History 2111 Journal #1 Essay

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Andrew Dunlap

Dr. Jennings

History 2111.3

February 13, 2019

Journal #1

Christopher Columbus came across the Atlantic Ocean back in 1492, he had been given

the “right to discovery” from the Pope of the Catholic Church. There was a problem, the Indians

that had inhabited the land for thousands of years, far before Columbus came , were confused to

how he could claim their land. Indians today, and many others, will still argue that it wasn’t

right. This is where Adam Nordwall comes in. Adam Nordwall was an Indian chief o f the

Chippewa tribe. One day he got on a jumbo jet, instead o f a boat, like Columbus did, and

traveled to Italy. Once he arrived, he “claimed” the “undiscovered” land of Italy. To him Italy

was undiscovered, he had never been, so he claimed it for his tribe. He thought, “What’s the

difference?” He was trying to prov e the point that he couldn’t just come claim land that was

already inhabited by people.

I think he was successful at making people start to think about what

Christopher Columbus really did to his ancestors.

One reason that I think Mr. Nordwall was success ful at proving his point was that he

made the newspaper. The newspaper he made it in was not just a random newspaper, it was New

York Times, which is also important to note because the event happened in Italy, so this made

international news. It might not have been on the front page, but he still got somebody’s

attention. Even if nobody did anything to help his cause, people still read about what he did and

heard his reason for doing it. He wanted to make everyone think if it was right what the

Conquistador s, like Columbus, did and that it did not make any sense. If it did not make the

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newspaper it would have just got swept under the rug and no one would have even been able to

start to speculate.

Another reason he was successful, and a reason people would b e willing to listen to him

is that he didn’t come and become violent. When he got off the plane in Italy, the chief said,

“[Columbus] came to conquer a country by force where a peaceful people were living, while I

am on a mission of peace and goodwill.” Th ere were many very successful leaders that solely

used peace to accomplish change, people such as Martin Luther King Jr. If Mr. Nordwall got off

the plane and started using violence, he would have made the news, but he would have gotten

very bad publicity and people would have looked at him and used it to say that that’s why

Columbus came with violence. His peaceful actions led to people being able to think about what

happened hundreds of years ago to his ancestors.

Mr. Nordwall was a very important leader in leading to people being able to think about

what happened in the Americas in the 15 th century. His nonviolence and using the same common

logic led to him getting published in international news. This publicity to make people think was

his ultimate goal and he accomplished what he wanted. His actions were done correctly and

could lay groundwork for many others in the future.