A fete that has been mostly a minor holiday in the United States for decades, Columbus Day has recently drawn ire and derision of late due to Columbus' representation as a tyrant. Why we may be celebrating the wrong thing when we celebrate this controversial holiday.
If Christopher Columbus were alive today, you'd probably recognize his type on Social Media in an instant. The hard-nosed and hard-headed self-made man, who although he is well-read in some things, is not particularly well-read in others. Throw in a little apocalyptic religious fundamentalism, and some off-color contemporary views about non-Europeans, and you pretty much get a clear picture of the future Admiral of the Ocean Sea.
Viewing Christopher Columbus as either a hero or a villain is misleading and simplistic in my opinion. As I see him, Columbus was an audacious autodidact who devised a unique proprietary system, found backing for it, created a billion dollar industry, and lost control of it due to arrogance, nepotism, and poor management. Rather than tearing down statues of Christopher Columbus, we should be illuminating them as a warning to all people about what can happen when you create an industry in your garage that goes global. Because that's the real story of Christopher Columbus. There's a lot more Steve Jobs than Stalin in his meteoric rise and fall.
A middle class sailor from Genoa (whose parents owned a cheese stand) Columbus married well and besides his experience as an able seaman, took up work as a business agent while he was in his early 20s. It was as a business agent that the idea of sailing west to reach east first entered his thinking.
Despite common misconceptions of today, all educated people in Columbus' time understood that the world was round (even sailors). In 1470, the astronomer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli had audaciously proposed to the king of Portugal, that sailing west across the Atlantic would be more expedient than sailing south around Africa and then east; that is if you wanted, to say, reach Japan more efficiently. Thus the question of the day was never if the world was round or not, but how round (as in size) it was and would it even be technologically and financially advisable to attempt such a crossing.
Like so many young entrepreneurs (before and since) Columbus began seeing technical advantages to exploit this idea. Firstly, the concepts of celestial navigation (which had long been used by astronomers) were beginning to be co-opted by blue water mariners. This along with improved navigational aids such as the marine compass and the nautical astrolabe, made navigation over great distances more accurate and success more feasible.
Secondly, although Columbus had descent mathematical skills, his literacy limitations led him to some bad distance calculations in his business plan while converting different styles of "miles". As such, he totally miscalculated the size of the planet, even if two continents hadn't popped up in his way. But one advantage Columbus did foresee would ultimately counteract his mistake (if even in accidency) and that was his formidable knowledge of the trade winds. Knowing he had the tools to navigate long distances, a distance (erroneous it turned out) he deemed survivable for provisioning with enough food and water, and a knowledge of the trade winds that would allow him to return to Europe again-- he felt he had an extremely viable plan.
Of course, like so many entrepreneurs (before and since) having a plan and selling a plan are two very different things. Portugal, Venice, Genoa and even England deemed Columbus' distance miscalculation a resolute deal-breaker. The same with Spain. At first. However, after six-years on retainer by the joint kingdoms (mostly to keep him from selling his"crazy" to someone else) the co-rulers of Castile and Aragon finally relented and agreed to Columbus' hefty terms as documented in the"Capitulations of Santa Fe". Spain agreed that if the scheme succeeded, Columbus would be given the rank of Admiral of the Ocean Sea, be appointed Viceroy and Governor of all lands claimed for Spain, and given a 10% percent commission on all revenues from the new lands in perpetuity. Like many venture capitalists (before and since) the monarchs also threw in a healthy stock option buy-in plan with the ability to invest up to a one-eighth interest in any commercial venture with the new lands, and thusly, receive one-eighth of the resulting profits. Not a bad deal for the son of a Genovese cheese merchant.
We all know the next part of course. Columbus succeeded. Well. Almost succeeded. He did not find east Asia, but he did find a whole lot of valuable real estate, and the Queen, who was an exceptionally enlightened ruler for the times, wanted to make sure the natives there were well-treated by their new Viceroy. To this end, when Columbus left Cádiz on September 24 1493 to begin his second voyage, he did so with 17 ships of 1,200 men, and the supplies to establish permanent colonies. These passengers included priests, farmers, and soldiers, thus reflected a new policy of creating "colonies of settlement" versus "colonies of exploitation". Of course, under the negotiated terms of the Capitulations of Santa Fe, exploitation would be far more profitable than settlement for Mr. Columbus, and so began a brewing conflict between the venture capitalists, the secondary stockholders, and the embattled entrepreneur.
Over the the third voyage, this brewing conflict became openly toxic. In poor health, Columbus returned to Hispaniola to discover many of the Spanish settlers there were in open rebellion against him. In a page right out of Twentieth Century real estate speculation, the settlers claimed they had been duped about "the bountiful riches" of the New World. As if this were not enough, a contingent of settlers, priests, and sailors had sailed for the homeland to lobby the court in Spain against Columbus directly, accusing he and his brothers of gross mismanagement, and worse yet-- heresy, for not baptizing more of the natives and doing it quickly enough. Again, considering the agreement Columbus had negotiated with Spain, he had significant economic interests in the enslavement of natives. Was it any wonder that he was in no hurry to baptize any of them?
But, as is the case with many entrepreneurs (before and since) his vision of the enterprise was rapidly diverging from that of his backers. Valid or not, the charges warranted investigation, and Columbus was hauled back to Spain in chains for a trial. And like so many entrepreneurs (before and since) Columbus was acquitted of his malfeasance, but not before the government got to rearrange his deal to their best advantage. After Columbus died, his heirs fought protracted legal battles against the crown (known as the pleitos colombinos) to regain those rights and prerogatives, and although these suits were only partially successful, the Duchy of Veragua (founded for Columbus in 1537) still exists today, and is occupied by his direct descendant, Cristóbal Colón de Carvajal, 18th Duke of Veragua.
After his final voyage, Columbus retired-- and like so many entrepreneurs (before and since) turned to writing for therapy (probably through the twin ghosts of his son Diego and a family friend, Gaspar Gorricio) producing two books: a Book of Privileges (1502), detailing and documenting the compensation still due he and his heirs by the Spanish Crown; and a Book of Prophecies (1505), in which he considered his achievements as an explorer through the lens of Biblical prophecy and eschatology.
So you see, Columbus was neither a villain nor a hero. If anything, he was a regular guy who got way too much, way too quickly, and didn't know how to deal with it. History revolves around people; ordinary people, who get caught up in extraordinary events. Christoper Columbus was one of those people. True, those who followed him into the Americas set-off decades of exploitation and misery. But to hold a visionary guy, who applied technology to a problem, and changed the entire world as we know it in the process, accountable for 500 years of horror, is a lot like blaming Madame Currie for the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You can do it of course, but don't expect too many other visionaries to follow their lead.
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