全屏显示专题章节

Most educated Europeans in the fifteenth century believed that the earth was round, but even the best geographers thought that there were 10 000 miles of ocean between Europe and the East Indies, and few believed that a ship could successfully complete such a difficult journey. Christopher Columbus, a forty-six-year-old Italian explorer, was confident that it was barely a quarter of that distance, and his gross underestimation probably made him more courageous than he should have been when he set out on August 3, 1492, to find the so-called Spice Islands, also known as the Moluccas or East Indies. His famous voyage was financed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, who hoped that he would bring back spices—in particular pepper, used in the days before refrigeration to preserve meats and to disguise unpleasant tastes.

Columbus not only underestimated the distance but failed to realize that another huge land mass lay between Europe and Asia. So when he arrived two months later on the island he named San Salvador, now believed to be Watling’s Island in the Bahamas, he thought he had reached the East Indies. The “Indians” he encountered there were actually members of the Arawak tribe. They lacked spices, gold, or anything else worth bringing back, but they were peaceful and helpful, and they served as guides during the remainder of his voyage.

The celebration of Columbus’s birthday is especially popular in Italy and among Italian-Americans in cities like New York and Philadelphia. The first observance in the United States was held in New York City in 1792, the 300th anniversary of Columbus’s first voyage. But another hundred years elapsed before a nationwide celebration was held in 1892. The Knights of Columbus, a Roman Catholic society for men founded in 1882, urged state legislatures repeatedly to declare October 12 a legal holiday, but it was not until 1901 that New York became the first state to do so.

But these celebrations can change over the years. Today it remains a day of protest andmourning for some, commemoration of an ancestor for others. The Transform Columbus Day Alliance, a coalition of groups that participate in annual protests at Denver’s Columbus Day Parade, the longest-running parade in America, urges the abolition of the Columbus Day holiday and instead “[advocates] a celebration that is much more inclusive and more accurately reflective of the cultural and racial richness of the Americas.” In recent years, several U.S. cities and states, including Alabama, South Dakota, and Hawaii, have renamed Columbus Day to be more reflective of America’s dawning cultural sensitivity.

Probably the best-known celebration of Columbus Day is the huge parade that takes place in New York City, where more than 35 000 marchers and over one million spectators, including members of the Knights of Columbus and Italian-American groups, march up Fifth Avenue. Local, state, and national political leaders often participate in the parade or review the procession as it passes. Later in the day, they usually attend a Columbus Day dinner in one of the city’s hotels.

The Columbus Day parade is also a big event in Boston, alternating between downtown in odd-numbered years and Revere/East Boston in even-numbered years. On the West Coast, the largest parades take place in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Although parades were not generally a part of the Anglo-American observance of Columbus Day until after 1892, in many ways they resemble Italian religious processions.

Reenactments of Columbus’s first landing in the New World are held in various locations across the United States. In the seaside community of Asbury Park, New Jersey, there is a pageant depicting the landing of Columbus on the Sunday nearest October 12. A city employee portrays Christopher Columbus as he disembarks from the longboat that has just brought him to shore, while “Indians” emerge from a simulated village set up on the beach to welcome the explorer. After the mayor delivers a speech, a member of the local Sons of Italy lodge lays a wreath at the base of the explorer’s statue.

In San Francisco, tepees are erected on the beach in Aquatic Park, and individuals wearing colorful Indian costumes walk among them. Queen Isabella, with her attendants, arrives on a float from the parade, and shortly afterward, three boats provided by the city’s Italian fishermen enter the cove and drop their anchors. Christopher Columbus and a few of his men come ashore in a rowboat and proceed to the Indian village, where they smoke a peace pipe with the Indian chief. Then he walks over to the platform that represents the queen’s courtin Barcelona, and she listens while he recounts the highlights of his voyage.

The typical landing reenactment probably derives from the scene depicted in John Vanderlyn’s painting, The Landing of Columbus , which was commissioned for the U.S. Capitol rotunda in 1839 and was later reproduced widely on U.S. postage stamps.