Europeans started settling North America in the early 1500s. British, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, French, Dutch, and countless others had been settling the Americas for far longer then the United States has been an official country. More of the history of North America is rooted in the lives of hard core people that lived on the edge than that of a civilized industrial society we recognize today. A great book that I read a while back ago, called “The Hypomanic Edge” by John Gartner talks though the hypothesis that the United States has been successful precisely because of the risk taking roots of our culture. Our very laws are designed to benefit the risk taking side of ourselves. We have bankruptcy laws, squatting laws, and all sorts of protections built in for crazy people that take massive risk with little hope for payoff. That is right, Mr. Gartner claims that the Europeans that settled North America were more likely to exhibit characteristics of bipolar and other disorders. Only people in a manic state would even consider jumping in a wood sail boat and travel 3,470 nautical miles across the Atlantic Ocean. These people risked everything to start new lives, to carve out a living in a new world and face enormous risk and adverse conditions.
By now we have all come realistic about the exploits of Christopher Columbus. We know now that he did not “discover” the Americas. There were already millions of inhabitants, with somewhat advanced civilizations in place that had been calling the two continents home for longer then the Europeans were around. Columbus actually ran into Cuba, not what we call North America today. He also was not the first European on record. A few Vikings made it over here before he did. We also have learned that Columbus was a bit of a profiteer, exhibited plenty of bravado and might have had some involvement with enslaving peaceful islander people for his own profit. By today’s standard, Columbus is probably viewed as a bad dude. Many want us to believe that he had mental problems, questionable ethics, was propelled by greed and self fulfillment. History books have now been re-written to paint him as less of a hero, and more of a corrupt bringer of disease and misfortune to an otherwise peaceful indigenous population. Reality is much more complicated than what people want to ascribe to this famous persona. He probably did not have a great deal of malcontent toward native populations. He most likely was an evangelist for the Catholic faith, wanted desperately to establish a trading community and sins of many to follow were probably attributed to him incorrectly.
However, having said all of that, I do have to say that we cannot underestimate the bravery, vision, and enthusiasm for risk Columbus must have had. By the way, before you think he was celebrated for his dark side, on one of his journeys back home he was arrested by the Spanish court and held in prison for crimes against humanity. He only got out because of his ties to royalty and they really needed someone crazy enough to continue on yet another expedition for the crown. Some argue his crime against humanity was putting to death some of the Spanish settlers that had mistreated the native population, other claim he was put on trial for trying to profit from slavery. Whatever the truth, Columbus has to be admired on some level for his sheer tenacity. He just would not give up. Before he convinced Queen Isabella and her less than enthusiastic husband, King Ferdinand of Spain he had been rejected by many other courts. He had been lobbying other monarchies for years, not to discover America, but to find a passage to Asia to improve trade routes to that area of the world. Sorry, it was not because they thought the world was flat that they said no. It was because it was really expensive, Columbus also had very steep demands for his portion of anything collected, and the odds of surviving were extremely low. For the most part, this was a one way trip. They would either make it to Asia, or not. There was no way to really turn back. Most of the monarchies were not flush with cash at this time and throwing gold into the Atlantic was not received that well. Portugal, England and France all listened to his business proposition and they all had rejected him.
Columbus had the ultimate start up venture. The king of all start ups if you will. Give me a bunch of money to hire ships, crews, and purchase provisions and I will sail around the world, discover a new trading path to Asia and bring back untold riches from overseas. In return, you will name me Governor over any overseas settlements that I discover and give me a large percentage of anything ever returned to your country via the new shipping lane that I will establish. This was an incredible risk, for an incredible price and no one would make a deal. That is until Spain. They worked a deal with him that was a compromise. Only three ships, supporting crews, supplies and an agreement to provide him with 10% of what he returned. He would become the Governor of whatever lands he claimed along the way for Spain. Not quite the shipping empire that Columbus had hoped for, but it was a start and with that he took to his voyage in 1492.
About half way across the Atlantic, their compasses stopped pointing true north. This was a relatively unknown phenomena during this time, you can imagine what his crew must have been thinking when the compass started reading wrong. Rumor has it that Columbus told his crew lies about how far they had gone, recording one number and stating another. However, many have said this is not true as the crew was probably mostly Portuguese which required a different language anyway. However, they were very worried and full of angst and this type of trip had never been attempted before. When they saw birds on the horizon, the relief of the crew was very real. The met the native populations on the islands of the Bahamas and surrounding areas. Just as they were ready to return, one of Columbus’ stewards accidentally wrecked the main ship and they returned with only two. They left about 40 people on one of the islands to establish a settlement. When they returned a few years later, none of them were found alive. Needless to say, this was a brutal time and not easy to survive. Columbus made this trip many times and was both a hero and a villain then and today. People cannot seem to make up their mind about him. Liberal educators hate him with a passion, right wing extremist groups also hate him just as passionately. When I was a child we celebrated him, now my kids learn about he represents the worse kind of evil. I imagine we will swing back the other way on the Columbus fan meter before too long.
I am thinking this morning that I am grateful for people that take risks in general. They never survive public scrutiny, they always have a lot of tarnish on their reflection as we look back in history. They are never accepted, during their own time and for centuries afterward. However, if it was not for risk takers our society would not progress very far. We would be stuck in the same old paradigms that fail us. Risk takers are the ones that put their lives on the line to see if they can cause change, to discover something new, to push humanity passed what is normally accepted. In our everyday lives, we probably know a few risk takers. Maybe not on the discovering new worlds level, but certainly taking risks in their own right. For those who dash their seemingly futile efforts against the walls of the establishment, I salute you. For those who find no solace in being labeled an anomaly only to be brushed under the proverbial rug, I remember you. For the men and women branded heretics, malcontents, rebels, renegades, mentally insane, unstable and revolutionary I acknowledge what you did to advance my society. We live in a better world because of the ones that have gone before us, blazing new trails up unknown mountains. Christopher Columbus may not have discovered anything, but he certainly proved to the world that transatlantic trade could occur, and could be done expertly. His impact definitely changed the world, and I can imagine that you can think of a few people, saints and sinners, that we should also be grateful for.
Guy Reams
