It doesn't really make sense that we praise Christopher Columbus as a hero and we all believe Cortez to be an awful villain. Both started horrible genocides, and Columbus killed off a more peaceful race of people, amirite?

+176 It doesn't really make sense that we praise Christopher Columbus as a hero and we all believe Cortez to be an awful villain. Both started horrible genocides, and Columbus killed off a more peaceful race of people, amirite?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I don't think Columbus even deserves most of the praise he gets. He didn't really "discover" the continent, before him was Leaf Erikson, before him were Siberian hunters, and before them were Japanese sailors. At least Cortez doesn't get credit for things he didn't do.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I'd like to add that one cannot discover an inhabited region.

by Anonymous 11 years ago