Hey, all you numbnutz who are against Columbus Day because you think he was some kind of raider of the peaceful indigenous persons of North America and what became the U.S. Did you know Columbus never even landed in North America? He discovered the New World by accident looking for another route to the Orient. Sheesh. Now stop your revisionism and suck it up buttercup. Its Columbus Day. In his first journey, Columbus visited San Salvador in the Bahamas (which he was convinced was Japan), Cuba (which he thought was China) and Haiti (where he found gold). His second journey (1493) was far better funded - possibly because his first expedition brought back gold, spices, parrots and human captives. He set off with at least 17 ships, holding cavalry, some 200 private investors and some 1,300 salaried men. He again visited Haiti (he called it Hispaniola, and was convinced it was the biblical land of Sheba) and explored more of Cuba. His third expedition left with six ships in 1498. He explored southwards, and set foot in Venezuela (which he was convinced was the temperate lowlands of an Earthly Paradise.) His fourth expedition of 1502 had four ships. He visited Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. He was forced to beach his remaining two ships in Jamaica, and was castaway for a year. During that time, he did correctly predict an eclipse of the Moon to impress the locals, thus convincing them to provide him with food. Today, Americans celebrate Columbus Day on the second Monday in October, to remember the landing of Columbus in the New World on October 12, 1492. In reality, he never set foot in North America. The closest he got was to land on the island of San Salvador, in the Bahamas. So first, Columbus did not ever land in North America. Second, Columbus was not sailing across the Atlantic to prove that the world was round - all the educated people knew that it was round. No, Columbus was trying to find a better trade route to bring back lucrative spices from Asia. And to the end of his days, he was convinced that he had sailed to the Indies and China.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 01:03:41 +0000
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