Whenever holidays come around that celebrate or memorialize historical figures and events, we are reminded that it can be difficult to separate the actual past from myth and legend. As a person with a degree in history who has taught courses in history for more than a decade, I sometimes feel a certain obligation to clarify things.
For example, few people know that Columbus labelled indigenous Americans "Indians" because he thought he was in India when he disembarked. True story.
Another similar example: Columbus once fucked the carcass of a manatee because he thought it was a mermaid. You might have occasionally seen this little known historical factoid circulate on the internet and wondered if it was true. Well, it is true, and since we have a responsibility to disentangle fact from fiction, now that you know that it's true, you should definitely help educate others.
