Each year the President of the United States issues a proclamation reminding the nation of its debt to the Genovese explorer and the national holiday that affirms it.  This week, President Biden repeated that custom but converted Columbus’s voyage into a guilt trip.  He noted “…the painful history of wrongs and atrocities that many European explorers inflicted on Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities.” He went on to say that explorers also “ushered in devastation, violence, displacement, theft, and disease.” You would expect such a reflection on Columbus Day to come from Sitting Bull rather than our “unifying” president.

In 2020, President Trump proclaimed the holiday as a celebration of Columbus’s “intrepid voyage…[that] ushered in a new era of exploration and discovery…the beginning of a new era in human history.”  Which president came closer to the essence of Columbus Day?

Columbus unified the globe.  The so-called Columbian Exchange was the Big Bang of Earth history – we got corn, they got wheat; we got gold, they got iron; we got turkeys, they got horses; we got syphilis, cocaine, and tobacco, they got smallpox, booze, and coffee.  But, best of all, the indigenous people got racial diversity – from three other continents.   Any problem with that?  Probably.

Many a native must rue the day their ancestors allowed Europeans to disembark.  The truth is, they were seduced by European technology, from basics like blankets, pots, and axes to firearms and farm animals.  Who figured that these White people had an endless supply of relatives – chain migration, as we call it today.  I’m sure the Iroquois Federation today would gladly trade beaver pelts for a good border wall.  Lesson: Indigenous People Day should be a warning about open borders. 

On another note, remember when Jewish scholars claimed – every Columbus Day, without fail – that Columbus was a Jew?  You don’t hear that anymore.  That’s one good thing that’s come out of the anti-Columbus movement.  Ole Chris is radioactive now.  But, not to worry, Alexander Hamilton is the new candidate.  Seems that his mother may have converted to Judaism before his birth, which would give Alex a “Jewish” mom.  It’s all circumstantial, so I’ll let others parse that one out.

Another bit of news that came out recently is that the old Vinland Map, which “proved” that the Vikings mapped the New World fifty years before Columbus, is definitely a hoax.  It was denounced as a fake by Italian American groups in 1965 but never officially debunked.  The debate resurfaced in 1974 and then in 1987.  Now the owner of the map, Yale University, just admitted it’s a forgery.  The ink is from the 1920s, and the shape of Greenland is too perfect.

Let’s say his name: Cristoforo Colombo.  The more I study him the more in awe I am of his greatness.  Italy produced him but he was a gift to the world.  His enduring feat was unifying the globe.  No one before him accomplished this, and we will never know when or by whom it would happen after 1492.  He possessed the right combination of skills, knowledge, ambition, faith, and courage needed for such a monumental enterprise.

He risked his life and his crews’ on a Renaissance guess.  He had no technology to rely on except his compass (for direction), quadrant (for latitude), and an hourglass & knotted line (to determine speed and distance).  He depended on sails, rudders, pumps, and ropes to operate leaky wooden vessels across a vast ocean.  Barrels of water and hardtack kept his crews alive.  But, for today’s critics none of this matters – nor does his unlocking the secrets of the earth. 

Columbus’s life was high adventure.  He managed to survive the physical and mental stress that tormented him so often, and the relentless cabals to destroy him.  He learned quickly the perilous weather patterns of the Caribbean. 

On his fourth voyage in 1502, he arrived at Santo Domingo (named after his father Domenico) but was not allowed to anchor in the harbor.  Then-governor Francisco de Bobadilla had ousted Columbus two years before and sent him back to Spain in chains.  As luck would have it, Bobadilla and a 30-ship treasure armada was about to sail to Spain.  Columbus warned his arch-enemy of an approaching hurricane, but Bobadilla left anyway.  The hurricane sank most of the fleet and Bobadilla with it.   One ship that survived carried Columbus’s Indies profit.

Is it any wonder Columbus believed in his destiny? -JLM