News
Hello, Columbus!
By Linda McK. Stewart
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, at precisely 11;15 a.m., New York's Columbus Day Parade will kick off, stepping smartly down Fifth Avenue. On the same day a more modest ceremony will unfold in Genoa, Italy where anyone, for just two Euros, can visit the tinyhouse where Columbus was born. But was he?
In Calvi, a small town on the west coast of the French island of Corsica, the claims by Genoa get short shrift. Ask any islander where Columbus was born and you'll be directed to a narrow, cobbled alleyway deep within the 12th century Citadel that overlooks Calvi's picturesque harbor. Of the house, said to be his birthplace, only a crumbled bit of wall remains. A marble plaque, marking the site, gives the name and dates of the great explorer. This year, as always, Columbus Day will be commemorated with a few comments from the Mayor of Calvi, a chorale by school children and a ruffle of drums, and a bugle salute, courtesy of the local Foreign Legion post. If the people of Calvi have it right, if Columbus was indeed born on this steep hillside within the massive walls of the citadel, how did Genoa come to claim him as her native son?
In 1489 when Columbus approached Queen Isabella of Spain to appeal for funds for his westward explorations, he was asked to identify himself. "I am a Genoan," he said. But did that mean he was born in Genoa? Not necessarily. For more than 600 years, from 1132 to 1768, Corsica was ruled by the city-state of Genoa. All Corsicans were citizens of Genoa. Taxes were levied and collected by Genoa. Furthermore, only two years before, a small flotilla of Corsican vessels had plundered and sunk a major arm of the Spanish fleet. The very name of Corsica was unmentionable in the royal court. Columbus, as skilled a diplomat as he was a seaman and navigator, knew better than to identify himself with Spain's most recent enemy. He called himself a Genoan, which was legally true but nowhere did he ever say he was born in Genoa.
A few years after Columbus died in 1506, his son, Don Ferdinando, went to Genoa seeking evidence that his father was born there. Despite a diligent search, he came away empty-handed. No birth records, no residence, no documentation could be found that upheld that assertion. There is another persuasive argument to be made in favor of Calvi over Genoa. Those who would place a young Christopher Columbus in Genoa contend that he was the son of a weaver and that he himself was a weaver until his early 20s, at which age, swept by the romance of ships, sails and sea, he upped and left his weaving apprenticeship in favor of going to sea. In the 15th century such a career change among artisans, especially one already in his 20s was totally implausible. Besides, no ship's captain would accept a man of that age who had never been to sea. Far more plausible is the Corsican version of history which has Columbus shipping out to sea at the age of 14 under the command of his uncle who was himself a distinguished seaman and who, before his death, attained the rank of admiral. His close family ties to his seafaring uncle are indicated in one quarter of Columbus' coat of arms, issued in 1493. His ancestry was not composed of wool merchants and weavers but of a long line of mariners.
No need however, to be a researcher of history to enjoy the charms of Calvi, tucked in between a rugged mountain ridge and three miles of perfect beach. Like a scimitar of white sand, it borders the Bay of Calvi, crowded only for six- or eight-midsummer weeks. Pine trees line the streets, their pungent fragrance mixing deliciously with the briny air. Small seafood restaurants, bistros and cafes are everywhere, seemingly open 24/7. A feast of Corsican mussels, washed down with the local rosé, costs not quite half of its equivalent on the French coast. During a recent stay in Calvi I was lingering in the sunshine over coffee and croissants, reading the Corse-Matin when a school master at the next table struck up a conversation.. He told me he was a professor at the local lycée. Who better to answer the inevitable question? I sprung it on him: Was Columbus really born here? Had I noticed, my new friend asked, the name of Calvi's main street? I had. Avenue Christophe Colombe. But was that proof of his Corsican birth? Pope Julius II, he told me, was eager to claim territory in the New World. To insist that Columbus was born in Genoa, strengthened those papal claims. Have no doubt, Madame, Columbus was one of us. There is really no dispute. History, we must remember, gets rewritten for political reasons.
Hm-m-m. True enough, I said. It's the same in my country.
Of course, he said. We both know that. And we exchanged smiles as if we'd been friends for 100 years.
Editor's Note: If you can't make it to Corsica or New York this weekend, you can head to Long Branch, where the annual Columbus Day parade will kick off on Sunday, October 12 at Hwy. 36 and Broadway between 12 and 12:30.
