All these, in a way, are the ultimate developments of Columbus’ first westward trip. Yet, the man is also discredited by others as initiating the exploitation and ultimate demise of the native peoples who inhabited the new world. In a sense, Columbus symbolizes all the paradox of modern European and Western history. If Columbus’ travels ultimately helped shape the world we live in, are we justified in blaming him altogether? In other words, can we reject Columbus’ memory without also rejecting his legacy, the modern West? The portrait traditionally painted of Columbus in movies and in history books is that of a great discoverer, a man who had a scientific mind and applied it for the benefit of mankind in brief, a man of the Renaissance that was then blooming. This is how, for example, the movie celebrating the quincentenial anniversary of the discovery of the Americas, 1492: Conquest of Paradise presents Columbus. Not possibly responsible for the evils that befell the indigenous peoples, a new character had to be introduced in the movie, under the name of Adrian de Moxica, who by himself represents the darkest side of the nascent European colonialism. In doing so, the director preserves the legend while acknowledging the faults. We sense here an inner struggle, a struggle not to blame the man overtly and thus risk shattering Western history, while acknowledging its historical faults.
The larger question involves our relationship to our own history. Over the past few years, the myth of Columbus has been partly shattered, and Columbus now stands, for some, more as a symbol of greed and oppression than as an enlightened man. The portrait is now that of a man with a mind closer to the medieval one than to the Renaissance: he advocated a crusade against the Turks, and was interested in gold and trade. If, from a purely historical point of view, this image may be closer to reality, the question asked earlier still stands: can we reject the man as symbol of our own history while continuing to live in the world created by him and our history?
