10.08.07 Amerigo Round

We go ‘round and round on how best to celebrate Columbus Day. Many no longer use the day to remember Columbus. Some celebrate the indigenous people he displaced. For increasing numbers the day is at best a day off.

We should be thankful that the cartographers left Columbus’ name off the first maps of the area he is credited to have discovered. Living in North Columbia may have been posterity’s unbearable burden.

So is the argument in an excellent new book on Amerigo Vespucci by Felipe Fernandez Armesto (See Amerigo: The Man Who Gave His Name to America). Armesto argues:

“Columbus has such an ineluctable presence in history, that a hemisphere named after him would never be free of association with him. With every vocalization, images of imperialism, evangelization, colonization, massacre and ecological exchange would spring to mind. The controversies would be constant, the revulsion unendurable.”

There is no such baggage with the name Amerigo, or as it was written on the maps - America. This rather obscure “pickle dealer” was at the right place at the right time. The early map makers read his account of a similar voyage he had made to Columbus’ “new world.” By naming the new continent after someone ignorable, the continent would be able to develop its own reputation. America would be defined by the men and women who made it their home. Our heritage is autochthonous. We are known by the ideals born here.

This week CitizenU would like to invite you to celebrate the discovery of America. Imagine you had the power to name it for the first time or to rename this place called America.

What other names would be appropriate for our place we call home?

Furthermore, should Columbus’ name be in the running? Should Columbus be revered or reviled?

What do you think?

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