Today Uruguay celebrated the effective discovery of America by that intrepid Italian Navigator Christopher Columbus. I remember, when I was a boy, he was a hero. But that was before the forces of political correctness went after him.Thank God there doesn’t seem to be any of that here. Leif Ericson may have found the America’s first, be he didn’t do anything useful with the discovery–kind of like the Mayans using the wheel for a calendar instead of on a cart.
It also took faith and courage on the part of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to finance such an improbable mission as the one proposed by Columbus. Don’t forget that they had just completed the Reconquista after more than 700 years of Moorish occupation, and had every reason to believe the Moors might try to return.
For good or bad, Columbus is a key figure in the history of our world, and I, for one, am very glad that he did it, otherwise I might have grown up in my ancestral home of Switzerland, which would have been great, but with the French as next door neighbors, which would have been horrible.
Like every great hero, Columbus had great faults–but they pale when compared to his achievements.
I have it on good authority… which is to say I saw a show on the history channel… that Columbus was a Spaniard : )
>>I will withhold your real name from publication so that the Mafia won’t put a contract out on you for such revisionist heresy!
Left by tucsontom on October 17th, 2006