus. Explain why European immigrants, especially Italians, adopted Columbus as their hero at a time when Americans themselves were beginning to be lukewarm about the myth.

Explain the effect the rise of the American Indian Movement (AIM) had on the perception of Columbus and why this is changing the way that Columbus is viewed today.   

Heike concludes by saying that Columbus is “a seminal figure in the history of colonialism” since generations of Americans have been fed the myth of Eurocentrism thus continuing the racist ideologies that we see in the U.S. today.  How does this conclusion relate to the protests in U.S. cities today where statues of not only Columbus, but slave traders and slave owners are being vandalized and/or torn down?    

In your opinion, did Heike prove his thesis?  You can take either side of this, but you must support your conclusion by explaining why you took that position.  Use these comments as the concluding paragraph to your essay.