ERG invites you to read this essay - "Don't Feel Guilty About Celebrating Christopher Columbus - a Man on a Mission for God."
Our age is, as the essay notes, exceedingly negative and cynical especially about the fruits of Western Civilization. Public school students are certainly being conditioned to think that way, day after dreary day.
But the Italian Columbus, and his benefactor, Queen Isabella of Spain, deserve to be remembered for his New World discoveries and perilous voyages. After all, without him and her, we, the American people (peoples?) might not be.
Grazie mille, Italia! Gracias, España!
I read the essay in the link, twice. There is nothing in the quotes from Columbus that indicate he sailed off to spread the Word. NOTHING! The essayist has committed a quantum leap in logic here. The quotes indicate that Columbus believed God gave him the skills, knowledge, and "encouragement". Again, in Columbus' own words he sailed "from here to the Indies". That's it. The man was sailing off to get to the Indies. Period.
When we teach our children, it is also important to explain all the facts to them. There are many other sources which teach the facts and the details of his conquests. Would his god approve of those actions?
Yes, Columbus met the natives of the Caribbean islands he discovered. He called them “Indians” because he thought he had reached the East Indies in Asia. Columbus and his crew interacted with the natives, and he even took some of them back to Spain with him on his second voyage. However, Columbus’s interactions with the natives were not always peaceful. He and his crew enslaved many of the natives and forced them to work for them. Columbus’s voyages to the Americas had…