Christopher Columbus, as everyone knows, is honored by posterity because he was the last to discover America. - James Joyce
Recently my thirteen-year-old grandaughter expressed her disdain for Christopher Columbus. She cited her teacher and the schoolbook that brought the dark side of Columbus to light. My grandaughter's main concern was that Columbus took the land away from the Indians. Little did I realize that the legacy of Columbus was far darker than I could have imagined.
My knowledge of Columbus is some seventy-plus years old. In my middle school days, Columbus was treated as a hero who braved the naysayers and sailed across the Atlantic to discover the New World. Because of this characterization of hero worship, our schools mitigated Columbus's treatment of the indigenous peoples who lived in the new lands.
To answer the question, "Did Columbus discover America," the answer is no. He never found America, nor did he set foot in America. The exploits of Eric the Red and his son, Lief Ericson, pre-date Columbus. Let's also remember Amerigo Vespucci, for whom America is named.
Humans have lived in the Americas for at least 15,000 years. By the time Columbus arrived, the Americas were populated by hundreds of small nations and several full-out empires such as the Inca in Peru and the Aztecs in Mexico. Further, the population influx from the west continued pretty much consistently, with late migrations into the Arctic region and the Peruvian coast by the Easter Islands within a century of Columbus's landfall. 1
The explorer Christopher Columbus made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain: in 1492, 1493, 1498 and 1502. He was determined to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia, but he never did. Instead, he stumbled upon the Americas. Though he did not “discover” the so-called New World—millions of people already lived there—his journeys marked the beginning of centuries of exploration and colonization of North and South America. 2
On his first voyage, Columbus' ships made landfall—not in the East Indies, as Columbus assumed, but on one of the Bahamian islands, likely San Salvador. 3 Columbus was searching for “pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and other objects and merchandise whatsoever” that he had promised to his Spanish patrons, but he did not find much." 4
On his second voyage to the New World in 1493, Columbus found the Island of Hispaniola. Columbus sent 500 indigenous people as slaves to Queen Isabela of Spain. The Queen was horrified that Columbus would do this since she believed the people Columbus discovered were her subjects and could not be enslaved. Queen Isabella sent them back. Columbus left his brothers to establish a settlement.
In 1498 Columbus made a third visit to South America, namely Trinidad and the South American mainland. The colonists on Hispanola revolted, and a new governor had to be installed.
Meanwhile, the native Taino population, forced to search for gold and to work on plantations, was decimated (within 60 years after Columbus landed, only a few hundred of what may have been 250,000 Taino were left on their island). Christopher Columbus was arrested and returned to Spain in chains. 5
In 1502, cleared of the most serious charges but stripped of his noble titles, the aging Columbus persuaded the Spanish crown to pay for one last trip across the Atlantic. This time, Columbus made it all the way to Panama—just miles from the Pacific Ocean—where he had to abandon two of his four ships after damage from storms and hostile natives. Empty-handed, the explorer returned to Spain, where he died in 1506. 6
What Did Christopher Columbus Do, Exactly?
He became the first European in recorded history to successfully conquer a small part of the Americas and then establish a trade route for the transportation of enslaved people and goods. In other words, Christopher Columbus didn't discover America; he monetized it. As he boasted to the Spanish royal finance minister upon completion of his first voyage:
"[T]heir highnesses can see that I will give them as much gold as they may need, if their highness will render me very slight assistance; moreover, I will give them spices and cotton, as much as their highnesses shall command; and mastic, as much as they shall order to be shipped and which, up to now, has been found only in Greece, in the island of Chios, and the Seignory sells it for what it pleases; and aloe, as much as they shall order to be shipped; and slaves, as many as they shall order to be shipped and who will be from the idolaters. I believe also that I have found rhubarb and cinnamon, and I shall find a thousand other things of value..."
The voyage of 1492 was still a dangerous passage into uncharted territories, but Christopher Columbus was neither the first European to visit the Americas nor the first to establish a settlement there. His motives were anything but honorable, and his behavior was purely self-serving. He was, in effect, an ambitious pirate with a Spanish royal charter. 7
Faced with the facts, I must admit that I have revised my opinion and knowledge of the explorer Christopher Columbus. Setting aside the dark side of Columbus, he pioneered a route to the New World and presented a pathway to future exploration and colonization that eventually provided a haven for the Pilgrims and future colonists to emigrate to a new land that would become a beacon of freedom to the world.
For more detailed information on Columbus, See the references listed below. This is some very interesting reading for students of history.
References
Head, Tom. "Did Christopher Columbus Actually Discover America?" ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/did-christopher-columbus-discover-america-721581.
History.com Editors, Christopher Columbus, History.com, November 9, 2009 Updated November 11, 2023, https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/christopher-columbus
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Head, Tom. "Did Christopher Columbus Actually Discover America?" ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/did-christopher-columbus-discover-america-721581.
Ibid
Comments