15th Century: Celebration of a Pirate

Strayer began his chapter congratulating Columbus for hist voyage into America, saying it was the most important event in the 15th century. I find that to be quite surprising for this author, since throughout the book he would always give outside perspectives to other cultures. So, it is appalling for him to commend Columbus so highly, while he knows that there were people in the Americas long before Columbus showed. The fact that our institution we no longer consider Columbus Day a holiday, shows how we appreciate other cultures that were essentially “swallowed up” by his conquest. To celebrate Christopher Columbus is like celebrating the extinction of an indigenous population.

Aside from the Columbus conquest, Europe was flourishing in the renaissance. The rebirth of classical ideas was something I believe would be more of an appropriate event to classify as the most important. It showed how Europe could gain new ideas that were enlightening in comparison to The Dark Ages. Europe could acquire a whole new lifestyle without having to destroy someone else’s.