Why Columbus is such a big deal
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably have heard the name Christopher Columbus. Depending on who you asked, Columbus is either noble explorer, genocidal maniacs, or everything between. But have you ever ask yourself why is he such a big deal? why our teacher made us learn so much about him in our history class.
I mean, if you think about it, all he did was set sails westward from Europe. He was definitely not the person who “discover” America. Millions of Native Americans were already there. He was not even the first European to land there, Leif Erikson beat him to it by hundreds of years.
I get why some people think he was interesting though, he was an exciting fellow with enormous amount of bravado. A quintessential rags-to-riches story. Although in the end he died as a poor man.
But that does not explain why he become such an important subject in our history education. Because after all, history is full with rags-to-riches stories with arguably much more exciting person. I would say Fransisco Pizarro and Hernan Cortes were much more exciting fellows than Columbus, but they are not as prominent as Columbus in our history books.
Arguably, the thing that sets Columbus apart from others was Columbian Exchange. Columbian Exchange was was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Americas and the rest of the world. You see, although Leif Erikson set foot on the Americas before Columbus, he did not really leave a lasting legacy in the Americas or Europe. Yes he brought some settlers from Europe to the Americas, but in grand scheme of things he did not really change anything.
Columbian Exchange was different. It literally change the world as we know it. Before Columbian Exchange there were no potato in Ireland, no tomato in Italy, no chili in India as they were all native to the Americas. Likewise there were no orange and banana in Florida, no sugarcane in Haiti as all those are not native to the Americas. It’s not just plants, tons of animal species migrate to and from the Americas including human.
I really could not overstate the impact of Columbian Exchange to our life. It was the Globalization 1.0. It was probably the first time world become truly interconnected. Pizza and Pasta are two of Italy’s most famous cuisine, yet it would not even exist without Columbian Exchange, as tomato is an integral part of those cuisine and tomato did not exist in Italy before Columbian Exchange. Other historical milestones would not even happen at all without Columbian Exchange, American Civil War, Irish Potato Famine, etc.
In the end, I think the reason why Columbus is prominently featured in our history books because of Columbian Exchange. He may not be the nicest person, he certainly did horrible things and those changes he caused are not necessarily for the better. But one thing we can’t deny is his impact in the world. He triggered true globalization, and in the process he changed the world forever.
