This is from last week, but I didn't see it posted. Very interesting... ____________________
(CNN) -- Today marks the 508th anniversary of the death of Christopher Columbus.
Everybody knows the story of Columbus, right? He was an Italian explorer from Genoa who set sail in 1492 to enrich the Spanish monarchs with gold and spices from the orient. Not quite.
For too long, scholars have ignored Columbus's grand passion: the quest to liberate Jerusalem from the Muslims.
During Columbus's lifetime, Jews became the target of fanatical religious persecution. On March 31, 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella proclaimed that all Jews were to be expelled from Spain. The edict especially targeted the 800,000 Jews who had never converted, and gave them four months to pack up and get out.
The Jews who were forced to renounce Judaism and embrace Catholicism were known as "Conversos," or converts. There were also those who feigned conversion, practicing Catholicism outwardly while covertly practicing Judaism, the so-called "Marranos," or swine.
Tens of thousands of Marranos were tortured by the Spanish Inquisition. They were pressured to offer names of friends and family members, who were ultimately paraded in front of crowds, tied to stakes and burned alive. Their land and personal possessions were then divvied up by the church and crown.
Recently, a number of Spanish scholars, such as Jose Erugo, Celso Garcia de la Riega, Otero Sanchez and Nicholas Dias Perez, have concluded that Columbus was a Marrano, whose survival depended upon the suppression of all evidence of his Jewish background in face of the brutal, systematic ethnic cleansing.
Columbus, who was known in Spain as Cristóbal Colón and didn't speak Italian, signed his last will and testament on May 19, 1506, and made five curious -- and revealing -- provisions.
Two of his wishes -- tithe one-tenth of his income to the poor and provide an anonymous dowry for poor girls -- are part of Jewish customs. He also decreed to give money to a Jew who lived at the entrance of the Lisbon Jewish Quarter.
On those documents, Columbus used a triangular signature of dots and letters that resembled inscriptions found on gravestones of Jewish cemeteries in Spain. He ordered his heirs to use the signature in perpetuity.
According to British historian Cecil Roth's "The History of the Marranos," the anagram was a cryptic substitute for the Kaddish, a prayer recited in the synagogue by mourners after the death of a close relative. Thus, Columbus's subterfuge allowed his sons to say Kaddish for their crypto-Jewish father when he died. Finally, Columbus left money to support the crusade he hoped his successors would take up to liberate the Holy Land.
Estelle Irizarry, a linguistics professor at Georgetown University, has analyzed the language and syntax of hundreds of handwritten letters, diaries and documents of Columbus and concluded that the explorer's primary written and spoken language was Castilian Spanish. Irizarry explains that 15th-century Castilian Spanish was the "Yiddish" of Spanish Jewry, known as "Ladino." At the top left-hand corner of all but one of the 13 letters written by Columbus to his son Diego contained the handwritten Hebrew letters bet-hei, meaning b'ezrat Hashem (with God's help). Observant Jews have for centuries customarily added this blessing to their letters. No letters to outsiders bear this mark, and the one letter to Diego in which this was omitted was one meant for King Ferdinand.
In Simon Weisenthal's book, "Sails of Hope," he argues that Columbus's voyage was motivated by a desire to find a safe haven for the Jews in light of their expulsion from Spain. Likewise, Carol Delaney, a cultural anthropologist at Stanford University, concludes that Columbus was a deeply religious man whose purpose was to sail to Asia to obtain gold in order to finance a crusade to take back Jerusalem and rebuild the Jews' holy Temple.
In Columbus's day, Jews widely believed that Jerusalem had to be liberated and the Temple rebuilt for the Messiah to return.
Scholars point to the date on which Columbus set sail as further evidence of his true motives. He was originally going to sail on August 2, 1492, a day that happened to coincide with the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av, marking the destruction of the First and Second Holy Temples of Jerusalem. Columbus postponed this original sail date by one day to avoid embarking on the holiday, which would have been considered by Jews to be an unlucky day to set sail. (Coincidentally or significantly, the day he set forth was the very day that Jews were, by law, given the choice of converting, leaving Spain, or being killed.)
Columbus's voyage was not, as is commonly believed, funded by the deep pockets of Queen Isabella, but rather by two Jewish Conversos and another prominent Jew. Louis de Santangel and Gabriel Sanchez advanced an interest free loan of 17,000 ducats from their own pockets to help pay for the voyage, as did Don Isaac Abrabanel, rabbi and Jewish statesman.
Indeed, the first two letters Columbus sent back from his journey were not to Ferdinand and Isabella, but to Santangel and Sanchez, thanking them for their support and telling them what he had found.
The evidence seem to bear out a far more complicated picture of the man for whom our nation now celebrates a national holiday and has named its capital.
As we witness bloodshed the world over in the name of religious freedom, it is valuable to take another look at the man who sailed the seas in search of such freedoms -- landing in a place that would eventually come to hold such an ideal at its very core.
Looks like he may have been Jewish. Why is it a surprise or even significant?
This little tidbit seems like it would be significant if Colombus was Jewish
During Columbus's lifetime, Jews became the target of fanatical religious persecution. On March 31, 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella proclaimed that all Jews were to be expelled from Spain. The edict especially targeted the 800,000 Jews who had never converted, and gave them four months to pack up and get out.
And my limited world history education led me to believe that it was Ferdi and Bella who paid for this man's expedition.
Seesaw seems to be incredibly ignorant of history if she thinks this would be neither a surprise nor significant.
Or I was taught that he sailed to America to find a better trade route to India and the spice trade. I wrote a paper on the tobacco market and how it financed his trip to find a quicker route in 6th grade. What version of history were you taught? His religion was not an issue. That's why I don't know why it's significant to anyone but a small group obsessed with the man Columbus. It should only be surprising to those who had assumed he was of some other religion though they had not met him. What's his religion matter to Americans as a whole? He's the guy who discovered our continent. He was no religious leader that I knew of. Am I ignorant of his significant activism in some other religion? Are you ignorant as to what assumptions get you (surprises) and Columbus's significance in American history?
Seesaw seems to be incredibly ignorant of history if she thinks this would be neither a surprise nor significant.
Or I was taught that he sailed to America to find a better trade route to India and the spice trade. I wrote a paper on the tobacco market and how it financed his trip to find a quicker route in 6th grade. What version of history were you taught? His religion was not an issue. That's why I don't know why it's significant to anyone but a small group obsessed with the man Columbus. It should only be surprising to those who had assumed he was of some other religion though they had not met him. What's his religion matter to Americans as a whole? He's the guy who discovered our continent. He was no religious leader that I knew of. Am I ignorant of his significant activism in some other religion? Are you ignorant as to what assumptions get you (surprises) and Columbus's significance in American history?
Well damn! Who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?
Columbus' religion is historically significant because of the context in which he was a Jew. He was a prominent figure in a time when his employers were expelling his own people from Spain. It is significant because of the phenomenon of conversos. There has been a lot of research done in the last several decades about hidden and pseudo-converted Jews. Frankly, your 6th grade paper is not going to cut it here.
If YOU don't think this is a significant discovery, maybe you want to move on the the Gatsby trailer post? I hear Leonardo DiCaprio is pretty hotty mchotterson.
Given the rampant anti-semitism that plagued Europe at the time, I would find it very significant and very surprising that Christopher Columbus was Jewish.
Does it change the importance of what he accomplished, no. Does it mean anything less or more to American history, no. But discovering America is an amazing feat all on its own, even more so if he was a Jewish man who managed to garner the support of staunch Catholic and antisemetic royals.
If they'd known he was Jewish, you can bet your sweet ass they would have tossed him out, trade route interests be damned.
Great job on that paper though. I wrote a paper on Hapshepsut in the 4th grade so clearly this means I know everything there is to know about Egyptian history.
Post by cookiemdough on May 23, 2012 14:09:54 GMT -5
AJL in the book I am reading it contemplates whether he brought over various items of Jewish significance to protect them from being wiped out when the Jews were expelled. Is that just part of the fiction of my book or is there some speculation that there are some items of religious significance were hidden and have not yet been found. Sorry if this is a stupid question.
AJL in the book I am reading it contemplates whether he brought over various items of Jewish significance to protect them from being wiped out when the Jews were expelled. Is that just part of the fiction of my book or is there some speculation that there are some items of religious significance were hidden and have not yet been found. Sorry if this is a stupid question.
I don't know. I'd have to read the book and see what is specifically described. What's the book called? It sounds like something I want to put on my to-be read list.
I wrote a paper in 6th grade about the Aztec's and I got an A+ on it! I even had to draw a couple pictures. So if anyone needs to know anything at all about Axtec's, I have got you covered.
Also, someone needs to pick up a copy of A People's History, stat.
I wrote a paper in 6th grade about the Aztec's and I got an A+ on it! I even had to draw a couple pictures. So if anyone needs to know anything at all about Axtec's, I have got you covered.
Also, someone needs to pick up a copy of A People's History, stat.
I'm just totally neener-neenering EVERYONE who was worried we would not get new posters on this "remote" board.
Except that I think Seesaw and the person with the SN of "Guest" that's been showing up in random threads are the same person. So only one new poster so far.
haabsies was the cheerios pisser with her random unproductive response. You quoted her as well as me. Did you only read my post and not hers? Try that. It helps things make sense. Or join her at the cheerios trough, it's always your choice.
So Chris discovered the Bahamas instead of America. Was there a point to posting that or did we just want to talk about how history education sucks? Discovering the Bahamas as opposed to the continent still shouldn't have led to any assumptions about Crhis's religious feelings.
I'm glad everyone learned some history and did some papers in elementary. Was there a point in sharing those stories or did you just wanna be cool like me? How does my description of my knowledge of Columbus's historical significance to America become I tried to say I know everything about everything because I wrote a paper? Make some sense people. My point in sharing my spice trade story was to address haabsies failure to understand why I might not see any significance in Columbus's religion. Julius Ceasar may have been a closet Jew too. Who cares? He's still famous for being emporer of Rome (or somewhere near Rome if I was taught inaccurate crap again). Aside from "oh, that's neat, didn't know that" factor, I still haven't heard any good reason to see that Columbus's religion is significant to anyone but those with a special interest in his life or that assign a special significance to being a member of this or that religion. Jews have been persecuted since before Jesus. The antisemitic history of Europe is probably pretty significant to Jews and historians, just not me or American history.
I'm sorry, my head is exploding over the assertion that antisemitism should only be cared about by Jews and maaaaaybe Europeans.
Do I have permission to go Godwin in here?
I don't think it counts as a Godwin to mention Hitler in a thread discussing antisemitism.
This is true.
I just think homegirl fundamentally doesn't understand what it was like to be Jewish in the era and what an accomplishment/sign of his bravery that he was willing to take on something that would bring him even more attention while he was trying to hide his heritage.
This is an era were even normal people believed that Jews killing Christian babies for ritual sacrifice.
I'm just totally neener-neenering EVERYONE who was worried we would not get new posters on this "remote" board.
Except that I think Seesaw and the person with the SN of "Guest" that's been showing up in random threads are the same person. So only one new poster so far.
Yes, I'm Seesaw and Guest. And guest actually.
From the rabid treatment and harsh judgements I've seen people get for being new or different or dumb in someone's opinion around here, it's no surprise you don't get new posters much. I read it happen to a member of the board in one thread. This place turns on its own as well as new people with new ideas. No one seems to mind (mods?) either when people start attacking someone personally because they disagree with them. People are saying this one lady isn't good at her job because she may or may not have a venereal disease and had a kid at 19. Is this not slander? It's just irrational around here. And look at everyone who wanted to share their little history papers like that addressed anyone's point at all. If it wasn't my point and it wasn't the cheerio pisser's point, wtf?
Post by EloiseWeenie on May 23, 2012 15:08:15 GMT -5
Great article ETA: I built a kick ass diorama of Tenochtitlan in 5th grade. If anyone needs any pointers in replicating ancient empires out of foam and macaroni noodles, let me know.