The Return Voyage

1493 The Return to Europe Voyage

by: Clara L.

RED GROUP

Today's date: 2/6/18

Date of Article: 1991

Headline: 1493 The Return Voyage

Author: Lorenzo Camusso

Source of the Article: Camusso, Lorenzo, LC. The Voyages of Columbus. Milan, Dorset, 1991.

Summary:

The Return Voyage is about Christopher Columbus and most of his crew (some were left behind) returning to Spain with news that they had indeed landed on the islands off the coast of Asia in February 1493. Columbus and his crew were planning on sailing directly to Palos, Spain. However, after hitting rough water their ships were inadequate to go any farther so they were forced to stop at the Antilles which were owned by Portugal, Spain's great rivals at the time. The reason why they were returning s because they had many great riches to sell in Spain. The reason why the stopped in the Antilles is because if they hadn’t than there ships would have sunk before they were able to reach Spain.

Three Vocabulary Words:

1. Arrogance: An offensive display or superiority or self-importance.

2. Sinister: threatening or portending evil, harm or trouble.

3. Admiral: Commander in chief of a fleet.

Columbus Day:

After learning about Columbus and reading the Concord Monitor article I am able to make a well informed decision that Columbus day should no longer be a national holiday. Even though he made many ground breaking discoveries the truth is that the native people to the area had discovered these things long before Columbus ever came ashore. So, I believe that this country needs a indigenous peoples day to respect the lives that we destroyed, not necessarily having anything to do with Columbus day. However, the way that Columbus treated the ingenious people of the Caribbean was absolutely atrocious, forcing them to do what he said, stealing from them, enslaving them and claiming their land as his. Also, Columbus nor his crew ever stepped foot on American soil and he died with him and Europe believing that he had discovered the islands off Asia not off America. In fact Columbus may have lengthened the amount of time it took Europe to discover America because everyone strongly believed that the Earth was smaller and the Islands Columbus had discovered were off the coast of Asia. Because of these facts I strongly believe that Columbus Day should indeed be changed to Indigenous People's Day.

Here is a link to the Concord Monitor article about the renaming of Columbus Day http://www.concordmonitor.com/Bill-introduced-to-change-Columbus-Day-to-Indigenous-People-s-Day-in-New-Hampshire-14807515