Calls to dump Columbus Day are getting louder as cities across the country replace it with “Indigenous People’s Day.” Native Americans say it’s necessary to atone for Christopher Columbus’ legacy but some Italian Americans are outraged by it. Check out this interesting story posted by USA Today on October 11.
As the descendant of both Christopher Columbus and Montezuma II, the Aztec emperor, it is only natural that I would be interested in the debate over Columbus’ legacy in America.
History has some truly evil people. Columbus is certainly not one of them. Most often, history is not made up of perfect people and evil ones, but of complex people who must be understood in context.
What is happening at the hands of Columbus’ detractors is political, not historical. As his direct descendant and namesake, I should know.
Two cultures meeting for the first time in 1492 was no easy thing, but blaming Columbus for everything that went wrong hides the truth about him and about those who followed him. It also obscures the great things that the countries of the American hemisphere have accomplished.
What is lacking in the anti-Columbus narrative is any sense of history or of nuance.
Columbus did something incredible reaching the Bahamas on board three small ships. The fleet’s caravels were not warships but explorer vessels. He brought together two continents that didn’t know of one another’s existence. For the first time in history, the world acquired a truly global perspective.
We usually forget that people in the Middle Ages were deeply religious, much more than we are. This was certainly true of Columbus. Faith was his primary motivation.
Those who now question Columbus conveniently ignore the fact that slavery, cannibalism, warfare and even human sacrifice all existed in the Americas before he even sailed.
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Source: https://www.usatoday.com/
