Simon Mattacks
speaker
2,981 appearances
17 recordings
3 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard 13 Sep
Simon Mattacks’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 14 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 3.
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Given that Columbus never set foot in what is now the United States and that he apparently spent his life believing he had reached Asia, why did he become such an important figure in US history?
For a long time, Columbus has been viewed as a hero by many Americans.
The creation of the Columbus myth began as early as the colonial era.
It was seen as an intrepid, inspirational figure and a convenient patriotic symbol.
In popular culture, the female personification of the United States was known as Columbia, after Columbus.
The name spread across the nation, the Columbia River, Columbia University, and so on.
Beginning in 1792, Columbus Day celebrations were held in parts of the United States on October the 12th to commemorate Columbus's landing in the Americas.
We'll look at Columbus Day in more detail in just a moment.
For now, it's worth noting that it helped to popularize Columbus as a figure, making him part of US history.
In 1828, the American writer Washington Irving published a fictionalized biography of Columbus.
It was a romanticized version of Columbus's life, portraying him as a heroic, self-made man.
The book was extremely popular, and it influenced popular perceptions of Columbus.
For instance, it introduced an enduring myth that Columbus proved the Earth was round at a time when everyone thought it was flat.
In reality, in the late 15th century, people in Europe were already well aware that the world was round.
Still, many people in the United States read Irving's book.
And throughout the 19th century, millions of Americans learned about Columbus at school.
Another significant development at this time was the influx of immigrants from Italy.
For many Italian Americans struggling to build a life and identity in a new country, Columbus became an important symbol of Italian pride.
He was from Genoa, after all.
And even though Italy didn't exist as a nation in Columbus's day, in the eyes of many Italian immigrants, Columbus was one of them.
Showing 2021–2040 of 2,981 · page 102 of 150
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