The Shock
of the Strange
and the New.

"To Boldly Go
Where No Man
Has Gone Before."

By Dr. Ronald Fritze
August 24, 2010

Christopher Columbus and the Great Age of Discovery
HIST 351  ~  Fall 2010

To boldly go where no man has gone before....

That familiar phrase started every episode of the original Star Trek series. It delighted science fiction fans while it appalled grammarians of the late 1960s. Star Trek survived only three seasons on network television, but it soon acquired posthumous staying power. Seasoned viewers and younger aficionados of vintage television know that Gene Rodenberry's video classic has returned to the air innumerable times in reruns. It also spawned four more sci-fi series based on the original premise, that the exploration of extra terrestrial space and other planets is firmly rooted in humankind's future.

The continuing interest in Star Trek and its spin-offs is partially a reflection of humankind's interest in discovery, exploration, and travel — all of which equate to adventure. The same observation applies to many of the other products of the genre of science fiction along with much of the programming on the Travel Channel, the National Geographic Channel, the History Channel, and other specialty broadcast venues. Many books and magazines reflect the same abiding interests.

The Mingling of Fact and Fiction.

In 2010 we run the risk of taking for granted the Age of Exploration during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. After all, Christopher Columbus’s achievement appears rather mundane when compared to Captain Kirk’s and the crew of the Starship Enterprise. Of course, it is always important to remember that Captain Kirk is a fictional creation, something that unfortunately cannot be said about pop curiosity Paris Hilton.

Each episode of Star Trek shows our fellow earthlings mingling with various aliens in pretty much the same ways that humans interact with each other. Some of the aliens are friendly and benign, or even positively helpful. Others are hostile, overtly or covertly. There are noble aliens, nasty aliens, loyal aliens, treacherous aliens — and on it goes. There are even amorous aliens, a story line that takes us into the murky waters of inter-species dating. (But without inter-species dating, there would be no Spock, rainbow child of a Vulcan-Human liaison.)

All of this might seem silly except that it desensitizes us to the worldview of Columbus and his contemporaries and perhaps lessens the enormity of their achievements for both good and bad.

First Contact in the Age of Discovery.

For many people in the modern world, it is assumed that there are other solar systems out there and that scientists are accumulating evidence to this effect. A corollary of other solar systems is that they may be habitable or even inhabited. Whether these aliens are nice like Spielberg's E.T., or nasty like the militant attack force in Independence Day, is speculation that shall remain in the realm of conjecture until first contact occurs. In fact the film Contact with Jody Foster grapples with the issue of first contact with aliens, including all of its political, social, and religious implications. Contact creates a story line that draws the contemporary thinker closer to the shock of the new and strange that many peoples in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas must have felt in the Age of Discovery.

The people of the fifteenth century did not carry any of this kind of speculative cultural baggage. Their world consisted of three continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe. The lineages of all humans were laid out in the book of Genesis in the Bible: All people were descendants of Adam and Noah.

Columbus shattered this long-held worldview by revealing the existence of two unknown continents, which were inhabited by humans who did not fit into the Biblical narrative. Ironically, Columbus died in bed denying that he had done any such thing. He thought he had simply revealed a new route to the riches of Asia.

A New Worldview to Absorb the Shock.

As we will learn in class this late summer and fall, the task of absorbing the knowledge of new worlds and new peoples was a monumental task for Europeans. It was a shock.

A new worldview would have to be created. New animals, new plants, and new diseases entered into the daily experience of Europeans.

The inhabitants of the Americas experienced an even greater shock. The people of the Eastern Hemisphere came to the Western Hemisphere and brought their plants, their animals, and, most traumatically, their diseases. The impact of contact between the Eastern Hemisphere and the Americas is still being played out even though the process has been underway over five hundred years.

Drama and Tragedy, Triumph and Defeat.

All of this talk about the Americas needs to be matched by an awareness of the process that lead to Europe’s direct contact with Asia and the monumental consequences that followed. Thanks to the voyages of Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama, the world became one and has remained one ever since. Theirs is a tale of triumph and defeat, drama and tragedy, and mammoth historical forces and individuals struggling in their grip. These events set in motion the history that has lead to where we are today.

To know the story of Age of Exploration will help each of us to better know our private self, the individual within the greater group.

To achieve intellectual command of this material will involve reading, study, and imagination. The passage will be demanding.

You will take a number of quizzes, write a book review, take some major exams (one you will take home) and do a major research paper or project. Pay attention to the dates of assignments and due dates for work.

When the end of the semester arrives, we should all have a better understanding of the Age of Exploration and how it is vital part of our present. That will be our adventure.

Christopher Columbus and the Great Age of Discovery
HIST 351  ~  Fall 2010