1492 and All That

The 500th anniversary of Columbuss first voyage has launched a host of attempts to recast the history of the Americas. By reducing the past to a mere pawn in contemporary quarrels and using it to advance “politically correct” goals many revisionists have profoundly distorted the historical record of Columbus and of the societies that sprung up in the wake of his exploration. For numerous groups the quincentenary is an occasion for rejection of Western culture and for repentance rather than celebration. Robert Royal examines the available facts about Columbus and the Spaniards their first New World contacts Christian missionaries North American Indian tribes and early British and French settlements. His wide-ranging accounts of the complicated interaction between European individuals and institutions and their Native American counterparts suggest that little of the cultural mixing in the Americas can be characterized in strict black-and-white terms. Noting that anti-myths have largely replaced former idealizations of the great explorer he warns that knowledge of other peoples in other ages requires effort and sympathetic understanding. The future depends on a truthful reading of the past unmuddied by facile romanticism of any stripe.