"Columbus and the World"
 
by Prof. Gianni Eugenio Viola
 
in "Italian Journal" (1991, Vol. V, No. 5/6, pp. 3-4)
 
     It is now possible to state that--barring a finding of
exceptional importance symbolically equal to the first crossing--
Columbus's deeds and voyages have been totally researched from
historical, philological and iconographic points of view.
     History tells us that Columbus was a great sailor and
cartographer.  We can separate facts from legends as they exist
about him and are in the position to define his religiosity and,
on the basis of scientific research to pinpoint the events which
followed the first landing.  We can say that none of the many
available portraits of Columbus are correct or authentic.  True
to reality appears to be only the description given by Las Casas
and by his son Fernando; they said that he was tall, well built,
with a long face and pronounced nose, with fair hair, very white
skin and light eyes (maybe light blue eyes).
     We now pursue very sophisticated research methods, but
sources are extremely limited.  For example, we still have no
adequate details as to the exact cause of the spread of syphilis,
which swept through Europe after the discovery of America.  It
seems more likely that it was brought to the old world by
shipmates of Columbus's first two voyages.  It seems that more
than half of the crew of the second expedition was affected by
the disease; in less than three years it spread through the Army
of King Charles VII of France; his soldiers brought it all the
way to southern Italy when they laid siege to Naples.  The
Italians called the disease the "French disease," and the French
referred to it as the "Neapolitan disease."  It was a deadly
disease but, for hundreds of years no one gave any thought to the
crucial consequences of the interaction of biological conditions
of two different worlds.  Today we know for sure that the disease
was moderate even though endemic among the Indian natives with
whom Columbus's sailors had contacts.  However, it developed into
an unknown and deadly pathology with the Europeans.  It is not
inconceivable that a similar phenomenon is at the root of an
equally deadly disease that appeared suddenly in recent years.
     Research conducted during the last century also permitted a
total re-examination of the Columbus era.  Its results are
documented in two great exhibits in New York and Washington,
which celebrate the five hundredth anniversary of Columbus's
first voyage.
     The Washington exhibit at the National Gallery, conceived by
Carter Brown, the director of the museum, is titled Circa 1492. 
There we see art objects and cultural documents of relevance from
every corner of the globe since the time of Columbus's voyages. 
This exhibit, which has been visited by hundreds of thousands of
visitors, has spurred admiration and conflicting comments. 
Imagining the New world: Columbian Iconography, the exhibit at
the New York Historical Society (New York's oldest museum and one
of the oldest museums in the United States), which opened in
November 1991 and will remain until the end of January 1992, is
smaller and to the point.  This exhibit offers an overview of how
European, and especially Italian artists imagined the flora, and
the fauna, the cultures and the religions of the new continent,
often on the basis of imagination and prejudices rather than on
reliable documentation.  These artists developed a fascinating
imaginary world with popular beliefs influencing sophisticated
artistic representation.
     Both exhibits are the result of new knowledge about the
times and prevailing conditions about 1492.  The first one
documents the world of the visual arts with an extraordinary
number of objects.  The second one narrates and documents history
more extensively, as it refers to the collective imagination of
an entire century--the century following the discovery.  This
period is chronicled in paintings, prints, manuscripts, and books
of all kinds, and even in maps and nautical instruments.  It took
a century for the reality of the new world to take hold in the
European imagination and for the imagination to yield to
description.  We may connect the birth of science and the growing
need for the accurate descriptions necessary to replace the
fancies of the first decades.  This connection was rarely noted
but there is little doubt that great progress was made on the
basis of scientific methods and rational or empirical criteria,
on documented reality, on direct observation and proven
methodologies underlying diversities.
     The great literature about travels and discoveries led,
after three centuries, to mass tourism and the development of the
rapid means of transportation at the beginning of our century. 
Great writers focused on Italy during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries.
     Italy celebrates the five hundredth anniversary of the
encounter of the old and the new worlds with a series of events
which underscore the theme of the Columbian adventure in a
totally new way.  It is well known, for example, that since 1892
(and in the following years) the philologist Cesare De Lollis
published the "Raccolta Colombiana", a work of unsurpassed value
which sets in order and critically discusses the available
sources on Columbus.  To celebrate the five hundredth anniversary
a "Nuova Raccolta Colombiana" has been published: it is a totally
new interpretation of the De Lollis studies, under the direction
of Paolo Emilio Taviani.  The "Nuova Raccolta Colombiana" was
presented to the public for the first time in April 1991 at the
Accademia dei Lincei of Rome.  It will be available in the USA
early in 1992.  It is no coincidence that the work that
celebrates the discovery of the new world was presented at the
Academia dei Lincei, founded by Cesi and inspired by Galilei, two
heroes of the new science.
     There is, moreover, a great variety of local and general
exhibits including a most important one with materials from the
Vatican--which will culminate in a large exhibit in various Genoa
locations.  An exhibit with great impact will certainly be the
one in the Palazzo Ducale on the theme of Due mondi a confronto
(Two worlds facing each other) that will be inaugurated around
the middle of 1992.
     In this context--and even the fact that every available
source has been exhaustively researched--Columbus emerges as the
dominant figure in the history of exploration.  The Italian
school (and especially Taviani) refers to Columbus as a "genius
of the sea" with historical documents putting an end to old
debates and prejudices.  Columbus's position in history attains
the fixity deserves; progressively mysterious areas acquire
heroic and dramatic dimensions, particularly in relation to the
fourth voyage and the death of the explorer.  There are aspects
of Columbus's life that are tainted with irony or defy
rationality.  Having sailed westward for the last time on May 11,
1502, Columbus was about to complete the discovery of America by
discovering the Pacific Ocean.  His Indian interpreters in
Panama, which he named Veragua, told him about a great Sea on the
west coast.  It was a matter of trekking westward for a few days. 
Columbus, however, did not have the courage to split his crew for
such an undertaking.  He returned from the fourth voyage in
November 1504.  His hair had turned gray and he was fatigued when
he tried to see his protector of old, Queen Isabel.  But the
Queen had reached the end of her life and died on November 26,
before the Admiral--as Columbus had signed for several years--
could see her.  It also proved difficult to see the King again. 
Ferdinand did not particularly appreciate a foreigner to whom he
had to pay one tenth of the revenue from the gold and spices of
the new lands (a concession made in 1492 before the departure of
the first trip which the King eventually attempted to
invalidate); he was determined not to reinstate him in the role
of Viceroy.  Columbus, however, considered himself a man of the
court and decided to stay close to the King until the end. 
Finally he moved to Valladolid where he died on May 19, 1506.
     His will is signed "Don Cristobal Colon, Admiral, Viceroy
and Governor of the islands and of the mainland that have been
discovered and that are still awaiting to be discovered."  In his
last days, Columbus sent another request to Pope Julius II (who
had just been made pope and was also from Genoa) requesting that
he be reinstated in his privileges; Columbus even enclosed a
sketch of the American coasts by Bartolomeo (his younger brother
and companion in his exploration).  On the drawing showing the
South American coast, he wrote the words "Mondo Nuovo" (New
World).
     His mortal spoils were buried at Las Cuevas.  In 1544, they
were moved to the cathedral of Santo Domingo, the city founded by
Bartolomeo.  Faith was elusive to Columbus even after death: when
the French came to Haiti in 1796 his body was taken to Havana. 
When the U.S. took over Cuba in 1899, Columbus's remains were
meant to be moved to Seville.  However, toe body taken to Seville
was not that of Columbus, but of his son Diego Colombo who
originally had also been buried in Santo Domingo.  The body of
Columbus is therefore still in the "Mondo Nuovo."  And this is a
definition which implies the trepidation and surprise of a man
who finally realized that--with his voyages--he had opened the
door to a New World.
 
Reprint permission granted by the author and the publisher.