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Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Christopher Columbus' Ships (Replicas)

We drove out 1.5 hours to Palos de la Frontera, Huelva to see replicas of Christopher Columbus' ships. He set off with the Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina. I thought it would be an interesting history lesson for the children.

Instead, all we could think of was Pirates of the Caribbean. We had a whale of a time pretending to be Elizabeth Swann, Will Turner, Captain Barbossa and Captain Jack Sparrow.

It turned out that Christopher Columbus isn't all that he was made out to be. Firstly, he discovered America by accident, as he had intended to find Japan. Secondly, he was a very cruel man. He had no qualms about enslaving the friendly native peoples that he encountered, using the excuse of converting them to Christianity to condemn them to a life of hard labour. Once, he cut off the ears and nose of a man who had stolen some corn, and then condemned him to a life of slavery. On another occasion, he commended his brother for cutting out a woman's tongue and parading her naked through town, just for speaking badly of Christopher Columbus.

I have thus decided that I shall not visit Christopher Columbus' catafalque in the Cathedral of Seville. What an odious man!









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