By Francisco Peyret
Year after year, October 12 brings up conversations about the history of the so-called discovery of America, which is anything but that. Not only do the victors write history, but so do each country, each community, and each individual write their own accounts. Interpretations of the events of 1492 continue to clash even after more than 500 years. In Spain, they celebrate it as Día de la Hispanidad (Hispanic Day); in Latin America, they commemorate it as Día de la Raza (The Day of Race); in the United States they call it simply Columbus Day.
For Spain, Columbus was considered the hero of a «discovery,» an account that Europeans considered indisputable. But for others, it was a «clash between two trains» in the best of cases, because the indigenous peoples already existed and didn’t need for anyone to discover them. The story has almost always been told from the European perspective. A good example is Francis Drake (1543-1596), who was known for being a bloodthirsty pirate and a ruthless slave trader. In spite of that, he was knighted in England for the defeat of Spain’s so called «Invincible Armada.»
Many say that the Spanish conquered the Americas simply because they had better military technology and a stronger will than the native people. Others argue that there was another determining factor. When the two cultures met, it was the so-called «bacteriological shock» that caused the defeat. The illnesses brought by the Europeans caused epidemics—tuberculosis, typhus, mumps, and measles, among others—among the natives, and these diseases decimated the original population of America.
When the Renaissance was beginning in Europe, America was already home to empires with more than 60 million inhabitants. Europe, during that time, was overcoming the black plague, going from 80 million to about 50 million inhabitants (data from the National University of Colombia). New estimates made by the academic journal The Conversation show a shocking figure: at the beginning of the 17th century, the number of deaths in America reached 56 million, that is, 90% of the pre-Columbian population. To put this in perspective, Constantinople had about 200,000, Paris 185,000, and Venice about 150,000. According to academics from the National University of Mexico, Tenochtitlán added to Tlatelolco exceeded 400,00 inhabitants.
In «The Labyrinth of Solitude,» Octavio Paz presents all this in a very different way. He begins by highlighting the cultural, technological, and pluralist wealth of Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spanish and goes on to describe Aztec society as a highly theocratic and military one. These characteristics, and the strong and complex concept of time of the Aztecs, led Paz to formulate one of his most original theories regarding the defeat of their civilization. He believes the Aztecs were not defeated; they committed suicide. They saw the Spanish as the arrival of another time, and they accepted them. Paz highlights the contradictory nature of the conquest, the expansionist purpose of the monarchy, and the evangelical purpose of the Church. He also sees it as a medieval enterprise, an extension of the conquest against the Muslims, and a Renaissance one on the other. Paz expresses surprise at the speed with which the Spanish subdued the Aztecs, the strength of the colonial culture that was established, and the success of the Church’s evangelization. Part of that success, according to Paz, has to do with the syncretic Christianity that allowed it to take root in the New World. The Virgin of Guadalupe, an indigenous virgin, is just one example.
Here are some famous quotes that may shed light on these. «This woman had a little piece of gold in her nose, which was a sign that there was gold on that island.» Christopher Columbus (1451-1506). Italian navigator.
«The discovery of America and the passage to the East Indies through the Cape of Good Hope are the two greatest recorded events in the history of mankind.» Adam Smith. (1723-Edinburgh-1790). Scottish economist.
«Curiosity: Human impulse that oscillates between the gross and the sublime leads to listening behind doors or discovering America.» José Maria de Eça de Queirós (1845-Paris-1900). French writer.
«In 1492, the natives discovered that they were Indians; they discovered that they lived in America; they discovered that they were naked; they discovered that sin existed; they discovered that they owed obedience to a king and queen from another world and a god from another sky, and that that god had invented guilt and clothed it, and had ordered that anyone who worshiped the sun and the moon and the earth and the rain that wets it be burned alive.» Edurado Galeano (Montevideo, 1940-2015). Uruguayan writer.
“Be like Christopher Columbus. Smell the fragrance of new lands and find them.» Amit Ray (1960-?). Hindu spiritual master.
Other Curiosities
Before Columbus died, he said that he found that the Earth was not round as written, «except that it is in the shape of a pear that is all very round, except where it has the highest point.»
Do you know why the discovered lands were not named in honor of Christopher Columbus? They were named after 1500, after Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci drew the first world map and named the New World America. Although Columbus did not receive the honor of having a continent named after him, we do have the country called Colombia.
Did you know that women were not allowed to travel to the New World? On the first trip made in the year 1492, of the some 90 people who arrived, all were men. In fact, it was not until 1547 that the Spanish Crown allowed an expedition with women, so it was 55 years after the first voyage that women visited the so-called New World.
Did you know that Columbus did not keep a promise? Columbus was not the first to discover land, but a sailor. Rodrigo de Triana was the first to see land on October 12 and shouted out «Land in sight»! However, Columbus persuaded the Crown to give him the credit, saying that he detected land a day before.
