The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy

This is a well written and thought provoking book. I read it awhile back (1992) and really enjoyed it. I recommend it highly. However, I would like to share a few thoughts on the topic and approach of the book. In retrospect, it hardly seems fair to blame Columbus and the Europeans. I feel if we must blame something we should blame Human Nature instead. Sale makes a strong case that the European discovery of distant yet habitable lands across the Atlantic was a huge tragedy for all involved, especially to the Native Americans - the conquered. Granted there was great violence and horror unleashed by this world shaking event, but, I would ask - "How else could this have happened?". The tragedy was inevitable. At anytime during Western history, if such an encounter were to take place, I think it is reasonable to assume, human nature being what it is, that the same tragic results would have occurred. We cannot pretend that Europeans explorers of ANY generation, save our own, would have taken with them a 20th century cultural sensitivity (a commodity that Sale apparently has in great quantity) or anthropological curiosity. Furthermore, we shouldn't be lulled into believing that because the Native Americans were not as efficient killers as where the Europeans, that they somehow lived in an idyllic peace. Human nature being what it is, we see the same kind of religious fanaticism, the same proto-nationalism, and desperate warfare, egocentric monarchs and power-drunk clerics that mark European history. The Incas, Mayas, Aztecs, Chibcha and Arowat peoples believed THEIR gods to be universal, and THEIR way of life was ordained by heaven. The Incas and Aztecs conquered vast numbers of materially inferior peoples and brought them the "truth" of their religion as well as the benefits of their civilization, ie. trade and protection. Much the same way the Spaniards, Portugues, and French will do in post-Conquest Latin America. I think that Columbus, for all his flaws and failings is nonetheless heroic simply for having the determination to arrive. If he didn't do it, someone else would have - and the glory and blame would have rested with that person. The conquest of paradise was a shame, but it was an inevitable one - sooner or later someone would have done it. I remember on Columbus Day 1992 going down to see the statue of Columbus in front of Union Station in Washington, DC - only to find "the discoverer" drenched in blood red paint. "what a shame"For those who are interested in the topic, I highy recommend John Hemming's Conquest of the Incas - An equally fascinating book but one that has the advantage of being even-handed, open-minded and fair.

I came upon Kirkpatrick Sale's The Conquest of Paradise years ago as I was researching what happened in the New World when Columbus showed up. After having read dozens of books on the issue, Sale's book probably stands as the most important single volume in understanding the Columbus Myth and how it came into being. I used his book significantly in writing of my own researches into the Columbus Myth and other lies I was taught as a child. If you want one book to begin understanding why we have a national holiday named after the man who initiated history's greatest genocide, The Conquest of Paradise is it.

A must-read for the student of Columbus and the conquest of the New World that tells the story of the Great Discoverer as it has never been told before. Be prepared, for it shows Columbus as the product of a sickly and dispirited Europe convinced of the impending end of the world. It reveals him to be a rootless and lonely man who had difficulty getting along with his fellow Europeans and had little or no understanding of the lands he discovered and later governed. The book also dispells many enduring myths, such as how Queen Isabella supposedly pawned her jewels to finance his voyage, tales of mutinous sailors who believed the world was flat, and how Columbus supposedly died in obscure poverty. Read this book & you'll soon discover why there was such a backlash against the 500th aniversary celebration in 1992. There is a fascinating section that deals with the holocaust inflicted against the Indians, with stories and recollections of unbelieveable cruelty and astonishing horrors committed by the Spanish, including Columbus himself. Later chapters deal with his enduring legacy. Included is a look at the pros and cons of the Noble Savage-as environmentalist controversy. Well-written, engaging, and superbly researched. In my estimation, this is THE book on Columbus!

Unquestionably a book with a left-wing political bias, but what a fascinating read! Sale tries to imagine the mindset of Columbus's contemporaries in order to explain their bewilderment and hostility when faced with the New World. I found his discussion of Europeans' attitudes toward wilderness and the connection to Biblical traditions absolutely fascinating. The title "Conquest of Paradise" isn't just a catchy and apocolyptic phrase. It refers to the Europeans' sense that they had fallen from paradise and in the process fallen from nature and what the consequences were of these beliefs when they made contact with the Americas. The later chapters on how history reshaped our image of Columbus are far less interesting. Sale has been criticized for his political bias and particularly for his ideas on ecology--many of which figure largely in this book. Being neither a historian nor an ecologist, I can't comment on them, but this book is definitely worth a read regardless.