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Monday, October 13. 2014

He was Portuguese


Genoa is in Portugal. Cristoforo Colombo was Portuguese, and don't ever forget it.


Truth is that Portuguese were in North America before Columbo. They fished for Cod. They are still all over Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts. And insane Vikings before that. And stone-age Siberians before that (we don't call them Siberians anymore - now we call them Eskimos, Indians, Redskins, etc). The great navigator knew something interesting was out there, hopefully spices from India, but he underestimated the distance.


There turned out to be no good spices, but plenty of gold and silver (all wasted on central European wars of little benefit to Spain). Best, lasting imports? Potatoes, Tomatoes, squash, chocolate, vanilla, peanuts, avocado, peppers, maize, tobacco.


Worst import? Syphilis.

Posted by Bird Dog at 16:32 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

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You'd better read the link before making a snarky comment like I almost did.
#1 BillH on 2014-10-13 17:30 (Reply)
Or possibly greek from the island of Chios.
#2 Linda on 2014-10-13 18:23 (Reply)
Yessir! Absolutely. Genoa is in Portugal and Cristoforo Colombo was Portuguese.

Also, Ferdinand Magellan, Vasco da Gama and Erik The Red. Erik was kicked out of Portugal for his Communist activities and went on to become a real estate developer in Greenland but he was Portugese.

My thanks to the folks at SippicanCottage for clearing that up. Having spent some of my childhood amongst people of Portugese extraction, I can assure you that all of the details posted in the Sippican posting are likely correct..especially when explained in the language of la faca.

Obrigado
#3 Michael Scott on 2014-10-13 18:24 (Reply)
It's been awhile, but my memory is that new world gold and silver paid for a big chunk of the wars against the Turks, especially contributing to the victory at Lepanto.
#4 Mystery Meat on 2014-10-13 22:14 (Reply)
heard last year that he was actually Polish, or so the Poles like to claim...
And the Greeks claim he was Greek...

That guy must have had so many passports, got to wonder why :)
#5 J.T. Wenting on 2014-10-14 00:50 (Reply)
Wouldn't smallpox have been the worst import?

Or perhaps fruitcake?
#6 Bulldog on 2014-10-14 09:18 (Reply)
I thought it was the other way around. He brought syphilis back to Europe?
#7 Dale on 2014-10-14 11:07 (Reply)
For the serious scoop, good, bad, and ugly, read Charles C. Mann's 1491 and 1493
#8 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2014-10-14 21:26 (Reply)

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