Happy Columbus Day! Do Not Allow the Unscrupulous Left to Rewrite History and Defame this American Hero

The Marxist left continues its war on America and our historical roots. Part of their plan to remake the country into a socialist state requires them to smear and destroy our heroes, the brave men and women who made America the greatest, most productive, civilized nation in world history. Democrats are working to take this away from us. Look at the crime rates as Democrats push to Defund the Police and then blame the results on Republicans. Their assault on America is everywhere. No stone will be left unturned.

Today is Christopher Columbus Day. Twenty years ago Columbus was celebrated across the nation as the founder of the free world. Today Democrats treat Columbus like a criminal for daring to travel the ocean and lay claim to America. They smear Columbus as a maniac and killer.

Steve Weidenkopf published a wonderul essay on the real Columbus: Separating Myth from Fact.

Here are a few paragraphs from this important writing.

In popular myth, Christopher Columbus is the symbol of European greed and genocidal imperialism. In reality, he was a dedicated Christian concerned first and foremost with serving God and his fellow man.

Peering into the future, Columbus (1451-15­06) could not have anticipated the ingratitude and outright contempt shown by modern man toward his discovery and exploration of the New World. It has become fashionable to view him not as a devout Catholic concerned for the eternal salvation of the indigenous peoples he encountered but rather as deliberately genocidal: a symbol of European imperialism1 and a bringer of destruction, enslavement, and death to the happy and prosperous people of the Americas.2

In the United States, the vitriol directed against Columbus produces annual protests every Columbus Day. Some want to abolish it as a federal holiday, and a growing number of cities and states already refuse to acknowledge it and celebrate instead “Indigenous Peoples Day.”3

This movement to brand Columbus a genocidal maniac and erase all memory of his extraordinary accomplishments stems from a false myth about the man and his times.

The so-called Age of Discovery was ushered in by Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) of Portugal. Prince Henry and his sailors inaugurated the great age of explorers finding new lands and creating shipping lanes for the import and export of goods, including consumables never before seen in Europe. Their efforts also created an intense competition among the sailing nations of Europe, each striving to outdo the others in finding new and more efficient trade routes. It was into this world of innovation, exploration, and economic competition that Christopher Columbus was born.

A native of the Italian city-state of Genoa, Columbus became a sailor at the age of fourteen. He learned the nautical trade sailing on Genoese merchant vessels and became an accomplished navigator. On a long-distance voyage past Iceland in February 1477, Columbus learned about the strong east-flowing Atlantic currents and believed that a journey across the ocean could be made because the currents would be able to bring a ship home.4 So Columbus formulated a plan to seek the east by going west. He knew that such an ambitious undertaking required royal backing, and in May of 1486, he secured a royal audience with King Fernando and Queen Isabel of Spain, who in time granted everything Columbus needed for the voyage.

On August 3, 1492, Columbus embarked from Spain with ninety men on three ships: the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria.5 After thirty-three days at sea, Columbus’s flotilla spotted land (the Bahamas), which he claimed in the name of the Spanish monarchs. Columbus’s modern-day detractors view that as a sign of imperial conquest. It was not—it was simply a sign to other European nations that they could not establish trading posts on the Spanish possession.6

On this first voyage, Columbus also reached the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola. He stayed four months in the New World and arrived home to fanfare on March 15, 1493. Unfortunately, the Santa Maria ran aground on Hispaniola so was forced to leave forty-two men behind, ordered to treat the indigenous people well and especially to respect the women.7 But as Columbus discovered on his second voyage, that order was not heeded.

Columbus made four voyages to the New World, and each brought its own discoveries and adventures. His second voyage included many crewmen from his first, but also some new faces such as Ponce de León, who later won fame as an explorer himself. On this second voyage, Columbus and his men encountered the fierce tribe of the Caribs, who were cannibals, practiced sodomy, and castrated captured boys from neighboring tribes. Columbus recognized the Caribs’ captives as members of the peaceful tribe he met on his first voyage, so he rescued and returned them to their homes.8 This voyage included stops in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Read the rest here.

It is important that we learn the truth about our heroes and do not allow the unscrupulous left to destroy our heroes and our culture in their attempt to remake America.

The post Happy Columbus Day! Do Not Allow the Unscrupulous Left to Rewrite History and Defame this American Hero appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.