One of the world’s giant heroes, the master navigator of the 7 seas and discoverer of America, Christopher Columbus, is having a tough time during this volatile, revisionist period of history.
The Columbus statue in Boston’s North End was beheaded recently. The statue itself has been repaired but it has been moved out of the public’s eye.
When Columbus sailed for America and went to the edge of the horizon, most people watching from the shore during that unenlightened era thought his ship would fall off the earth.
Many people thought the earth was flat at this time.
The two-volume famous Columbus biography by the great American author Washington Irving detailed the great mariner’s life – its ups and downs – his excesses and his pieties, his determination, and his lust for discovery.
He was, after all, an explorer supreme.
He stood almost alone during this time of exploration and discovery as one of the giants of exploration. Only a handful of men on this earth were capable of keeping up with him.
It has been known among historians, and among indigenous people like the Dominicans, that Columbus wasn’t just a mariner and an explorer. He was also a murderous influence wherever he went.
I am not certain he personally killed one Indian, but the men under him slaughtered helpless Indians with vigor, with no concern for humanity or for their well-being.
Peaceful or not they were slaughtered.
Now comes the new era upon us, when our heroes are all now to be considered scoundrels.
Many in this nation want to rename Columbus Day, Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
The days of looking up to Columbus as a hero are numbered, the way looking at George Washington as a hero and leader are also numbered because he owned slaves when he was president. In fact, Washington was the largest slave owner in the nation when Independence was declared from Britain in 1776.
Columbus’ exploits in 1492 electrified the known world.
His daring and his skill as a mariner were unmatched in the history of the world at that time.
Columbus had a five century run of good feeling whenever and wherever the holiday dedicated to him was celebrated from year to year.
What his downfall proves – nothing lasts forever.