"You can look it up," my grandfather used to say. This was usually about something rather bizarre, like his claims to have seen Steve Brodie jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. Brodie may or may not have jumped in July 1886, but Pop wasn't born until 1888, so looking it up wasn't the whole story here. He also told many other wild tales, many of which were spun in the tenements where he grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, but the one that fascinated me the most related to Christopher Columbus: he said that one Giovanni Lana, a shepherd by trade as well as a fisherman, accompanied Columbus on his first voyage in 1492. After first hearing this when I was a little boy, I have been fascinated by the story of Columbus ever since.
As an Italian-American, I enjoyed thinking that the great Italian explorer "discovered" America (with my ancestor tagging along), following in the footsteps of another great paisano Marco Polo who "discovered" China. The truth is, as many have pointed out, that China was there all along, as was America. Polo didn't discover it, but he opened a door and that was the importance of his travels there, no doubt inspiring many others who came after him, including Columbus.
Even if Columbus didn't discover America, he did something much more important: he created a new world. He dared to do something that others before him would not: he crossed the forbidden sea despite rumors of sea monsters and the fear of falling off the end of the earth. When I think of Columbus, I always remember a painting of him I saw in a book: he was making his case for the journey as he stood before King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. He supposedly produced an orange that was meant to show them that the world was round, not flat, and he explained how he would sail around the globe to reach India. He was so convincing that they believed him and financed the voyage, and Columbus set sail and faced the tempests and monsters in his quest for fame and fortune.
Article comments
1 - Alan Kurtz
Lovely piece of writing, Victor. Thank you.
Tell me, haven't historians unearthed the ships' logs from Columbus's first voyage in 1492? If so, those might provide actual records of crew complement that could be searched for the name Giovanni Lana.
Or would you, in your heart of hearts, rather not know? I could fully understand why you might prefer that your grandfather's "wild tale" be left untested. Especially since there's always a chance that Giovanni Lana might be as much a figment of Pop's imagination as his claims to have seen Brodie jump off the Brooklyn Bridge.
For my part, I was raised in the 1950s, an era when Columbus represented to schoolchildren a great American hero, right up there with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Yet in my lifetime, I've seen Columbus's reputation tarnished, so much so that your blog often seems defensively hedged, as if to acknowledge that we were taught a lie. Jefferson's reputation has likewise suffered mightily, and even Washington is today seen in a different light, that of a slaveholder--something positively never mentioned in my schoolbooks. Even if he did privately express reservations about slavery, the Father of Our County failed to publicly share those sentiments. Much to the shame, I think, of our republic.
Personally, though, I'd much rather know the facts. Sanitized heroes are the stuff of childhood. Adults have a responsibility to confront the truth, however disillusioning that might be.
Besides, would knowing the truth really diminish the metaphorical power of Giovanni Lana, fisherman from Genoa, "kneeling on that beach on San Salvador, lifting the sand in his hands and watching the grains pour through his fingers as he laughed hysterically?"
I think not. Happy Columbus Day tomorrow, Victor, to you and your son. And cheers to the legend of Giovanni Lana.
2 - Victor Lana
Thanks for your comments, Alan. And yes, like Bartleby in this case, I prefer not to (know if Giovanni was there or not). The tale has been in my family for so long, and it will always be real to me.
3 - Liam
I'm sorry but "fear of falling of the end of the Earth" is total bull. Columbus believed the Earth was pear shaped as their is literary evidence of this. Plus very few tribes believed in the Earth being one flat void, a round Earth can be dated back as far as Ancient Greece.
4 - Deano
Interestingly enough, historians have fairly well substantiated that Columbus "cheated" on his navigational mathmatics.
When planning and promoting his voyage, Columbus deliberately took the smallest estimated diameter of the earth (about half its actual diameter), the largest estimate of the extension of Asia and assumed that Japan lay much further out then it actually did.
In short, if the America's hadn't lain in the way, Columbus and all is crew would have perished on their voyage.
It's also a virtual certainty that Columbus knew "something" was out there - he had voyaged to Bristol, Ireland etc. and in all probability knew of reported earlier voyages to the fisheries (the Grand Banks) and the reports of strange lands beyond.
5 - heloise
i am part italian and love cc, he's the man in my book. we need more men like him.