FOOL ON THE HILL
Columbus Was a Fool

In celebration of Columbus Day, a closer look at the man behind the holiday reveals a lot of Foolish traits. There were some substantial blemishes along the way, and no Fool is perfect, but in helping pave the way for New World colonization, his properly equipped treks and common-sense approach to navigation sent gold, spices, and hope back to Europe's mainland. The world was about to wind up with more than it bargained for.

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By Rick Aristotle Munarriz (TMF Edible)
October 8, 2001

Christopher Columbus said the world was round, and many called him a fool.

He sought to navigate uncharted waters for a direct trading connection, and for that I call him a Fool. While there is a lot we will never know about the Genoa-born explorer -- and everything that we do know is not exactly savory -- the seafarer was not without Foolish attributes.

For starters, let's discuss the very reason Europeans in general -- and Columbus in particular -- were so adamant about crossing the Atlantic Ocean. It wasn't for the Coney Island hot dogs or those scrumptious Philly cheesesteaks. No way. Europe was interested in establishing a direct trade route with Asia. Without one, it would have had to continue dealing with the Ottoman Empire as a go-between. If it could achieve a Westward path to the Far East, it could open a liberating, cost-effective trade channel. 

This sounds in many ways like the Wall Street of old. Just as clients were kept in the dark by self-serving full-service brokers, there was money to be made in being the middleman in the Europe-to-Asia connection. Ignorance always carries a price, and this was the Ottomans' premium. Empowering the end user is a noble notion, even if Columbus himself had personal interests at heart.

Columbus also had a knack for perseverance. How many times were his proposals spurned in both Portugal and Spain before he was finally green-lighted for the first of his historic New World expeditions in 1492?

How many times have your convictions been challenged? Your time-tested beliefs claim that if you hang in there and you're willing to put up with the trading day's motion sickness, riches await at the other end of your journey. But how easy has it been to stay focused under these rough and cruel sea currents? Lately, Wall Street's downticks are stinging like Portugal's King John II shaking his head or Spain's Queen Isabella's initial rejection. Perseverance pays.

A seaman since his youth, Columbus did not sail alone. Like a well-diversified investor, Columbus took three ships in his 1492 expedition. The Santa Maria was the blue chip of the fleet, the heavyset flagship. The nimble Pinta was the fastest of the sailing vessels. You know, the growth stock. The Niña was the small-cap value pick of the lot: small like the Pinta, but lacking in speed.

So just as an investor should not place all of the eggs in one basket, Columbus was prepared. The Pinta needs a rudder repaired? No problem. The Santa Maria gets grounded on a reef in Hispaniola? Bummer, but life sails on.

His instruments of navigation were seemingly Foolish as well. While the trendy tool of the trade was the astrolabe, a metal disk used to map the position of heavenly bodies, Columbus was not one for that kind of pie-in-the-sky analysis. He favored his instincts, using dead reckoning. The process, which involves knowing where you once were to pinpoint where you are now, has its modern-day applications.

Lay down the financial pages for a second. Try to refrain from looking for scrolling ticker symbols at the bottom of every television channel. Why did you enter the stock market? Let dead reckoning have a shot at trying to figure out where you are now, and where you will eventually want to be. The past teaches plenty. It schools ignorance. And, as we have established earlier, perseverance pays the tuition.

Before it seems I might bleach out Columbus' shortcomings, let me pick out a few of the many ways his life's history runs counter to our philosophy. When the Pinto lookout first discovered land, in theory landing him a hefty reward, Columbus claimed the bounty as his own. When his second journey featured crew members unwilling to provide manual labor once ashore, the locals were enslaved. I could keep going, but isn't today some form of holiday?

We officially observe Columbus Day today. Ironically, we raise a glass to the man who helped make free trade possible by closing down our banking system. Ironically, we celebrate a man who sailed West towards discovery at a time when we are deploying troops to the East to keep what we discovered secure. Ironically, we honor an Italian-born explorer with Portuguese roots who sailed under the Spanish flag, yet I write this in English. America rocks. You didn't make out so badly yourself, Christopher.

Irony is the ruler the past uses to rap ignorance's knuckles in the schoolhouse. Perseverance pays, because, as they say: No pain, no gain.  

Rick Aristotle Munarriz attended Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, Florida. He was an Explorer. Rick's stock holdings can be viewed online, as can the Fool's disclosure policy.