JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2469
COLUMBUS DISCOVERED AMERICA 525 YEARS AGO
San Salvador (JFK+50) 525 years ago, October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus*, sailing on behalf of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, made landfall in the West Indies after a long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.
Columbus, born in Genoa, Italy, went ashore and claimed the land for the Spanish Crown. He named the island San Salvador or Holy Savior.
Columbus had landed in the Bahamas but since the existence of the Americas was unknown at the time, he incorrectly assumed he was somewhere off the coast of Asia.
In a scene from the television movie "Mayflower, The Pilgrim Adventure," one of the men aboard the ship makes this comment...
"Columbus did not know where he was going. He did not know where he was when he got there. He did not know where he had been when he returned."
On October 12, 1963, President John F. Kennedy said...
"I think Columbus has been a fascinating figure to me...partly because of his extraordinary skill as a navigator. Admiral Morison who...once followed Columbus' trip...found that...every marking along the Caribbean and the Central American coast as recorded in Columbus' diary was found to be exact with all of the modern instruments of navigation we now have.
I...think Columbus would...be considered the foremost sailor not of his time but, I think, in history. All of us who have followed the great navigator to the United States have prospered and benefited."
*Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) was an Italian explorer, navigator & colonizer. In 4 voyages to the New World between 1492 & 1503, CC marked the beginning of European exploration & colonization of the Americas.
COLUMBUS DISCOVERED AMERICA 525 YEARS AGO
San Salvador (JFK+50) 525 years ago, October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus*, sailing on behalf of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, made landfall in the West Indies after a long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.
Columbus, born in Genoa, Italy, went ashore and claimed the land for the Spanish Crown. He named the island San Salvador or Holy Savior.
Columbus had landed in the Bahamas but since the existence of the Americas was unknown at the time, he incorrectly assumed he was somewhere off the coast of Asia.
In a scene from the television movie "Mayflower, The Pilgrim Adventure," one of the men aboard the ship makes this comment...
"Columbus did not know where he was going. He did not know where he was when he got there. He did not know where he had been when he returned."
On October 12, 1963, President John F. Kennedy said...
"I think Columbus has been a fascinating figure to me...partly because of his extraordinary skill as a navigator. Admiral Morison who...once followed Columbus' trip...found that...every marking along the Caribbean and the Central American coast as recorded in Columbus' diary was found to be exact with all of the modern instruments of navigation we now have.
I...think Columbus would...be considered the foremost sailor not of his time but, I think, in history. All of us who have followed the great navigator to the United States have prospered and benefited."
*Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) was an Italian explorer, navigator & colonizer. In 4 voyages to the New World between 1492 & 1503, CC marked the beginning of European exploration & colonization of the Americas.
Landing of Columbus
October 12, 1492
Painting by John Vanderlyn
