Astral Codex Ten

Christopher Columbus

3 min read

Christopher Columbus

Article

Christopher Columbus is a recurring person in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 2 times across 2 issues between May 06, 2021 and October 07, 2022. The archive places it in contexts such as “total gold mined before Christopher Columbus was between 650,000 to 2,800,000 pounds”; “Christopher Columbus did nothing wrong”; “Christopher Columbus did nothing wrong”. It most often appears alongside Washington, 320 AD, 476 AD.

Metadata

  • Category: People
  • Mention count: 2
  • Issue count: 2
  • First seen: May 06, 2021
  • Last seen: October 07, 2022

Appears In

Source Context

Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.

Your Book Review: Through The Eye Of A Needle
May 06, 2021 · Original source
Extraordinarily wealthy, old senatorial families with landholdings scattered across the empire sat at the top of the Roman and Carthaginian pyramids. Brown describes these families, “at the very top of this pyramid lay fortunes the likes of which would not be seen again in Europe until the millionaires of the industrial age.” Wealthy senatorial families could have annual incomes of 2,000 pounds of gold. Brown spends too much time trying to impress the reader by the amount of gold owned and received in annual revenue by this class. I understand that economic data is very limited, but it was difficult for me to contextualize pounds of gold into economic purchasing power. I looked up some estimates that said the total gold mined before Christopher Columbus was between 650,000 to 2,800,000 pounds. 2,000 pounds of gold per year for fifty years of adult life is between 15% and 4% of all gold in human hands at the time! An individual couldn’t stockpile all the revenue they received during their life, but clearly they controlled great wealth.
A Columbian Exchange
October 07, 2022 · Original source
Beroe: Oh, that’s easy. Christopher Columbus did nothing wrong.
Beroe: No! Cristobal Colon did all those things. Christopher Columbus did nothing wrong.
Beroe: The relationship between Cristobal Colon and Christopher Columbus is the same as the relationship between St. Nicholas of Myra and Santa Claus. St. Nicholas of Myra is a historical figure who lived in 4th century Anatolia. He may or may not have done bad things like physically attack people who he disagreed with at church councils. But Santa Claus is a jolly old man who lives at the North Pole and spreads holiday cheer. In the same way, Cristobal Colon is a historical figure responsible for many serious crimes. But Christopher Columbus is a brave explorer who set forth across the ocean sea with only three tiny ships, despite the risk that he might fall off the edge of the world -
Inline links: physically attack people who he disagreed with at church councils