6. Christopher Columbus and The (re)Discovery of America
Mentions – 3
It was little after 2 am on October 12, 1492 when a loud and noisy sound of Lombard fire broke the silence somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean and alerted the crew of famous three sail ships Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria that land is in sight. Columbus immediately went on the deck with shouts of exultation, since he reached the East Indies, today’s Southeast Asia, and established the new westward spice trade route, thus fulfilling the promise given to the Spanish Crown. However, there was a little problem. What he thought to be the Far East were, in fact, The Bahamas. Seeing himself as the Marco Polo of maritime routes, he was assured that he is about to establish a trading colony in Asia. Evidently, he was wrong. But, we’re going to put Colombus’ disambiguation aside, and see what are the consequences of this ‘accidental’ (re)discovery of the Americas, on that dark and silent night on the open sea? The list is long, and we are going to name just a few biggest. The immediate one was the rapid disappearance of Taíno, the indigenous people of San Salvador Island, due to overwork, slavery and the first pandemic diseases that Europeans brought with them. Some of the following consequences were good, some were not. Either way, what started as the colonization of the New World, shortly after Columbus first voyage, ended up in the creation of one of the most powerful countries nowadays.
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