Did Christopher Columbus discover the Americas? / ¿Descubrió Cristóbal Colón América?

 

Monumento a Cristobal Colón CDMX

Hello! How are you? Good morning, good afternoon or good evening, depending on where you are or what time you’re listening.

Audio

Welcome to ‘5 Minutes of Spanish’. Thank you for joining us. What topic do we have for you today in October? Spanish version

Today we’re going to talk about 12 October, the arrival of the Europeans in the Americas, and a very interesting word: ‘descubrir’. What does ‘descubrir’ mean? Is ‘descubrir’ the same as ‘conquistar’? Let’s look at some examples.

What happened on 12 October 1492?

On that day, Christopher Columbus arrived on an island in the Caribbean. His expedition, funded by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, was searching for a route to Asia, but he arrived on a continent that Europeans didn’t know about.

Can we say that Christopher Columbus ‘discovered’ the Americas?

No, clearly not. The Americas were already inhabited by millions of people. It is estimated that, before the arrival of the Europeans, around 50 million people lived on the continent, although estimates vary widely.

Of course, there were peoples and civilisations with their own languages, cultures, knowledge and forms of organisation. For example, the Maya, the Mexica and the Inca. There were also a great many indigenous communities in other regions of the continent.

So why do people talk about the ‘discovery of the Americas’?

Because that expression is traditionally used from a European perspective. There were also a great many indigenous communities in other regions of the continent.

So why do people talk about the ‘discovery of the Americas’?

Because that expression has traditionally been used from a European perspective. For Europeans, that voyage meant discovering lands that were not part of their known geographical world. However, for the peoples who were already living there, those lands were neither new nor unknown.

That is why, today, we also speak of the arrival of Europeans in the Americas or of the encounter between two worlds, although the latter expression is not entirely accurate either.

But do many history books refer to this date as the ‘Discovery of the Americas’?

Yes, sadly, this is what one reads in many history books in Latin America. In Mexico, we speak of the ‘Conquest of the Americas’ – that is, domination – and 12 October was known as the Day of the Race. Currently, its official name is Pluricultural Nation Day, a name that takes into account the diversity of cultures that make up the country.

Pluricultural Nation. This date invites us to reflect on the arrival of Europeans in the Americas and on the different ways of interpreting a historical event.

So, what does ‘descubrir’ mean?

‘Descubrir’ means to find something we didn’t know about or hadn’t seen before. In English, ‘descubrir’ is ‘to discover’.

For example: I discovered a beautiful beach near my house. I didn’t know it existed; I went there one day and loved it.

Another example: I discovered a Mexican restaurant that serves delicious tacos.

Or also: we discovered Spanish in Cabo, a brilliant school in Los Cabos, where we can learn Spanish and get to know Latin American culture.

What other words come from the verb ‘descubrir’?

We have ‘descubrimiento’, which means ‘discovery’, and ‘descubridor’ or ‘descubridora’, which means ‘discoverer’.

For example: the discovery of fire changed human life. The discovery of the wheel transformed transport and many human activities. And the development of the Internet changed the way we communicate, work and access information.

In these examples, we’re talking about discoveries or advances that transform the world.

Shall we practise a bit? If you discover a café you didn’t know about, what can you say?

: I discovered a lovely café in the city centre.

If you find a hidden beach whilst on holiday, you could say: ‘I discovered a wonderful beach.’

And if you learnt a new word in your Spanish class, you could say: ‘Today I discovered a word I didn’t know.’

Now we’d like to ask you: what new word did you discover in this podcast?

Remember: discovering something doesn’t always mean being the first person to find it. Often, it simply means learning about something that was previously new to us.

Thank you for joining us for these five minutes of Spanish.

If you enjoyed the podcast, please share it. See you in our online classes or workshops, or we’ll catch up next Wednesday.

See you in the next episode! Bye, bye

If you want to practice Spanish contact us! You can attend a 20 minutes experience for free and then we can organize a plan: Book your session!