So, What Do you know about Christopher Columbus

I asked Peter this on Saturday. I said, “ Monday is Columbus Day, a federal holiday. It was established so by congress in 1934. That’s why all the banks are closed and everyone who can take the day off does. So what do you know about Columbus?” He said, “Well, he sailed to the new world in 1492. He had three ships, the Pinta, the Nina and the Santa Maria. I think the Santa Maria was the largest and either the Nina or Pinta the smallest. I said, ”I think he was born in Genoa, Italy. Peter said, ”Yes, I think his Italian name was Cristobal Colon.” When he landed in Hispaniola, an island which contains two nations, The Dominican Republic and Haiti, he thought he was in Asia, and called the natives Indians. That area later became known as the West Indies. He is quoted as saying when he started out, ”Following the sun, we left the Old World.”

In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, hoping to reach Asia. Of course, we know now that he only got as far as Hispaniola in the Caribbean where he exploited the native population and generally made a mess of things; however he is credited with discovering the “New World.” The man credited with the “discovery” of America was Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator, who explored South America. Columbus is often credited with proving the earth was spherical, but the Earth was already thought to be spherical. The shape, size, and how much of it was covered by water was, however, unknown.

Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy at a time when Genoa was not part of Italy, but was an independent entity with it’s own language and currency, so actually not really Italian. Anyway, he left early to begin his life of exploration. The Spanish monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand were intrigued by Columbus’s adventures and gave him a stipend to support his exploits. The Portuguese explorers Vasco de Gama and Ferdinand Magellan, encouraged by King Henry the Navigator, and Marco Polo, a Venetian explorer, concentrated more on sailing around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope and discovering new riches in the East. The Spanish on the other hand decided to go West.

So Christopher Columbus set sail in his three boats, the Pinta, the Nina, and the Santa Maria. He made four voyages and it is said that he discovered the true extent of the trade wind circuit and that travel across the Atlantic by sail was not all that hard.

It is now thought that the first “Americans” traveled from northeast Asia some 13,000 years before Columbus by way of the Bering Strait and along the Alaskan and Canadian coasts. They then made their way South and East to settle the two vast American continents.

Hail Columbia

O, Columbia! the gem of the ocean,
The home of the brave and the free,
The shrine of each patriot’s devotion,
A world offers homage to thee.
Thy mandates make heroes assemble
When Liberty’s form stands in view.
Thy banners make tyranny tremble
When borne by the red, white and blue!
When borne by the red, white and blue!
When borne by the red, white and blue!
Thy banners make tyranny tremble
When borne by the red, white and blue!

When war wing’d its wide desolation,
And threatened the land to deform,
The ark then of freedom’s foundation,
Columbia rode safe thro’ the storm;
With her garlands of vict’ry around her,
When so proudly she bore her brave crew,
With her flag proudly floating before her,
The boast of the red, white and blue!
The boast of the red, white and blue!
The boast of the red, white and blue!
With her flag proudly floating before her,
The boast of the red, white and blue!

The Star-Spangled Banner bring hither,
O’er Columbia’s true sons let it wave;
May the wreaths they have won never wither,
Nor its stars cease to shine on the brave.
May thy service, united, ne’er sever,
But hold to their colors so true.
The Army and Navy forever,
Three cheers for the red, white and blue!
Three cheers for the red, white and blue!
Three cheers for the red, white and blue!
The Army and Navy forever.
Three cheers for the red, white and blue!

The Robert Shaw Chorale rendition is on YouTube here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siHfQGn3JTs