Italian Heritage as We Close the Month of October and one of our beloved holidays as Italian-Americans is celebrated. This year with the heighted outrage of many rioters due the killing of Blacks in America by Police also drew unnecessary attention to one of Italy’s great achievers. As we know, no one is perfect in this world, there is good and bad in any profession, race and or community. My opinion, we all live in this world and must learn to co-exist.
It is a small world, but it was not always that way.
In no small part thanks to the Italian sense of adventure and profit, men and ships began setting sail and heading out over the far horizon. That great time period for Europe, known as the Discovery Age would never have reached the heights it did without these master mariners to name only a few. I wanted to sign light on two, one of which in these times has become a cry of slavery and not worthy of his mark on history. In my back yard, they have recently beheaded one of them. To many Italian- American such as myself has become a cry for justice and respect .
With sea routes to the Indies established around Africa, the ports of Italy had lost their firm grip on trade, so it was time for these merchant sailors to find new opportunities. Their skills as navigators and seamen were unquestioned and for sale to the highest bidder: their maps of newly discovered lands were coveted by Rulers and Conquistadors alike.
Two of the most famous of the many brilliant Italian explorers that led to the discovery of the New World. Setting out in very small, slow ships on an unsettling , uncharted ocean, their endeavors seem to straddle the line between bravery and thoughtlessness. There are certainly many others that history does not record since they never made it back, which makes the deeds of these men all the greater. However, it must also be remembered that their discoveries also led to the eventual conquest of these lands by Europeans, with all the resulting consequences.
Christopher Columbus – Cristoforo Colombo
The mention of the voyages of Columbus bring about a wide range of opinions. To some a hero, to others a heartless villain, what is certain is that the Genoese born Colombo , he was an expert sailor, with enormous amounts of ambition and an ego to match. His demanded to be recognizes ad the King of Ocean Sea, and his heavy handedness toward the native inhabitants attest to this. His ambition proved too much as he abused his powers, was imprisoned and although he died rich, he squandered much by his brutal ways.
However, it often takes a man of such polarizing convictions to do what no other has accomplished. When the crowned heads of royal families of Europe laughed at his idea to sail West to go East, he moved on to the next that would take him seriously. When he finally got a commission from Spain’s Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus still had to convince sailors to join a crew that may never return. And it was Columbus who had the temperament to continue sailing on over the horizon day after day, when the crews of his three ships were on the verge of mutiny. The legacy of Christopher Columbus has been viewed differently at different times in history, but regardless of personal opinion, it is hard to argue with just how important this man in his moment in time was. Like him or not, Columbus helped shape our modern world.
Amerigo Vespucci
Amerigo Vespucci is one of Italy’s most famous explorers
Vespucci was from Florence and had made several voyages to the New World in the early 16th century. Although historians dispute just how many voyages he made, and what role he played, Amerigo Vespucci must have been an expert sailor since he was named Chief Navigator for the Kingdom of Spain. He was a well-known mapmaker in his time and at his school for navigation in Seville, he had Ferdinand Magellan among others, as a student. Ferdinand Magellan
well known for the daring for and ambitious voyage around the world provided the Europeans with far more than just spices. Although the trip westward from Europe to the east via the Strait of Magellan had been discovered and mapped,
Vespucci, today, it is not his voyages that are remembered, but possibly his first name, as in North and South America. Mapmakers of the time may have used the female version of Amerigo Vespucci’s first name to the ever-growing discovery of new lands. It was becoming obvious that China and the Indies were still farther off and these new lands, once known vaguely as Terra Nova or Terra Incognita, were now being labeled: America.
However, there is debate on the actual nature of the name America. .
Ciao
Joanna Picardi