Plenary Meeting Assembly

United Nations 83rd GEI~ERAL PLENARY MEETING ASSEMBLY Monday, 29 November 1982, THIRTY-SEVENTH SESSION at 3.30 p.m. Official Records • NEW YORK President: Mr. Imre HOLLAI (Hungary). covery" was a meeting of history and geography of tremendous consequences for humanity. 6. Spain's role in the discovery was decisive in the year during which the political, although not the cul AGENDA ITEM 140 tural, presence of the .Arab peoples ceased in the Iberian peninsula, a year in which stress was laid on Observance of the quincentenary of the humanism-also universal-of the European the discovery of America Renaissance. Examples of Moorish art brought by the Spanish ships survive among the Latin American 1. The PRESIDENT: I call on the representative peoples in architecture, decoration, science, poetry of Ecuador to introduce the draft resolution. and in the language itself. 7. Furthermore, it was not just a matter of a "dis 2. Mr. ALBORNOZ (Ecuador) (interpretation from covery", a word derived from Europe and maintained Spanish): I have the honour to submit for the consid by tradition, out of respect for historians and custom. eration of the General Assembly draft resolution An even more important aspect was the encounter A/37/L.36, sponsored by all the countries of the between two worlds: the new world immediately Western hemisphere as well as by Equatorial Guinea, began to make its contribution in the form of civiliza Italy, the Philippines, Portugal and Spain, 'on the tions, peoples and climate, distinctive and diffel'ent observance of the quincentenary of the discovery of products, and opportunities which opened up further America, commemorating an event which is perhaps horizons both for the Americans themselves and the the most significant in world history. The represen Europeans, and the nations of other continents. tatiVe of the Dominican Republic, which took the initiative in this matter, will also be making a statement 8. In the same'way, our peoples in the Americas, on the subject. by a gmdual revelation of their mystery and their ages of evoRution for the enlightenment of the Western 3. It can be said that, barely five centuries ago, world, brought the multiplicity of their civilizations, the fact that this pl~net was round was confirmed and such as the Aztec, the Inca and the Maya, with the American continent began to emerge in the world personalities like Montezuma and Atahualpa, the last as then known, giving rise to a complete reappraisal Inca of Quito, and the contributi.on of. the Caribbean ofvalues in the history ofmankind, which thus entered peoples, the North American peoples, the Quitus and the modern era. It can also be said that at the end of the Andean Chibchas, the Guarani and Araucanian 500 years of universal 9resence, unresolved problems Indians' and the other peoples of South America. remain among the American peoples, as proved by the But beyond the exploits of Balboa and Magellan, agenda for this session of the Assembly. there were the Philippines, before we were at last to complete the circling of the globe anc; discover the 4. The historical event referred to in the draft reso western route to China and India. lution, namely, the arrival in America of the -three Spanish caravels, under the command ofthe visiopary 9. Thus began a new stage in the history ofthe world, and determined Admiral of the High Seas Christopher one marked, it is true, by wars and injustice, but Columbus, in San Salvador in the Bahamas of today, also by achievements in law, science, art and progress, formerly known as Bajamar, was a decisive step in in search of ever more equitable ways of coexistence, evolving an overall picture of our planet. right' up to the present day, the day of international law, ofthe United Nations and ofplanetaryexploraticm. 5. On the other hand, the "discovery" in its turn 10. The spiritual traditions transmitted to the peoples represented a stage in the whole chain' ofexplorations ofAmericafrom overseas civilizations merged with the .and voyages, studies and beliefs which had taken contributions of our world to the culture and well place in oceans and countries. The world as conceived being of the human race, and we thus form part of the ; by the Babylonians and Phoenicians, the voyages ofthe . great treasure represented by the cultural and· artistic Egyptians and the Romans, and the Atlantis of the heritage of cur time, which is becoming increasingly Greeks, right up to the voyages of the brave Vikings inter~ependentand univers~l. such as the Norwegian Eric the Red, who visited North America, the mythical voyage of the Irishman 11. The adventure of Columbus's voyage had the Saint Brendan, whose name- is commemorated in so effect of determining the true form and dimensions of many places in our America, the voyages of Marco the earth. But the goal of the Admiral-a visionary Polo, the Asian migrations and the voyages between and a genius, as is shown by the fact that inspiration the Pacific and Polynesian continents: all of that cul could prevail even over the established scientific and minated in the fascinating adventure of Columbus in . ecclesiastical opinion of the time-was precisely that the unknown seas. Thus, what is known as the "dis- of reaching Asia by the western route of Europe. 1371 A/37/PV.83 1372 General Assembly-Thirty-seventh Session-Plenary Meetings Therefore, to this knightly quest of an ideal, which co-operation among the autonomous and sovereign was fervently believed in~ encouraged and supported IberC'-American peoples, with similar concern for the by the great Spanish Queen Isabel the Catholic, he gave defence of freedoms, with modern systems ofgovern the name "the Undertaking of the Indies". He there ment, respect for sovereignty and the peaceful solution fore sought the lands of the Great Khan and thus of disputes and observance of the norms of law and believed he was in the fabulous regions of China and international co-operation. Japan of which Marco Polo had spoken 230 years 16. It is therefore timely that in the General As before. It was then that America entered the pages sembly, which has as its symbol, on the flag of the of history and took its place in the progress of the United Nations, an azimuthal view of the world seen world. from the north, we should stress the concern of the 12. Columbus, that extraordinary navigator, with peoples which from the south are seeking a consolida wide experience in cartography and the maritime tion of the global development of our planet in the skills acquired in Portugal and Genoa, also carried out 500 years of its geographical consolidation by the a careful exploration of the Americas in the Carib stepping up of the North-South dialogue in which bean region, where the legendary Antilles were located. we are involved. Therefore, taking a break from the Names which are still maintained today were given torrent of confrontation, tension and condemnation by him to such places as Dominica, Santa Maria de which sometimes bedevil our debates, the peoples of Guadalupe, Santa Maria ofMontserrat, Santa Maria la the world, the peoples of. the United Natiops here, Antigua, Trinidad, which was the site of the earthly we who have undertaken in our Charter "to practice Paradise; and there were others which later changed tolerance and live together in peace with one another their names but not their significance, such as San as good neighbours" must seek unanimous support for Juan Bautista, or Puerto Rico; Hispaniola, or the the draft resolution, which, I repeat, emerged from the Dominican Republic and Haiti; Juana Island, which initiative of the delegation of the Dominican Republic today is Cuba- and which Columbus believed to be the and which highlights one ofthe major events in human peninsula ofan Asian continent; or the noble island of history, does not exclude any other voyage or dis Cipango, mentioned in Toscanelli's map; apart from covery, but is simply a cordial statement on the part of the great group of islands which Columbus called the peoples of the New World ~o the whole interna overall the Eleven Thousand Virgins. tional community of the United Nations. 13. Since that time, the Caribbean has in its turn 17. Mr. del ROSARIO CEBALLOS (Dominican been the theatre of a whole era of explorations and Republic) (interpretafion from Spanish): The Domi discoveries or of new endeavours to improve the nican Republic, part of the old Hispaniola, one of the knowledge ofourhemisphere and to succeed in opening first discoveries in America, is particularly honoured up the lands that were on the other side ofour America and grateful that its Government's idea about ob by the Pacific Ocean routes to Asia, Africa and once serving the quincentenary ofthe discovery ofAmerica again back to the Old World, Europe. should have received such a warm reception on the 14. In the United Nations we deal with current part of Spain, our mother country, all the Latin notions of international law and human rights. It is American countries, the Philippines, Italy, Portugal, therefore appropriate to recall here that gradually there Guinea, Eouatorial Guinea and other countries mem emerged from the New World new juridical and bers of the'General Assembly. philosophical notions. Columbus's first letter to the 18. It was of particular satisfaction to us to hear the Spanish kings spoke of having met peoples who lived speech of the Foreign Minister of Spain, Mr. Jose in a state of happiness because they were free and Perez Llorca, when he said, cordially disposed-notions which caused con "On 12 October the decade that will culminate in siderable surprise in what was then still the semi 1992, the date which will mark the five-hundredth feudal environment of Europe.

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