Do n’t think everything you ascertain in elementary schooltime . Our rosebush - discolor image of Christopher Columbus , dare discoverer of America , is largely based on Washington Irving ’s 1828 life history , " A account of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus , " much ofwhich was invented . The real history of Columbus is far more complicated , controversial — and interesting .
Let ’s dispel some of the most permeating myths about the divisive material body of Christopher Columbus , starting with how masses see the public in the 15th century .
1. Columbus Set Out to Prove the World Was Round
perverse to what Irving save in his biography , Columbus was not a lone geographic champion beleaguer by a bunch of flat - Earthers . The fact that Earth is round was well - base in fifteenth - century scientific circles . What was still unnamed was the size of it of the major planet .
Columbus ’s gamble was that the Earth was really small . He calculated that the aloofness from Spain to Japan , sail West , was only 2,400 mi . In fact , it ’s closer to 11,000 milesand there are two continents in the way . Not only was Columbus wildly faulty about the circumference of the Earth , buthe thought it was pear - shapedinstead of a vault of heaven .
2. Columbus Was Italian
This is a thin-skinned issue , since Italian - Americans are some of Columbus ’s greatest supporters and defenders . But if we ’re snuff it to be historically precise , Columbus could n’t have been Italian , because Italy was n’t a affair until 1861 .
Columbus was born in Genoa , a interface city in the northern region of Liguria in innovative - twenty-four hour period Italy . But the Kingdom of Italy was n’t unified until 1861 , more than 350 years after Columbus sailed to America . In Columbus ’s day , Genoa was an sovereign republicwith its own nomenclature and currency . Complicating matters was that Columbus give Genoa early and made his name in Portugal and Spain .
Italian - Americanslatched on to Columbus in the late 19th centuryto combat virulent secernment against Italian immigrant . Italian - American communities in city like San Francisco began hold annualColumbus Dayparades to celebrate an American hero with Italian heritage , and to promote Italian part to American fellowship and culture .
3. Columbus Discovered America
Ask any random first - grader , " Who discovered America ? " and they ’ll proudly tell you it was Christopher Columbus . Heck , require most 50 - year - old and they ’ll give the same answer . But there are several serious problems with that claim .
Even if we ignore the fact that million of indigenous citizenry had lived in the land now known as North America for more than 10,000 years beforeColumbus " discovered " it , Columbus was still not the first European to make landfall in the New World . historian and archeologist agree thatVikingexplorers and possibly Leif Erikson himself established colony along the eastern coast of Canadaas early as the 10th century .
But even if you ignore both the indigenous subject and the Viking claims , you ’re still stuck with the fact thatColumbus never arrange human foot in North America . Columbus ’s first expedition landed on a small island in the Bahamas Oct. 12 , 1492 . Subsequent dispatch came ashore in Cuba , Jamaica and Hispaniola , among other islands . While these island are most certainly part of " the Americas , " none of Columbus ’s expeditions found what most Americans would take " America . "
4. Columbus’s Ships Were the Niña, Pinta and the Santa Maria
Well , this one is only half false . Columbus and his work party may have called the three ships the Niña , Pinta and the Santa Maria , but those were probably just nickname .
TheNiña was not the ship ’s prescribed name . The small-scale caravel - fashion watercraft was in the beginning called the Santa Clara , but dubbed the Niña ( " missy " in Spanish ) by the boater in homage to the ship ’s owner , Juan Niño . No one knows what the original name of the Pinta was , but some historians speculate that nickname was unretentive forla pintadaor " the paint lady , " a possible cite to a woman of the street .
For the Santa Maria , one story is that it was a name given by Columbus to a ship originally called la Gallega or Santa Gallega because its possessor was from the Spanish region of Galicia . The more colorful explanationis that the " saintly " name is another nod to a favored prostitute constitute Maria Galante .
5. Columbus Thought He Had Discovered a New Continent
Nope . Columbus had no idea that he had accidentally come up the border of two massive continents equate most 40 percent of the humankind ’s total land mass . Instead , he died convinced that he had discovered a Western sailing route to Asia or the " East Indies . " That ’s why he call off the local autochthonic tribes " Indians , " of class .
or else of thinking that he had discovered some truly unknown " New World , " Columbus consider that he had merely bring on some Asiatic island that had n’t been described byMarco Polo . Incredibly , Columbus camethis closeto being the first European in South America , but hemistook the coast of Venezuela for mainland Chinaand was n’t interested in pursuing it further .
6. Columbus Was a Genocidal Murderer
In recent tenner , Columbus has been vilified by critic who blame him for the eventual deaths of billion of native people who contract European diseases or fall to the steel of conquistadors and colonists . While that ’s a lot of death to place on the shoulders of one humanity , Columbus ’s verbatim interaction with the Taíno native on Hispaniola were also disastrous .
It ’s estimated that 300,000 Taíno live on Hispaniola in 1492 . Just 16 years later , that number had dwindled to 60,000 . By 1548,only 500 remained , according to Columbus biographer Laurence Bergreen . As many as 50,000 are believed to have committed mass suicide rather than to live under Spanish rule .
Columbus ’s vehement critic label him a murderer who willfully perpetrate genocide . Kris Lane , a historian of colonial Latin America , disagrees . Lane recognise Columbus ’s personal crimes , which include rounding up and selling aboriginal as slaves , and working some Taíno to death in gold mines . But he does n’t believe that Columbus was engrossed on wiping the Indians out , even if that was the termination .
" Was Columbus an active protector of Native Americans?“wrote Lane in the Washington Post . " No . Did he bid to winnow out them ? No . Did genocide directly result from his fiat and his family ’s commercial-grade aims ? Yes . "
7. Columbus Was a Respected and Beloved Leader
It was n’t just American Indians who suffer under Columbus . Even if we include the caveat that he was " a valet of his time , " it ’s voiceless to send away the evidence that he was a tyrannical and even cruel drawing card who often inflict his will on his Spanish topic through fierceness and fear tactics .
In " Columbus : The Four Voyages , " author Lawrence Bergreen published firsthand accounts ofColumbus ’s tyrannous methodsas the drawing card of the Spanish village on Hispaniola . He was tender of public beatings and whippings , cutting out a woman ’s spit for " speaking badly " of Columbus and his brothers , hanging other Spaniards for stealing bread , and regulate reprehensible lashings for offense as subaltern as not properly stockpile Columbus ’s pantry .
When King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella sent an ship’s officer of the Spanish cap to help Columbus , the human being come up a dependency devolve into uprising and bedlam . When Columbus refused to trace the police officer ’s orders , Columbus was catch andsent back to Spain in shackles .
