Christopher Columbus’ True Discoveries

Christopher Columbus is not only properly credited for the Discovery of the Western Hemisphere, but also with several other scientific discoveries. As I have posted before, discovery means “to uncover” and thus one need not be the first to discover something to be given proper credit for its discovery. It is thus accurate to credit Columbus with the Discovery of the Western Hemisphere in 1492, which had previously been “covered” and thus hidden with the Eastern Hemisphere by the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus’ keen observations and great navigational skills and his faith and that of his Spanish patrons permanently bridged the two worlds, unlike any previous Europeans who had discovered parts of the Americans. Therefore, this achievement—the most significant human achievement in history—is rightly celebrated and does not in the slightest diminish the discovery of the Indigenous Americans who crossed the land bridge eastward from the easternmost point of Asia tens of thousands of years ago, nor dehumanize them in any way by ignoring their discovery by not crediting them as the first to discover the New World. But there is one facet of Columbus’ accomplishment that even his most ignorant or biased critics cannot deny is a true scientific discovery, beyond the obvious discovery of the Western Hemisphere from the European perspective: that Columbus discovered a western, oceanic route to the Americas. And as I have noted before, because he was able to return to his home port and return to the Western Hemisphere and provide the navigational knowledge to allow others to sail there, the connection between the two hemispheres was more enduring than that of any previous European discoveries. The Genoese sailor is also credited with other scientific discoveries: that the magnetic north pole is not in the same location as the geographic north pole, that the earth is not completely spherical, the recognition and even prediction of hurricanes, and even that Capsicum berries produce the same chemical reaction on the tongue as black pepper, which is why he called them chili “peppers.” Columbus’ scientific, trade and evangelical mission led to an exchange of knowledge and ideas, and spread Western European Civilization to the Western Hemisphere, including the development of such ideas as equality, liberty, representative government and modern science. And the mutual discovery of the two hemispheres of our world continues.