Columbus Day

Today is Columbus Day, one of the few federal holidays I support, marking the day that the intrepid explorer Christopher Columbus “discovered” the New World on his mission to what was supposed to be India or the Far East dispatched by the Catholic Monarchs King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile. Yet, as we have discussed before, this is still a controversial holiday. Native Americans take the opportunity to protest and draw attention to their long history of misfortunes, heaping all of the blame on the head of the late, ambitious navigator. As most readers will know I have a great affinity for the American Indian, a great deal of sympathy for them and share ancestry with a number of them. However, to blame all the evils of European colonialism in the Americas on Christopher Columbus seems quite absurd to me. As I see it, that would be rather like blaming every traffic accident in the history of the world on the man who invented the internal combustion engine. I would prefer Native Americans seize on some other day as a shared holiday of their own, though admittedly I have no idea of when this could be. The various nations have relatively little in common other than their shared history of mistreatment and seizing on some victory by one group or the other, such as the battle of the Little Big Horn for instance, might be seen as being in bad taste to some people.

So, American Indians protest on Columbus Day, an occasion not many other people seem to care a great deal about. In North America much was made of the fact that Columbus was not the first European to “discover” America (though I don’t know why as we have always known that to be the case) and in Latin America whereas once it was considered a pretty ‘big deal’ (it is known as La Dia de la Raza) as the start of Hispanic culture in the New World but these days most would rather emphasize their native ancestry rather than their Spanish blood, partly I think to help in claiming victim status. The Catholic Church in America, particularly the Knights of Columbus were instrumental in getting the holiday on the calendar but, in recent times, even they have slacked off of emphasizing it, preferring to take the symbolic side of the poor, blighted native or, more the case these days, the poor illegal immigrant. So, who is left to celebrate Columbus Day in the United States and to try to counteract the protests? The Italian-American community, both because of their just pride in the historic deed of Columbus and because there is really no other similarly well-known figure Italian-Americans can seize on to celebrate their people. Mexicans have the Fifth of May, Irish-Americans have St Patrick’s Day, German-Americans have Oktoberfest and Italian-Americans have Columbus Day.

When it comes to exploration much praise is given to the Portuguese, and rightly so as they were the trailblazers in the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope and the eastern route to India. Praise is often also given to Spain but the Italian people deserve their share of credit as many of the navigators commanding those Spanish ships were Italians and their ranks include a number of important explorers even if not everyone has heard of them. To start with, obviously, there was Christopher Columbus who, although he was not the first European to “discover” America, it was his discovery, frankly, that mattered. It started the great race of European nations to colonize America and originally this included Spain, Portugal, France, England, the Netherlands, Sweden and others associated with them. Some dispute where Columbus was born but the accepted time and place was 1451 in the Republic of Genoa (one of those pre-revolutionary republics where the Doge wore ermine robes and a crown). I do not see how it is appropriate for anyone to moan and groan about Columbus. Without him, none of us (people in the Americas other than the pure-blood native Indians of which there are precious few) would be here.

Another was Amerigo Vespucci, born in 1454 in the Republic of Florence, who was a navigator, cartographer and who traveled with a number of Portuguese expeditions at the invitation of King Manuel I and to whom we owe the name of “America”. Another was Alessandro Malaspina, a native of Mulazzo, Italy who joined the Royal Spanish Navy and explored and mapped most of the west coast of the Americas from Cape Horn to Alaska. There was Giovanni da Verrazzano who probably came from Florence and who was employed by the King of France and was the first European since the legendary voyages of the Vikings to explore the North Atlantic coasts of New England and Canada. He later made southern voyages of exploration in the Caribbean. Another is one many may know but they may not know he was an Italian and that is John Cabot whose real name was Giovanni Caboto. His birthplace has been speculated as being either Genoa or Gaeta but by nationality he was of the Republic of Venice and is credited with being the first European since the Vikings to set foot on North American soil, at Newfoundland according to Great Britain and Canada. Finally there is one of my favorites, a native of Venice, Marco Polo who opened up trade with China and befriended the great Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan.

So, remain positive I say and a happy Columbus Day to all.
MM

Happy Columbus Day

Today is the day set aside by the government to celebrate the intrepid explorer Christopher Columbus. Yet, few seem to really celebrate the occasion. There are invariably protesters, usually from the Native American communities, and counter-protesters, usually from the Italian American community that make their charges and counter-charges but most do not give much thought to Chris Columbus. Lately he has acquired a rather politically incorrect reputation and Columbus Day (or la Dia de la Raza as it is often known in these parts) passes with little notice. Although I am often at odds with federally mandated holidays, this is one I think has been given an (undeserved) bad reputation and people should at least be told why Christopher Columbus was so significant.

He was not, as we all should know by now, the first to “discover” America. However, it was his discovery that mattered. The Old World was introduced to the New and the race was on amongst the great powers of the day to explore, claim and settle the new lands. This is, of course, why many Native Americans make it a point to be upset on Columbus Day. Being of partial native ancestry myself I still cannot totally understand this attitude. It makes as little sense to me as would blaming Benjamin Franklin for the electric chair. However, it did all start with Columbus and here is where I get very upset with the anti-colonialist/imperialist crowd. Even those that are not too strident on the subject will at the very least voice the opinion that the nations of Europe should have just stayed home and never colonized anyone. Although I understand where they are coming from with all of the grief the former colonial powers are given these days, such an attitude rather horrifies me. Without European colonization neither my country nor myself would exist.

Christopher Columbus was not, of course, some horribly wicked villain (neither was he a saint naturally). He was a very religious man who took a keen interest in the Bible and Biblical prophecies and in times of peril at sea would order his hard-bitten sailors to pray. Of course we also cannot forget that his great discovery would not have been possible without the support of the “Catholic Monarchs” King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. It is also worth pointing out, at least it is these days, that Columbus expected to profit from his discoveries. In our very socialistic times one has to wonder if someone would take similar risks and brave similar unknowns without the chance of reward. In any event, although it was not the India he thought it was, Christopher Columbus did make history and set things in motion for the rise of the western hemisphere, the founding of new world powers and the, inadvertent, decline of some nations and the rise of new peoples unique to the Americas.

Happy Columbus Day

Today is Columbus Day and it seems that the more controversial and "politically incorrect" Columbus becomes the more I feel like supporting and defending the memory of the man. About the only zealous supporters of Columbus Day these days are the Italian-Americans who are none too happy when their most famous Genoese countryman is slandered. First, I should probably dismiss a few things right off. Yes, Columbus was not the first European to "discover" America. The Vikings were certainly in the New World long before and numerous other evidence suggests possible visits by others as well. However, Columbus' voyage was the one that mattered. It was his voyage that permanently put the Americas on the map, it was his voyage that started the exploration and colonization of the Americas. Others that preceded Columbus left hardly a trace but the voyage of Columbus changed the world.

Most outrageous, however, is the effort by many today to portray Columbus as some sort of genocidal villain who is responsible for the deaths of multitudes of Native American Indians. To say that is absurd is putting it lightly. It would be like blaming the first merchant to travel the Silk Road for the Black Death. It is also a slam against Spain's great Queen Isabella I who was very specific in her instructions that though she considered converting the Indians a major reason for the voyage she also said that they should be "treated as free people, for such they are". This also relates to another reason why Columbus is so hated by those on the radical, leftist fringe; he was a very religious man who was dispatched on his voyage by very religious monarchs. Spreading Christianity was part of his mission and there are those today who consider this a greater plague than the diseases brought along with them. Those people I really do not understand as, Christianity had and has its problems but no one is performing human sacrifices on top of pyramids anymore and one would think that would be considered a good thing.

Columbus should be given credit for his remarkable accomplishment and he should not be blamed for every ill that followed in his wake. No one intends to spread disease and although the Indians were at times treated bad, they were not treated as an "untouchable" class or we would not have the modern Latin American people, tha majority of which are descendants of Spanish and Indian ancestors. I also think it does people good, especially as they grow more powerful in the world, to look back at those Spaniards, Italians, English, French etc and say, because of these intrepid few, our countries exist today.