A Tribute to Chris

Even though you were Italian - you went where you could get work, under the Spanish crown

You and most educated westerners had understood that the world was spherical since the days of Aristotle in the 4^th century BC-even though Christian theologians insisted that the world was flat

You were wrong about the distance you would have to travel to reach land, believing it to be much shorter than many prominent thinkers at the time

You had knowledge of, and took advantage of, trade winds which made your one way voyage last 5 weeks; compared to months had you not used the trade winds

You made four voyages. Land was seen first in the Bahamas and 39 men were left first in Haiti. Upon returning on the second voyage this settlement was destroyed by natives and 11 of 39 corpses were found

Popular thinking holds that your voyage brought syphilis back from the new world which would go on to kill 5 million people

A second, larger settlement was established in the Dominican Republic. A poor choice for a settlement, the people there revolted against you and refused to let you return to shore upon arriving as part of the third voyage

You allegedly had many leaders hanged who disobeyed you and upon returning to Spain many sailors lobbied against you, leading to your arrest

On the fourth voyage you were caught in a hurricane and became stranded in Jamaica for a year. In a prior hurricane 29 of 30 ships in the fleet, many carrying treasure, sank

When you returned to Spain you were imprisoned for a time because many claimed you governed tyrannically. Twenty-three witnesses stated that you used barbaric acts of torture to govern Hispaniola. You were eventually freed but died at 55 due to a heart attack precipitated by arthritis

One part of your mission, other than finding a sea route to the Indies, was to Christianize the natives. You did not end up baptizing, though, because you wanted to enslave them for economic reasons. Your religion did not allow the enslavement of Christians.Way to get around the red tape

Your remains were moved from Spain to the Dominican Republic, to Cuba, back to Spain

You are credited with bringing America to the forefront of western attention and are credited for bringing us the following-named locations:

Columbus, OH

District of Columbia

Columbia, SC

Columbia River

Colombia

Thank you Chris. I never knew you, but I appreciate you. Happy Columbus Day