Was Columbus an Imperialist? On October 12, 1492, Admiral Colon landed on a tropical Caribbean island. Finding this island was purely accidental. Colon had originally set out to find a shorter route to China and instead discovered the New World. If the purpose of Colon’s voyage was not seeking out to dominate another country (definition of imperialism) but to find a shorter route to China, then how could he be considered an imperialist? While he didn’t set out as an imperialist, some of his actions could be considered imperialistic. One of the main reasons that Kirkpatrick Sale believes that Colon was an imperialist is because “Colon went on to assign no fewer than sixty-two other names on the geography of the islands…. with a blithe assurance suggesting that in his (and Europe’s) perception the act of name-giving was in some sense a talisman of a conquest, a rite that changed raw neutral stretches of far-off earth into extensions of Europe.”. In my opinion, what Colon did was just part of human nature. If I was an explorer in his times and I thought I had discovered a new world, I would have been naming everything in sight upon first stepping on land. Robert Royal doesn’t speak of Colon’s naming spree in his rebuttal, but he does open with a quote from Columbus. “Let us hear what their comments are now-those who are so ready with accusations and quick to find fault, saying from their safe berths there in Spain, “Why didn’t you do this or that when you were over there.” I’d like to see their sort on this adventure…”. I think that Colon did the best he could with the knowledge and leadership skills he had. I would be curious to see what Sale would have done had he been in Colon’s position. Another major reason Sale gives for calling Columbus an imperialist is that Columbus said “And your Highnesses will command a city an...
