Christopher Columbus - Brooklyn, NY - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

Taken from the website, "The sculpture was a gift to the city in 1892, paid for by public subscription. The funds were collected in 1892, but the sculpture was not installed until two years later. It is a copy of a work located in Madrid. The base was designed by Aymar Embury II in l934. In 1940 it was necessary to patch, clean and repoint the pedestal and base. This piece stood in Central Park for several years, but was taken down, lost twice, rediscovered and moved twice. A photograph of the sculpture can be found in the Archives of American Art, in collection entitled Emma Stebbins scrapbook, 1858-1882, (microfilm reel 2082). Inscription on base plaque reads: THE COOPERATION OF MAYOR JOHN V. LINDSAY/AND ADMINISTRATOR AUGUST HECKSCHER OF P.R.C.A/ENABLED JOHN N. LaCORTE, FOUNDER OF THE/ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA/TO ENRICH THE BROOKLYN CIVIC CENTER/WITH THIS MONUMENT/INSTALLED BY A. OTTAVINO, OCTOBER 8, 1971. IAS files contain copies of unidentified newspaper articles which discuss the reinstallation of the sculpture in Brooklyn's Columbus Park. Information on the sculpture can be found in the Brooklyn Historical Society Library, Clippings CL-Cone Vol. 140, pg. 42 and Vol. 141, pg. 10."

Taken from Wikipedia, "Christopher Columbus[a] (/k?'l?mb?s/;[3] before 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer. Born in the Republic of Genoa,[4] Columbus, under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. Those voyages, and his efforts to establish settlements on the island of Hispaniola, initiated the permanent European colonization of the New World.

At a time when European kingdoms were beginning to establish new trade routes and colonies, motivated by imperialism and economic competition, Columbus proposed to reach the East Indies (South and Southeast Asia) by sailing westward. This eventually received the support of the Spanish Crown, which saw a chance to enter the spice trade with Asia through this new route. During his first voyage in 1492, he reached the New World instead of arriving in Japan as he had intended, landing on an island in the Bahamas archipelago that he named San Salvador. Over the course of three more voyages, he visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, as well as the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America, claiming all of it for the Crown of Castile.

Though preceded by shorter-lived Norse colonies in North America, Columbus is the European explorer credited with establishing and documenting routes to the Americas, securing lasting European ties to the Americas, and inaugurating a period of exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted for centuries. His exertions thereby strongly contributed to the development of the modern Western world. He also founded the transatlantic slave trade, and within 25 years of being colonized the population of Hispaniola natives declined, dying from enslavement, massacre or disease.

Columbus had set course in hopes of finding a western route to the Indies (Asia). He called the inhabitants of the lands that he visited indios (Spanish for "Indians"). His strained relationship with the Spanish crown and its appointed colonial administrators in America led to his arrest and dismissal as governor of the settlements on the island of Hispaniola in 1500, and later to protracted litigation over the benefits that he and his heirs claimed were owed to them by the crown."

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Date Logged Log User Rating   07/08/2018 bluesnote visited it