This is an encore presentation of our special Columbus Day episode, which originally dropped on October 12, 2021. It remains one of the most popular episodes of the History of the Americans. Last year I released it on the actual day, rather than on the Monday holiday, but this year I'll go with the flow. One of the reasons is that all the popular and social media discourse on Columbus happens on the government holiday, rather than the anniversary itself.

This episode is not actually about the culture war over Columbus Day, except in passing. Instead, we consider the larger consequences of Columbus’s “Great Enterprise,” and various counterfactuals — “what if” moments that might have made it all go quite differently, and the possible long-term consequences. Along the way we say some challenging things that will irritate almost everybody, but we know you are only listening because of your resolutely open minds!

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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, 30th Anniversary Edition

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

Noble David Cook, Born to Die: Disease and New World Conquest, 1492-1650

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