Columbus – another ‘fake’ story?

THE EDITOR: I started to write another version of Christopher Columbus who has been given a very bad reputation in history. This is an alternate to that. One of the reasons for not writing my side of his history is because the entire plot involved the Roman Catholic Church and the Spanish Inquisition.

First a few facts:

Pope Gregory IV instituted the inquisition in 1233 to root out alternate teachings to the church. Anyone who was known or even suspected of this “crime” was deemed a heretic and could suffer anything from many years in jail to being burnt alive or even boiled in oil until dead. One of the main groups of people were the Cartars, aka the Good Men, who were killed by the hundreds.

He chose the Dominicans to do the questioning, which they did with aplomb.

Interestingly, these friars kept detailed records, so that in 1998 when the Vatican opened its vaults, these records, the whole story, became public knowledge.

Pope Paul John II was so ashamed at the contents of the secret records that he made a public apology in 2004.

Forward to January 1492. The Moors, a Muslim group that had occupied Granada, a part of what was to become Spain, were driven out after 700 years.

Eventually the four provinces would be united to become Spain. At the head were Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, who were both very young, she being one year older. Eventually she took the lead to organise this new nation.

Being a very pious person she invited the Inquisition to Spain, led not by the church but by the state. Hence the Spanish Inquisition. One of the first things that was done was to rid the country of the Jewish people. They had to leave, taking very few things; that which they were not allowed to take was sold “dog cheap.”

Enter Columbus just at the right time to get his ships to start his series of world travel. There are some things that must be said about him.

He actually reached America before his voyages. What he found were fishing ships which had discovered the bounty of that land’s fish stocks. He promised not to tell anyone of what he met there on his return, for obvious reasons.

He was able to convince Isabella to favour him with three ships so that he, hopefully, could find new lands by going west instead of east.

He probably never said he discovered anything. When he returned and spoke of his exploits, the chroniclers recorded that he had discovered this and that piece of land where he planted a Spanish flag.

On his first voyage one of his three ships, the Santa Maria, ran aground off Hispanola.

By the end of his second voyage he was discovered to be a Knights Templar, an obvious heretic. Isabella would have none of that. The fact is Columbus had planted the Spanish flag on many lands, with the hope of planting more. Isabella stepped in, and being head of the Spanish Inquisition, dismissed the charges.

The treacherous Dominican friars would not be diverted from their appointed rounds, came up with the accusation that he had mistreated the Indians in several lands, and, as my early West Indian Reader told me, he was brought back to Spain in chains. That was the chance for the Inquisition to spread the word.

So before statues are pulled down, be aware that President Trump would most be remembered for coining the term fake news.

TEDDY PINHEIRO

archivist

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"Columbus – another ‘fake’ story?"

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