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Columbus did not discover America

Oct 14, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
Monday, October 11, every second Monday in October, is observed in the US and other countries, as Columbus Day (a government and banking holiday) to pay homage to the Italian seafarer and explorer Christopher Columbus for his “discovery” of the Americas (and the Caribbean).
Some Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage in tribute to Columbus for his accomplishment as an explorer and discovering America.  As the public has been reminded so often by scholars, and as I tell my students, Columbus did not discover America or any other place.
Columbus discovered from his journeys that lands, far away from Europe, were occupied by people (indigenous Amerindians) whose civilizations were quite advanced and whose people were also seafarers and adventurers like him.
Columbus had set out from Europe (Canary Islands) in search of India which he believed he could reach by sailing west across the ocean. When, after months of sailing, he sighted the islands of the Caribbean, he thought he had reached India. (Hence the term Indies, later to be called West Indies. Columbus died wrongly believing he had explored India and that the native people he took back to Europe were Indians. He did not even know that the land he explored was a massive landmass.
For decades, West Indian and American history books (still used in Guyana) state Columbus discovered the West Indies and the Americas.  That is not a fact and books should be corrected. Columbus’s four trips to the Caribbean and Americas and subsequent trips by other European explorers, including the search for Guiana’s El Dorado, led to the extinction of indigenous people in the Caribbean islands and the near elimination of other groups in the Americas.
The history books should note that Columbus was a cruel and brutal ruler, not kind to the peaceful people he conquered. And one should not forget that Columbus enslaved the indigenous people. His explorations of the New World and later explorations by other Europeans would lead to the introduction African and Indian slavery in the Caribbean and Americas.
It is okay for governments to pay tribute to Columbus for setting foot on the New World making us aware of the culture of others and for his genius as a navigator but not for discovering land as one cannot discover a land that is already occupied by other people.
Vishnu Bisram

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