Christopher Columbus is often portrayed as America's first great hero. Aside from President's Day, which combines Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays, Columbus is one of only two people the United States honors by name in a national holiday. For many, what they learn about Columbus begins in elementary school. In fact, the average American history textbook uses two and a half pages - including a picture and a map - to show the explorations of a young man whose courage changed the world.

When one looks beyond the standard history book, a different version of our navigator is revealed. This side of Columbus tells of his explorations with exploitation and his discoveries of land that was already discovered. Many get uncomfortable when the information on Columbus' domination over indigenous populations to the point of their near extermination is shared. It's easy to assume that such information often does not make up for good classroom literature - since it's nearly always kept out of lesson plans.

A quick history lesson for those under a false
impression of the Italian traveler:

Myth: Columbus was the first explorer to reach the Americas.

Fact: People from other continents had reached the Americas many times prior to 1492. Some historians believe that the Norse colony (of Greenland) had explored as far down the coast as North Carolina prior to 1477. Also left out of textbooks are the explorers from Africa and Asia. The voyages of the Afro-Phoenicians, which launched from Egypt, are believed to have reached the Atlantic coast of Mexico in about 750 B.C.

Myth: Columbus was out to prove the world was round.

Fact: In 1492, few people on either side of the Atlantic believed that the world was flat. Most Europeans and Native Americans knew the world to be round. Oftentimes, textbooks and essays on Columbus include the myth that he believed the world to be round despite the opinions of many around him for dramatic effect. It sends a message that the "primitives" of the world, including pre-Columbian Europeans, had only a minimal understanding of the planet they lived on - until Columbus came along with his advanced thinking.

Myth: When Columbus and his crew returned to Haiti in 1493, they worked alongside the Indians to construct a working societal system. The explorers and indigenous people appeared to get along fine.

Fact I: In 1493, Columbus and his men returned to Haiti and demanded food, cotton, gold, whatever they wanted from the Indians, including sex with their women. To 'persuade' cooperation, Columbus used punishment by example. When an Indian committed even the slightest protest or offense, the Spanish cut off his ears or nose. Disfigured, the person was sent back to his village to show the cruelty the Spaniards were capable of committing.

Fact II: Prior to Columbus' arrival in Haiti, approximately eight million Indians resided. By 1496, there were less than 1,100,000 Indian adults left due to extreme working conditions and diseases brought in from the Europeans. It has been said that no person of Indian descent can truly celebrate Columbus. Cherishing his arrival appears to be a white-history celebration versus an American history one.

Myth: Columbus discovered the New World.

Fact: The term "New World" is itself a problem because people had lived in the Americas for thousands of years. The Americas were only a "New World" to the Europeans. "Discovered" is also inaccurate. How can someone discover what another already knows and owns? Such a play on words is influential. In 1823 for example, Chief Justice John Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court decreed that Cherokees had certain rights to their land in Georgia by their "occupancy" of it, but whites had superior rights because of their "discovery" of it. Ironically, Marshall failed to explain how the Indians had managed to occupy Georgia without having previously discovered it.

Myth: Columbus' impact on transatlantic slave trade was minimal and not worth noting in history books..

Fact: Columbus not only sent the first slaves over the Atlantic, but also sent more slaves - about five thousand - than any other individual in history.

Happy Holiday!

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Information used from "Lies my Teacher Told Me" by James Loewen, The New Press: 1995