European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 13, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Uthus perspective at least the Royal copters were empty. A it was As if a Polar explorer had tried to interest Lincoln in an expedition to Antarctica about the time of the Battle of Gettysburg a Samuel Morison wrote in his 1942 biography of Columbus. Although her husband thought of Columbus As Little More than a a pauper Pilot promising Rich Isabella w As sympathetic to the Brash italian. As the moorish stronghold of Granada fell in late 1491, the Queen summoned Columbus to the court having first provided him with Money for new clothes and a mule. Four months later the monarchs signed an agreement often translated As a the capitulation a authorizing three ships and provisions and giving in to Columbus demands to titles and riches should the voyage succeed. According to biographer John Stewart Collis the monarchs were using simple logic if Columbus were mistaken it matter a what promises and agreements had been made with him since he would return a discredited dupe if he returned at All while if he were right then surely he would be entitled to grandiose titles and the expeditions Atlantic crossing has been much romanticized Over the centuries but in fact the 33-Day trip was a storm less uneventful affair. A member of the Pinta s Crew Rodrigo Bermajo sighted land at about 10 . On oct. 11 and Columbus. Accompanied by the captains of the other ships went ashore at Sunrise. The exact site argued even today by historians was Clear in Columbus mind. This was the indies. Chipang and Cathay the grand Khan and immeasurable wealth must be just around some Corner. It was a belief Columbus refused to give up All evidence to the contrary throughout his return to Spain the following year through three additional voyages and until his death in 1506. During one round of Island hopping he went so far As to make his men swear an oath that Cuba was in fact the Chipang of Polo a travels. If the Young Columbus a part time pirate blaster beggar and supplicant to the varied crowns of Europe a can somehow be found worthy of the spot history has reserved for him. Governor Columbus cannot. Driven by his Promise to return Quot mountains of Gold to his sponsors by his unquenchable need to be right whatever the Cost Columbus embarked on such a vigorous Campaign of murder rape and plunder in the discovered islands that he was returned Home from his third voyage in chains. Having convinced himself that his discovery was a Western route to China Columbus self delusion could allow any excess. On his return to Spain in 1493, Columbus claimed for himself the pension promised to the one who spotted land first leaving an embittered Seaman Berni Ajo to emigrate to Morocco and convert to islam. Back in the islands Columbus taxed the natives so heavily that they were forced to abandon fishing to pan the Rivers for Gold. Most eventually lied to the mountains where they were hunted Down with killer bloodhounds. Those that survived the dogs were hanged. Columbus Ever the emperor in new clothes told visitors the Gallows were actually crucifixes raised to gods glory. Remarkably skilled As a Mariner Columbus was a disaster on land. He drove his own men to insurrection then hanged or beheaded dissenters with the same abandon he showed in disciplining the natives. Columbus efforts to produce a Fortune that never really existed caused the deaths of As Many As 500,000 islanders. Records show that Only out native Ever converted to christianity. In Spain it became something of a standing joke that Columbus ships always returned with quantities of a Gold in bars Quot a native slaves jailed in the ships holds. This pitiful performance As colonial administrator. Coupled with a protracted lawsuit with the Crown by his heirs tarnished Columbus reputation and helped obscure his maritime accomplishments. His death went Little noticed. In the years that followed other explorers would actually reach the indies by sailing West and Columbus much sought mountains of Gold would be found by Cortez and Pizarro among the aztecs and incas. It would be another three centuries before the citizens of the new United states in search of a hero to Call their own would resurrect Columbus in the role of Gallant discoverer. Now 499 years after that first fateful shout of a tic Era a americans once coddled by the Columbus legend must grapple with the Columbus legacy. For some like biographer Koning the solution is an easy one. A in our diverse society a he wrote recently a the traditional Columbus Story underwrites the superiority of one race Over another. It is As such celebrating Columbus is unthinkable whatever our emotional and ethnic attachments. Instead. Koning suggests a Day of racial Harmony a Short conciliatory breathing space in which America can rethink its past. Quot the great emotional Impact of this myth from our past and other similar ones is Well docs not make an argument for leaving them Koning said. Quot rather it is an argument for the urgency of rethinking and rewriting Philip Perl mutter a Columbus authority and the author of the upcoming Book divided pc fall a history of ethnic rely ions and racial prejudice in America agrees that the debate surrounding Columbus accomplishments is a healthy one. But he argues that America should be Able to re evaluate its historical figures without having to Quot totally throw them off their a would any of our heroes of 5 h years ago be judged heroic by today s standards Quot he asks. Quot Columbus engaged in terrible things. He did no to discover America its utterly ridiculous to suggest that he did. But his first voyage triggered off other voyages that resulted in settlements. That a something other explorers never replicated a Perl mutter said. Quot part of the magic of Columbus is that for All of his madness his religious fanaticism greed egomania. He led the Way a inadvertently perhaps a to a country unequalled in its disregard Quot for the ethnic and religious prejudices of the old world. And that. Perl mutter suggests is cause enough to anniversary chronology of Columbus landfall 1451 Columbus is born in Genoa Italy 1465 goes to sea Broadens his experience As a merchant Marine 1484 approaches King John of Portugal with plan to sail West to find the indies the idea is declared impractical 1486 meets King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of spam for the first time 3 August 1492 Columbus and his three ships the Nina Pinta and Santa Maria leave Spain in search for the indies 12 october 1492 goes which he renames Quot Santa Maria or apr. Tor october 13, 1991 sunday a Page 5
