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"Columbus was actually a clown" Come on man. He was much less clown-like than many, many, many of his contemporaries. He did something novel and pushed the wor

"Columbus was actually a clown" Come on man. He was much less clown-like than many, many, many of his contemporaries. He did something novel and pushed the world forward. Sorry he didn't do it in the manner you would have preferred.

bbctol 10y ago
He was a hell of a lot more clown-like than his contemporaries, who had accurate measurements of the size of the Earth and the length of Eurasia. Columbus didn't trust maps not made by Christians, and refused to believe China wasn't as large as Marco Polo had believed. He did something daring, brave, and incredibly stupid, and got luckier than anyone else in history.
triplesec 10y ago
Columbus was also not a very nice man, to say the least of it: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/14/8-myths-and-atrocities-about-christopher-columbus-and-columbus-day-151653 http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/14/8-myths...
jogjayr 10y ago
Leaving aside the "Columbus got lucky" argument, he was a woefully incompetent administrator of the Spanish colonies he was put in charge of, in addition to being a tyrant. You have to do something special to fall out of favor within 5 years of discovering the New World. > By [1499], accusations of tyranny and incompetence on the part of Columbus had also reached the Court. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand responded by removing Columbus from power and replacing him with Francisco de Bobadilla, a member of the Order of Calatrava. Bobadilla, who ruled as governor from 1500 until his death in a storm in 1502, had also been tasked by the Court with investigating the accusations of brutality made against Columbus. Arriving in Santo Domingo while Columbus was away in the explorations of his third voyage, Bobadilla was immediately met with complaints about all three Columbus brothers: Christopher, Bartolomé, and Diego. A recently discovered report by Bobadilla alleges that Columbus regularly used torture and mutilation to govern Hispaniola. The 48-page report, found in 2006 in the state archive in the Spanish city of Valladolid, contains testimonies from 23 people, including both enemies and supporters of Columbus, about the treatment of colonial subjects by Columbus and his brothers during his seven-year rule...Because of their gross mismanagement of governance, Columbus and his brothers were arrested and imprisoned upon their return to Spain from the third voyage. They lingered in jail for six weeks before busy King Ferdinand ordered their release. Not long after, the king and queen summoned the Columbus brothers to the Alhambra palace in Granada. There the royal couple heard the brothers' pleas; restored their freedom and wealth; and, after much persuasion, agreed to fund Columbus's fourth voyage. But the door was firmly shut on Columbus's role as governor. Henceforth Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres was to be the new governor of the West Indies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#Accusations_of_tyranny_during_governorship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#Accusatio...

bbctol 10y ago

He was a hell of a lot more clown-like than his contemporaries, who had accurate measurements of the size of the Earth and the length of Eurasia. Columbus didn't trust maps not made by Christians, and refused to believe China wasn't as large as Marco Polo had believed. He did something daring, brave, and incredibly stupid, and got luckier than anyone else in history.

triplesec 10y ago

Columbus was also not a very nice man, to say the least of it: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/14/8-myths-and-atrocities-about-christopher-columbus-and-columbus-day-151653 http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/14/8-myths...

jogjayr 10y ago

Leaving aside the "Columbus got lucky" argument, he was a woefully incompetent administrator of the Spanish colonies he was put in charge of, in addition to being a tyrant. You have to do something special to fall out of favor within 5 years of discovering the New World. > By [1499], accusations of tyranny and incompetence on the part of Columbus had also reached the Court. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand responded by removing Columbus from power and replacing him with Francisco de Bobadilla, a member of the Order of Calatrava. Bobadilla, who ruled as governor from 1500 until his death in a storm in 1502, had also been tasked by the Court with investigating the accusations of brutality made against Columbus. Arriving in Santo Domingo while Columbus was away in the explorations of his third voyage, Bobadilla was immediately met with complaints about all three Columbus brothers: Christopher, Bartolomé, and Diego. A recently discovered report by Bobadilla alleges that Columbus regularly used torture and mutilation to govern Hispaniola. The 48-page report, found in 2006 in the state archive in the Spanish city of Valladolid, contains testimonies from 23 people, including both enemies and supporters of Columbus, about the treatment of colonial subjects by Columbus and his brothers during his seven-year rule...Because of their gross mismanagement of governance, Columbus and his brothers were arrested and imprisoned upon their return to Spain from the third voyage. They lingered in jail for six weeks before busy King Ferdinand ordered their release. Not long after, the king and queen summoned the Columbus brothers to the Alhambra palace in Granada. There the royal couple heard the brothers' pleas; restored their freedom and wealth; and, after much persuasion, agreed to fund Columbus's fourth voyage. But the door was firmly shut on Columbus's role as governor. Henceforth Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres was to be the new governor of the West Indies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#Accusations_of_tyranny_during_governorship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#Accusatio...