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We should celebrate Columbus. We need to quit this apologizing for what we are. We came, we saw, we conquered. Caesar took pride in that, and so should Americans of European descent. We are the champions! We are the winners.
CC sailed a small boat over a large ocean way before it was cool.
Ehm - sailing small boats on far-flung travels of discovery was very much the thing to do in the 15th century. Portugal's discoverers had already mapped far and wide. Columbus' crackpot idea of reaching India by travelling west was a desperate attempt at playing catch-up on the part of Spain.
Ehm - sailing small boats on far-flung travels of discovery was very much the thing to do in the 15th century. Portugal's discoverers had already mapped far and wide. Columbus' crackpot idea of reaching India by travelling west was a desperate attempt at playing catch-up on the part of Spain.
Magellan, not Columbus, sailed through the East Indies. And India was reached by Da Gama. The Portuguese had been exploring the African coast before Columbus went on his voyage.
And the Vikings had settlements in Greenland.
Last edited by green_mariner; 08-22-2014 at 07:16 PM..
The fact is that exploring that far out and permanently opening up an entire new hemisphere to trade and further exploration was a magnificent achievement of Western civilization, and also of humanity as a whole, because Columbus accomplished what no man had before - that's something to celebrate, not deprecate because he or his people were politically disagreeable. Great achievements and feats in history are more important than political correctness*, or put another way what one does with the possibilities is less important historically than the possibilities being opened in the first place. In any case the discussion about treatment of natives is irrelevant; Columbus opened up a new world, and those who came after Columbus could have made very different choices than the ones they did make. Hold them responsible, not Columbus.
I also think the achievements of the Norse and their discovering America first deserve much more press than they get today, so perhaps we should celebrate a holiday for them too. That doesn't diminish Columbus, though, considering he initiated meaningful interaction between America and the West.
*The "correctness of one's politics" sense of the phrase, not the "PC police"/"politically incorrect statement" sense of the phrase.
We should celebrate Columbus. We need to quit this apologizing for what we are. We came, we saw, we conquered. Caesar took pride in that, and so should Americans of European descent. We are the champions! We are the winners.
Well, us and a WHOLE LOT of disease. European diseases decimated the Americas. Some estimates are that such diseases wiped out 80+% of the native population. Without that enormous destruction of the native peoples, it's not at all certain that Europeans could have been successful at conquering and holding such a vast territory.
The fact is that exploring that far out and permanently opening up an entire new hemisphere to trade and further exploration was a magnificent achievement of Western civilization, and also of humanity as a whole, because Columbus accomplished what no man had before - that's something to celebrate, not deprecate because he or his people were politically disagreeable. Great achievements and feats in history are more important than political correctness*, or put another way what one does with the possibilities is less important historically than the possibilities being opened in the first place. In any case the discussion about treatment of natives is irrelevant; Columbus opened up a new world, and those who came after Columbus could have made very different choices than the ones they did make. Hold them responsible, not Columbus.
I also think the achievements of the Norse and their discovering America first deserve much more press than they get today, so perhaps we should celebrate a holiday for them too. That doesn't diminish Columbus, though, considering he initiated meaningful interaction between America and the West.
*The "correctness of one's politics" sense of the phrase, not the "PC police"/"politically incorrect statement" sense of the phrase.
The reason that Columbus (righly so in my opinion) gets the credit while the Northmen did not is because, the Norse explorations didn't result in anything - things pretty much continued on the way they'd been (both in Europe and the Americas) and the "discovery" was soon forgotten - whereas Columbus' "discovery" changed the world. THAT'S his significance.
The reason that Columbus (righly so in my opinion) gets the credit while the Northmen did not is because, the Norse explorations didn't result in anything - things pretty much continued on the way they'd been (both in Europe and the Americas) and the "discovery" was soon forgotten - whereas Columbus' "discovery" changed the world. THAT'S his significance.
Ken
Christopher set out, on a promise to the Queen, to plunder back profits.
Some will demonstrate their intellectual superiority [snort] by condemning Christopher Columbus using the same cliches they use every year. For those who want to learn the history, and a fun read, I recommend Samuel Eliot Morison’s Admiral of the Ocean Sea : A Life of Christopher Columbus.
Don't blindly accept the misguided indoctrination of our prejudiced public education system.
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