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Monday, October 9, 2017

On This "Columbus Day"


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See links for source at bottom:

I recommend reading James Loewen’s eye-opening book about how textbooks distort history, Lies My Teacher Told Me (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995). Among the very interesting myths Loewen exposes are the ones surrounding Christopher Columbus.

You may in fact know the following:


• Columbus–and virtually everyone else at the end of the fifteenth century–was fully aware that the earth was round.
• Columbus indeed recognized that he’d discovered a new continent, even adding a section to his coat of arms reflecting it. He never confused it with India.
• The voyage to the “New Land” took about a month. It was smooth sailing the entire way. There was never any threat of mutiny.
• The NiƱa, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria were well-equipped vessels.
• Columbus’ accomplishment was immediately appreciated by Spain, which outfitted him for a large second voyage–17 ships, 1200 men, and weapons.
• Columbus may not even have been Italian; he certainly never wrote in Italian.

What you may not know is that Columbus epitomized greed, racism, and sadism. He searched for new lands for one reason only: gold. Where he found natives, he captured, enslaved, or murdered them. Here’s an excerpt from Ferdinand Columbus’s biography of his father:

“The soldiers mowed down dozens with point-blank volleys, loosed the dogs to rip open limbs and bellies, chased fleeing Indians into the bush to skewer them on sword and pike, and with God’s aid soon gained a complete victory, killing many Indians and capturing others who were also killed” (from Kirkpatrick Sale, The Conquest of Paradise [New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990]).

Columbus’s “discoveries” unleashed a world of slavery and persecution that has ramifications to this day.

Taken from this blog.


At this link:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/nealstarkman/2009/10/12/columbuss-day/

Besides, 500 years before Columbus, there was Lief Erikson.

Leif Erikson Day 2017: 

5 Fast Facts You Need to Know


Happy Leif Erikson Day.

Yes, it really is.

Links: 





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