Poor Columbus.

Almost none of what we learned about Columbus back when kids in grade
school turns out to be true.

Back in the 50's and 60's, they used to teach us that Columbus
dispelled the popular notion that the world was flat. Wrong, of course.
Since the days of Aristotle nearly all educated people knew the world
was basically a sphere.

Then they taught us that Columbus "discovered America". Not true of
course, as the millions of people already living here must have somehow
"discovered" it many many thousands of years previously. To correct
this obvious error, revisionists were quick to point out that the
Vikings had discovered American hundreds of years before Columbus, but
figured that nothing of any consequnce could ever be developed there
and eventually abandoned their colonies.

They taught us that Columbus assumed he had landed in India. Nonsense
again. Northern European markets were awash in salted cod from the
banks in the western Atlantic long before Columbus sailed the ocean
blue. Seamen knew what was out there, what direction to sail to get
there, and about how far away it was.

One of the great controversies in the time of Columbus was the biblical
challenge associated with western hemisphere. The Bible mentioned
Africa and Asia, so the Church had no problem acknowledging that those
regions existed. Since the Bible did not mention the western continent,
the Church feared that a broad awareness of the western lands might
undermine the concept of Biblical infallibility (and therefore Church
authority). In a time when the Inquisition was burning, crucifying,
branding, and banishing "heretics", the Spanish monarchs and Columbus
had little choice except to disguise their voyage to the western
continent as a passage to "India."

But hats off to Columbus. He made a relatively hazardous voyage, laid
the foundation for the vast wealth of the fledgling Spanish Empire, and
was one of the better spin meisters of his day. :-)

Oh, and one final thing they got wrong about Columbus. His name. His
name wasn't really Christopher Columbus, but rather Cristobal Colon.

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...
Poor Columbus.

It's good to see you have acquiesced to the culture here; you championed a
strict on-topic rule, but now you understand that most posters are not here
to discuss boating. It seems only a short time ago I was reading that the
forum was greatly improved, and that OT topics were now at a minimum; would
you now agree with that statement?

"John Wentworth" wrote in message
. ..

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...
Poor Columbus.

It's good to see you have acquiesced to the culture here; you championed a
strict on-topic rule, but now you understand that most posters are not
here to discuss boating. It seems only a short time ago I was reading that
the forum was greatly improved, and that OT topics were now at a minimum;
would you now agree with that statement?


I dunno, if memory serves, the one thing Columbus was famous for was a boat
ride across the pond. Doesn't seem all that off topic to me.

John Wentworth wrote:
"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...
Poor Columbus.

It's good to see you have acquiesced to the culture here; you championed a
strict on-topic rule, but now you understand that most posters are not here
to discuss boating. It seems only a short time ago I was reading that the
forum was greatly improved, and that OT topics were now at a minimum; would
you now agree with that statement?

Maybe my standards are more lax than yours, but I consider a thread
about Columbus or any other mariner of historic importance to be a
relevant topic in a boating NG.

Chuck Gould wrote:
Poor Columbus.

Almost none of what we learned about Columbus back when kids in grade
school turns out to be true.

Fortunately, there are many books that contain factual information.

Oh, and one final thing they got wrong about Columbus. His name. His
name wasn't really Christopher Columbus, but rather Cristobal Colon.

His name was Cristoforo Colombo, and he was born in the Republic of
Genoa.

In "Christopher Columbus," Univ. of Okla. Press (1987), pp. 10-11,
Gianni Granzotto lists the following information from documents written
by contemporaries of Columbus:

1. Pietro Martire d'Angera (Peter Martyr) was the earliest of
Columbus's chroniclers and was in Barcelona when Columbus returned from
his first voyage. In his letter of May 14, 1493, addressed to Giovanni
Borromeo, he referred to Columbus as Ligurian ["vir Ligur"], Liguria
being the Region where Genoa is located.
2. A reference, dated 1492 by a court scribe Galindez, referred to
Columbus as "Cristóbal Colón, genovés."
3. In "History of the Catholic Kings," Andrés Bernaldez wrote:
"Columbus was a man who came from the land of Genoa."
4. In "General and Natural History of the Indies," Bartolomé de Las
Casas asserted his "Genoese nationality";
5. In a book of the same title, Gonzalo de Fernández de Oviedo wrote
that Columbus was "originating from the province of Liguria."
6. Antonio Gallo, Agostino Giustiniani and Bartolomeo Serraga wrote
that Columbus was Genoese.

Samuel Eliot Morison, in his book "Christopher Columbus: Admiral of the
Ocean Sea," notes that many existing legal documents demonstrate the
Genoese origin of Columbus, his father Domenico, and his brothers
Bartolomeo and Giacomo (Diego). These documents, written in Latin by
notaries, were legally valid in Genoese courts. When notaries died,
their documents were turned over to the archives of the Republic of
Genoa. The documents, uncovered in the 19th century when Italian
historians examined the Genoese archives, form part of the "Raccolta
Colombiana." On page 14, Morison writes:

Besides these documents from which we may glean facts about
Christopher's early life, there are others which identify the
Discoverer as the son of Domenico the wool weaver, beyond the
possibility of doubt. For instance, Domenico had a brother Antonio,
like him a respectable member of the lower middle class in Genoa.
Antonio had three sons: Matteo, Amigeto and Giovanni, who was generally
known as Giannetto (the Genoese equivalent of "Johnny"). Giannetto,
like Christopher, gave up a humdrum occupation to follow the sea. In
1496 the three brothers met in a notary's office at Genoa and agreed
that Johnny should go to Spain and seek out his first cousin "Don
Cristoforo de Colombo, Admiral of the King of Spain," each contributing
one third of the traveling expenses. This quest for a job was highly
successful. The Admiral gave Johnny command of a caravel on the Third
Voyage to America, and entrusted him with confidential matters as
well.

The biography written by Columbus's son Fernando, "Historie del S. D.
Fernando Colombo; nelle quali s'ha particolare, & vera relatione della
vita, & de fatti dell'Ammiraglio D. Cristoforo Colombo, suo pad Et
dello scoprimento ch'egli fece dell'Indie Occidentali, dette Mondo
Nuovo" [English translation: "The life of the Admiral Christopher
Columbus by his son Ferdinand," translated by Benjamin Keen, Greenwood
Press (1978)] is available, in Italian, at:

http://www.liberliber.it/biblioteca/c/colombo_fernando/

At the top of page 4 of Keen's translation, Fernando listed Nervi,
Cugureo, Bugiasco, Savona, Genoa and Piacenza as possible places of
origin. He also stated: "Colombo ... was really the name of his
ancestors. But he changed it in order to make it conform to the
language of the country in which he came to reside and raise a new
estate." (Colom in Portugal and Colón in Castile).

The publication of "Historie" provides irrefutable, indirect evidence
about the Genoese origin of the Discoverer. Fernando's manuscript was
eventually inherited by his nephew Luis, the playboy grandson of the
Discoverer. Luis was always strapped for money and sold the manuscript
to Baliano de Fornari, "a wealthy and public-spirited Genoese
physician". On page xv, Keen wrote: "In the depth of winter the aged
Fornari set out for Venice, the publishing center of Italy, to
supervise the translation and publication of the book."

On page xxiv, the April 25, 1571 dedication by Giuseppe Moleto states:
"Your Lordship [Fornari], then, being an honorable and generous
gentleman, desiring to make immortal the memory of this great man,
heedless of your Lordship's seventy years, of the season of the year,
and of the length of the journey, came from Genoa to Venice with the
aim of publishing the aforementioned book ... that the exploits of this
eminent man, the true glory of Italy and especially of your Lordship's
native city, might be made known."

DR