Today is Columbus Day in the U.S. and depending on your perspective it’s either an occasion to celebrate the “discovery” of America or denounce European atrocities against Amerindians.Columbus Day is also celebrated as a day of Italian-American heritage including the contributions of Italian migrants to the U.S. While such a community deserves their day of cultural pride, I’ve often wondered if the day ought to be named for another Italian explorer without Columbus’ checkered past. As I’ve mentioned in the past, why not rename Columbus Day?
A case could be made for cartographer and explorer Amerigo Vespucci, whose name gave birth to calling the western hemisphere “America.” Why not Antonio Pigafetta who was one of a handful of survivors from Ferdinand Magellan’s famed voyage around the world between 1519 and 1522 or Giovanni da Verrazano- the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America. Surely a strong case could be made for Giovanni Caboto (more commonly known as John Cabot) who was Genoa-born and lays claim to being the first European explorer to set foot on the North American mainland since the Vikings.What are your thoughts on Columbus, the holiday named in his honor, and his legacy?
These gentlemen are not only sources of Italian pride but also beacons of discovery and exploration whose legacies carry far less of a stigma than Christopher Columbus.
Image- Gutenberg.com (Illustration of Amerigo Vespucci from the e-book version of “Discoverers and Explorers” by Edward R. Shaw).
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, CBS News, Wikipedia, Thinkquest
4 comments:
Personally, I'm here to denounce the atrocities, but I don't know about the name change. Columbus may be responsible for the complete destruction of many cultures, but he did it before Vespucci, and any European explorers would have done the same.
I like Día de la Raza myself.
From Clermont -
The problem is too many people see the Spanish and Portuguese conquest of the Americas through the prism of our so-called respectful 21st Century. It was more than 200 years ago when all this happened. My God, get over it. The world has forgiven the Germans and Austrians for their atrocities in the 1930s, but many people will not forget what happened to people long-forgotten and when mankind was more barbaric than we are today. That was the accepted norm then. As for the destroyed and forgotten cultures, more dominant cultures have always conquered and displaced weaker cultures, no matter how much their beauty - do you recognise the names neanderthals, Assyrians, the Gauls, Etruscans, Visigoths, Angles, they are all peoples that were all conquered and assimilated or killed. We do not hear the French complaining ad infinitum today about those bad Romans (Italians) that subjugated them and their ancient culture.
Raciality or Racism : U. S. Congress Reports about U. S. Trade from Sept 2009 - Are "Third World Nations" despicable ?? - Useless Backward Nations ??
My source are reports of the U. S. Congress
See link and explanations at the bottom of this page.
This has happened many times in my life :
I love to talk about Economics, Trade, Currencies, Perspectives and Prospectives. Coffee Tables, cafes, anywhere or in Internet
White American and European Friends ( Good Kind Friends, non-Racists ) always tell me this mantra or catchword :
"Why are you so concerned with Developping Nations ?? ... That is useless and a waste of time. They don't count, they are unimportant !!"
"Don't talk me about Latin Currencies or African Currencies", "I don't want to hear about those unimportant despicable things"
This behaviour is a "Cultural Meme", "Hereditary Acculturation", Brain Areas that are connected for Automatic Response, Synapsis between Neurons that are hard wired and hardened or fossilized.
But have you ever thought about this ??
For our grandparents China was an extremely poor nation in 1950 ! ... China is now the main trade partner of the USA and increasing the proportion or percentage in U. S. Trade, while Canada and Europe have decreased that percentage in the last 8 years.
Latin America is the second most important U. S. Partner in Trade
Latin America obtains 19.6% of U.S. Trade ( Exports plus Imports )
European Union 18.9%
Canada 17.5%
European Union displaced Canada, and Latin America displaced both of them.
Africa's trade with the U. S. is the fastest growing percentage and is now 4.2%, if it continues increasing at that pace, then it will be very important in the future.
China is the Terrible Giant and "Sleeping Dragon of Trade", a Gulliver surrounded by Little Liliputians
Source :
Congressional Research Service
Prepared for members and committees of Congress
U. S. Latin America Trade : Recent Trends and Policy issues
J. E. Hornbeck - Specialist in International Trade and Finance
U. S. Direction of Total Trade - From 1996 to 2008
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/98-840.pdf
Jeffrey Sachs is a famous Economist, that directs the Earth Institute, at Columbia University in New, York. He tells us about the History of Economics and the trends for the Future.
You find more information about these economists and projections in my site :
Milenials.com
Vicente Duque
I once talked about Columbus Day to a privately-educated US citizen. She was shocked when I told her that Columbus discovered Cuba and other Carribbean islands and never went to what is now the USA.
That shocked me quite a bit. I hope it isn't typical.
What about Las Casas Day??
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