I would believe this professor.
“Enter the scholarly work of a professor emerita at Stanford University, Carol Delaney, a cultural anthropologist with degrees from Harvard and the University of Chicago. She is also a research fellow at Brown University. Her riveting book, “Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem,” was actually published in 2012, but has gained little in the way of promotion even by its publisher, Simon & Schuster, who are as politically correct about the issue as some school boards. The book’s impeccable scholarship is rarely cited. Why would that be?
Given the now-popular debunking of the historical narrative of Columbus as a hero, is it possible no one wants to acknowledge contrary evidence from solid sources — so solid that it debunks the debunking?
Delaney offers a provocative, central point: she found in her research something of a surprise, what most if not all historians have up till now virtually ignored: Columbus left behind a considerable volume of his own writings, right down to orders he issued to his crews, letters to the then Pope, Alexander VI, a lengthy diary and just before he died, his “Book of Prophecies.” Delaney also recounts the informative writings of his contemporaries, including those who wrote objectively of his voyages, commenting on his failings as well as his achievements.
So the book is hard if not impossible to dispute, and that is one of several reasons it was named among the “top 100 books of the year” by the Times Literary Review.
When Columbus took this bold voyage, contrary to the myth that smears him today, he befriended the native people, traded with them, respectfully interacted with them and led his crews to do the same. He also formed a close relationship with their chief, whose son became their interpreter. Columbus later took the chief’s son and five other tribe members as guests — not slaves in chains as some would have us believe — on his emergency return back to Spain to replace his lost ships. Those lost ships caused him to leave 46 of his crew behind on the island of Hispaniola with clear written, recorded orders: continue to treat the indigenous people well.
It was his crew who disobeyed Columbus’s strict orders, who pillaged and raped their way around the island in his absence, sealing their own fate. Meanwhile, Columbus spent considerable time in Spain, replacing his lost ships. He proudly introduced the six members of the tribe at court to Isabella and King Ferdinand, who proclaimed themselves the godparents of the chief’s son, a significant honor.
Upon his anxious return to the New World, Columbus found all his marooned crew dead, killed for their misdeeds at the hands of their intended Native American victims. The chief and his tribe welcomed Columbus back, and Columbus wrote with palpable remorse of what the chief reported of the crew members’ atrocities.
Professor Delaney’s book is not an apologist’s take, but a thought-provoking and compelling reappraisal of Columbus and his legacy, as several distinguished book reviews describe it. His writings reveal a thoughtful interpretation of the native cultures that he encountered. He was sensitive and respectful in this regard in a way that was ahead of his time. While the reconquest of Jerusalem was his life’s passion, his views are today ignored or downplayed. They get in the way of the now commonly accepted, distorted opinion of a great man. Delaney’s magnificent tome, by its content and total effect, admirably defines the real Columbus, and will correctly inform the public, its opinions and policymakers, such as the Southampton school board.
One final thought: Is the precipitous decline of the teaching of American history opening the door to a new generation’s complete misunderstanding of not only Columbus, but also of Washington, Lincoln, MacArthur and other giants of America’s seriously flawed, but still exceptional and proud story?”