When I was a kid, I was taught in school that Columbus was a great man who discovered the Americas.
As an adult, I understand the people who came across the Bering Strait into the "Americas" were the ones who "discovered" this land. Before there was Columbus, there were the Norse. Before the Norse, the Phoenicians could have made it to the Americas.
Should Columbus be honored with a holiday? Nah. He sailed to find a way to make a greater profit. He had no grand scheme and in reality, he was not a good man. The Americas would have been "discovered" by some other European and sadly, the results would have been the same: the Natives would have been subject to colonialism and treated no better than they were treated in actual history.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Hooray for Siberians 14,000 years ago.
Upon arrival they discovered that they didn't discover anything.
Other animals were already there.
Making short shrift of the blubbering locals they moved south without relent.
Discovery is fun.
Do it now.
Polemicist
Level 7
Oct 14, 2024
1
Tsk, you lack the required human egocentricity--other animals don't count. 
What did he discover? The West Indies. Did he ever even reach the land between North and South America? Was he great because he organised murdering masses of better educated people? He was a viol thug. Yes the Phoenicians could easily have found the East Coast. So could people from Indonesia. The Phoenicians and even Venetians had better ocean going crafts the Columbus. We know the Vikins came 400 years earlier. Thor Heyerdal showed how even earlier people could have come from West Africa just following the ocean current.
rogerbenham
Level 8
Oct 14, 2024
2
Also possibly fishermen from Northern Europe and the Chinese.
But also of course Columbus did not "discover" the so called America, or the not so new world. Firstly because he did not find the mainland, but only the off shore islands in the Caribbean, but mainly because he himself spent most of his life refusing to accept, despite growing evidence that he had discovered the New World. Since he was quite sure that, due to very serious miscalculations, he had "rediscovered" the East Indies. And he believed that it would ruin his repute as it indeed should, if it was a new world.
The Americas are quite rightly named after Amerigo Vespucci who really discovered them, in the sense of enlightening the literate world about them. That is assuming that the Americas are not named after Richard Amerike, as some people think.
Fernapple
Level 9
Oct 14, 2024
4
Yes--and as a child, I could never understand why the "new world" was named after Amerigo!
There is also the legend of St. Brendan, as well.
@Gwen_Wanderer Yes I forgot Brendan. Did you ever read the book, The Brendan Voyage I think it was called, by Tim Severin ? I do not think that it was very historically valid, the history was just speculation, but it was a great read.
@Fernapple I have not heard of the book! When I cut back on classes, I will look for it.
Columbus didn't discover anything and did nothing heroic or significant. He got lost while seeking riches, stumbled upon islands that were already inhabited, stole gold from those same people, and much worse. He isn't worthy of a holiday or anything else.
Charles1971
Level 7
Oct 14, 2024
4
Yup.
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