Introduction—The Post-Columbus Syndrome: A Comparative Approach to Caribbean Memory in the Longue Durée

Abstract

In 1992, following Spain’s initiative and input, Europe celebrated ostentatiously the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus. This caused turmoil among the peoples of Latin America, for whom it effectively meant commemorating a genocide. On October 12, celebrated as the día de la raza (day of the race) in all the Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas since 1913,¹ statues of Columbus were toppled or covered with red paint to recall that what Europe called “discovery” had been in fact the violent conquest and colonial enslavement of the native peoples of the Americas by the Spaniards.