Columbus Quincentenary
Indigenous Peoples' Day, a holiday honoring Native Americans and their presence in the Americas before 1492, gained traction in the United States leading up to the quincentenary and has since seen widespread adoption.
Following the quincentenary, new pedagogies prominently emerged that centered on listening to Native American perspectives on European colonization as well as thinking critically about the implications of Columbus' arrival in the Americas.
As an overarching theme, the exposition sought to celebrate the encounter of different cultures through human discovery, and Spain's intention was to landmark Seville as the center of this progress.
The exposition itself was a display of Spanish-nationalist pride for what the country believed was among the greatest contributions to mankind: sponsoring Columbus to expand the Western world.
[15] Despite its funding, the commission fell short on its expenses and could not conduct sufficient fundraising—in part due to the controversy surrounding the celebration of Columbus.
[25] A survey of Native Americans conducted in 1989 revealed that the majority opposed a celebration of the Columbus Quincentenary and instead saw it as a learning opportunity for the general public.
[25] 78% felt that educational activities were appropriate to celebrate the 500th anniversary, 19% instead favored legal actions against the United States, and 3% wanted public apologies by Western institutions.
[25] In 1991, over 200 indigenous representatives from a variety of tribes in the United States and Canada gathered to discuss and plan a formal opposition to the Columbus Quincentenary celebrations.
[26] This opposition was centered around the fact the Columbus represents the oppression and persecution of Native Americans who had been living in America for hundreds of years prior to his arrival in 1492.
Further, these activists believed that the United States federal government should be making reciprocity by offering displaced indigenous peoples more resources, including education and food.
[28] This holiday has been widely adopted across cities and communities in the United States since then and continues to serve as opposition to the notion that Christopher Columbus discovered an uninhabited Americas.
[30] In many instances, this change has come from the top, as "Constitutional reforms recognizing multicultural nations containing plural citizenries occurred in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Ecuador, Argentina, Peru, and Venezuela.
[32] On October 12, 1992, approximately 2,000 activists marched through San Jose, Costa Rica demanding respect for the country's indigenous population and favorable resolutions of native land disputes.
Menchú, recognized for her impactful social justice work for indigenous peoples, was intentionally given this prize in 1992 to coincide with the Columbus Quincentenary.
The committee decided to bring an indigenous rights champion to the international stage at the same time the Western world was celebrating the European Age of Discovery.
[25] The clash between cultural conservatism and deep-rooted resistance on this anniversary called for a reexamination of the dominant pedagogy that teaches Columbus as a father of discovery and Western development.
[37] As the world continues to develop economically, the important role of indigenous peoples as stewards of the land has become increasingly relevant, particularly in Western society.
Indigenous territories have gotten geographically closer to developmental projects, and intrusion into these lands for economic purposes serves as a modern-day reminder of what colonization looked like a few hundred years ago.
[37] Periodicals around the time of the quincentenary identified four major issues surrounding the development of resources in the U.S. that involved conflicting interests with Native Americans.
"[38] Increased awareness of Columbus' negative colonial consequences resulted in greater polarization of those perpetuating different narratives of American history.
[32] The Columbus Quincentenary as a whole is regarded by many as a failure due to lack of public interest in actually attending celebrations to the extent that was anticipated and the numerous indigenous protests.
This way of teaching often suggests that the celebratory nature of Columbus anniversaries perpetuates supremacist logic that does not consider the experiences of a marginalized community to the same degree.
In particular, paintings by William Snyder challenged the dominant narrative by showing explicit, gruesome acts of Europeans against Native Americans, such as lynchings.
