At the end of 1492 most men in Western Europe felt exceedingly gloomy about the future. Christian civilization appeared to be shrinking in area and dividing into hostile units as its sphere contracted. For over a century there had been no important advance in natural science and registration in the universities dwindled as the instruction they offered became increasingly jejune and lifeless. Institutions were decaying, well-meaning people were growing cynical or desperate, and many intelligent men, for want of something better to do, were endeavoring to escape the present through studying the pagan past. . . .
Yet, even as the chroniclers of Nuremberg were correcting their proofs from Koberger’s press, a Spanish caravel named Nina scudded before a winter gale into Lisbon with news of a discovery that was to give old Europe another chance. In a few years we find the mental picture completely changed. Strong monarchs are stamping out privy conspiracy and rebellion; the Church, purged and chastened by the Protestant Reformation, puts her house in order; new ideas flare up throughout Italy, France, Germany and the northern nations; faith in God revives and the human spirit is renewed. The change is complete and startling: “A new envisagement of the world has begun, and men are no longer sighing after the imaginary golden age that lay in the distant past, but speculating as to the golden age that might possibly lie in the oncoming future.”
Christopher Columbus belonged to an age that was past, yet he became the sign and symbol of this new age of hope, glory and accomplishment. His medieval faith impelled him to a modern solution: Expansion.
By discovering the New World, the West was saved. And not just at the time, reversing Western Europe's declinism. In the 20th century, it was the North American branch of the West that saved the West from militarism, fascism, and then communism. And I'm not speaking just of America, for Canada too intervened in large numbers in defense of the West.
Further, by upholding the West in its times of trial, the North American branch of the West helped to expand and defend the West into Asia beyond its West European birthplace, where South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia (which, while a former colony of the West, could have been swamped in regional despotism if not supported by a strong West) most notably, with India now contending for admission after their Third World non-aligned period is waning. Other states in the region may yet embed democracy enough to join the club, as well as South America, in the near future.
So, yes, this is a day to celebrate and not one to pretend sensitivity to what it wrought. Columbus Day is the day the West was won.
