Christopher Columbus: hero or villain?

Christopher Columbus

by Gary Kennedy

The discovery of America is commonly questioned. I remember the question coming up in 1964 and pundits stating that the Americas were not discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. It was further stated that the Americas were actually discovered prior by an explorer by the name of Amerigo Vespucci. It’s actually uncanny that the ages of the two men are so close. Columbus was an Italian explorer born in 1451 and died in 1506. Vespucci was born the same year 1451 but died in 1512. In all actually Columbus discovered the Islands of the Bahamas with a grant from Queen Isabella using three ships, the Pinta, the Nina and the St. Maria. Although Columbus’s journal of the 1st voyage to the Americas was destroyed, an accurate abstract of the journal, which was written by Columbus’s biographer, Bartolome De Las Casas, is used.

Columbus’s flag ship the Santa Maria went aground on a reef so Columbus was forced to take the wreckage and build a fort on the Island of Hispaniola. Columbus left 40 of his men there promising to return for them. He continued through the islands and finally landed in the new world. (New Spain) Columbus brought African slaves and Europeans who carried diseases with them which completely wiped out the native population. Columbus was a hero for a while, then was ultimately arrested for his crimes against humanity and stripped of his titles and royalty. He died in 1506 a simple man. This is just the short story. Although Columbus was in fact a patriot he was also a very cruel sadistic person, he was still historically considered a great explorer. What a disappointment finding all this out was for me.

Amerigo Vespucci

So this now takes us to Amerigo Vespucci who was on Italian explorer, cartographer, and navigator who was born in the Republic of Florence, Italy. Vespucci’s voyages happened in the same time frame of that of Christopher Columbus’s 1492 voyage. Vespucci was the 1st person to realize that the North and South American continents were distinct continents that were unknown to the Europeans, Asian and Africans. Vespucci made this discovery while sailing near the tip of South America in 1501. This was the era of exploration. The world’s economy was becoming more and more diverse in a very pleasant way. Curiosity was very intense during this age and progress grew at a very rapid rate. Morality and cost had no part in the end results sought by the developing world. The world lost its flat and gained a global configuration so more places were sought and new and safer pathways were questioned. Vespucci also has credit for discovering the Amazon River.

Exploration led to trade and this led to diversity and profits; of course gold, silver and gems were the most sought after commodities. Both Vespucci and Columbus were influenced by the adventures of Marco Polo. Peoples, cultures and geography were the adventure of the day. As unbelievable as it may seem Vespucci determined the Earth’s circumference accurately, within 50 miles. He also was a celestial genius, thus improving navigation.

So Vespucci more than likely reached the mainland of the Americas a few months before John Cabot and more than a year before Columbus. Using his knowledge of Marco Polo’s books description of the constellations and the coast lines of Asia he came to the conclusion he was not in Asia, but an altogether different continent. He verified his suspicion by travelling 400 miles further south along the South American Coast. In 1538 a mapmaker named Gerardus Mercator used the name “America” to both North and South America, known then as the new world. It remains the same to this very day.

Leif Erikson

I must add the two men were very different. Vespucci died with great honor but Columbus died as a very cruel self serving individual, great in his abilities but very poor in his morality. So disappointing! Well the redemption in all of this is it wasn’t either of these two men who discovered what was known as the Americas. During the years of 900-1000 Leif Erikson, who was a Norse explorer from Iceland, came on the scene to be known as the 1st European to set foot on the continent of North America. Obviously this was a long time before the other two mentioned in this article. Leif was the 2nd son of Erik the Red. Motion pictures played this up years ago. Of course the movies made the story far more exciting than what is realistic.

Times in cold countries were very difficult at this time in history. Erik the Red was the one who settled Greenland. Obviously Leif Erikson was on the Americas centuries before Columbus. In 1964 the USA Congress authorized the president to proclaim October 9 as Leif Erikson Day.

It might be of interest to mention that this was in fact the time that Christianity was converted from Paganism because of Erik the Red and especially Leif’s mother, Thjodhild. Most of Greenland was converted to Christianity. So all is well that ends well.

You have received a thousand years of information; found out that there are three American claims by explorers to being the first in the Americas. Given the fact there are centuries between them you will have to use your own logic to decide who was first for you. Also, you now know there are two holidays, Columbus Day and Leif Erikson Day. So in the end there will be those who say, “Who cares, we get the day off.” I didn’t want to ruin your day by telling you that the Asians, in fact, crossed the Bering Strait to the Aleutian Islands, way before all of this. We call them, “Native Americans.”

When you look at so called Native Americans can you, without any doubt, tell what Asian area they are derived from? I have an opinion and that is exactly what it is. (Opinion) So, it is my opinion that before we start changing world shattering events, that really don’t change anything, we learn to accept some things and move on to more important things. We know what we know and that is all part of studying and learning. There is so much more to this story which you can research on your own. Some historians have different dates but these are the ones I have chosen. Enjoy your holiday my friends. (It’s just a name and not the story).