Columbus Day

[Valvalis]

So, I was thinking it would be fun to post this on Leif Eiriksson day ...in the countries where it's celebrated, Columbus Day is coming up this Monday, October 11th. It's been an official holiday for quite a while now, with many government offices, schools, and businesses being closed in honor of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas in early October 1492. However, there has been a lot of controversy over whether or not it is appropriate for this event to be celebrated as a holiday.

For one thing, the idea that Columbus "discovered" America before anyone else has long been debunked; not only were there people living there already when he arrived, but Leif Eiriksson and his sailing party have been proven to have made landfall in northeastern Canada about 500 years before Columbus, and reports abound that a few explorers from other countries may have visited even earlier.

For another thing, Columbus's arrival led to the widespread decimation of the indigenous American populations by European countries during the Age of Exploration, and many valuable natural areas of the American continents have been depleted as a result of European colonization--something that might not have happened, or might have happened more slowly, if the indigenous peoples, who often had a very close spiritual relationship with nature, had been allowed to remain there.

However, a lot of positive things in our society that have come from the Americas as we know them today might not have ever been discovered if Europe and other countries had never colonized this territory either. Many of the larger cities in Europe, for example, were suffering from severe overpopulation issues at the time, and due to their lack of advanced medical research, outbreaks of serious diseases happened constantly, making life unpleasant for the people living there. Natural resources were also an issue for many of these people, and the inclusion of America's vast resources into the global economy helped to enrich the lives of many people from those areas. In addition, many modern-day cures for diseases have been derived from rare species of organisms in the South American rainforests, cures which might otherwise never have been made available to ailing people throughout the world.

So, my big question here is: do you think it's a good idea for Columbus Day to be celebrated as a holiday, or should it not be, and why? I'll withhold my own thoughts until later, but I am interested to hear what everyone else's viewpoints are Thanks, and no spam please ^^

 

[Demon]

So, my big question here is: do you think it's a good idea for Columbus Day to be celebrated as a holiday, or should it not be?

Well, one doesn't always have to invent the wheel to be able to take credit for something. Columbus' "discovery" was the most notable one in my opinion.

I think the holiday only makes sense. The problem to me comes when people start saying "Columbus discovered America".

 

[CassinoChips]

The holiday is so ridiculous, and just goes to show how little Americans in general know about our own history, and just go along with whatever heroification stories they hear. Columbus never set foot on any soil that would at any point become American territory. And what it really boils down to is that Columbus was the first explorer to return to Europe after making landfall in the Americas after the introduction of the printing press. Thus, word was able to spread more quickly and interest grew quickly. Not to mention to horrible atrocities in which Columbus participated, and would set the precedent for.

So yeah, the fact that we celebrate the "achievements" of Columbus is asinine, but hey, I'm not complaining about a day off.

 

[Valvalis]

And what it really boils down to is that Columbus was the first explorer to return to Europe after making landfall in the Americas after the introduction of the printing press. Thus, word was able to spread more quickly and interest grew quickly.

That's a good point. Also, I think those who had made landfall previously, such as Leif Eiriksson's group, were acting on behalf of nations/countries who may have not had the resources at the time to make a large-scale voyage there in the same way places like Spain and England did around the 15th and 16th centuries. Or, they may also have been having internal problems which needed more attention at the time.

Honestly, I don't think who "discovered" it first for the rest of the world was as important as what the implications were of each "discovery." So if that's the intention behind the holiday, then I can understand that; Columbus's exploits have certainly benefited a lot more people than those of Leif Eiriksson. Quite a few Norse people from Greenland actually made voyages back and forth to the "New World" around the 11th century, but Norway did not take a particularly large interest in settling the land (I think it was partly due to the difficulty in getting there), so though that's technically earlier, it didn't have as great of an impact on the world as a whole.

...As far as we know, anyway. There is actually a theory that Columbus may have known about the Americas before he went there, because in 1477 he traveled to Iceland, another Norse country; and as many Greenlanders had originated in Iceland and had family there, it is very likely that Icelanders already had heard news of America at the time Columbus arrived in Iceland, and in turn he and/or his translators would have heard it. So, if that's the case, then I guess it would just be a question of whether to blame the original discoverers, for giving others the knowledge that a gold mine of resources lay across the sea; or to blame those who were the first to be able/willing to use the knowledge in an exploitative way.

Whether Columbus knew or not though, the implications are the same: IMO he was responsible for enough death and destruction that he does not deserve to have a holiday. He certainly wasn't alone in the crime, obviously; I think everyone who participated in it with him should also be grouped in there, but he's the one who happened to be made into the figurehead for it, so that's the reason I'm singling him out here; after all, he couldn't have done it all by himself. However, I do think that what he did should be remembered by everyone now and who will follow after us, so that we may never live by his example and the examples of all those who indulged in the thievery of the livelihood of others at that time. Perhaps a Native American remembrance day would be more appropriate, so that we can still get a day off , but certainly not anything that actually celebrates what Columbus was responsible for. And unfortunately, I don't know whether Columbus Day will ever be stricken from our calendars, because it's one of those holidays that's just sort of been ingrained into society and that a lot of people just overlook as another vacation day, without really thinking about or caring about where it came from. So I don't know whether the government will ever take the time to do anything about it, because many have already protested it to no avail, and it really is a shame because it's still offensive to a great deal of people.

 

[CassinoChips]

Perhaps a Native American remembrance day would be more appropriate, so that we can still get a day off ,

My aunt works for a tribal health center in Western Washington, and they have today off in remembrance of Chief Leschi.

 

[coffeecup]

Yes, Columbus Day. I remember celebrating this in early elementary school by drawing the Mayflower or something and him shaking hands with the Native Americans and them showing him to plant corn...? It was the day when Columbus discovered the great land that is to become the USA.

...fast forward many years post-primary education.

Yes, Columbus Day. Upon his arrival he pillaged and murdered the foreign people for gold. Having landed first in the southern islands, he couldn't find enough to satisfy his investors at home so he decided to bring a few hundred natives back to Europe to be sold as slaves. He would return with additional men and weapons to contribute to what would soon become the greatest genocide seen in our history.

Don't you just love American history.