Happy Columbus Day!

[Confessional Lutheran]

When I was a kid, Columbus Day was regarded as a holiday for someone who heroically braved a vast, unknown sea to find a western passage to China and the Orient. Unbeknownst to him and the three ships he was leading ( Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria), when they first sighted land, it was land in a hitherto unknown ( except for its inhabitants and the Icelanders) New World.

Christopher Columbus opened the way to an intercontinental Empire not only for the Kingdom of Spain, but also for Portugal, France, the Netherlands and ( last but far from least) Great Britain. He was known as being a rather brutal dictator who enslaved the indigenous nations he encountered in the Caribbean and he's also known for introducing all manner of New World produce to the Old World.

Today, the gentleman is rather more well known for his negatives than his positives, but I, personally, was raised with the positives. To those who, like me, think of this holiday ( traditionally October 12, but held today, for some reason) as a celebration of discovery rather than homage paid to a madman, I wish a Happy Columbus Day!

 

[Josiah]

And to you.......


Of course, in places where the libs reign (and that's common in The People's Republic of California among many other places), there is no Columbus Day. It's been replaced by "Indigenous People's Day." A day to decry the "rape of native people" by Europeans and to celebrate the indigenous people (who actually should be living here in harmony with the Earth and who should have killed off all the Europeans). In Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkley, etc. here in California, Columbus Day doesn't exist and is HIGHLY discouraged.

Now, I love indigenous people (although I refuse to visit all their MANY, MANY casinos that are EVERYWHERE in California). And I realize Columbus was essentially wrong and had a lot of bad things about him..... but I still acknowledge his role in history and celebrate the spirit of discovery that he embodies. I wouldn't mind an "Indigenous Peoples Day" (although I KNOW what the libs will do with it), I just don't like burying Columbus Day in the process.

 

[Confessional Lutheran]

And to you.......


Of course, in places where the libs reign (and that's common in The People's Republic of California among many other places), there is no Columbus Day. It's been replaced by "Indigenous People's Day." A day to decry the "rape of native people" by Europeans and to celebrate the indigenous people (who actually should be living here in harmony with the Earth and who should have killed off all the Europeans). In Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkley, etc. here in California, Columbus Day doesn't exist and is HIGHLY discouraged.

Now, I love indigenous people (although I refuse to visit all their MANY, MANY casinos that are EVERYWHERE in California). And I realize Columbus was essentially wrong and had a lot of bad things about him..... but I still acknowledge his role in history and celebrate the spirit of discovery that he embodies. I wouldn't mind an "Indigenous Peoples Day" (although I KNOW what the libs will do with it), I just don't like burying Columbus Day in the process.

I am sorry that things are that way where you are, Josiah. I wouldn't be opposed to an Indigenous People's Day, either, but I think that Columbus Day ought to be retained. In many ways, his little jaunt prevented the starvation and endless poverty of millions of people in Europe and provided opportunities that did not exist before. If Indigenous people deserve to have credit for whatever it was that they did before the European Arrival, then the man who discovered the Americas for Europe deserves his annual twenty- four hour tribute.

 

[Albion]

duplicate of the post following

 

[Albion]

It is the usual Liberal hypocrisy at work. Columbus Day has long been considered a day that's especially important to Italian-Americans (for obvious reasons). But supporters of American Indians do not like it for the reason that they oppose some bad things that might be laid at the feet of Columbus and the government that employed him. SO, we have the strange spectacle of one ethnic group opposing the object that brings pride to another. Could Italian-Americans respond by demanding the removal of all Martin Luther King memorials on the basis that although he accomplished great things, as did Columbus, he also was a flawed individual who both let loose some divisive feelings and movements in the country and was not entirely moral in his personal life? And what would the Left say about such a notion? We know the answer to that.

 

[MoreCoffee]

We don't have any Columbus day in Australia

:smirk:

We also know that the Americas were discovered by people some time around 20,000 to 30,000 BC

Australia was discovered by people some time around 60,000 BC

But it seems that New Zealand was discovered by people some time around 1,280 AD

 

[Albion]

We don't have any Columbus day in Australia

Got anything like a Captain Cook day?

As for who discovered what, every historian knows that all these places were inhabited from long before the now-famous people arrived, BUT also that the coming of these explorers opened these lands to Western Civilization (which made them, more or less, what they became). That's the thing about history. Its not really a study of everything that has happened, but of everything that's consequential.

 

[Confessional Lutheran]

We don't have any Columbus day in Australia

:smirk:

We also know that the Americas were discovered by people some time around 20,000 to 30,000 BC

Australia was discovered by people some time around 60,000 BC

But it seems that New Zealand was discovered by people some time around 1,280 AD

The Polynesians tended to be rather late in their discoveries, yes. I understand that the Australian Aborigines are said to be the oldest " out of Africa" peoples and that the ancestors of the Native Americans came out of Northeast Asia when the Bering Land Bridge still existed.

In the United States, Christopher Columbus is the man who is remembered as being the one who bravely struck out into the vast unknown to discover a New World for Spain, with Portugal, France, the Netherlands and Great Britain following. A lot of Italian Americans and Latinos celebrate Columbus as a hero. In my own neck of the woods, it was Captain John Smith of Lincolnshire, England, who scouted the areas around the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River, mapped them and reported on them to the Mother Country. Smith also led the Jamestown settlement for a few years. he is also known for having met the paramount chief Powhatan, whose daughter allegedly saved the explorer's life when Powhatan sentenced him to death. Captain Smith was the fellow to be credited with the English settlements not only of Virginia, but New England as well. As I remember Christopher Columbus who landed at the Bahamas, I'll also remember the leader of the first successful settlement in the part of the United States that many of my own ancestors hailed from.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Got anything like a Captain Cook day?

As for who discovered what, every historian knows that all these places were inhabited from long before the now-famous people arrived, BUT also that the coming of these explorers opened these lands to Western Civilization (which made them, more or less, what they became). That's the thing about history. Its not really a study of everything that has happened, but of everything that's consequential.

Nope, no Cook Day. Besides the first European to discover Australia was some Dutch dude ... in the seventeenth century ... on board the Duyfken ... a chap named Willem Janszoon was captain ... 1609 AD

 

[MoreCoffee]

The Polynesians tended to be rather late in their discoveries, yes. I understand that the Australian Aborigines are said to be the oldest " out of Africa" peoples and that the ancestors of the Native Americans came out of Northeast Asia when the Bering Land Bridge still existed.

In the United States, Christopher Columbus is the man who is remembered as being the one who bravely struck out into the vast unknown to discover a New World for Spain, with Portugal, France, the Netherlands and Great Britain following. A lot of Italian Americans and Latinos celebrate Columbus as a hero. In my own neck of the woods, it was Captain John Smith of Lincolnshire, England, who scouted the areas around the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River, mapped them and reported on them to the Mother Country. Smith also led the Jamestown settlement for a few years. he is also known for having met the paramount chief Powhatan, whose daughter allegedly saved the explorer's life when Powhatan sentenced him to death. Captain Smith was the fellow to be credited with the English settlements not only of Virginia, but New England as well. As I remember Christopher Columbus who landed at the Bahamas, I'll also remember the leader of the first successful settlement in the part of the United States that many of my own ancestors hailed from.

I think that the Perth region was mapped by a Frenchman before any English settlement came. And some Dutch voyages mapped the coastline here a century or two before that. Captain Cook is something of a hero in English history and he is well regarded in Australia too. From a white-Australian perspective he was the first to map the east coast of Australia and to report on possible settlement locations. But his mission was not to settle anyplace.

Our national myths point to Governor Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet as the beginning of European settlement.

On 13 May 1787, the First Fleet of 11 ships and about 1530 people (736 convicts, 17 convicts' children, 211 marines, 27 marines' wives, 14 marines' children and about 300 officers and others) under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip set sail for Botany Bay. The Fleet of 11 vessels consisted of over a thousand settlers, including 778 convicts (192 women and 586 men). A few days after arrival at Botany Bay the fleet moved to the more suitable Port Jackson where a settlement was established at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788. This date later became Australia's national day, Australia Day. The colony was formally proclaimed by Governor Phillip on 7 February 1788 at Sydney. Sydney Cove offered a fresh water supply and a safe harbour, which Philip famously described as:

“ 'being with out exception the finest Harbour in the World [...] Here a Thousand Sail of the Line may ride in the most perfect Security.' ”

Phillip named the settlement after the Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, 1st Baron Sydney (Viscount Sydney from 1789). The only people at the flag raising ceremony and the formal taking of possession of the land in the name of King George III were Phillip and a few dozen marines and officers from the Supply, the rest of the ship's company and the convicts witnessing it from on board ship. The remaining ships of the Fleet were unable to leave Botany Bay until later on 26 January because of a tremendous gale. The new colony was formally proclaimed as the Colony of New South Wales on 7 February. (Wikipedia)

 

[psalms 91]

Nope, no Cook Day. Besides the first European to discover Australia was some Dutch dude ... in the seventeenth century ... on board the Duyfken ... a chap named Willem Janszoon was captain ... 1609 AD

Gadzooks, Janszoon land?:Nooo:

 

[Confessional Lutheran]

Gadzooks, Janszoon land?:Nooo:

Nice, isn't it? The British Empire needed some place to send the overflow of convicted felons since 1783.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Nice, isn't it? The British Empire needed some place to send the overflow of convicted felons since 1783.

Their primary purpose was to settle the new land and stop the french from doing so. At the time England and France were arch enemies.

 

[Confessional Lutheran]

Their primary purpose was to settle the new land and stop the french from doing so. At the time England and France were arch enemies.

Thank you! I learned something new today. I thought that England and France still cordially hated each other.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Thank you! I learned something new today. I thought that England and France still cordially hated each other.

Deep down the English still hate the French. It may be mutual

 

[Confessional Lutheran]

Deep down the English still hate the French. It may be mutual

Perhaps, but that mutual hostility does have historical precedent. You can even see that rivalry when you consider the Anglo- Americans who migrated down to Louisiana to teach in the mid- twentieth century. Apparently, the local Cajun children were forbidden to use French while they were in school, or they would face punishment. There's also the French Canadian vs. English Canadian paradigm, with the province of Quebec having their independence referendums.

 

[Imalive]

If you give a big enough tip French waiters can all of a sudden understand English.

 

[Confessional Lutheran]

If you give a big enough tip French waiters can all of a sudden understand English.

Nice. Unfortunately, while I love Cajun food, I'm not too keen on French food.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Nice. Unfortunately, while I love Cajun food, I'm not too keen on French food.

you don't like cheese?

 

[Imalive]

I ate there and couldnt read the menu, only poisson above it, fish, so i just picked something. It was no fish. Looked like tiny chickens. Tasted good. After I ate it I heard it was frogs. I felt them hopping in my stomach.
Oh and everywhere those pots of mussels eeww.