Engraving of Christopher Columbus by Johann Theodor de Bry, 1595 |
Today is Columbus Day, sort of.
Traditionally, Columbus Day was celebrated on October 12th, the day
Christopher Columbus first set foot in the New World, even though he believed
to his dying day that he had discovered a westward route from Europe to India. (Which,
by the way, is the reason why Native Americans are wrongly called Indians.)
Anyway, because we Americans so love our 3-day weekends, we now shift Columbus
Day around to provide us with one each year.
Graphite and watercolor painting of "Land Discovered by Columbus" by JMW Turner, circa 1830-02 |
Once upon a time it was believed
Columbus “discovered” America. That’s what we were taught in school. Now we
know there’s documented evidence that the Vikings preceded him by about 500
years. In addition, there’s circumstantial evidence that Portuguese and English
fishing vessels crossed the Atlantic back in the 1300s.
"Landing of Columbus" by John Vanderlyn, commissioned by Congress for the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in 1836 |
Also, did you know that Columbus never
set foot on mainland North America? He never made it past the Bahamas. No one
knows for sure exactly where he first landed. He called the place San Salvador.
Historians later identified it as Watling Island, but some scholars suggest he
actually landed on Samana Cay. On His second voyage he landed near Dominca in
the Lesser Antilles, his third landing was Trinidad, and his final voyage
landed him on Martinique. (source: "Columbus,
Christopher." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.)
Portrait of a man said to be Christopher Columbus by Sabastiano del Piombo, 1519 |
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