As has become our tradition around Columbus Day, we speculate on various might-have-beens – for example, what if Columbus had sailed for a different monarch? – and some of the consequences of Columbus’s voyages for humanity writ large. This episode has been revised and re-recorded from those of previous years, and includes some thoughts on “Indigenous Peoples Day,” offered by some jurisdictions (and this year as a Presidential proclamation) as a counterpoint.

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Selected references for this episode

Samuel Eliot Morison, Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus

Alfred W. Crosby, Jr., The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492

Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian, “The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas”

Charles C. Mann, 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

Noble David Cook, Born To Die: Disease and New World Conquest, 1492–1650