Did Columbus 'discover' America?
Byrnzie
Posts: 21,037
Seems like he didn't. So then why is he still celebrated as having done so every year in the U.S on 'Columbus' day?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_colo ... e_Americas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland
Also, does anyone know if 'Vinland' was the inspiration for Thomas Pynchon's book 'Vineland'?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vineland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_colo ... e_Americas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland
Also, does anyone know if 'Vinland' was the inspiration for Thomas Pynchon's book 'Vineland'?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vineland
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
:? Chino, is that you?
So technically, the Inuit discovered America.
Yes, considering there were people here for thousands of years....it kinda makes everything else moot.
More to the point he was a genocidal maniac. Its not like he politely came to the shores and said "hey you indians, please leave!".
He and his band of killers engaged in rape, and are responsible for enacting or beginning the genocide of the Native American people.
He would tie native americans up, in groups of 12, in honor of the apostles, and burn them at the stake. He cut them with swords, his diaries make reference to the pleasure he took from seeing blood run, and siccing dogs on the natives
This was a sick man. I find it highly offensive anyone would even defend the guy let alone be in doubt as to if he really discovered america.
He was a genocidal maniac. the fact that some folks are taught that he was a hero, a great sailor, and is deserving of a day named in his honor is beyond me, and just goes to show how completely bankrupt this society is
Are you suggesting you dont care columbus is portrayed as a hero, when he is the complete opposite of one?
I dont know your background, but i assume, if you were full on Native American you might feel differently.
Its the same thing with the fighting illini. Alot of people, ie whites, dont seem to understand how deeply offensive the logo and mascot and dance are.
It really is a slap in the face of native americans. They are nearly exterminated, run off THEIR land. And columbus the guy who started all that gets his OWN HOLIDAY. Its beyond ridiculous.
Norse colonization of the Americas
'Norse colonization of the Americas began as early as the 10th century, when Norse sailors (often referred to as Vikings) explored and settled areas of the North Atlantic, including the northeastern fringes of North America...'
If no one cares then why celebrate 'Columbus day' every year?
They celebrate the day by sitting at home and watching the Flintstones.
So is it not important from a historical interest point of view to know who the first Europeans were who arrived in the Americas?
no
celebrate? LOL. its painfully obvious you arent American. no one celebrates. some government offices are closed that day BFD.
I've been in America on Columbus day.
So you wouldn't call the Columbus day parades a celebration?
What do they do then? Just walk along looking miserable and uninterested? Why don't you try being honest for once instead of just being obnoxious?
what a joke of a thread. seriously, no one in America gives a flying fuck about Columbus day. its just another day to have a random day off (for some). and besides, its only symbolically "celebrated" not because Columbus discovered America but because Columbus initiated widespread contact between Europeans and indigenous Americans. glad we cleared that up.
And you seriously think that you speak for America and Americans?
i would definitely agree with you ... no one cares - similar to how no one cares what the gov't decides to do with the people who enlist in the armed forces or what they do with their tax dollars in overseas occupations ... north americans (put north in there so i don't get the typical defensive posts from americans) are in general pretty apathethic about everything ...
having said that - having columbus day as a holiday speaks volumes as to what americans think about invastions and exploitation - they just dont' know it
huh? what does this have to do with anything? trust me, I know the pulse of America a millions times over then you. you seem to thing Columbus day is some widely celebrated America tradition. its laughable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Day
'Many countries in the New World and elsewhere celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, which occurred on October 12, 1492 in the Julian calendar and October 21, 1492 in the modern Gregorian calendar, as an official holiday. The day is celebrated as Columbus Day in the United States, as Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) in many countries in Latin America, as Día de las Culturas (Day of the Cultures) in Costa Rica, as Discovery Day in The Bahamas, as Día de la Hispanidad (Spanish Day) and National Day in Spain, as Día de las Américas (Day of the Americas) since 1915 in Uruguay and as Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) in Venezuela. These holidays have been celebrated unofficially since the late 18th century, and officially in various countries since the early 20th century.
not really. Americans are very passionate about Christmas time and July 4th for example. we are also very passionate about our tax dollars. sadly, I would agree about our military. people seem to care less about them all the time, including the very government that employs them
LOL yea ok
give it up dude.
can I join the cut, paste and bold party?
Alaska
The State of Alaska, which has a large indigenous population, does not recognize Columbus Day. Alaska Day on October 18th is recognized as a state holiday.
Arkansas
Some public schools throughout the state are closed in observance of Columbus Day.
California
The city of Berkeley celebrates Indigenous People's Day instead of Columbus Day every year with a pow wow and Native American market
Colorado
The Columbus Day parade in Denver has been protested by Native American groups and their supporters for nearly two decades.
Hawaii
Discoverer's Day is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Hawaii; it honors Captain James Cook as the first European to document Hawaiian society
Hawaii does not officially honor Columbus day and instead celebrates Discoverer's Day on the same day, i.e., on the second Monday of each October. While many in Hawaii still celebrate the life of Columbus on Columbus Day, the alternative holiday also honors James Cook, the British navigator that became the first person to record the coordinates of the Hawaiian Islands and share with the world the existence of the ancient Hawaiian people and society. Some people interpret the holiday as a celebration of all discoveries relative to the ancient and modern societies of Hawaii. Neither Columbus Day nor Discoverer's Day is regarded as a holiday by State government;[9] state, city and county government offices and schools are open for business on Columbus Day, while Federal government offices are closed.
The Hawaii, the Discoverer's Day celebration has become a day of protest for some advocacy groups. A popular protest site is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace and the Chancery building of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. Such advocacy groups have been commemorating the Discoverer's Day holiday as their own alternative, Indigenous Peoples Day. The week is called Indigenous Peoples Week.[10][11]
New York
In New York State, Columbus Day is a holiday, as government offices and public schools are closed. However, the stock markets remain open.[12] However, not all State Universities choose to observe the holiday, such as SUNY Stony Brook.
Nevada
Columbus Day is not a legal holiday in Nevada, but it is a day of observance. Schools and state, city and county government offices are open for business on Columbus Day.[13]
South Dakota
In the state of South Dakota, the day is officially a state holiday known as "Native American Day", not Columbus Day.
U.S. Virgin Islands
Due to opposition against Columbus Day, in the territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the day is celebrated as "Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands Friendship Day."
Wow! How insightful! So some people and cities don't celebrate Columbus day? So what?
Now can we get back to the thread topic after your lame attempt to derail it?
How many Americans still think that Columbus discovered America?
just proves that its more or less and worthless holiday here in America.
like I said, Americans know that he didnt discover America...Columbus is known for initiating widespread contact between Europeans and Indigenous/Native Americans.
'Who discovered America? When Columbus returned from the Antilles in 1493, he was not the first European to have stepped on the New World.
It seems that 500 years before, a group of blond Scandinavians had done it. It happened during the Viking era, when these sailors and warriors were roaming northern Africa, eastern Europe and the Middle East.
In 986, Bjarni Herjolfsson, experimented navigator and adventurer, left Norway to reach Iceland close to the winter. He found that his father had left in a fleet led by Erik the Red to colonize a huge land situated to the west and attractively named "Greenland".
So he started to Greenland, but he lost his way due to the wind and fog for many days. When they finally spotted land, it was very different from the description of Greenland: it was a land of hills and mighty forests. But after a few days the landscape turned more mountainous and glacial and departing to the east they found
Greenland and Erik's colony.
These people did not land in North America, but they were the first to make it out.
One of Erik's son got very interested in the story related by Bjarni, especially as in the frozen Greenland wood was hard to achieve, while Bjarni was counting about a forested country.
Around 1000, Leif Eriksson took Bjarni's boat and together with 35 men left in the search of the land spotted by Bjarni.
Leif first met the Baffin Island (in today northeastern Canada), covered by glaciers and without pastures. Going to the south, they found a forested plain, with beaches of white sand they named Marklandia (The Forested Land), in today's Labrador. Few days later, the Vikings found an even better territory.
They built houses there and wintered in that territory. One man discovered vines and the land was named Vinlandia (The Wine Land). In spring they returned to Greenland with the cellars filled with products of the area.
Till today, all these lands remain a mystery. In the '60s and '70s, in the surroundings of the L'Anse Aux Meadows village (Newfoundland), archaeologists found the ruins of some houses with distinguishable northern features, like an iron founding oven and other objects dated from the year 1000.
In the '90s a Danish researcher found in southern Newfoundland a well-polished stone piece coming from a Viking craft.
Leif counted to the Norwegian king his journey.
In 1070, the German historian Adam of Bremen traveled to Denmark to collect information about northern countries, and the Danish king Sweyn counted him about Vinlandia and its excellent wine.
Through the chronicle of Bremen, many erudite people found about the western lands.
The Iceland chronicles from the centuries XII-XIV mention other journeys made from Greenland to Markland and Vinlandia.
It is possible that Columbus knew about all this, and some say he visited Iceland before his journeys to the Americas.
The puzzle that remains is why didn't the Vikings remain definitively in America. Maybe they tried to, but were unsuccessful, due to the difficult conditions and "skraelings" (Native Americans), whose forces were superior.
The houses at L'Anse Aux Meadows harbored no more than 500 people, and this number was enough for an uninhabited zone, not for one where they had to face Indians. How could they face an Iroquois unit, when French and British troops, armed with fire guns, had problems with them 700-800 years later?
On the other side, the Greenland colony faced huge problems: the climate got colder (the Medieval "Little Ice Age"), the colons could no longer make agriculture and sustain themselves and they completely vanished: the last sign of them is a wedding from 1408.'
I'd like to see the stats on that.
LOL stats? take a fucking poll then. Columbus's discovery of America is seen as symbolic since there were already indigenous people living here. he is given credit for "discovering" America because of the chain of events that followed him coming here.
the fact the some Scandinavians came here 500 years earlier means nothing. they came and left. why should Americans giving a flying fuck about that?
was this a fun attempt to make Americans look stupid for celebrating a person who didnt discover America? nice try.
this will be my last reply in the worthless thread. the stage is yours, have fun.
I wonder why you were given a life-time ban before? :?:
no person discovered gold in california.........it was already there.
as for colomubus day and a government employee.........i like it.