LogFAQs > #929945924

*sigh*

Okay. First off... Columbus wasn't that important a historical figure even in his day. He wasn't unimportant but, had things gone 'normally', he'd be more of a footnote in history than anything and explorers like Magellan would be more well known. However, for a while America had an issue with the immigration of Italian immigrants. Longfellow (the same one who wrote about Paul Revere) wrote about Columbus in an effort to provide a hero to the Italians to try and provide some unity. It worked and Columbus was catapulted from a relatively minor explorer to a major player in history.

Was Columbus important? YES! While it's true that the vikings were the first recorded Europeans to reach America their discovery of 'vinland' had basically faded into legend if even that. So setting out to discover Vinland would be like you setting out to discover the lost continent of Mu. Columbus's journey resulted in America being brought to the attention of the Europeans whom proceeded to send many expeditions and colonies to America which changed it on a fundamental level as well as resulted in massive changes across Europe and, eventually, Asia and Africa.

Would America have been 'discovered' without Columbus? Yes. We would have had explorers trying to circumnavigate the globe running smack dab into it. That's not to mention powers trying to establish new trade routes with places like China especially ones that didn't result in them having to deal with rival trade powers.

Was Columbus a visionary who believed the world was round when everyone else said it was flat? No. If you think about it discovering America proves, in no way, that the world is round. At the time most people believed it was round. They were even pretty close as to its size too. That latter fact is the issue. It was believed that the distance to the east was simply too much to travel without starving. They were right. Had Columbus not stumbled on America (imagine it didn't exist) his ships would have starved long before reaching their destination. His belief was that the world was both pear-shaped and much smaller than it really is which would have permitted the journey if true.

Did Columbus matter? Arguably no. If he didn't exist there wouldn't be some massive shift in America where the native people suddenly caught up to the eurasian powers and established their own nations. The most advanced nations were basically on-par with ancient Egypt after all at the time. Bronze, Iron age at MOST. All his failure to exist would do is push discovery back a few decades, maybe a century.

Is Columbus important? Does it matter? We have a bunch of pesudo-intellectuals claiming he's a horrible monster despite the reality that many of the atrocities happened long after he was dead, by nations he was never a part of (especially Spain), in parts of the world he simply had no control over. It's like getting mad at Dr. Doom for something the Joker did. On the opposite side we have a bunch of normal people who don't really care one way or the other normally beyond the false beliefs peddled for generations yet suddenly finding people screaming about native atrocities and the like over someone they really have no knowledge about and being baffled and even defensive as a result. All they know about Columbus is that he 'proved the world was round' and 'discovered America' after all.

Picking fights won't win you allies. Neither will mis-representing the fight and other such things.

Also, is Columbus comparable to Mao? PHAHAHAHAHAHA NOOOOOOOOO!!! Mao is, like, a bazillion times worse. Doesn't exonerate Columbus; but in the running for 'history's biggest monster' Columbus is basically a weenie.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage