Believe not in the insane, imbecilic pablum-blathering of unintelligent liberals. Christopher Columbus was a great man of courage.
We need millions more just like him.
Rob Schultz
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As for peoples of what is now North America, their ancestry is far more complex than first believed.
In National Geographic in 2013, Brian Handwerk wrote: “Nearly one-third of Native American genes come from west Eurasian people linked to the Middle East and Europe, rather than entirely from East Asians as previously thought, according to a newly sequenced genome.”
Perhaps the revisionists should heed Roman consul Marcus Tillius Cicero: “To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.”
As an Italian sailing for Spain, Columbus was caught in the crossfire among the Spanish crown, its conquistadors and the indigenous peoples. And his political and administrative skills may have fallen far short of his immense maritime abilities.
Yes, Columbus was a complicated icon. As Samuel Eliot Morrison noted, “He had his flaws and his defects, but they were largely the defects of the qualities that made him great — his indomitable will, his superb faith in God and in his own mission.”
Columbus’ epic feat sparked the bold treks of his fellow Italian navigators: Giovanni da Verrazzano, Giovanni (John) Caboto and Amerigo Vespucci.
Though he never set foot in the heartland of North America, Columbus has long been revered in the United States. Indeed, our Pledge of Allegiance was penned by Francis Bellamy to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ first voyage.
In “Columbus: The Great Adventure,” Paolo Emilio Taviani wrote, “Christopher Columbus of Genoa was the greatest and most spectacular actor at the beginning of the modern age.”
He enlarged the world, altered the course of human events and made possible “the last best hope of earth” — the United States of America.
Rosario A. Iaconis is chairman of the Italic Institute of America and an adjunct professor in social sciences at Suffolk County Community College.
Rob Schultz
Creve Coeur, Mo.
