The Nuclear Option: Why Columbus Deserves His Day

[sid]

Really excellent article. Be sure to read it.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...-deserves-day/

[Vern Humphrey]

Absolutely. People who would be afraid to wade in a kiddie pool scorn a man who set sail across a trackless ocean and changed the world.

[clintonhater]

Not in Vermont, where it's "Indigenous Peoples Day." The same in Alaska.

[High Plaines Doug r]

How about we give Columbus the prize for opening up the "New World" in 1492 for colonization but limit that to the Spanish speaking countries that his "discovery" brought about? Then give Giovanni Caboto (otherwise known to the English as: John Cabot) the prize for opening up North America to the English speaking countries upon "discovering" Newfoundland and Labrador in 1497? And then, Pedral Cabral for doing the same for the Portuguese in Brazil in 1500?

8 years, at a time when it took a year +/- to travel between the two continents?

Are we celebrating the wrong Italian and how was Spanish/English/Portuguese domination worse than Mayan/Aztec/Inca rule?

[clintonhater]

How about we give Columbus the prize for opening up the "New World" in 1492 for colonization but limit that to the Spanish speaking countries that his "discovery" brought about? Then give Giovanni Caboto (otherwise known to the English as: John Cabot) the prize for opening up North America to the English speaking countries upon "discovering" Newfoundland and Labrador in 1497? And then, Pedral Cabral for doing the same for the Portuguese in Brazil in 1500?

The difference is, none of those other explorers would have known there was anything out there to be found by sailing west without Columbo.

[Mark in Ottawa]

I was just in Spain last week where we visited a museum that contains full size replicas of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. The surprising thing about the ships is how very small they were - not a lot longer than the length of two of the lifeboats on our cruise ship. The expedition consisted of only 100 sailors and we saw the church that they all attended before walking down to the river to board and head out to the Atlantic. These were very brave men indeed.

According to our guide, Columbus never realized that he had found a new and unknown continent; he always thought that he was in the eastern part of India

[High Plaines Doug r]

The difference is, none of those other explorers would have known there was anything out there to be found by sailing west without Columbo.

Irish Monk chronicles and Iceland/Viking legends, Orkney/Faroe Island fishermen? Yes, Columbus opened the purses of the European empire makers

[clintonhater]

Irish Monk chronicles and Iceland/Viking legends, Orkney/Faroe Island fishermen?

Who else in Europe knew about those voyages? A "discovery" unknown to others (especially those who are writing books & drawing maps) is a moot point.

[Vern Humphrey]

Who else in Europe knew about those voyages? A "discovery" unknown to others (especially those who are writing books & drawing maps) is a moot point.

Exactly the point. There are plenty of "Before Columbus" theories, but it was Columbus that made Europeans aware of what was on the other side of the Atlantic.