The grave of Columbus
The Ship of Columbus rebuilded - "Santa Maria"
A box with the remains of Columbus
A zinc-box with the bones of Christophers brother Diego
The probable birthplace of Columbus in Genua.
Posted on 05/20/2006 7:43:29 AM PDT by Borges
MADRID (AFP) - Spain is due to mark the 500th anniversary of the death of explorer Christopher Columbus, whose name is as divisive today as it was awe inspiring centuries ago.
The argument over whether Columbus and his fellow travellers were a source for good or wealth-crazed egotists who ran roughshod over native American culture has fuelled interest in the vast array of celebratory events.
The sailor's descendants have even weighed into the debate, mounting a spirited defence of the man who "discovered" a new continent but died almost forgotten in the northern city of Valladolid on May 20, 1506.
Valladolid will host an open-air performance of "The Great Navigator", a cantata composed by Blas Emilio Atehortua from Colombia, the country which bears the explorer's name.
The southern city of Huelva will mark the anniversary Saturday at La Rabida monastery, where in 1485 Fransciscan monks received an explorer seeking funds for a project to reach the Indies by sailing westwards.
Seven years later, emboldened by his success in enlisting the help of Spain's Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela, Columbus visited the monastery again before setting sail.
After two months aboard his flag ship, the Santa Maria, Columbus and his fellow travellers disembarked in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, so "discovering" the New World they thought was Asia.
Three more voyages would follow but two years after the last one Columbus lay dead, rich but ignored by his contemporaries.
Five centuries on, the debate over Columbus' legacy has refused to die down and a book recently published in Spain dismisses him as an "impostor".
Little in the way of celebration is expected in the United States to remember the "Admiral of the Ocean Sea", who died at 55, bitter and resentful of what he saw as a lack of recognition by the Spanish crown, on whose account he had criss-crossed the globe.
And the anniversary is set to pass off amid indifference in Genoa, the Italian city which most historians say was his birthplace.
That has not pleased his 15th generation of descendants.
Cristobal Colon de Carvajal, the Duke of Veragua, complained recently that modern society "denigrates" his famous ancestor by believing in the "Black Legend" of colonial cruelty, "the bad side" of the Conquistadors who claim to have discovered the New World.
"For the man in the street in England, Nelson is an untouchable national hero," the Duke protested.
In Columbus' defence, Valladolid's Pimentel Palace has been hosting an exhibition of manuscripts, books and engravings laying out the scientific discoveries which Columbus's ocean voyages produced.
The exhibition also focuses on the "revolutionary" influence of his seafaring exploits on medecine, pharmacology, botany and zoology.
Publishers have also got in on the act by issuing a new edition of "Life of the Admiral", a tome written by Columbus' son Hernando and prefaced by British author Hugh Thomas.
The commemorations in Valladolid will not stop on Saturday. The city will stage another concert on May 27, this one bringing together singers from both sides of the Atlantic, including Mexican-born Julieta Venegas and Argentina's Andres Calamaro.
Meanwhile an international team of scientists will continue to try to solve another debate over Columbus -- who his true heirs are.
Experts from France, Italy and Spain are comparing DNA samples from the explorer's elder son, Hernando, whose remains lie in Seville cathedral, with those of the hundreds of people who believe they are Colombus's descendants.
Well, Leif "the Lucky" Erikson has the prior discovery claim.
What's to "defend".
The man was a hero of western civilization.
but this would put left-wing extremist, cultural anthropologists out of a job... lmao
The grave of Columbus
The Ship of Columbus rebuilded - "Santa Maria"
A box with the remains of Columbus
A zinc-box with the bones of Christophers brother Diego
The probable birthplace of Columbus in Genua.
"For nine days I was as one lost, without any hope of life. eyes never
beheld the sea so high, angery,and covered with foam. The wind not
only prevented our progress, but offered no opportunity to run
behind any headland for shelter; hence we were forced to keep out in
this bloody ocean, seething like a pot on a hot fire. Never did the sky
look moe terrible;for one whole day and night it blazed like a furnance,
and the lightening broke forth with such violence that each time
I wondered if it had carried off my spars and sails; the flashes came
with such fury and frightfulness that we all thought that the ships
would be blasted. All this time the water never ceased to fall from the sky;
I do not say it rained, for it was like another deluge. The men
were so worn out they longed for death to end their dreadful
suffering."
--- Christopher Columbus' journal, December 5, 1502.
Columbus is from a time when Spain had B@LLS!
Didn't kill enough Skraelings* to make it into the history books for a long time.
* The Vikings of olde called the natives that the found in Newfoundland "Skraelings."
And of course, the recent archaeological evidence shows that white europeans where in north america over 20,000 years ago. Even longer than the illegal aliens ancestors..therefore we white folk are the real native americans.
Please FReepmail me if you'd like to be added to or removed from the KofC ping list.
Best bet is to admit that Columbus gets credit for discovering America for the Europeans, Asians and Africans, and for discovering Europe, Asia and Africa for the Americans.
Makes him the discoverer of 4 continents and I don't think you can beat that.
If Leif forgot to tell anybody about it, then how come we know his name in this connection? The records of his doings were left, and even disseminated, but not too widely. His literary agent was none too good, that's all.
Same with Gregoire Mendel ~ he didn't publish!
Another guy came up with what amounts to the Quark Theory back in the 1700s. However, it didn't explain chemistry, and it took another 200 years for someone else to come up with the same theory. By that time we knew what it meant (if not all the details).
We don't count Leif any more than we count those ancient North Africans.
What he did have was a highly developed society behind him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.