Christoforo was round was common knowledge among the learned citizenry. However, no one had Columbo … dared to cross the horizon past the Azores. … the first American Portuguese navigators preferred to go down the coast of western Africa to seek an alternate By Gerardo Perrotta route to the east, rarely going over thirty days without making landfall. But Christopher Columbus dared popular wisdom, made his calculations for time, distance and provisions and on August 2, 1492, Palos became the Cape Canaveral of Europe. From there, he launched the three caravels, the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, into the vast uncharted “tenebrous” ocean, as the Atlantic was known at that time. Once he crossed the then known horizon, he Prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus, steered into history. The pioneering voyage the western hemisphere was populated by reached the first phase, seventy days later, indigenous people ranging in cultures from when he recorded that on October 12, 1492, he aborigines to advanced civilizations. While the met the Tainos of Hispaniola. Mayans, the Aztecs, and the Incas were dominant cultures in the central and southern hemisphere, the vast majority were tribal communities dispersed throughout the continent in varying stages of societal organization and names. The landing of Christopher Columbus in Hispaniola set in motion a new trajectory that changed the lives and customs in unimaginable ways, not only for the natives but also for the rest of the world, leading ultimately to the present day countries known collectively as the Americas and its people as Americans. In the old world, the rise of the Ottoman Turks in the middle East and North Africa at the end of the Middle Ages and the defeat of the Moors at Granada at the beginning of the Columbus before Queen Isabella I Renaissance, circumscribed a reality which Painting by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, 1843 forced western Europeans to seek alternative The second phase was concluded upon his routes to the goods and services they had return to Spain on March 15, 1493, when he become accustomed to in trading with the produced evidence of his audacious journey, Near and Far East. Additionally, the high proving the doubters wrong and the timid taxes which suffocated commerce in the believers right about the shape of the earth and Venetian-controlled eastern Mediterranean Sea where he had been. His navigational and lanes and the Arab-controlled land routes managerial skills blazed a trail of what would spurred interest to find new, less costly soon become a liberating journey for many solutions to reach existing markets. from the old world and their descendants in Christopher Columbus propelled the the new. monumental shift westward with personal courage, skills, and perseverance; these He had left his native Genova with his characteristics seeded the new landscape and parents. They moved to Portugal where he sprang America to life. honed his skills working as a mariner, sailing from the coast of western Africa to Southern Columbus’ Courage England. In time he became a naturalized Spaniard, and as a skilled navigator he came to Christopher Columbus’ courage tested the the conviction that he could reach the east by limits of knowledge of his time. That the earth going west. His keen observation of the “Westerlies” provided reassurance that his the westward movement spawn the spirit of envisioned voyage would be a round trip. America. To this end, there has to be an Additionally, the ability to assemble and appreciation in considering Columbus as the convince a diverse crew to go with him where quintessential proto-American. no one had been before and to keep accurate logs of his voyage, attests to the managerial abilities that provided a template for his ______subsequent trips and for others who followed. But while he always thought he had Facts of Interest about reached India by the back door, his contagious Christopher Columbus exploratory fervor led Portugal, France, England, and the Netherlands to compete with Unsurpassed sailor, navigator Spain to unveil the missing link of the globe, with contributions to the following colonize its land, explore the landscape, fields of knowledge: interact with the natives; ultimately this gave Biology: described new plants, cartographers details of the contours of the birds, and fish encountered during new land mass. travels Christopher Columbus’ Natural Science: expanded Perseverance greatly knowledge of astronomy, meteorology, geography Christopher Columbus’ courage and skills were matched only by his perseverance. With Social Science: introduced new confidence in his personal abilities, he sought ethnicities and began rudimentary funding from the courts of Europe. After rules regarding overseas trade several years of disheartening refusals, his leading to international law persistence paid off when the newly formed kingdom of Castile and Genoese merchants Food: introduced corn, potato, living in Seville reluctantly provided funds tomato to Europe and resources. He assumed the task with great Philately: appears on many US stamps discipline. His resolve rewarded him on the th th high seas when no land had been sighted for commemorating his 400 and 500 days and the crew, close to mutiny, was ready anniversary to abandon the dream. His steadfastness ______allowed “Tierra” to replace “Eureka” as the cry of success. So while modern polemicists try to obscure Christopher Columbus’ achievements by blaming him for the unfortunate fate of the indigenous, now more than ever, conventional Replicas of the three caravels wisdom must prevail to preserve in the annals reenacting Columbus’ feat of history not only Columbus’ rightful standing but also the natives’ authentic Most noteworthy, however, is the fact that cultural history and heritage as one of the India’s back door became a window of greatest feats and encounters of humankind. opportunity that elevated the western Columbus’ standing does not need redeeming, hemisphere to the attention of the old world, revision, or glossing any more than Einstein making it a huge portal for a new citizenry. It would for the misuse of atomic energy by is clear that the natives were the first others or Neil Armstrong for setting foot on the inhabitants. But they were not Americans, yet. moon unleashing the next chapter of Only when rugged individuals, passionate humanity’s voyage. Sooner or later the lands explorers, and courageous pioneers mingled would have been discovered and the ensuing and mangled with the natives’ talents and the profound effect could not be predicted. land’s treasures did the drama and tragedies of Similarly, to place Leif Ericson on a par with 2 Columbus is a bit disingenuous. Ericson may have reached the northern part of the western hemisphere by drifting on the currents of nature, but Columbus rode the current of history by directing his own course for a purpose.

It is important to note that sixteen years after Independence Day, the colonies of the United States of America, the first to cut the strings with the old world and who considered calling the nation “Columbia,” celebrated the 300th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival to commemorate the singular act of bravery that led to the development of the Americas. This commemoration occurs every Seville Cathedral; Columbus' tomb. The remains year, and it occurs with great fanfare at each are borne by statues of kings representing the subsequent centennial. Many cities bear his kingdoms of Castile, Leon, Aragon, and Navarre. name, display his statues, and rightly celebrate October 12, not so much as a day of discovery but as the day that America was conceived and that Christopher Columbus was indisputably first to set its stage.

Reprint ed from La Voce Italiana, August, 2009, pp. 6 & 7 http://www.uiscincinnati.org/lavoce/issues -of-la-voce/ LaVoce 2009, Vol. X, Issue 2

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