Episode Details

I wanted to take an unusual—but evidently necessary—detour from politics, the election, and world events today to set the record straight on the history of Christopher Columbus.

Today is the day we celebrate the achievements of Columbus—and seeing as the far-Left has Columbus in its crosshairs as one of its targets in their re-writing of history campaign, someone needs to point out the facts of the matter.

Christopher Columbus, during his voyages in the late 15th century, never actually set foot on what is now considered the mainland of North America. He did not “discover America” and he never met or came across an Native American Indian. Therefore, he had no part—no part—in any history that involved Native American Indians. 

In fact, there are several misnomers about Columbus that anyone paying attention in world history class would already know. But since we don’t teach accurate history anymore—and if you are relying on the history books authored by Howard Zinn, you have a politically and ideologically polluted version of revisionist history—because we don’t teach accurate accounts of history anymore in our schools, these falsehoods havebeen repeated again and again and again.

But let’s clear some up…

* Educated Europeans in Columbus's time, including his contemporaries, knew the Earth was round. The dispute was about the Earth's circumference, not its shape. Columbus underestimated the Earth's size, believing he could reach Asia by sailing west rather than encountering the Americas.

* Columbus did not "discover" America in any meaningful sense. Indigenous peoples were already living here, and Norse explorers, particularly Leif Erikson, reached the continent around the year 1000, nearly 500 years before Columbus. Additionally, other Europeans are recorded as having made landfall before Columbus; however, his voyages did lead to sustained contact between Europe and the Americas.

* Columbus died believing he had reached Asia, not a new continent. His initial goal was to find a direct sea route to Asia, not to "discover" new lands. And as mentioned, Columbus never set foot on the mainland of what is now the United States. His explorations were limited to the Caribbean islands, parts of Central America, and the South American coast.

* The mutiny on the Santa Maria was due to the crew's frustration over the seemingly endless voyage with no land in sight, not because they believed they would fall off the Earth. And it is worthy to note here that the three ships of Columbus's first voyage, the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Niña, were small by modern standards. The Santa Maria, the largest, was only about 100 feet long.

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As to Columbus' landings:

* On his first voyage, which took place from 1492 to 1493, Columbus landed on several Caribbean islands, including what are now known as the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola (which is today divided into Haiti and the Dominican Republic).

* On his second voyage, which took place from 1493 to 1496, he explored more of the Caribbean, establishing settlements on Hispaniola and discovering other islands, including Puerto Rico and Jamaica.

* On Columbus' third voyage, taking place from1498 to 1500, he reached the South American mainland, landing in what is now Venezuela, and explored more of the Caribbean islands.

* And on his fourth and final voyage, from 1502 to 1504, he explored the coast of Central America, landing in places like Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

So, Columbus did not land in what is commonly referred to as North America. His explorations were primarily in the Caribbean islands and along the northern coast of South America, as well as Central America.

It is likely that the first documented European to reach the North American mainland was John Cabot in 1497, who explored parts