Name: 開啟美國原住民大屠殺的探險家——哥倫布，為何美國曾經如此歌頌他？ (Why the US celebrates Columbus Day)
Uploaded: 2024-06-24T21:01:10.000Z
Duration: 5 min 46 s

Christopher Columbus is all over America.

克里斯多福·哥倫布遍佈美國。

基礎被動語態

There are statues in his honor, streets and cities are named after him, he's got his own national holiday, complete with parades.

各地都有紀念他的雕像、街道和城市以他的名字命名、有自己的國家節日，還有遊行活動。

For centuries, Columbus has been celebrated as the brave explorer who discovered the New World.

幾個世紀以來，哥倫布作為發現新大陸的勇敢探險家一直受到人們的讚頌。

We celebrate Columbus Day, the anniversary of that day in 1492, when Columbus first sighted the land of the New World, America.

我們慶祝哥倫布日，即 1492 年哥倫布首次發現美洲新大陸的紀念日。

But Columbus never even set foot on North American soil.

但哥倫布甚至從未踏上過北美的土地。

His four voyages brought him to the modern-day Caribbean islands, Central and South America, but never to the country where more than 50 cities, towns and counties bear his name.

他的四次航行把他帶到了現代的加勒比群島、中美洲和南美洲，但從未到過這個有 50 多個城市、鄉鎮和縣以他的名字命名的國家。

We rarely hear about the other explorers, who actually landed in the U.S. just a couple decades after Columbus.

我們很少聽到其他探險家的故事，他們是在哥倫布之後幾十年才登陸美國的。

So how did a man who never even set foot in North America end up with a national holiday and a permanent place in American mythology?

那麼，一個甚至從未踏足過北美的人是如何獲得一個國家節日和美國神話中的永久地位的呢？

Columbus and his arrival in the Americas is mostly introduced to kids through books, songs or cartoons like this one.

哥倫布和他到達美洲的故事大多是通過書籍、歌曲或卡通片介紹給孩子們的，比如這本書。

I will discover a shortcut to India and bring back some of the great wealth I find there.

我將發現一條通往印度的捷徑，並帶回我在那裡發現的一些巨大財富。

And I can do it, for I know the world is round.

我能做到，因為我知道世界是圓的。

One of the many problems with cartoons like this one is that it taught a lot of wrong information.

像這樣的卡通有很多問題，其中之一就是它傳授了很多錯誤的資訊。

Children were told that Columbus defied conventional wisdom and proved the world was round.

孩子們被告知，哥倫布打破了傳統觀念，證明了世界是圓的。

But at the time, people already knew the Earth was round.

但在當時，人們已經知道地球是圓的。

Columbus actually claimed the world was smaller than predicted, and he was wrong.

哥倫布實際上聲稱世界比預言的要小，但他錯了。

Children were also told that Columbus' voyages to the inhabited islands in the Americas were peaceful.

孩子們還被告知，哥倫布前往美洲有人居住的島嶼的航行是和平的。

The people Columbus called Indians were very friendly, and they gave Columbus and his men many gifts.

被哥倫布稱為印第安人的人非常友好，他們送給哥倫布和他的手下許多禮物。

But they don't mention that Columbus and his men were responsible for the mass deaths of native people.

但他們沒有提到哥倫布和他的手下造成了大量土著人的死亡。

A friar who lived on the islands Columbus reached and experienced the brutality of the conquest wrote about it.

一位修士曾在哥倫布到達的島嶼上生活過，親身經歷了哥倫布征服的殘酷過程，他寫下了這篇文章。

He wrote, "They forced their way into settlements, slaughtering small children, old men, and pregnant women."

他寫道：「他們強行進入聚落，屠殺小孩、老人和孕婦。」

These details have been kept out of most textbooks from the beginning, allowing Columbus to become an American icon.

這些細節從一開始就沒有出現在大多數教科書中，從而使哥倫布成為美國人的偶像。

The idealized version of Columbus is as old as the United States.

理想化的哥倫布與美國的歷史一樣悠久。

It all began during the War of Independence when the U.S. fought the British.

這一切都源於美國與英國的獨立戰爭。

The new nation needed a rebellious, non-British symbol, and they found one in Columbus.

新國家需要一個反叛的、非英國的象徵，他們在哥倫布身上找到了。

Once the U.S. won independence, streets and cities were named after him.

美國贏得獨立後，街道和城市都以他的名字命名。

Columbus' iconic status was further cemented in 1828 when Washington Irving published a biography glorifying him.

1828 年，華盛頓·歐文出版了一本歌頌哥倫布的傳記，進一步鞏固了哥倫布的偶像地位。

He described him as brave, heroic, and a genius.

他形容他勇敢、英勇，是個天才。

But he neglected to mention his brutal treatment of Indigenous people.

但他忽略了他原住民的殘暴對待。

But Columbus' real big break came in the late 1800s, when the country he'd never visited started experiencing some massive changes.

但哥倫布真正的重大突破是在 19 世紀末，當時他從未到過的國家開始經歷一些巨大的變化。

Italian immigrants were arriving in the United States in big numbers.

They were treated as perpetual foreigners and restricted to manual labor.

他們被視為永遠的外國人，只能從事體力勞動。

Their Catholic beliefs opened the door for even more discrimination.

他們的天主教信仰為更多的歧視打開了大門。

After all, he was Italian and Catholic and already admired.

畢竟，他是意大利人，又是天主教徒，已經受到了人們的敬仰。

So he quickly became an icon for Italian immigrants who argued that they, too, belonged in America.

所以他很快成為意大利移民的偶像，他們認為自己也屬於美國。

On the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival, in 1892, Columbus Day was first brought into the school system.

1892 年，在哥倫布抵達 400 週年之際，哥倫布日首次進入學校系統。

Schools held celebrations and students pledged allegiance to the flag for the first time, associating Columbus with patriotism in classrooms across America.

學校舉行了慶祝活動，學生們首次向國旗宣誓效忠，全美各地的教室都將哥倫布與愛國主義聯繫在一起。

A year later, Columbus became the theme of the World Expo in Chicago, branding him America's hero around the world.

一年後，哥倫布成為芝加哥世博會的主題，在全世界打上了美國英雄的烙印。

As Columbus and his legend became further embedded in American culture, so did the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic social club founded by Italian immigrants.

隨著哥倫布和他的傳奇進一步融入美國文化，由意大利移民創建的天主教社交俱樂部哥倫布騎士團也隨之誕生。

By 1937, the Knights of Columbus had gained enough influence to convince President Roosevelt to proclaim Columbus Day a federal holiday.

到 1937 年，哥倫布騎士團的影響力已足以說服羅斯福總統宣佈哥倫布日為聯邦假日。

But not everyone wanted to celebrate Columbus.

但並非所有人都想慶祝哥倫布。

While the myth of Columbus had been developing throughout history, Native Americans in the U.S. had been dealing with destruction and discrimination for centuries at the hands of all the European settlers that followed Columbus.

雖然哥倫布的神話在歷史上一直在發展，但幾個世紀以來，美國原住民一直在哥倫布之後的所有歐洲定居者手中遭受破壞和歧視。

But in the '60s, things started changing in America.

但到了 1960 年代，美國的情況開始發生變化。

As the civil rights movement demanded change, Native rights became a part of the conversation.

隨著民權運動要求變革，原住民的權利也成為對話的一部分。

We've asked the government for hundreds of years to do things for our people or with our people.

幾百年來，我們一直要求政府為我們的人民或與我們的人民一起做事。

The government has only compromised, only given us token issues to deal with.

政府只是妥協，只是讓我們象徵性地處理一些問題。

We're here today as living factors of the problem that are still existing.

我們今天在這裡，是問題仍然存在的活生生的因素。

Historians started reexamining Columbus and his story, correcting the myth and including the missing historical facts.

歷史學家開始重新審視哥倫布和他的故事，糾正神話，並將缺失的史實納入其中。

As revelations about Columbus have become mainstream, some people have rejected the holiday, as well as the man and the legacy behind it.

隨著對哥倫布的揭露成為主流，一些人拒絕接受這個節日，也拒絕接受這個人及其背後的傳承。

Today, cities around the U.S. are opting out of celebrating Columbus Day.

今天，美國各地的城市都選擇不慶祝哥倫布日。

In some cities, they are choosing to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead.

在一些城市，他們選擇慶祝原住民日。

At the same time, more than half of Americans think celebrating Columbus Day is a good idea, according to a poll commissioned by the Knights of Columbus.

與此同時，根據哥倫布騎士團委託進行的一項民意調查，超過一半的美國人認為慶祝哥倫布日是個好主意。

Most countries are formed with the help of myths and heroes to forge a sense of unity and belonging.

大多數國家都是在神話和英雄的幫助下建立起來的，以形成一種團結和歸屬感。

But as the myth of Columbus is confronted with brutal historical facts, the U.S. will have to decide which myths are worth keeping and which ones to discard.

但是，當哥倫布的神話面臨殘酷的歷史事實時，美國將不得不決定哪些神話值得保留，哪些神話應該拋棄。

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開啟美國原住民大屠殺的探險家——哥倫布，為何美國曾經如此歌頌他？ (Why the US celebrates Columbus Day)

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