Today is Columbus Day in the United States (and Thanksgiving Day in Canada. Happy Thanksgiving Canadians.) Columbus Day is celebrated tomorrow in Spain.
Every year about this time, various scholars and pundits emerge to denigrate the memory of the Genoese naviator and explorer. There were indeed many things for which Christoffa Corombo, as he was known in his home of Genoa, could be criticized for. He never reached China. He severely underestimated the circumference of the Earth, (which may have been more Ptolomy’s fault that Christoffa’s.)
Of course, these are not the faults for which what the modern pundits condemn Columbus. Columbus was indeed an imperialist and he promoted genocide. The man was clearly a monster! Or so they contend. Howard Zinn is his book A People’s History of The United States makes the case:
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One of the largest port complexes in the US has been shut down since Sunday morning after a barge accident almost knocked a high voltage tower into the Houston Ship Channel. Over thirty ships have been blocked by the shut down of the ship channel. An economic loss of almost $1 billion is estimated to result from the shutdown. The ship channel is not expected to open until at least Tuesday night.
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