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Christopher Columbus in fiction

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, opening the way for European exploration and colonization of the Americas. His expeditions, sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, were the first European contact with the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. He has been represented in many fictional and semi-fictional works, including plays, operas, films and TV, as well as literary works.

Pre-20th century

1900–1950

1950–1990

1990s

2000s

  • 2006 – Apocalypto, an epic adventure film directed and produced by Mel Gibson
  • 2009 – ', a video game by Ubisoft
  • 2013 – Trouble in Paradise, an audiobook produced by Big Finish Productions for the series ', featuring the sixth incarnation of the Doctor, where he learns that Columbus's discovery of America was 'aided' by a sentient super-intelligent bovine entity from an alternate timeline.
  • 2016 – Assassin's Creed, a historical science fiction action film based on the video game series of the same name
  • 2017 – ', a Spanish historical drama miniseries directed by Israel del Santo that tells the story of the first 30 years of the colonization of the Americas.
  • 2023 – Clone High, an American-Canadian adult animated science fiction sitcom, is set at a high school populated by the clones of well-known historical figures, including one of Christopher Columbus (voiced by Neil Casey). Adopting the name 'Topher Bus', he appears to be supportive of social movements and trends to distance himself from the historic Columbus.

Unsorted

Columbus, an important historical figure, has been depicted in fiction, cinema and television, and in other media and entertainment, such as stage plays, music, cartoons and games.

In games

  • Columbus appears as a Great Explorer in the strategy game Civilization Revolution.
  • Columbus can be summoned as an assist character in Scribblenauts and its sequels.
  • Columbus appears as a supporting character in the video game ', voiced by Roger L. Jackson. The main protagonist, Ezio Auditore, must help Columbus launch his expedition which led to the discovery of the Americas, and protect him from the Templar Order, who are trying to prevent the voyage so that they will be the first to conquer the New World.
  • Columbus appears as a Rider-class Servant in Fate/Grand Order. He is an antagonist in the Agartha chapter.

In literature

  • , a poem by Lydia Huntley Sigourney published in 1834.
  • In 1889, American author Mark Twain based the time traveler's trick in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court on Columbus' successful prediction of a lunar eclipse during his fourth voyage to the New World.
  • "", a poem by Florence Earle Coates, was published in Harper's Weekly on 22 October 1892.
  • In 1941 the British author Rafael Sabatini published a novel Columbus, based on a screenplay he had written for a planned film. The story provided the inspiration for the 1949 film about Columbus.
  • In 1958, the Italian playwright Dario Fo wrote a satirical play about Columbus titled Isabella, tre caravelle e un cacciaballe (Isabella, three tall ships and a con man). In 1997 Fo was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The play was translated into English in 1988 by Ed Emery and is downloadable on the internet.
  • In 1991, author Salman Rushdie published a fictional representation of Columbus in The New Yorker, "Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain Consummate Their Relationship, Santa Fe, January, 1492".
  • In ' (1996) science fiction novelist Orson Scott Card focuses on Columbus' life and activities, but the novel's action also deals with a group of scientists from the future who travel back to the 15th century with the goal of changing the pattern of European contact with the Americas.
  • British author Stephen Baxter includes Columbus' quest for royal sponsorship as a crucial historical event in his 2007 science fiction novel Navigator (), the third entry in the author's Time's Tapestry Series.
  • American novelist Steve Berry's 2012 book The Columbus Affair revolves around the premise that Columbus' voyages held a secret purpose, with clues to an ancient Jewish treasure.
  • MiBa'ad LaKarka'it HaShkufa, (English title Beyond the Transparent Bottom) an Israeli, Hebrew language novel by Yuval Shimoni, whose main character is a Jewish teenager who sails to the New World with Columbus, published in 2021 by Am Oved.

In music

  • Christopher Columbus is regularly referred to by singers and musical groups in the Rastafari movement as an example of a European oppressor. The detractors include Burning Spear (Christopher Columbus), Culture (Capture Rasta), and Peter Tosh (You Can't Blame The Youth, Here Comes The Judge).
  • Toward the end of "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" (at 6:00 minute mark on "Bringing It All Back Home" album), a parody of US society in the 1960's, there is a comedy sequence "But the funniest thing was when I was leaving the bay; I spied three ships a sailing, they were all heading my way; I asked the captain what his name was and how come he didn't drive a truck; He said his name was Columbus, and I just said, 'Good luck.'"
  • The Church's 1985 album Heyday contains the song "Columbus", where the singer (ostensibly taking the perspective of Queen Isabella) expresses regret at sponsoring the expedition.
  • In June 2024, the Japanese rock band Mrs. Green Apple released a song and music video entitled "Columbus". However, the band's description of dressing up as Columbus, Napoleon and Ludwig van Beethoven and having an ape-like character pull a rickshaw in the music video was heavily criticised as racist and the band were forced to remove the music video from YouTube.

On screen

In sculpture

In space

References