On Columbus Day, Celebrate Western Civilization, And Not The Cruel Hoax of Multiculturalism

Capitalism Magazine ^ | October 8, 2003 | Michael Berliner

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP

[Support Free Republic]

Aww man! Enough of the fundraiser posts!!!

Only YOU can make fundraiser posts go away. Please contribute!

[ZULU]

I fly the Flag of Castile and Leon every Columbus Day. Thanks to Columbus, the Aztec Empire was destroyed, massive human sacrifice was eliminated and Christianity was brought to pagans who practised human sacrifice.

Columbus also set the stage for the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers, the Mayflower Compact, and the origination of the first, and best democratic Republic which ever existed.

Also, don't forget Bjarni Herjolfsson. Many people think Leif Ericsson "discoverd" North America. Actually, it was Bjarni, who was blown off course in a fog who was the first European to sight North America. His story led to Leif's aborted settlement. Its all in the Vinlanda Saga - read it.

[secretagent]

Nuance, nuance. One can defend western civilization without defending Christopher Columbus' treatment of the Arawak Indians. I've yet to run across a challenge to this history:

In 1492, as any schoolchild knows, Columbus sailed from Spain with three small ships, searching for a new sea route to the rich countries of India and China. He didn’t find India, but he did stumble upon the Americas. On October 12, his flagship, the Santa Maria, ran aground on a reef just off the coast of the island of Hispaniola. The local chief of the Arawaks, the native inhabitants, rescued Columbus's crew and welcomed them warmly, in accordance with their customs.

The Spanish sailors did not share the Arawak custom of sharing and peaceable coexistence. They spied the tiny gold ornaments the Arawaks were sporting and decided that the region was swimming in riches. Columbus also noticed that the locals had no weapons capable of resisting Spanish rule. As historian Howard Zinn documents in “A People’s History of the United States” (Harper & Row, 1980), Columbus wrote in his journal, "They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane .... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."

After King Ferdinand granted him governorship of the region, Columbus and his men captured Arawaks by the thousands, forcing them to procure gold. Those who could not produce the required amounts had their hands cut off and were left to bleed to death. Columbus forced the men to work in Spanish gold mines and the women to grow food. Natives who resisted the new rulers were hunted down with dogs and burned alive or hanged.

Soon the Arawaks, their spirits broken, their bodies starved and racked with the diseases brought by the invaders, began ending their own lives to escape the horror. Starving mothers, lacking the milk to nourish their infants, drowned them to prevent a slower death. The killings for sport and punishment, the deaths from disease and malnutrition and the suicides contributed to a rapid decline in the population. Bartolomeo de las Casas, a young priest who assisted Columbus in the conquest of Cuba, writes in his book “History of the Indies” (reprinted by Harper & Row, 1971) that "from 1494 to 1508, over three million people had perished from war, slavery, and the mines. Who in future generations will believe this? I myself writing it as a knowledgeable eyewitness can hardly believe it."

http://www.progressive.org/mpkrol1098.htm

The article doesn't address the main demerit of Columbus, in my mind - his genocide of the Arawak Indians. He didn't have to do that to map the New World.

The article doesn't debunk these charges against Columbus, it appears to avoid them. To quote Rand: "blankout".

[AdmSmith]

The National Library of Canada: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/explorers/h24-1201-e.html

Bjarni Herjólfsson stumbles upon Vinland first and Leifr Eriksson then retraces Bjarni's voyage in order to explore the new land more thoroughly. In the Erik the Red Saga, Bjarni does not exist, and it is Leifr Eriksson who finds Vinland first. There are other differences, yet both sagas agree that once Vinland was found, several attempts were made to settle the new land. These were eventually abandoned in the face of resistance from Native peoples. Perhaps more importantly, the sagas had a ring of truth sufficient to inspire Helge Ingstad to search for Vinland on the Newfoundland and Labrador coasts during the 1960s, a search that led eventually to L'Anse aux Meadows. While most experts today do not believe that this habitation was Vinland, there is no longer any doubt that the Norse were the first Europeans to reach North America. Had it not been for the sagas, that realization might never have come.

[secretagent]

FYI, Appreciate a debunking of the genocide charge against Columbus & Co.

I know you know a lot of Spanish history, perhaps you cna help.

[CJ Wolf]

Vinlanda Saga - read it.

Very interesting book. I really enjoyed reading about the strong women of the era.

[ZULU]

"While most experts today do not believe that this habitation was Vinland,"

While Ericsson's settlement may have aborted (I like the story about the Norse woman who does in some of her opponents with a battle axe when the menfolk cop out), their are many indications that the Norse from Greenland continued to visit North America for many years. It was the nearest source of wood, for one thing, while I'm sure they appreciated the good fishing off the Newfoundland Banks.

[AdmSmith]

http://www.lasculturas.com/aa/aa100800a.php

"It is important to note that there were those who behaved with respect towards the Arawak. Queen Isabella recognized the Arawak as her subjects, to be protected and treated with at least a basic sense of dignity. When Columbus sent back hundreds of Taino indians to be sold as slaves, Queen Isabella ordered them free and returned to their land. Eventually, the European colonists and sovereigns became so discontent with Columbus' mismanagement that he was arrested and shipped back to Spain in chains. He spent the rest of his life trying to regain his governorship over Hispaniola."

[secretagent]

Thanks AS. Perhaps we should celebrate Queen Isabella day, instead!

[ffusco]

The name is Christofero Columbo.

[TedsGarage]

Columbus was the father of multi-culturalism. Europeans, Africans and Indians never lived together until he discovered America. European culture may be pre-dominant in America, but because of our ethnic mix, American culture and European culture are not the same. And I don't think anyone here wants them to be. (Think about rock and roll. Where else but America could you invent a musical form that combines Scotch-Irish melody with African rhythm?)

[pbear8]

Last night on KSFO, Brian Sussman played a tape of the message you get when you call the DMV.

In English it says "The DMV will be closed Monday, Oct 13, for Columbus Day" then it goes on in Espanol with "...will be closed Monday, Oct 13 por Dia de la Raza". (for the 'Day of the Race').

Nothing racist here.

[JethroHathAWay]

Christopher Columbus was a Christian. That's now out of favor to multi-culturists, femininnies, and liberals.

[Polybius]

FYI, Appreciate a debunking of the genocide charge against Columbus & Co. I know you know a lot of Spanish history, perhaps you cna help.

Thakns for the ping. I'm just checking mail right now. I'll look at the thread this evening.

[LiteKeeper]

Columbus saw his mission for sailing to the new world as taking the Gospel to the natives.

[Between the Lines]

We must recognize that everyone is a sovereign entity

What world does the author live in?

Thus the sham of "preserving one's heritage" as a rational life goal....
....That is the ultimate value of Western civilization, and it should be proudly proclaimed.

The author does everything he says the Indians should not in this article. They should not be proud of their ancestors but he is, they should not vilify Columbus yet he vilifies Indians, they should not have a racist view yet he clearly does. The man is a hypocrite.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[Question_Assumptions]

Thanks AS. Perhaps we should celebrate Queen Isabella day, instead!

Take a good look at her role in the Spanish Inquisition ("No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!") before you push for that. Many historical figures are complex and are neither wholly good nor wholly bad. The same is often true of modern figures, as well.