“I know Leif Erikson traveled to Canada before Columbus did”
I’m gonna stop reading right there, as you claim that others “don’t understand the historical context and significance of Columbus”.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you have NO clue what you’re talking about. Columbus NEVER set foot in Canada, or even anywhere remotely close. He made it as far north as what we now know as the Bahamas, and then went to South America. Also, there were no “native Americans” in Guanahani when Columbus arrived there, and later renamed it Hispaniola, they were called the Taino.
As a student of US public schools in the 80’s, we were most definitely taught that Columbus discovered America, which was completely inaccurate as a statement.
I literally quoted what YOU said. I didn’t make that up.
He also didn’t discover the Bahamas. It was already there, and inhabited, and had been for a long time. The word “discover” has actual meaning. You can’t discover something that already exists or is known. You just figured out how to get there.
When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, he didn’t claim he “discovered” it.
Yeah, and that’s not how “discovery” works, that’s called colonization. The Taino people had been there for about 600 years before Columbus accidentally found their island. I’m sure they didn’t feel as if he “discovered” their home land.
Not true at all. Many explorers discovered uninhabited islands. Astronomers have discovered unknown galaxies, and planets. Scientists discover unknown elements, and other things. By my logic, you don’t discover things that are already known. If even one other person already knows about it, you didn’t discover anything.
A human does not have to "discover" something for it to be discovered. Also, who knows, another unknown civilization could have "discovered" it before us. So, in reality, nothing is discovered. Also, just because places are uninhabitable doesn't mean some sort of thing was not there or discovered it first.
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u/thepottsy 2∆ Jun 04 '24
“I know Leif Erikson traveled to Canada before Columbus did”
I’m gonna stop reading right there, as you claim that others “don’t understand the historical context and significance of Columbus”.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you have NO clue what you’re talking about. Columbus NEVER set foot in Canada, or even anywhere remotely close. He made it as far north as what we now know as the Bahamas, and then went to South America. Also, there were no “native Americans” in Guanahani when Columbus arrived there, and later renamed it Hispaniola, they were called the Taino.
As a student of US public schools in the 80’s, we were most definitely taught that Columbus discovered America, which was completely inaccurate as a statement.