(Rehashing a post I wrote in 2009):
517 519 years ago, Christopher Columbus washed up on the shores of the New World. This was bad news for the indigenous people, no doubt. But, I still don’t mind commemorating the day — as a white male of European descent, I’m a direct beneficiary, so I guess I don’t have a lot of credibility here.
The event was important. Not entirely good, of course; but not unmitigated evil, either. Columbus was a product of his time and place, with all of the arrogance and cruelty that entails. But, he also did something pretty bold. He sailed off the map, and the world hasn’t been the same since. Sure, Leif Erikson did it before Columbus. But, the fact is, his society was not ready to do anything about Erikson’s discovery. The Europe from which Columbus set sail was ready to start moving.
I’m biased by more than being of white, European descent. I’m a history buff, and the Age of Exploration is probably my favorite era. The idea of being able to hop on a boat and find places and civilizations you had not expected really captures my imagination. For me, it’s not just Columbus.
It’s Prince Henry the Navigator pouring resources into Portuguese expeditions south along the western African shore until Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope. It’s Da Gama reaching India. Columbus and the New World. Magellan sailing around the world. James Cook sailing everywhere. They were motivated by greed, religion, dreams of power, and a thirst for knowledge. (One of my favorite themes for this period was the Quest for Prester John, a mythical Christian ruler with great riches — this quest combined a number of the motivating forces.) Regardless of motivations and even brutal consequences, they went into the unknown as few others had been willing or able to do before them and, more importantly, they reported back in such a way as to firmly link the world together.
For me, Columbus Day isn’t the celebration of a virtuous man who brought light to a benighted world. I don’t think Columbus was that or did that. Rather, it’s commemoration of the linking together of the planet, for all the good and bad that has done.
If you are interested in that era, you might consider reading “Champlain’s Dream” by David Hackett Fischer, a biography of (spoiler alert) Samuel de Champlain and his adventures in New France. I stumbled upon it at a Border’s clearance sale, and it turned out to be a fascinating read on corners of European and North American history with which I wasn’t familiar.
Recently published: 1493 by Charles Mann — surveys the economic and biological repercussions of the “Columbian Exchange” and demonstrates the origins of globalization. I didn’t find it as gripping a read as his ‘1491’, but ‘1493’ has a different purpose. Both books are excellent!
I would recommend “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus” by Charles C. Mann, which collects new discoveries and theories about the hemisphere’s original peoples. The author argues four points: (1) there were more people in the Americas in 1492 than previously thought, (2) they arrived much earlier, (3) their civilizations were more advanced and (4) they intentionally altered the landscape through human ingenuity to a greater extent than once thought.
Looks like Charles Mann is getting a place in my reading queue.
I love it when people make reading recommendations..