canyonwalker: Sullivan, a male golden eagle at UC Davis Raptor Center (Golden Eagle)
[personal profile] canyonwalker
Today is Columbus Day in the US... or as it is known in an increasing number of states, Indigenous Peoples Day. Either way, it celebrates the discovery by Europeans that... basically the whole rest of the western hemisphere exists and has people already living in it. Neither side of the Atlantic Ocean would be the same again.

Part of the lore of Christopher Columbus is that he proved to the benighted rulers of Europe that the world is round. Actually the kings and queens of Europe (and other people who had access to tutors and education) in the Middle Ages already knew the Earth is round. Ancient Greek astronomers in the 3rd Century BCE established that the earth is round and even calculated its circumference accurately.

Christopher Columbus, Worst Navigator of 1492The reason European leaders were reluctant to fund Colombus's voyage was not that they thought he was wrong about the Earth being round but that they knew he was wrong about its size.

You see, Columbus thought the world was vastly smaller than it is. When he sailed across the Atlantic and bumped into the Caribbean he thought he'd sailed all the way around to Southeast Asia.

To this day the native peoples in North and South America are still called Indians— because of Columbus's dreadfully mistaken belief in 1492 that he'd sailed to India.

So, yeah, go on and keep celebrating Columbus Day if you want to honor the biggest idiot of 500 years ago.


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