Isn’t the nationality of Christopher Columbus the only debate that revolves around the Genoese sailor? The person who discovered America five centuries ago to Europeans. If there is anything that stirs more debate and boosts morale more than twenty long theories discussing its birth from Greece to Portugal, passing through a handful of towns spread across Spain, it is its monuments.

And it makes sense that it should be so. There are many, many spread across half the world, including Japan. And at the end of the day, they serve more than just remembering his figure: they’re an homage to a controversial character. Because of this, more than one person has been destroyed, decapitated, defaced, and even buried at the bottom of the lake in recent years. It’s also a reminder that almost everyone has something to say about the admiral. Of course, it is not the same thing or the same intensity everywhere.

25 births are nothing. If the documentary ‘Colón DNA, its true origin’, broadcast by La1 on Saturday and recalling the work of professor José Antonio Lorente, served any purpose, it is to remind us how controversial the birth of the rover was. It’s very controversial. At least 25 different cribs are dedicated, spread from Quirós in present-day Greece to Portugal, various points in present-day Italy, and many more throughout Spain. But 25 is nothing compared to the number of statues Columbus spread across the planet.

Distributed to half the world. Monument Lab devoted itself to counting the ones scattered across the United States — or at least it did until recently — and they turned up 150 statues. If we talk about monuments and toponymic nods, the total comes out to be close to 300. Lists were also prepared showing that statues were found in South America, Central America, Canada and Europe. Recently, a Reddit user claimed to have found one in a park in Qintiang, China.

Statues of Christopher Columbus can be seen in Alexandria, Egypt; or in Japan. There would be at least two people there. One of these is at the Spanish Shima Village, which opened in 1994 and features many nods to Spanish heritage. One of them is a large statue that resembles Columbus in Barcelona and is located in the neighborhood called Columbus Plaza. Another stands at the American Waterfront at Tokyo DisneySea, representing the views of New York and New England in the 1920s. The fact that they are both in environments that mimic America and Europe also speaks to Columbus’s image in the country.

From the pedestal to the bottom of the pool. Not all statues shared the same fate. Birth rate may be a controversial “candy” across regions, but Columbus is also a controversial figure for his treatment of indigenous people and the violence of colonization that followed 1492. This explains why some of these monuments were destroyed. It has been defaced and decapitated, burned or thrown into a lake, as was the case with a Richmond statue in 2020. Especially lately. In 2021, Bloomberg estimated that 36 monuments commemorating Columbus had been removed since the 1970s.

“Murderer Columbus!” The list of incidents involving Columbus monuments is long, but here’s an example. In mid-2020, amid the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, a group of protesters pulled the Columbus statue placed at the Minnesota State Capitol to the ground with the help of ropes. Another monument ended up in a pond in Richmond.

In the summer of 2020, a statue was removed from Grant Park in the heart of Chicago; The Civic Committee of Italian Americans lamented that in 2023 the statue was still collecting dust in a warehouse far from the city center. the eyes of passersby. In June 2021, a group of protesters destroyed another statue of the sailor in Barranquilla, Colombia, chanting “Murderer Columbus!” Shortly after, another monument in La Paz, Bolivia, lost its nose.

One Columbus, many Columbuses. The fact that statues erected in their time are now being torn down, or at least sparked controversy, a wave that has recently reached Spain, where there is debate, for example, about what to do with the Barcelona monument, is largely explained by the fact that it is not just Columbus. There are several. A lot.

True, there was only one traveler; but the interpretations and stories built around it over the centuries have varied much more than its artistic representations. In 2021, Kriston Capps published an excellent analysis of the issue on Bloomberg, specifically how the image of Genovese has changed since the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the 1970s.

Citing historian Thomas J. Schlereth, Capps notes that the image of Columbus (and especially its veneration) went through three main phases. The first of these was the figure of “Columbia”, an allegorical figure symbolizing freedom and progress, which explains why the first monument to the world admiral was erected in Baltimore in 1792, and even earlier in Italy or Spain. Over time, this ideal mutated.

Pioneer or lever of a “genocide”? In the late 18th century his figure was redefined to resemble that of an explorer who synthesized a different ideal, that of expansion towards the West. By the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Columbus’s vision was already more complex, and by the fifth centenary of the “discovery” of America in 1992, skepticism and criticism of Columbus had become widespread. A year later, historian David Stannar published an article that was as famous as it was controversial at the time. Its title could not be more telling: ‘The American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World’.

Adapted to every moment. If there is one thing this evolution makes clear, it is that Christopher Columbus served Europeans beyond discovering America. His figure was used as a symbol reflecting one or another values ​​depending on the moment in his biography: freedom and progress, exploration and vulgarity, the triumph of intellectualism over the gloomy medieval vision of the world… Italian-American immigrants assimilated him as an “ethnic saint” ; this saint viewed it as a national symbol for the United States, ultimately focusing on its role in colonization and treatment of indigenous people. In ’92, the Berkeley City Council took the important step of stopping celebrating Columbus Day and changing it to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Others followed him.

Part of the Shima Spanish Village plan with the “Columbus Plaza” and Columbus statue.

Farewell to Columbus? Although his current image is much richer (and more controversial) than the ancient allegory of Columbus almost identified with Athena, the truth is that Columbus remains a difficult figure to approach. In the US, cranes and ropes have been used to remove monuments and their tributes have been replaced with others dedicated to indigenous people, but a 2019 survey by Rasmussen Reports found that 56% of adults think the country should continue to honor them with an award. holiday .

His statues have been torn down across the continent, but ‘The Birth of the New World’ was completed long ago in Puerto Rico; A 110 m high mass depicting the navigator and standing out for its size in the statuary catalog of all America. .

“Critical”. There are also those in Europe who see it as an offensive symbol, and the continent is not immune to debate about whether it should be celebrated or whether the statues should be removed, but the country still has a large catalog of statues. Including Barcelona. Former mayor Ada Colau was also in favor of keeping it in place, but she added, “in a critical way.”

The latest La1 documentary on Lorente’s investigation also shows that Columbus continues to inspire fascination and, whether controversial or not, his birthplace as a symbol of progress or indigenous oppression remains controversial.

But what about beyond America and Europe? Perhaps the best evidence of Columbus as a historical figure is his transcendence of America and Europe. A Reddit user recently showed off a photo of a traveler statue erected in Qingtian, China, and similar representations can be found in other countries outside of Asia and even Africa. In a localized way, of course, and much less frequently than in America, Italy or Spain, where Colón streets abound.

It would be useful to consult the press to understand what image they have of him. Asian newspapers are like this Indian Express any Economic Times Recently articles dealing with his “controversial” figure have been dedicated to him, and the newspaper archive reflects that his historical role is also being reviewed there. Already in the 70s Historical Research An article by Yen Chung-ping was published with a title that also speaks for itself: “Columbus, the colonial pirate.” The article mentioned the existence of theories suggesting that the Chinese were in America long before the Genoese.

One more proof that Christopher Columbus continues to evoke two emotions beyond borders, cradles and continents: admiration… and a high dose of controversy.

Pictures | PatersonGreatFalls -A Visual Reference for Teacher (Flickr), Dr Bob Hall (Flickr) and Mike Steele (Flickr)

in Xataka | After all, “Where is Christopher Columbus from?” The answer to the question will always be the same: It depends on where you live.