While all this is true, Columbus stands for and is a reminder of something else that is now little known if not completely (and intentionally) forgotten: he was, first and foremost, a Crusader — an avowed enemy of the jihad. His expeditions were, first and foremost, about circumventing and ultimately retaliating against the Islamic sultanates surrounding and terrorizing Europe — not just “finding spices” as we were taught in high school. … Many Europeans were convinced that if only they could reach the peoples east of Islam — who if not Christian were at least “not as yet infected by...