How come we don’t have Columbo Day? That guy was a crime-solving hero!
Well, to be fair, if your ancestors had fought a battle where 470 of you defeated 10,000 of the other side, and only three of your side even wounded while 3000 of the enemy bought the farm, you might think that deserved a day on the calendar.
What was the quote?
“Great men are rarely good men” Or something like that?
Yeah, but nobody says “Calvinus”. I’ve never seen it written that way anywhere. Nor, for that matter, do I see latinized names for any other explorer.
I thought we ought to be using “Cauvin”, anyway. “Calvin” seems an imposition. And, being of Polish ancestry, I prefer Mikolai* Kopernik to Nicjolas Copernicus.
- That’s an “l” with a diagonal slash through it.
How great was he? Atrocities aside (and he was a god-awful human being), he should really be known for being bailed out by dumb luck after setting sail with very, very bad information. He thought the world was much smaller than it actually was, despite the fact that a whole bunch of people knew otherwise.
How absurd is it that we credit him with discovering a new world, when he didn’t even believe that at any point in his life?
Based on an out-of-context biblical verse, apparently.
Even better. He was the 15th Century’s version of a creationist.
The contemporary Spanish conquerors were quite impressed by the Inca civilization, commenting (IIRC) on how well nourished and healthy people were, on how everyone had work, and on how the crime rates and general social dysfunction were quite low. It shouldn’t be surprising that the Incas were well nourished- they’re right next door to one of the world’s richest marine fisheries, South America was home to a great diversity of crops (including some super-productive ones), and they had a well organized transportation network and government.
Given all that, I’m not sure the lack of liberty much mattered. People generally prefer sausages to freedom, and I suspect most people would prefer to live under a prosperous dictatorship than in a poor democracy.
For what it’s worth, a number of 20th century South American Marxists saw the Incas as kind of a premodern model.
cite? I’ve never heard this story. Which verse would that be?
This one, from the deuterocanonical Book of Esdras. Here’s the commentary from the Oxford Annotated NRSV:
"‘On the third day thou didst command the waters to be gathered together in the seventh part of the earth; six parts thou didst dry up and keep so that some of them might be planted and cultivated and be of service before thee.’
(2 Esdras 6:42)
“The above passage is taken from the Apocrypha (2 Esdras 6:42) and the words are supposed to be the words of Ezra. However these words were written much later, and are an inaccurate comment on the Genesis story of creation. But in an ironic twist, this erroneous passage came to play two vital roles in the enterprise that resulted in Christopher Columbus discovering America. Along with many others at that time, Columbus assumed that the words formed part of the canon of Scripture, and the passage led him to reason that, if only one seventh of the earth’s surface is covered with water, the ocean between the west coast of Europe and the east coast of Asia could be no great width, and might be navigated in a few days with a fair wind. As well as providing the personal encouragement Columbus needed, this quote also played a significant part in the decision by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain to provide the necessary financial support for the voyage.”
Here you go: Mikołaj (and note the “j” at the end.)
You see Vespucci latinized quite often.
I argue with the “quite often”. Your cite is from 1895. I’ve never seen it latinized in anything else I’ve seen. Certainly not from the 20th or 2q1st century.
Well, the Wikipedia page on Vinland includes this passage from the Saga of Erik the Red:
What accomplishments? Being a very lucky crackpot?
What about all of the horrific acts cruelty that Indigenous People committed?
I think czarcasm meant that we should have human sacrifice instead of Columbus day. 
Actually, Pedro Cabral discovered Brazil in 1500 independently of Columbus while sailing far to the west en route to India by circling Africa.* So if Columbus had never existed, it would have delayed the discovery of the Americas by a whopping 8 years. There were so many European ships sailing about at that time that the discovery of the Americas was inevitable.
*There is some speculation that Cabral might have sailed so far west because he thought there might be land there due to Columbus’s voyage, but if so it’s still likely Brazil would have been discovered sooner rather than later.
I’ve always thought of Columbus as being rather like Donald Trump, but with a dollop or two of actual imagination and foresight added.
True, but oddly enough it was not until the early 1600s that Europeans “discovered” Australia.