Columbus, Col髇, Colombo, a photo from Distrito Nacional, East

Photographer's Note

Here you have the very first photo I shot at Dominican Republic last August. It was shot in the Parque Col髇, in the heart of the oldest part of the town, known as Zona Colonial. It shows the statue of the famous discoverer of America and the North wall of the Cathedral (which was subject of my last post). It's quite a nice place, not only for its great historic relevance.

I consider the history of Columbus and the discovery of America much intriguing, even not thinking about the controversy on his nationality. Resumedly, the generally accepted story is that he begin his life as a wool weaver in Genoa, Italy. Then he began living in Lisbon after the ship in which he was sailing wrecked. Shortly afterwards he, a foreign commoner, marries a daughter of a noble family who is intimate to the Portuguese King and quickly becomes a corsary(!) and a captain that leads several maritime expeditions for the Portuguese King. He spends years trying to convince the king to make an expedition to reach India sailing West (the Portuguese were much involved in doing that by circum navigating Africa). Finally he moves to Spain after his Portuguese wife died and gets financing to his expedition from the Spanish Catholic Kings. He reach the Bahamas, Cuba and Hispaniola (what is now Haiti and Dominican Republic) Islands and thinks that he has reached India or East Asia (Japan or China). I guess we can say that one of the greatest 15/16th century Discoveries happened by mistake (and quite a big one! :-). The American continent proper was reached only 6 years afterwards, on his 3rd voyage.

Although I have no knowledge in History to able to evaluate the arguments of such controversy about his nationality, I don't resist referring to it. The official thesis is that he was Italian born in Genoa, but there are some authors that claim that he was Spanish (Catalan, Basque or Jewish), Portuguese, Corse, Greek, Norwish or Polish. There are a couple of arguments on behalf of the Portuguese thesis or at least against his Italian origin that are interesting to me, but of course I am biased: his marriage with a Portuguese noble woman, the services to the Portuguese Crown and the fact that he didn't write any form of Italian and used frequently written Portuguese and Spanish. There is also the odd events that on his first voyage he made scale in Madeira, a Portuguese Island on the Atlantic not so far from the Spanish Canary Archipelago, when he was going West and on Lisbon on the way back - quite strange that he used ports from a country that rivalled that which was financing him and lands in Portugal prior to Spain on the way back from such an important discover. This is much exploited by those who claim that he was always a spy paid by the Portuguese to be aware of what the Spaniards were doing. Finally here it goes another funny story that makes Columbus an Alentejano like me: supposedly he was born in Cuba, a small town of Alentejo (South Portugal) and that is why Cuba has that name.

The discussion of the origin of the name "America" would give another big note. I wonder why in hell that continent got the name from an Italian (Americo Vespuccio) that many don't believe to have put his foot on the continent.

Location (latitude, longitude): 18.4735,-69.88397

Weblinks:

� Wikipedia - Santo Domingo

� Wikipedia - Zona Colonial

� Wikipedia - Christopher Columbus

� Wikipedia - Origin theories of Christopher Columbus

� www.stratis.org - "Christophe Colomb etait-il Portugais?" (online article in the website of the French Institut de Strat間ie Compar閑, Commission Fran鏰ise d'Histoire Militaire and Institut d'Histoire des Conflits Contemporains; in French)

---
Update 3-Sep: Leonor Kuhn pointed out a funny thing - Colombo means pigeon in Italian. :-)

japiey, Docarmo, Greg1949, robertosalguero, feather, leonorkuhn, Emile, bostankorkulugu, adores, pboehringer, vincz, Bluejeans, xuaxo, siolaw, Tort, riclopes, Charo, paura has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

japiey (10163) 2007-09-02 22:31

Hi Jose.

A beautifull shot with great lights and tones.
Well balanced image.
Salutes, dear friend..

jean paul

[2]

Docarmo (9767) 2007-09-02 22:32

Ol� Jos�,
Excelente tomada, com uma composi玢o muito bem feita. Luminosidade bastante agrad醰el. Nota interessante.
Obrigada pelos links.
Maria do Carmo

Greg1949 (9011) 2007-09-02 22:37

Nice shot Jose, color and detail are great, expecially what seems to be a bricked foof behind the statue. Note really brings it all together, and the pigeon in flight is a nice touch. Well seen.

Greg

robertosalguero (292) 2007-09-03 0:29

Ola Jose. What I find more interesting is the fact that Vikings came to North America about 1000 years ago. They left buildings and their ruins can still be seen today. Anyway, your picture is excellent. The colours ad clarity enhance the pleasant image. Good sharpness and framing of this interesting monument and castle behind. thanks Jose.

Roberto

feather (51130) 2007-09-03 2:39

Very interesting note Jose; almost a thesis. ;D. Good quality photo too in excellent light. I'm surprised you got such a wonderful depth with f5 but the cathedral (it looks more like a castle) behind is sharp too. There are some nice details like the pigeons and the blossom in the corner that Columbus is pointing to.
Well done
Kath

leonorkuhn (16237) 2007-09-03 4:52

Ol� Jos�,

Colombo � uma das figuras proeminentes da her骾ca 閜oca dos descobrimentos. Acho que a homenagem � bem merecida. Colombo significa pombo em italiano e hoje sua est醫ua est� cheia deles... Excelente captura com a igreja colonial ao fundo, 髏imas cores, luminosidade e nitidez.

Abra鏾s
Leonor

lucasgalodoido (27698) 2007-09-03 5:32

Ol� Jos�!
Muito bonita essa est醫ua de Colombo, gostei do pr閐io ao fundo e do peda鏾 de planta na foto, muito bonitos!
Parab閚s e Abra鏾!

fanch (0) 2007-09-03 6:12

Salut Jose.
Les pigeons ne respectent rien , m阭e en R閜ublique Dominicaine ....
Jolie carte postale nette et exotique , ton Olympus est en forme !
( Si les Portuguais veulent piquer C. Colomb aux G鑞ois , je sens venir le troll muscl� !!! ;-))) )

Amiti閟 ,

UnTrained (0) 2007-09-03 7:11

Ol� Jos�,
I think this composition is a bit simple. Maybe you did that of good reasons, but I think some steps more left to have the cathedral a bit diagonal would give more depth and show both not hiding one with the other. Light, colours and sharpness are well done and the leaves are a good addition but here a bit lost, because of the missing depth. But that could be also my very lonesome opinion.
And a very interesting note, I know a bit about the discussion about his birth. Much more important than any national thoughts are for me the question of his education, because he was able to read and write and more. Something not normal in that time for all people.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

Emile (20352) 2007-09-03 8:25

Hola Jose.
Very well captured with the statue in fg and the cathedral in the back producing an amazing composition, a very neat shot with good colors tones and light. Your POV is great and as usual the statue appears with some pigeons on it's shoulders and head. Excellent note.
Sorry no critiques yesterday, we spent the weekend at La Romana.
Un fuerte abrazo amigo.

mikeo (12129) 2007-09-03 10:24

Ola Jose:)

Really nice shot showing the atmosphere of that place. Great colours, sharpness and POV. Well done and I am anxiously waiting for more pics from DR:)
Greetings,
A.

bostankorkulugu (42866) 2007-09-03 16:19

Ol� Jos�:)!
i see you re back from dominican rep. while i m still on holiday in cyprus... last 2 days though!... i like the shot of course but i loved the note even better:D! i can hardly wait for the next note:)... this is a well composed image, flawless indeed... congrats my friend, take care...

korkut

adores (46979) 2007-09-03 19:17

Ol� Jos�!
Bem-vindo de volta! Bonita foto, gosto do pov e dos detalhes da catedral. At� o raminho do lado direito com a flor ficou muito bem.

pboehringer (770) 2007-09-03 19:55

Jose, so you made it to DR and back, despite all the weather conditions around the area at this time of the year. You very first shot of this trip is at the same time a very classic one with the discoverer and the first american church. I stood at the very same place 6 months earlier and I'm quite surprised that plaza is quite empty. I never got such an empty looking moment in February. What irritated me so much at this statue was the indian women idolizing Colon. That just doesn't fit and that was exactly why I worked on my post opposing Colon and Fray Montesino.
Regards, Peter

[2] +

vincz (19113) 2007-09-04 0:32

Great quality with good depth. The light was nice and allowed you to get really good details on the building in the back. Statue is very well taken as well and is quite interesting! Good note!

Bluejeans (64251) 2007-09-04 8:13

Oi Jose que belo lugar historico bom plano da estutua do Colombo , bonito o edificio de fundo tem uma arquitectura muito interessante , gostei do ceu azul a foto ficou bem iluminada ,parabens!!!
Um abra鏾 Gon鏰lo

xuaxo (6854) 2007-09-05 14:23

Ol� Jos�,
Interessante imagem columb骹ila de Colombo.
Com essa catedral t鉶 antiga, esta imagem at� poderia ser em Espanha (ou Portugal).
Acho que a Rep鷅lica Dominicana bem que podia chamar-se Rep鷅lica Colombiana, se n鉶 houvesse tamb閙 a Col鬽bia.
Confesso que n鉶 li toda a longa nota (estou sem tempo), mas o que li achei interessante e bem compilado. Quanto ao Amerigo, parece que n鉶 esteve l� na Am閞ica mas fez uns mapas. Tamb閙 h� quem ponha nomes a uns s韙ios na Lua sem nunca l� ter ido. Mal comparado, mas enfim, s鉶 as voltas que o mundo d�. O assunto da topon韒ia (que eu gosto), d� pano para mangas.
Um abra鏾,
F

siolaw (38294) 2007-09-07 16:51

Salut Jose,
L'origine de Colomb reste un myst鑢e non r閟olu... belle image bien claire de la place avec une belle ruine en toile de fond et la statue de Christophe et cette femme(?) qui essaye de l'escalader...
Jolies couleurs et luminosit� ainsi qu une bonne nettet�.
Amicalement
Laurent

Stepan (27210) 2007-09-08 0:13

I regret the guy on the right. But except that, the statue is great (especially with the "climbing" angel ?), the building in the foreground really beautiful and you composed that in a perfect light.
Very well done.
St閜hane

Tort (2266) 2007-09-11 11:25

Ol� Jos�,

Composi玢o 髏ima com o monumento � Colombo. Cores, nitidez e profundidade muito boas. Excelente nota explicativa
Abra鏾s
Juan Tort

zumoduvas (2069) 2007-09-12 13:47

Hola Jose.

Excelente imagen con una buena composicion.

Saludos.
Jose Luis.

riclopes (35577) 2007-09-15 1:56

Bom dia Jos�, que grande nota de pesquisa em torno da origem de Colombo (podia ser usado num TPC para o teu filho...) - mais uma prova do teu signo em Virgem ;-) Est� excelente esta tua 1� foto da viagem 鄐 cara韇as. A composi玢o da sobreposi玢o da est醫ua com a catedral est� muito boa e at� gosto do pormenor do bra鏾 a apontar para as folhas no canto. Os pombos tamb閙 t阭 o seu protagonismo e d鉶 vida � imagem, especialmente, os que est鉶 no Colombo - se calhar sabem italiano...
Bom fim de semana,
ricardo

Gdouble (0) 2007-09-22 0:15

Hi Jose,
Nice composition for this great man who changes the world.
I discover you galery thanks to Maria Do Carmo.
TFS
Guy

Charo (51290) 2007-10-04 15:43

Hola Jose,
Una buena toma de esa estupenda arquitectura con excelentes detalles.
La luz y la resoluci髇 son 髉timos.
Buen trabajo
Cordialmente
Charo

paura (25802) 2008-10-19 10:13

Jos�,
Parece que o pessoa� a� se esmerou at� o cansa鏾 para construir tantas coisas bonitas juntas. Sua fotografia ficou excelente, contanto inclusive bom uma boa sinaliza玢o vegetal (at� florida!) para impor uma eficiente profundidade. Linda foto, amigo.

Abra鏾

Paulo