Well, what young boy wouldn't love this tale? It is filled with danger and excitement. Thinking that my ancestor was no doubt hoisting a sail as Columbus stood at the wheel of his ship, I was filled with pride and thoughts of how I could match this in the future. What worlds would I discover? Then along came Star Trek and I had my new passion: my eyes turned up to the stars and I listened to the voice over by William Shatner as Captain Kirk saying, "To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." Whew!
This is why Columbus still matters. Besides giving us a nice three-day weekend in early October, one that inspires retail sales and parades, Columbus started something: Something big; something really big. He opened the door as did Marco Polo, inspiring all those who came after him to shake the dust off their boots and breeches and leave the isolation of Europe to explore the world.
Yes, we have those who wish to denigrate his memory, and I understand their sentiments. Native Americans can look harshly at the man with good reason: he opened a door that they could only hope remained closed. They lived here in the Americas with relative peace and stability, and Europeans brought many things they didn't need: greed, violence, and disease. Blacks can also rightly question why we celebrate the day for a man who brought slavery to this land.
There are others who will contend that he discovered nothing. The Vikings were here way before him, as were probably Phoenician, Roman, and Polynesian explorers. All of this is without a doubt a way of saying that Columbus didn't come first, but it in no way lessens the biggest contribution he made to history: he changed the world forever by proving something everyone else said couldn't be done. It doesn't matter that others did it first; what matters is that when he did it, the world took note and followed him.
In his time Columbus became famous and wealthy. His fame spread across Europe, and he started what would be a juggernaut of expansion, travel, and discovery. Yes, bad things happened in the course of these events, but it's not as if these same terrible things had not always happened before. Greed was always there, so was violence and slavery and everything else. The truth is that Columbus is being judged in 2010 by standards that were unknown in 1492. Wrong is wrong no matter when it happens, but at the time Columbus thought he was doing the right thing, and what he did changed the world. There is no disputing that fact.
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.