Today’s Asshole: Christopher Columbus
There are many ways people call Christopher Columbus an asshole.
Our goal here at History of Assholes however is to point out some stuff you may not have known about obvious assholes in history.
In this case, Christopher Columbus is being deemed an asshole for claiming to have have spotted the New World (India, in his mind) first.
On October 12, 1492 - La Niña, La Pinta and La Santa Maria were all en route to Asia. The King and Queen of Spain had offered a reward to the first man to spot land on this voyage.
At 2 am, Rodrigo de Triana, a lookout on La Pinta, was the first to spot land. Columbus recorded this in his journal entry.
The moon, in its third quarter, rose in the east shortly before midnight. I estimate that we were making about 9 knots and had gone some 67½ miles between the beginning of night and 2 o'clock in the morning. Then, at two hours after midnight, the Pinta fired a cannon, my prearranged signal for the sighting of land.
I now believe that the light I saw earlier was a sign from God and that it was truly the first positive indication of land. When we caught up with the Pinta, which was always running ahead because she was a swift sailer, I learned that the first man to sight land was Rodrigo de Triana, a seaman from Lepe.
Columbus however was the one to claim the reward himself by claiming that he saw it first at 10 pm but didn't really tell anyone other than two other people on the ship - Pedro Gutierrez and Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia.
Nevertheless, the ships proceeded to land on the New World - San Salvador.
Columbus name is now famous and well have you ever heard of Rodrigo being celebrated?
CERTIFIED ASSHOLE.
Side Note: Columbus is celebrated on October 12th with Columbus Day in English speaking countries.
In Spanish speaking countries, it's known as Dia De La Raza (Day of the Race) to celebrate the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic communities that were joined together at the time of Columbus arrival.
There are many ways people call Christopher Columbus an asshole.
Our goal here at History of Assholes however is to point out some stuff you may not have known about obvious assholes in history.
In this case, Christopher Columbus is being deemed an asshole for claiming to have have spotted the New World (India, in his mind) first.
On October 12, 1492 - La Niña, La Pinta and La Santa Maria were all en route to Asia. The King and Queen of Spain had offered a reward to the first man to spot land on this voyage.
At 2 am, Rodrigo de Triana, a lookout on La Pinta, was the first to spot land. Columbus recorded this in his journal entry.
The moon, in its third quarter, rose in the east shortly before midnight. I estimate that we were making about 9 knots and had gone some 67½ miles between the beginning of night and 2 o'clock in the morning. Then, at two hours after midnight, the Pinta fired a cannon, my prearranged signal for the sighting of land.
I now believe that the light I saw earlier was a sign from God and that it was truly the first positive indication of land. When we caught up with the Pinta, which was always running ahead because she was a swift sailer, I learned that the first man to sight land was Rodrigo de Triana, a seaman from Lepe.
Columbus however was the one to claim the reward himself by claiming that he saw it first at 10 pm but didn't really tell anyone other than two other people on the ship - Pedro Gutierrez and Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia.
Nevertheless, the ships proceeded to land on the New World - San Salvador.
Columbus name is now famous and well have you ever heard of Rodrigo being celebrated?
CERTIFIED ASSHOLE.
Side Note: Columbus is celebrated on October 12th with Columbus Day in English speaking countries.
In Spanish speaking countries, it's known as Dia De La Raza (Day of the Race) to celebrate the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic communities that were joined together at the time of Columbus arrival.