Columbus's acheivement

Columbus's fleet departs for its historic trip

It is Columbus Day. Some of the common talking points around it strike me as being rather puerile. For example, we have the 'stolen land' bit, and the strange 'Columbus didn't really discover it because other people were already there' point. 

As for the first, while the Indians undoubtably got ravaged in their encounter with Europeans, throughout history populations have sloshed back and forth taking and losing land. In fact, prior to the arrival of the Europeans the Indian tribes had been long engaged in chronic warfare with each other, with their areas of control shifting as their fortunes ebbed and flowed. If you had the misfortune of being a captive atop an Aztec pyramid you were already being ravaged.

As for the 'Columbus didn't really discover it' snark, Columbus isn't only, or even principally, known for being the first European to step foot on the soils of the Americas. We know other Europeans had travelled that far already. Rather, his voyage led to something theirs did not, the meaningful connection of the two hemispheres. As I've said in an earlier Columbus Day post, "The world changed from an academic's sphere to a physical globe on which the oceans were routes to all its lands." That is the importance of his achievement. 

His discovery was world altering. We have a term for its consequence -- the Columbian Exchange. Columbus's discovery led to the opening of transatlantic trade, and with that plants, animals, diseases, and people passed from one hemisphere to the other. Wheat, corn, potatoes, rice, barley, cattle, pigs, and horses all crossed the Atlantic to the benefit of all. Unfortunately, diseases did as well, much to the detriment of the Amerindians. That transfer greatly impacted both sides of the Atlantic. It shaped the world we live in today, and that is the legacy of Columbus's voyages and the true reason he is to be remembered. 

       

Columbus and Hudson

The Inspiration of Christopher Columbus by Jose Obregon

This is a reposting of an earlier Columbus Day post

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When talking about Columbus Day, and Christopher Columbus in general, many people try to deride his accomplishments with the rejoinder, which they think is clever, that Columbus didn't discover the Americas because the Amer-Indians had found it long ago. That's all good, well and mundanely obvious, but Columbus' feat was never that he was the first man to step foot on the soil of the Americas. 

In fact, Columbus was looking for a trading route to the Spice Islands (the Moluccas of Indonesia). He was to fail at that, the Portuguese pushing down Africa to round the Cape were the winners in that race. However his explorations were ultimately far more important than rounding the Cape because his voyages led to the connection of the two hemispheres. The world changed from an academic's sphere to a physical globe on which the oceans were routes to all its lands.

Consider this short passage from the Bill of Rights' article Henry Hudson and Exploration:  

In early July, the Halve Maen reached Newfoundland, where Hudson and his crew encountered a French fishing fleet hauling in cod. The sailors aboard the Dutch ship caught and salted dozens of cod for their journey, and Hudson eventually plied the officers of another French vessel for information about the coast. The Halve Maen also made contact with Native Americans in or near Nova Scotia; Hudson traded knives, kettles, clothing, and beads for beaver skins and other furs. He heard tales of gold and silver, and possibly the Northwest Passage. However, because his men feared the Native Americans had stolen items from the ship, they went ashore and raided the native village. It was an ominous start to Hudson’s relationship with the indigenous people of North America. 

Hudson's voyage was in 1609, or just a little over 100 years after Columbus first set out to sail to Asia and already even French fisherman were making the journey. The Old and New Worlds were becoming entangled through commerce, trade and colonization. The process was to be a difficult one -- with errors and cruelty on both sides as well as winners and losers. 

Still the World is a richer place because of Columbus' accidental discovery of a wider world as he searched for a quicker trade route to the Spice Islands. That is the legacy of his travels, and it is of such consequence that it is well worth remembering.  

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Edited to add: The educated of Columbus's day knew the circumference of the Earth and so Columbus should have known China was too far away to reach sailing west. It's a common belief that he considerably miscalculated the actual size of the Earth and so China was in reach.

However, an idea gaining currency is that Columbus expected to find land to the west. In attempting to work their way down Africa there was a spot where ships had to sail far to the west before heading south and then east to continue down the coast. It is quite possible that some of those ships went west enough to encounter Brazil. The Portuguese cod fishermen Hudson discovered may also have been working the shoals off of Newfoundland even prior to Columbus's journey. 

If there was any dockside scuttlebutt about those lands Columbus would have heard it and been aware of the fact that there was reachable land in the west. Regardless, he did think he had landed on islands off the coast of the Asian mainland.    

 

Reflections on Columbus Day

Christopher Columbus

As soon as I arrived in the Indies, in the first island which I found, I took some of the natives by force, in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts. And so it was that they soon understood us, and we them, either by speech or by signs, and they have been very serviceable. - Christopher Columbus

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Knowledge is not simply another commodity. On the contrary. Knowledge is never used up. It increases by diffusion and grows by dispersion. - Daniel J. Boorstin

Columbus Day

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One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. - André Gide