Today we celebrate Christopher Columbus “discovering” a continent that he thought was Asia, and that Norwegians had been visiting for 500 years or so. We celebrate the man that caused the deaths of millions of native americans, and “proved” the world was round, as the greeks had known 2500 years earlier.

OK, yes, he did one thing that others had not: He pushed others to follow his route and go see the “New World” as well. Still, he thought it was “the Indies” that he found, not until Amerigo Vespucci did they realize this was a new continent. Luckily, they named it after Amerigo’s first name. Otherwise we could be in Columbia, or Vespuccia, or Chrisophia?

nick