Rediscovering Columbus
President Donald Trump recently announced that a statue of Christopher Columbus will be prominently installed on the south side of the White House grounds. This will be reconstructed from an original statue unveiled by Ronald Reagan in 1984 in Baltimore that was toppled and destroyed by leftist mobs in 2020. Trump referred to this re-installation as a defense of historical legacy.
In recent years leftists have derided Columbus as guilty of the crimes of colonization and genocide of native peoples. The current widespread “cancel culture” is eliminating the American holiday “Columbus Day” and replacing it with “indigenous people’s day.” His statues and all memory of him are steadily being removed. In fact, the large American city named for the explorer—Columbus, Ohio—has removed his statue from their downtown park, saying he should no longer be honored by the city named for him! Unfortunately, people these days have too little knowledge about the famed explorer to refute attacks on his character.
One of the few biographies of him available today is the excellent book, “Christopher Columbus,” by historian Ernle Bradford (Viking Press, NY, 1973, 288 pp.) The famed explorer was born in the autumn of 1451 and died at the age of 54 on May 20, 1506. His birthplace was Genoa, Italy, although his wife was of a noble Portuguese family, and his New World explorations were sponsored by Spain. He made four voyages to the New World, and several nations can proudly lay claim to him.
Columbus’ character has been demeaned today, yet the most notable thing about him was his intense, deep Christian faith. Historian Bradford says that “he was very devout with missionary zeal…He had the faith that moves mountains.” (pp.75, 77) Two things were uppermost in his life ambitions: to see Jerusalem freed from Muslim subjugation, and to do all he could to advance the Christian faith throughout the world. He set sail on Friday, August 3, 1492, a day of the week deliberately chosen because it was “the day of mankind’s redemption” (referencing “Good Friday.”) He had the “red cross of Christ” painted on each of the sails of every vessel. Although he thought his destination was China, he spoke in religious terms of “going to the Promised Land.” Much has been made of his search for gold in the New World, but his goal was to see the gold profits used to aid the recovery of Jerusalem. His very name in Italian, Christoforo, means “Christ bearer.” The Spanish form of his name was Colon, from the Latin, colonus, source of the English word “colonist,” meaning “one who settles in a new country.” His life was a testimony to these names. He also had an unusual signature that was a short form of a phrase, which translated into English, meant: “I am the Servant of the Most High Savior.” This was followed by the word, Christoferens, the Christ Bearer. Columbus also compiled a book of biblical prophecies and was preoccupied with the liberation of Jerusalem.
On his second voyage in 1493, Columbus took twelve missionaries led by Bernard Buil, a Benedictine Monk appointed by Pope Alexander IV to ensure proper Christian teaching. This was also the prime object of Queen Isabella who emphasized her desire “to bring faith to people in darkness.” It is recorded that on one of their journeys to America, Columbus had the crew recite the New Testament Gospel of John.
Columbus had a strong moral compass. He reproved soldiers who smoked the native “tobacos,” calling it a vice. When one of the native chiefs brought two of his teen-aged daughters to him naked as a peace offering, he politely and firmly declined, shuddering at the thought that these girls could be gang-raped by the dozens of rough sailors who had not seen a female in months.
It is a little-known fact that a surprising number of the places Columbus visited still have the names he gave to them so long ago. Puerto Rico, the Virgin Isles, Santo Domingo, San Salvador, San Juan, Santa Cruz, Trinidad, the Belen (Bethlehem) River, and the Dominican Republic are some notable examples. It is significant that almost all of the names he chose have a strong Christian association.
The leftist attack on the famous navigator is often focused on three things: First, his proselytism of the Christian religion is derided as something especially evil, as if natives were brutally forced to become Christians against their will. In truth, many of the natives had no religion to give them moral character and guidance. They willingly saw the truth of the Christian religion, and it changed their lives for the better. Converting the natives not only saved their souls, but cured them of evil habits.
Secondly, Columbus is accused of establishing settlements for the purpose of enslaving the natives. Actually, he took natives back to Spain, he explained, with the desire for their conversion to Christ and to teach them the Spanish language so that they could return home and act as interpreters. It is true that some of them were later enslaved in Spain against his wishes. The Spanish sovereigns who underwrote the expenses of Columbus’ journeys were strongly opposed to slavery, especially Queen Isabella, who hated it with a passion and decreed that all slaves should be returned to their native land and freed. Her wishes were not followed after her death unfortunately, and Spain became prominent in the slave trade.
A third attack on Columbus and other European colonists is that they destroyed Native culture. Indeed, in one respect they did so for good reason. In Central America the Aztecs, and in South America the Incas, practiced human sacrifice, which the Spanish conquistadors put a stop to. In the Caribbean, the Caniba—Cannibal tribes—were killing and eating other tribespeople. Native tribes were in a perpetual state of war with one another. A Carib tribe would attack other tribes, kill the men, and abduct the females and young boys. The boys were subjected to a lifetime of brutal slavery by their captors, while the females became part of a sort of harem for sexual gratification and physical abuse by the males of the conquering tribe. The resulting pregnancies of slave women resulted in a horrific scene; their babies were roasted alive in a bonfire crying and screaming as they burned to death. Their dead bodies were then eagerly consumed by the captors. Author Bradford remarked that “roast baby” was a much-loved delicacy among the Caribs. (p.184)
In recent years there has been a claim circulating that the famed discoverer of the New World was Jewish. Columbus was a lifelong devoted Christian who was aptly described by someone who knew him as “a man of fine appearance, well built, taller than most and with strong limbs. His hair was very red, and his face ruddy and freckled.” (Bradford, p.48) This hardly fits the description of an Ashkenazic Jew! Yet we read in the Bible that Israelites such as David, Esau, and others had red hair. The Columbus family came from far northern Italy, a region where early Gothic tribes had long settled. The book, “Story of Celto-Saxon Israel,” by W.H. Bennett traces the Goths from a branch of the lost tribes of the House of Israel. Queen Isabella of Portugal was also described as having “auburn hair,” light reddish-brown. In my study, “Ancient Hebrew Sea Migrations,” proof is given of Israelite sea migrations to European coastlands in early times. Columbus’ fleet sailed from Cadiz (then called Gad-es). Could this be a link to the tribe of Gad?
Columbus’ devout faith continued to the last. His final words were, “O Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” Author Bradford says, “For the first time in the history of Europe and the world a connection had been made between two land-masses that had hitherto been unknown to one another.” (p.163) Columbus had changed the history of mankind. He was not a perfect man, he had some failures in life but pressed on and rose above them. Bradford closed his history with these words: “Columbus should be forgiven for his failures. He should be remembered always for that wonderful first, sparkling voyage—Westward, ever Westward!—across the Atlantic Ocean. He deserves to be called its Admiral for ever.” Rest in peace!
