During a banquet in honor of Christopher Columbus, a young Spanish nobleman pointed out that if Columbus hadn’t found the New World, someone else would have.

According to legend, Columbus picked up an egg and asked the party which one of them could make it stand on its end. Every man at the table tried and failed. Finally, Columbus broke the shell of the egg on its end and stood it upright.

The company protested that any of them could have done the same; Columbus replied that something is easy to do once you’ve been shown the way.

         Hillsdale College’s Liberty Walk honors men and women like Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Margaret Thatcher, and Ronald Reagan for their character and contributions to the world, our country, and the mission of the college.

As Columbus Day approaches, it’s worth considering Columbus an addition to the Liberty Walk. The Spanish Admiral of the Seas, and the discoverer of an entire continent, deserves a place on campus.

         Columbus was born in Italy in the Republic of Genoa and went to sea at a young age. As the Grenada War came to an end in 1492, Columbus submitted the last of a series of petitions to the Spanish crown. He wanted to cross the Atlantic to look for a new path to the East Indies.

         That same year, he was given three ships and he left Castille in August landing in the Bahamas on Oct. 12.

         He made three voyages to the Americas in total, exploring Trinidad, South America, and Central America and became the governor of Hispaniola. While he focused on further exploration, he left the governorship of Hispaniola to family members, who failed to act when their Spanish compatriots committed atrocities against the indigenous people.

Columbus was removed from his post after the colonists complained to the Spanish crown about his and his family’s leadership. Today, most historians believe his political enemies manufactured many of the accusations. He died in Spain in 1504.

Many American blame Columbus for introducing slavery and disease to the native population. They criticize accounts of the apparent brutality against the natives. George Tinker and Mark Freeland, scholars in religious theological studies and American Indian studies at Iliff School for Theology, have even called it “an American holocaust.”

These condemnations fail to address Columbus’ role in the Spanish conquest of the New World, or to place him in his historical context. They also do not account for his actions as a man of character and faith.

Violent slavery existed in the Americas long before European settlers arrived; Columbus’ practice of it was certainly not new. While it is true that violence was frequently an issue in the colonies Columbus established, he was rarely directly responsible for them.

In fact, Columbus not only adopted an indigenous boy, but he also urged mercy after Indians had burned down a Spanish settlement, exterminating the Spaniards in the area, John Hiraschauer wrote in National Review in 2019.

Columbus’ voyage may have introduced strains of disease to the New World, but he can hardly be blamed for stepping off the Santa Maria without a hazmat suit and a clear understanding of germs – which weren’t discovered for another 200 years.

In a world of greed, ambition, disease, and violence, Columbus was a man of courage who deserves to be honored on Hillsdale’s Liberty Walk.

Like the figures already portrayed around campus, Columbus dedicated himself to pursuing the liberal arts, especially subjects in the quadrivium including astronomy and geography. Although he never received formal training, his self-taught skills would enable him to discover the New World.

Columbus was also a man of deep faith, believing that God had chosen him to evangelize the indigenous people. According to legend, he called his men to prayer every half hour during their voyage across the Atlantic.

In contrast to the world, he lived in and despite his flaws and defects, Columbus’ actions demonstrate his faith in God and his intrepid boldness.

Hillsdale’s Liberty Walk is missing this dauntless explorer, it’s time to honor the man who discovered our continent.