Christopher Columbus: voyages, impact, and contested legacy

In the USA, Columbus' arrival in America was celebrated on the anniversary of 1892; for a long time, he was regarded there as the first true American who had laid the foundations for colonisation with courage and a thirst for action.

How the Spaniards treated the indigenous population in the decades after Columbus is described in the records of the Dominican Bartolomé de Las Casas, who lived in Spanish America from 1512 to 1547. In his pamphlet Kurzbericht über die Verwüstung Westindiens (1542) Las Casas reports of mass murders, burnings, rapes and dismemberments, whereby also children, pregnant women or old people were not spared. Whether Columbus himself was directly responsible for such acts is unclear.

Modern debate about the evaluation of Columbus' work

The evaluation of Christopher Columbus' achievements is the subject of controversial debates. The urge to discover and the courage to venture into unknown waters is contrasted with the fact that the Spanish, on his orders, enslaved the indigenous population and committed atrocities.

Along with other causes, most notably introduced diseases, the colonization of the Caribbean islands begun by Columbus triggered a demographic catastrophe. The population of Hispaniola dropped from an estimated 400,000 to 1 million at the time of the first voyage of discovery to about 100,000 in 1504. By 1514, their numbers had dropped to 22,000, and by 1542, according to Las Casas, there were "barely 200" left alive. The population of the Caribbean region was as high as 15 million before the arrival of Columbus.

Columbus' records raise considerable doubts about a motivation determined solely by the urge to discover. His logbooks and letters show that he was primarily searching for precious metal deposits and that, in the course of the voyage, his view of people and nature was increasingly influenced by the aspect of potential exploitability, the fewer indications there were of gold to be found. In order to finance the enormous travel costs, it was necessary to make the intended destinations appear so interesting to the financiers that they also had the prospect of a material gain.

In today's view, Columbus' motives were closely related to the interests of the subsequent Iberian Catholic conquistadors: it was about power and gold, accompanied by the idea of missionizing the indigenous people. Columbus was essentially loyal and mission-oriented. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Columbus was and is considered a hero, or at least a significant figure.

In recent years, a discussion has begun about whether Columbus should be considered the precursor of a genocide against the Indians. This position, held mainly by indigenous politicians, is also shared by the British author Roger Crowley, but it is considered inaccurate or exaggerated by the Spanish historians Borja de Riquer, Carlos Martínez Shaw and Pablo Emilio Pérez-Mallaína, who certainly see Columbus as a ruthless slave hunter, and by the US historian Steve Hackel, who argues that he lacked the intention to exterminate an entire race or ethnic group.

Some examples of the continuing interest in the person of Columbus:

• The country of Colombia was named after him after his discovery in 1499, although he himself was never there.
• The lunar crater Colombo was named after him in 1935.
• Christopher Columbus was depicted on two Italian 5000 lira banknotes issued by the Banca d'Italia between 1964 and 1970 and 1971 and 1977.
• In 2006, San Marino dedicated a 2-euro commemorative coin to him on the 500th anniversary of his death.
• The Christopher Columbus Museum opened in Valladolid, Spain, on 20 May 2006.
• The container ship Christophe Colomb, completed in 2009, bears his name.
• The plant genera Colona Cav. and Columbia Pers. of the mallow family (Malvaceae) are named after him.

Columbus in art

The subject of Christopher Columbus has been the subject of many novels and musical works, including:

• Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725): Il Colombo ovvera L'India scoperta, opera (1690)
• Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach (1759-1845): Columbus or the discovery of America, cantata
• Francesco Morlacchi (1784-1841): Colombo, opera (1828)
• Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848): Cristoforo Colombo, opera
• Theodor Apel (1811-1867): Columbus, play (Richard Wagner composed an overture for it, WWV 37a).
• Karl Kösting (1842-1907): Columbus, drama (1863)
• Johann Joseph Abert (1832-1915): Columbus op. 31, programme symphony (1864)
• Vincenzo Fabrici: Il Colombo, o La Scoperta delle Indie, opera (1871)
• An opera competition is held in Genoa to mark the anniversary of Columbus (1892)
• Alberto Franchetti (1860-1942): Cristofero Colombo, opera (1892)
• Heinrich von Herzogenberg (1843-1900): Columbus, dramatic cantata
• Darius Milhaud (1892-1974): Christophe Colomb, opera in two parts (1930) after Le livre de Christophe Colomb by Paul Claudel (1927)
• Walter Hasenclever, Kurt Tucholsky: Christoph Kolumbus oder Die Entdeckung Amerikas. Comedy in a prelude and six pictures (1932). Ms. Neuer Bühnenverl, Zurich 1935, Das Arsenal, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-921810-72-8.
• Werner Egk (1901-1983): Columbus, radio opera (1933)
• Unknown author: A man who called himself Columbus, children's song (1936)
• Sir William Walton (1902-1983): Christopher Columbus Suite (1942)
• Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): La Atlantida, opera (1962)
• For the 200th anniversary of the USA, the operetta Christopher Columbus is compiled from compositions by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880). (1976)
• Alejo Carpentier: The Harp and the Shadow, novel (1979)
• Dario Fo: Johan of the Po discovers America, play (1991)
• Philip Glass: The Voyage, Opera (1992)

Movies

In addition, Columbus is a popular subject in popular culture, particularly in film:

• 1922: Christopher Columbus (Márton Garas; Germany)
• 1923: Columbus (Edwin L. Hollywood; USA)
• 1924: Columbus and Isabella (Bryan Foy, American short film)
• 1949: Christopher Columbus (David MacDonald; Great Britain)
• 1969: Christoph Kolumbus oder Die Entdeckung Amerikas, television production based on the stage play of the same name by Kurt Tucholsky
• 1985: Christopher Columbus (Alberto Lattuada; Italian-German-US-American TV-multiple)
• 1991: Bye Bye Columbus (Peter Barnes; British TV movie)
• 1992: 1492 - The Conquest of Paradise (Ridley Scott; Great Britain, USA, France, Spain)
• 1992: Christopher Columbus - The Discoverer (John Glen; Spain, USA, Great Britain)
• 1992: Carry on Columbus (Gerald Thomas; Great Britain)
• 1992: True Adventures of Christopher Columbus (British TV series)
• 2006: The final scene of the feature film Apocalypto ends with the arrival of the Spaniards in Mayan territory (Columbus' fourth voyage)
• 2007: Christopher Columbus - The Enigma (Manoel de Oliveira; French-Portuguese film)
• 2010: And then the rain (Icíar Bollaín; Spain, Mexico, France)

Monuments

In the recent past, various Columbus monuments have been taken down because Columbus was guilty of exploitation and slavery, even genocide, from today's perspective, especially from an indigenous perspective. In November 2018, for example, an indigenous movement achieved the removal of the statue of Columbus erected 45 years ago by Italian Americans in Los Angeles' Grand Park. In the wake of the wave of protests against the violent death of George Floyd, a statue was toppled into a river in Virginia, USA, on June 10, 2020. A statue was decapitated in Boston and another toppled in Richmond, Virginia.

No authentic portrait of Columbus exists, all known "portraits" were created posthumously. About his appearance is known only that he was taller than average for his time, and that he was red-haired and early completely graying.

There are neither illustrations of the three ships of the first voyage nor are their dimensions known. Consequently, there are also no faithful replicas. Niña and Pinta were caravels, about Santa Maria is only known that she had more draft and sailed worse than the two caravels. For the Atlantic crossing all three ships were rigged with square sails. As far as size is concerned, all that is known is that the hold of the Niña held "about 60 tons".

With regard to the crossings of the Atlantic, the routes of the outward and return voyages of the first voyage could be reconstructed, and of the third voyage, with restrictions, that of the outward voyage. Of the other crossings, the place of departure and the place of the landfall are known; with regard to the routes across the Atlantic, there is only conjecture.