Columbus. Good or bad?

[Zebra]

What do you think?

 

[Sunni Man]

Columbus was neither good or bad but a product of the period of time that he lived in.
He was an intrepid explorer and adventurer who basically discovered the New World.
To blame him for the future problems his discovery ushered in is ridiculous.
Columbus was an agent of the inevitable.
If he hadn't discovered the New World then somebody else would have.
.........................................................................................................................................

 

[Harry Dresden]

Columbus was neither good or bad but a product of the period of time that he lived in.
He was an intrepid explorer and adventurer who basically discovered the New World.
To blame him for the future problems his discovery ushered in is ridiculous.
Columbus was an agent of the inevitable.
If he hadn't discovered the New World then somebody else would have.
.........................................................................................................................................

what i cant figure out is if he was so great why is the Americas named after Amerigo Vespucci?....

 

[TNHarley]

what i cant figure out is if he was so great why is the Americas named after Amerigo Vespucci?....

Because Amerigo was the first explorer to realize this was a different continent.
Columbus thought this was Asia.

 

[TNHarley]

Columbus was neither good or bad but a product of the period of time that he lived in.

Thats pretty much where I am at on this.

 

[Moonglow]

what i cant figure out is if he was so great why is the Americas named after Amerigo Vespucci?....

He was the smoothest of the explorers.

 

[DGS49]

Columbus was a man of his time, was extraordinarily persistent in his campaign to get funding for an expedition to the Far East, and succeeded greatly in his failure to do that. It is entirely appropriate that the current people of the America's celebrate him and his accomplishments, an obvious fact, accepted for hundreds of years, that today's Leftists reject out of ignorance.

But the important thing to note is that the people and the cultures of the America's were doomed. It didn't really matter if Columbus got here first, the English, the Portuguese, or the Chinese. The indigenous people of the America's were thousands of years behind the more advance societies on earth, and the indigenous societies were destined to be defeated, one way or another. In fact, if you want to play mind games, if nobody had "discovered" America, they would STILL be living as primitives in a hunter-gatherer mode today because even if one "Injun" invented something useful, there was no good way of retaining that and passing it on, other than word of mouth. Consider, they had...

• No written language, and nothing to write it on, even if they did,
• No domesticated animals that could do work (horses were introduced by the Spaniards),
• No metallurgy, and hence no material that could be made into a durable blade, or a useful shield or projectile,
• Nothing resembling gun powder; nothing explosive,
• Not invented THE WHEEL yet,
• No mortar, which is essential in making multi-story buildings,
• No real medicine or surgery,
• No way of making BOARDS; they just looked for trees and branches of useful size and shape and bound them together, hence their water craft were all small and extremely limited in their use,
• No concept of the earth that was consistent with sea travel beyond line of sight.

Their religions were primitive and destructive of human advancement. They practiced human sacrifice, cannibalism, slavery, gross exploitation of women & children. Wars and battles were a constant, with the winners taking not only territory, but women and children. Defeated armies were often just slain en masse.

Even today, their refusal to simply assimilate into the large society holds them back, and they are apparently too stupid, collectively, to see it.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Because Amerigo was the first explorer to realize this was a different continent.
Columbus thought this was Asia.

so next question....so why dont we have a Vespucci day instead of Columbus?..Columbus not only thought this was Asia he never set foot on US shores.....

 

[Zebra]

Columbus was a man of his time, was extraordinarily persistent in his campaign to get funding for an expedition to the Far East, and succeeded greatly in his failure to do that. It is entirely appropriate that the current people of the America's celebrate him and his accomplishments, an obvious fact, accepted for hundreds of years, that today's Leftists reject out of ignorance.

But the important thing to note is that the people and the cultures of the America's were doomed. It didn't really matter if Columbus got here first, the English, the Portuguese, or the Chinese. The indigenous people of the America's were thousands of years behind the more advance societies on earth, and the indigenous societies were destined to be defeated, one way or another. In fact, if you want to play mind games, if nobody had "discovered" America, they would STILL be living as primitives in a hunter-gatherer mode today because even if one "Injun" invented something useful, there was no good way of retaining that and passing it on, other than word of mouth. Consider, they had...

• No written language, and nothing to write it on, even if they did,
• No domesticated animals that could do work (horses were introduced by the Spaniards),
• No metallurgy, and hence no material that could be made into a durable blade, or a useful shield or projectile,
• Nothing resembling gun powder; nothing explosive,
• Not invented THE WHEEL yet,
• No mortar, which is essential in making multi-story buildings,
• No real medicine or surgery,
• No way of making BOARDS; they just looked for trees and branches of useful size and shape and bound them together, hence their water craft were all small and extremely limited in their use,
• No concept of the earth that was consistent with sea travel beyond line of sight.

Their religions were primitive and destructive of human advancement. They practiced human sacrifice, cannibalism, slavery, gross exploitation of women & children. Wars and battles were a constant, with the winners taking not only territory, but women and children. Defeated armies were often just slain en masse.

Even today, their refusal to simply assimilate into the large society holds them back, and they are apparently too stupid, collectively, to see it.

Well said!

 

[22lcidw]

so next question....so why dont we have a Vespucci day instead of Columbus?..Columbus not only thought this was Asia he never set foot on US shores.....

Proving the world was round was the goal. Just did not figure being other continents and islands close to them. And India was located more in south central Asia. East Asia is huge.

 

[JoeB131]

Columbus was the first Republican.

He didn't know where he was going when he left.
He didn't know where he was when he got there.
He didn't know where he had been when he returned.
And he did it all on borrowed money.

 

[martybegan]

Columbus was the first Republican.

He didn't know where he was going when he left.
He didn't know where he was when he got there.
He didn't know where he had been when he returned.
And he did it all on borrowed money.

And yet he actually accomplished something, unlike most Dems.

 

[JoeB131]

Proving the world was round was the goal. Just did not figure being other continents and islands close to them. And India was located more in south central Asia. East Asia is huge.

People already knew the world was round.

In fact, Columbus miscalculated the size of the world, he'd have never made it to Asia with the ships and provisions he had.

Lucky for him, the Americas happened to be where he expected Asia to be.

 

[JoeB131]

And yet he actually accomplished something, unlike most Dems.

Yes, Genocide is certainly "something"... It's just not a good something.

 

[martybegan]

Yes, Genocide is certainly "something"... It's just not a good something.

He didn't perform any genocide.

Neither did the later colonist. They performed exploitation, not genocide.

 

[martybegan]

People already knew the world was round.

In fact, Columbus miscalculated the size of the world, he'd have never made it to Asia with the ships and provisions he had.

Lucky for him, the Americas happened to be where he expected Asia to be.

Considering the tools they had at the time, that was not surprising.

You must think he had a GPS and a satellite map available.

 

[JoeB131]

He didn't perform any genocide.

Neither did the later colonist. They performed exploitation, not genocide.

The Tanios would tend to differ, if they hadn't been genocided.

Taíno - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Considering the tools they had at the time, that was not surprising.

You must think he had a GPS and a satellite map available.

Not at all. In fact, scholars had already calculated the size of the Earth in 240 BCE and they knew that Asia was a lot further away than Columbus thought it was.

 

[martybegan]

The Tanios would tend to differ, if they hadn't been genocided.

Taíno - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Not at all. In fact, scholars had already calculated the size of the Earth in 240 BCE and they knew that Asia was a lot further away than Columbus thought it was.

exploitation and assimilation, not genocide.

and then the dark ages happened and much of that knowledge was lost. hence the name.

 

[TNHarley]

so next question....so why dont we have a Vespucci day instead of Columbus?..Columbus not only thought this was Asia he never set foot on US shores.....

 

[JoeB131]

exploitation and assimilation, not genocide.

and then the dark ages happened and much of that knowledge was lost. hence the name.

Wow, the Nazis should have thought of that. Just give genocide a nice name, and it becomes okay.

Nobody "forgot". Columbus just subscribed to a screwball theory the earth was pear shaped and he could bypass the distance by going north. He was wrong on all counts.