Post from Week of 9/20

 I thought it was interesting how we pointed out that even the firsthand accounts of the conquest of America were likely not completely accurate. I always assumed that what Columbus wrote about the New World would be accurate - after all, he was there and would have known what happened! But as we talked about it on Monday, I began to realize how wrong I was. Columbus had far too many reasons to portray history from his own slanted perspective. He was trying to convince people to come over to America - why not make it out to be better than it actually was? He was also trying to show the king and queen that the expedition was worth it, so he had to sound convincing. If that meant omitting some details, no matter. And every other firsthand account of the New World, whether written by Europeans or natives, will also have bias, whether or not the author included it on purpose. We need to keep this in mind while studying history, and recognize which details were embellished, so we can keep historical fact separate from historical opinion!

Comments

  1. Professor StarkSeptember 23, 2021 at 8:23 AM

    Thank you, Seth, for the post. I like the discussion of inaccuracies in Columbus's account of the first voyage. Good examples chosen. The point about factoring in bias(es) when reading and learning about the past is good and I appreciate your taking this into account for future readings.

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