Why you shouldn't celebrate Columbus Day

[Witchyjoshy]

Assuming the information presented in this link is actually accurate...

Basically, Columbus wasn't the hero or revolutionary he's been portrayed to be.

He was actually responsible for the slavery of many Native Americans, including the sexual slavery of minors.

Everybody with any bit of education believed that the world was round, including the Queen of England.

The reason he kept returning to America was for gold.

So, basically, he was a terrible person.

Also some information about another figure who should be important in history but isn't.

Or, basically, summed up: Columbus's legacy is a whitewashed invention made by white men.

[Alehksunos]

I've already known about all the horrible things Christopher Columbus actually did since 2010. And ever since, I think everyone else should know this.

...If it weren't for the fact that most others, like members of my family, would play the insipid "you're a radical!" card.

[Sleepy]

Yeah, for awhile now I've viewed Columbus Day as 99 Ways He Was An Asshole Day.

[Random Gal]

South Dakota actually changed Columbus Day to Native American Day back in the late 70s-early 80s as I recall.

Some other misconceptions about Columbus's legacy:

-He didn't "prove the earth was round". The ancient Greeks had already done that and calculated its size as well. Even if they hadn't, Columbus never reached Asia by sailing west as he had claimed; Magellan was the first to do that.

-He wasn't the first European to reach the Americas. Leif Eriksson had already been there almost 500 years earlier and unlike Columbus, he recognized that he'd reached an unknown continent. Columbus maintained he'd reached Asia almost until his death.

[Old Viking]

"Columbus had a cabin boy,
The crew all called him Nipper.
He lined his ass with broken glass
And circumcised the skipper."

[Chorus]

Old college drinking song 

[SimSim]

All the gold and silver that was brought back to Europe from the Americas caused massive inflation.

[chad sexington]

"Columbus had a cabin boy,
The crew all called him Nipper.
He lined his ass with broken glass
And circumcised the skipper."

[Chorus]

Old college drinking song 

"The second mate was Andy,
By Christ he had a dandy!
'Til we crushed his cock with a jagged rock
for coming in the brandy..."

[The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist]

And the good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singing this will be the day that we die

Wait, no...

[Shane for Wax]

My, my, this here Anakin guy.

I don't think that's it either.

In all seriousness I always wonder why nobody mentions Amerigo?

[Lt. Fred]

All the gold and silver that was brought back to Europe from the Americas caused massive inflation.

Spain never did catch a break, did it?

[The Illusive Man]

Columbus was a slave master, mass murdering, fundie psychopath.

Folks as a historian I know not to underestimate the power of revisionist history, especially when it can be used for the purpose of propaganda and cultural assimilation.

[Meshakhad]

I pretty much got the "Columbus was an asshole" story from the beginning.

[SpaceProg]

My, my, this here Anakin guy.

I don't think that's it either.

In all seriousness I always wonder why nobody mentions Amerigo?

I've wondered this myself.  The most I ever heard about Vespucci was back in school.   Since graduation, I've heard/seen mention of him next to never.

[Shane for Wax]

I think we learned about him like once. And I think he's a tad more important than Columbus.

[SpaceProg]

Well, mapmakers were pretty danged useful back in the day.