Return of the Columbus Statue

On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus left a Spanish port leading three ships including the Santa María. The "Capitulations of Santa Fe" signed with Queen Isabella provided a solid foundation for his expedition. What spurred Columbus's voyage to the New World were "The Travels of Marco Polo" and "Ptolemy's Map." Columbus read "The Travels of Marco Polo," written by the 13th-century Italian explorer, underlining passages throughout, and lost himself in fantasies of meeting Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire. His ship's log contains numerous entries stating, "Now I go to meet the Great Khan." Columbus obtained various nautical charts from his father-in-law, a mapmaker, and was particularly electrified by Ptolemy's world map, which extended beyond Sri Lanka and the Malay Peninsula all the way to China. His adventure, which ushered in Europe's Age of Exploration, became the catalyst that elevated Spain to hegemonic power.

Great currents of history always carry both light and darkness. In the process of plundering land and gold, merciless "holocausts" were committed. Those who failed to meet gold quotas had their limbs severed or were sold into slavery. Escaped indigenous people were hunted down and killed. The Europeans' "Guns, Germs, and Steel" destroyed indigenous lives root and branch. Within 150 years of Columbus setting foot on the Americas, two-thirds of the indigenous population had vanished. For Europeans, it was the discovery of a New World; for the indigenous peoples, it was the slaughter of their Old World.

U.S. President Donald Trump installed a Columbus statue on the White House grounds on the 23rd. In 2020, the death of a Black man from excessive police force triggered "Black Lives Matter" protests, during which Columbus statues were destroyed and removed across the United States. Trump's effort to "make Columbus a hero again" is heavily characterized as a "culture war" aimed at rallying his conservative base ahead of the 250th anniversary of American independence this year. South Korea has also seen heated debates over the installation and relocation of statues — including those of independence activist Hong Beom-do, musician Jeong Yul-seong, former Presidents Syngman Rhee and Park Chung-hee, and General Douglas MacArthur. We have entered an era in which the debate over "political correctness" has become yet another criterion for erecting statues.