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On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered "a new world." One that he considers to be, "an earthly paradise," (Heike, 46). He recognizes the potential this land has, as it is rich in fruits, honey, and an endless variety of trees. Columbus immediately considers its value to the Spanish Crown, and begins contemplating how he can extract these resources for profit. His goal is to impress the Spanish monarchy, promising to supply them with as many resources as he can possibly provide. This in turn, will help finance his next voyage across the Atlantic. In his mind, this discovery means “success by all standards,” (Heike, 47).

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This New World that Columbus has discovered is inhabited. The land is occupied by an indigenous population that he determines they are not the owners of. These people are what stands between him and his coveted riches. He figures that to seek the financial potential of this land, he must bring the indigenous population under Spanish rule. He wrote, “I discovered a great many islands, inhabited by numberless people; and of all I have taken possession for their Highnesses by proclamation and display of the Royal Standard without opposition,” (Heike, 47). In order to rule over these people, he must fool them into believing he is an extension of Spanish royalty.

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The inhabitants of this land are much different than the Europeans that Columbus is familiar with. These “Indians,” as he titles them, are products of their environment. Columbus describes them as timid, naked, instinctive, generous, and ignorant (Heike, 48). They use sticks of sugar cane as weapons, and are determined to have no authority. As a result, Columbus believes these people are inferior, and informs them that he is authorized to possess them and their land. His reasoning being the vast differences in their culture and European culture. Due to their lack of resources, he proclaims they are related to the soil of their land, and they must give it up by the way of force.

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Columbus emphasizes the importance of his discovery and possession of the new world and its inhabitants, declaring it a God-willed and glorious event, (Heike, 49). As indigenous people are not Christian, Columbus sees this as another aspect of their inferiority. By not being Christian and not Spanish-speaking people, they have no say in the right to the land they inhabited. The writings and actions of Columbus became more well known as Columbus had become manager of this new colony. As he reached the end of his life, the legacy of his “discovery” had conflicting responses, as it led to the annexation of an entire Indigenous population.

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By the 17th century, the colonization of America began off the foundation laid by Columbus’ discovery. It is determined that the New England pilgrims and puritans were the “first Americans,” (Heike, 137). Their reasoning for inhabiting this land, as it was for Columbus, was religion. They figured themselves to be religious refugees, seeking spirituality on sacred land. These English dissenters aimed to establish a “Holy Commonwealth” in North America, thus labeling it the, “Promised Land.” These pilgrims had traveled to Columbus’ new world aboard the Mayflower. Landing north of Virginia, they called their new land, “Plymouth.” This land would be the future for European immigrants, as it had been imagined as a utopia there since the work of Columbus.

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By the 1630’s, the effects of Columbus’ original annexation had continued to plague the indigenous tribes of North America. In New England, conflicts had begun to boil over. As puritans began establishing cities across the land, the Pequot tribe had no choice but to fight for their land that had been stolen. The Mystic Massacre of 1637 put an end to the tribe, eliminating them entirely, including all the women and children. The only few survivors were sold to slave owners. It was the first major act of violence against indigenous peoples in the new world since the acts of Christopher Columbus.

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Just 40 years later, war continued across the American colonies in pursuit of the true establishment of their new world. King Philip declared war over any Native tribes that refused to give up their land. This disagreement led to one of the most devastating conflicts in American history. Self-governance had failed, the colonies were taken over by an English monarch. As Ursula Brumm puts it, By the end of the seventeenth century... the beginnings of the new world were already history,” (“What Went” 1). Despite a major shift in government and an era riddled with violence, puritans did not lose faith in their new world.

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Tracing back to the establishment of American studies, Puritans are defined as the origins of American society, and they are strictly white and European. Puritan scholars credit the white Anglo-Saxon Protestants for the formation of the United States. They are the main founders in history, and all other groups, Native Americans, African-Americans, and women, were all marginalized. This is a paradigm that would set the precedent for all of American history to come. This writing would lead to generations of criticism for supporting an exclusive American ideology that completely disregards the indigenous tribes that inhabited this land long before it got the title of the United States of America.

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Puritans began writing their own legacy in America, officially taking the land for themselves and what would be the future of America. Philip Fisher analyzed the impact of early Puritan scholarship, stating, “They too were intellectuals engaged in holding up a mirror of admonition or exhortation to their society. In theocratic New England they found embodied the secret self-image of all intellectual cultures, a society in which the critics and intellectuals were not marginal, but actually in power, (Heike, 182). Not only had these individuals been writing their power into existence, they were depriving non Anglo-Saxons of their right to this land.

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Reflecting on the writings of Christopher Columbus, emphasized through the works of Heike Paul, it’s determined that the ideology of a new world was built on exploitation. Inhabited land cannot be new. The indigenous population had their land stripped away by rule under the Spanish monarchy. Columbus’ discovery set off a chain of events that leads to the marginalization of all non-Anglo-Saxon people to this day. The fight for equality even in the year 2025 can be traced back to this moment in history that left an entire lineage of people in ruin. The myth of Christopher Columbus as the almighty “conqueror” that founded the United States of America is one proved false by the violent manner in which it was coined.