COLUMBUS AND OTHER EXPLORERS
By Matthew V. Grieco
The Genoese Cristoforo Colombo (1451-1506), the man for whom our organization is named, set sail from Spain on August 3, 1492, in the ships Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, and landed in the Bahamas on October 12th. Detractors argue that Columbus did not really “discover” America; there were indigenous peoples when he arrived, and the Vikings touched North America (fanciful stories claim additional visitations ranging from Phoenicians to Extraterrestrials). The decisive issue, however, is that Columbus’s voyage led to permanent European settlement of the Americas, as well as global exploration, development, and trade, or in the words of Oscar Wilde, “America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed up.”
Other critics of Columbus will pontificate that he was searching for and thought he found the Orient, rather than a new world; usually omitted is the shortsightedness of the rulers of England, France, and Portugal, who all declined Columbus’s proposals, and the six years it took Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain to finally agree to fund the project. Let us also not forget that the European scramble for an oceanic route to China was inspired by the incredible journey and account of the Venetian Marco Polo (1254-1324).
The Florentine Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) made at least two exploratory voyages, and correctly identified the land mass as a new world, separate from the continent of Asia. A German cartographer, Martin Waldseemuller, produced a popular world map on which he labelled the new world “America,” the Latinized version of Amerigo’s name.
A review of Italian explorers would be incomplete without the Florentine Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first European to enter New York Bay, on April 17, 1524, almost 100 years before Henry Hudson. Sailing the ship Dauphine for Francis I of France (son of the Italian Louise of Savoy and father-in-law of Catherine de’ Medici), Verrazzano explored the North American Atlantic seaboard from Florida to Newfoundland. Verrazzano’s official report to the King described New York Bay as “a very agreeable site.” Native Americans, “clothed with feathers of birds of various colors,” approached in thirty canoes and greeted him “joyfully, uttering very great exclamations of admiration, showing [him] where [he] could land with the boat more safely.” Verrazzano subsequently departed New York “with much regret, because of its convenience and beauty, [and] thinking it was not without some properties of value.”
While we are discussing the sea, mention should be made of the fact that the U.S. Navy dates its birth to an October 13, 1775 Act of the Continental Congress. Three of the first four commissioned ships of the new navy were named after Italians: Columbus, Cabot (for the Genoese Giovanni Caboto, 1450-1498, who explored Canada), and Andrea Doria (for the Genoese statesman and admiral, 1466-1560).
Now let us consider the scene that Columbus and the other explorers knew before they left port.
Italy was divided into a number of states: the Kingdom of Naples, the Papal States, the Republics of Florence, Venice, Genoa, Siena, and San Marino, the Duchies of Milan, Savoy, and Ferrara, and the smaller states of Mantua, Lucca, Saluzzo, Asti, and Monteferrato.
Germany was fractured into an even greater number of political entities, although under the overall leadership of the Holy Roman Emperor. Denmark and Lithuania controlled enormous territories, while Muscovy (the precursor to Russia) was still relatively small. Spain reconquered the last of its territory from the occupying Moors the same year Columbus sailed. Most importantly, from the Mediterranean perspective, the Ottomans had only recently eradicated the Byzantine Empire and taken over large tracts of the Balkans. The relationship with the Ottomans was a complex one of trading partner and enemy.
The discovery of the New World upset the old political order. A more lasting effect, however, is that the thirst for discovery has remained with us. And whether the exploration has been astronomic or microcosmic, Italians such as Galileo with his telescope, or Malpighi with his microscope, have been at the forefront. Perhaps Columbus’s greatest achievement, and greatest gift, was his contagious desire to dream and to dare to explore. Indeed, he had the daring and vision to defy conventional thinking and believe that what others said was impossible (sailing west to go east) was possible. In the process, he came upon a new world, which opened up greater possibilities than he even dreamed of.
Columbus, then, sounds very much like our ancestors. They, too, had to break with traditional thinking in order to leave their homes. They risked everything to cross the Atlantic and start anew. They sought a land where they could find work, but probably few thought that their descendants would become lawyers and judges and thrive so well.
Italians have a long history of migration. As with so many matters, it traces back to the Romans and beyond; in the Roman foundation mythology, Romulus and Remus were immigrants to Rome. The Romans spread throughout the Mediterranean and further. During the Middle Ages, the trading powers of Venice, Genoa, Pisa, and others established self-governing colonies in the Levant, the Black Sea area, and parts of northern Europe.
The great age of Italian migration, however, spanned from 1861, when the various states of the Italian peninsula were gathered into one kingdom, to 1975, when more people immigrated to Italy than departed. During that period, more than 26 million Italians left their homeland; however, approximately half eventually returned.
Initially, most of the emigrants were from the northern Italian regions, and the majority went to other European countries, predominantly France, Switzerland, Germany, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. By 1885, the patterns shifted; more came from the south, and the preferred destination was the Americas – of those, about half went to the United State and half to either Argentina or Brazil. Sizeable numbers also settled in Canada and Australia.
Wherever they went, Italians became a critical component of society. They helped build their new countries – at first literally, with manual labor, and later through their contributions to the sciences, arts, and professions.