CELEBRATING A HOLIDAY FOR WHAT IS REALLY IS....

[ominus1]

...today lots of folks in US of A get off work because an Italian,  backed by Spain, thought he was in the India....9_9..

[Mucius Scaevola]

1 hour ago, ominus1 said:

...today lots of folks in US of A get off work because an Italian,  backed by Spain, thought he was in the India....9_9..

Yesterday I saw a recent study about this topic and it seems that he came from Spain. Here's a short resumé, but the study was quite convincing: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg2049ezpko

[JAZ Numismatics]

It's become fashionable to heap ignominy onto Christopher Columbus for initiating the conquest and colonization of the Americas, but he was doing what all human beings have done since the dawn of time: explore and invade. The indigenous people of the Americas were no different than Europeans in that respect - they had an equally long and brutal history of tribal warfare. (Not to mention mass murder - five years before Columbus sailed, the Aztecs sacrificed over 80,000 victims during the re-consecration of the Great Pyramid at Tenochtitian. It would have made Elagabalus blush.) The myth of the "noble savage" living in harmony with nature and his fellow humans is exactly that: a myth.  Columbus was only a minor cog in the machinery of age-old human exploration and conflict, and as such, deserves neither adulation nor scapegoating. Here is a blanca of Ferdinand and Isabella, who sponsored his voyages...

SPAIN. Ferdinand (1474-1516) and Isabella (1474-1504)

BL Blanca, 19mm, 1.2g, 6h; Cuenca mint, 1497-1556.

Obv.: + • REX • ET • REGINA? • ; Crowned Y monogram of Isabella I of Castile; assayer's mark P below.

Rev.: + • FERNANDVS • ET • LIS • ; Crowned F monogram of Ferdinand; mintmark C below; assayer's mark (leaf) in right field.

Ref.: Cal 536; Aureo 1.

Edited October 14, 2024 by JAZ Numismatics

[expat]

He forms part of my "Seafarers" silver coinage

[kirispupis]

Coin from Carthage, from where it's extremely likely Phoenician sailors "discovered" America long before Columbus...

For all I know, some ancient Phoenician sailor carried this coin all the way to America, tried to buy something with it, was rebuffed, and brought it back.

Carthage
Circa 400-350 BCE
AE 15mm, 2,4g
Head of Tanit to left, wearing wreath of grain ears.
Rev. Horse standing right; palm tree in background.
MAA 18. SNG Copenhagen 109

 

Before a trip to Iceland a number of years ago I read this book, containing the Vinland Sagas of a much earlier attempt to conquer the New World.

 

But really, I don't care as much who the holiday commemorates. I'm mostly bitter that my company doesn't recognize it as a holiday so I have to go to work...

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

I'm off today 🫠.

[ewomack]

I haven't had "Columbus Day" off as a holiday ever in my career (which now spans a few decades). I don't think it's observed much anymore, but that may vary greatly nation wide. I would definitely take the holiday if someone gave it to me, though, but I wouldn't spend the day celebrating Columbus.

 

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

We need more April days!

[KenDorney]

At my last coin show I randomly came across a couple of these, which I was unaware of: