Christopher Columbus in fiction

Here below is a chronology of fictional and semi-fictional stories (including films, episodes in TV series, as well as literary works) that feature the famous explorer Christopher Columbus.

19th century

• 1828 - A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, a biographical fiction written by Washington Irving.
• 1892 - Cristoforo Colombo, an Italian opera by Alberto Franchetti

1920s

• 1923 - Christopher Columbus, a 1923 German silent historical film directed by Márton Garas and starring Albert Bassermann and Elsa Bassermann

1940s

• 1941 - Columbus, a romantic adventure novel by the British writer Rafael Sabatini
• 1949 - Christopher Columbus, a British film starring Fredric March as Christopher Columbus and Florence Eldridge as Queen Isabella I of Castile

1950s

• 1951 - Dawn of America, a Spanish historical adventure film directed by Juan de Orduña and starring Antonio Vilar, María Martín and José Suárez

1980s

• 1985 - Christopher Columbus, a biographical television miniseries directed by Alberto Lattuada and starring Gabriel Byrne
• 1987 - The Memoirs of Christopher Columbus, a fictional autobiography written by Stephen Marlowe, winner the French Prix Gutenberg du Livre award in 1988^[1]

1990s

• 1992, February - The Magic Voyage, a German animated fantasy film
• 1992, August - Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, a film starring Marlon Brando and Catherine Zeta-Jones
• 1992, October - 1492: Conquest of Paradise, a film directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Gérard Depardieu and Sigourney Weaver
• 1992, October - The Voyage, an opera by the American composer Philip Glass
• 1992, October - Carry On Columbus, a comedy film starring Jim Dale, Peter Gilmore, Bernard Cribbins, Leslie Phillips, Jon Pertwee and June Whitfield
• 1992 - The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore, a short story by Harlan Ellison, and winner of the 1994 Nebula Award
• 1992 - Christopher Columbus, a Japanese animated series by Nippon Animation
• 1993, February - 1492, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comic book issue where the turtles travel across the Caribbean Sea when a strange storm causes them to travel 500 years backwords in time, where they witness Christopher Columbus and his men arriving to America and a fight between the indigenous peoples and Christopher Columbus and his men breaks out.^[2]
• 1996 - Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus, a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card

2000s

• 2006 - Apocalypto, an epic adventure film directed and produced by Mel Gibson

2010s

• 2013 - Trouble in Paradise, an audiobook produced by Big Finish Productions for the series Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctor, featuring the sixth incarnation of Doctor Who

Unsorted

Isabella and Columbus by Larkin Mead under dome of California State Capitol^[3]

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

• Christopher Columbus appears as a Great Explorer in the 2008 strategy video game, Civilization Revolution.^[4]

In literature

• 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.
• "Columbus", 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.^[5]
• 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".^[6]
• In Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (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 (ISBN 978-0-441-01559-7), 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.

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).

On Screen

• Christopher Columbus is played by Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in the 1934 cartoon Chris Columbus Jr.
• Christopher Columbus is a 1949 British film starring Fredric March as Columbus.
• Dawn of America, a 1951 Spanish film with António Vilar as Columbus
• In Episode 24 of Season Five ( 136th Episode overall ) of Get Smart, entitled Hello Columbus, Goodbye America, which aired in 1970, a descendant of Columbus is said in reality to own the United States, as it was found that Christopher Columbus had laid claim to all of the Americas, and it is Max's job to convince him to sign the country back to American Government, rather than to KAOS (Get Smart).
• The 1985 TV mini-series, Christopher Columbus, features Gabriel Byrne as Columbus.
• Columbus was portrayed by Gérard Depardieu in the 1992 film by Ridley Scott, 1492: Conquest of Paradise. Scott presented Columbus as a forward-thinking idealist, as opposed to the view that he was ruthless and responsible for the misfortune of Native Americans.
• Carry On Columbus is a 1992 comedy.
  

  Columbus by Mary Lawrence
• Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, is a 1992 biographical film by Alexander Salkind.
• The 42nd episode of The Sopranos, entitled "Christopher" (2002), addresses the controversies surrounding Columbus' legacy from the perspectives of numerous identity group members.
• Cristóvão Colombo - O Enigma is a 2007 film by Manoel de Oliveira in which the main character travels between America and Portugal trying to prove that Christopher Columbus was, in fact, Portuguese.

In sculpture

• Columbus Doors, 1871, in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
• Isabella and Columbus by Larkin Mead, 1874, California State Capitol, Sacramento, California
• Monumento a Colón, 1877, in the Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City
• Christopher Columbus, by Moses Jacob Ezekiel, Arrigo Park, Chicago. Illinois, 1891^[7]
• Drake Fountain, also known as the Columbus Monument by Richard Henry Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1892^[8]
• Christopher Columbus by Ferdinand von Miller the Younger, St. Louis, Missouri, 1884, This work is different from most in that it shows a bearded Columbus. It is believed to be the first bronze statue of Columbus in the United States.^[9]
• Colossal Columbus statue by Mary Lawrence, 1893, at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois,^[10]
• Columbus by Paul Wayland Bartlett ca. 1895 Library of Congress, Washington D.C.^[11]
• Christopher Columbus Memorial by Pietro Piai 1904, Pueblo, Colorado. "Colorado was the first state to make Columbus Day a legal holiday in 1905 and this is reportedly the first monument to Columbus erected in the United States."^[12]
• Christopher Columbus, by Augusto Rivalta, Detroit, Michigan, 1910,^[13]
• Columbus Fountain, by Lorado Taft, 1912, Washington D.C.
• Christopher Columbus, by Virgil Rainer, Chicago, Illinois,^[14] 1924^[15]
• Christopher Columbus by Charles Brioschi, assisted by Leo Lentelli, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1931^[16]
• Christopher Columbus by Charles Brioschi, Grant Park, 1933^[17]
• Christopher Columbus, by Frank Vittor, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1958^[18]
• Christopher Columbus Monument by David W. Oswald, Columbus, Wisconsin, 1988^[19]

In space

• Asteroid 327 Columbia is named in his honour.

References

1. Lesser, Milton; Marlowe, Stephen (16 August 2014). The Eighth Golden Age of Science Fiction Megapack: Milton Lesser. Wildside Press LLC. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-4794-0344-8.
2. "1492". Miragelicensing. January 1993. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
3. "Columbus Monuments Pages: Sacramento". Retrieved 3 January 2010.
4. Civilization Revolution: Great People "CivFanatics" Retrieved on 4 September 2009
5. "Dario Fo Archives online". Archived from the original on 21 October 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2009.
6. The New Yorker, 17 June 1991, p. 32.
7. Bach, Ira and Mary Lackritz Gray, A Guide to Chicago's Public Sculpture, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1983 p. 226
8. Riedy, James L., Chicago Sculpture, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Illinois, 1981 pp. 203–204
9. McCue, George, Photographs by David Finn and Amy Binder, Sculpture City: St. Louis, Sculpture in the "Gateway to the West" Hudson Hills Press NY and Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, 1988, pp. 43–45
10. Photographs of the World's Fair: An elaborate Collection of Photographs of the Buildings, Grounds and the Exhibits of the World's Columbian Exposition with a special description of The Famous Midway Exposition, The Werner Company, Chicago, 1894, p. 191
11. Small, Herbert, The Library of Congress: The Architecture and Decoration, Classical America, WW Norton & Company, New York, 1982, p. 93
12. "Christopher Columbus Memorial, (sculpture)". Siris-artinventories.si.edu. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
13. Nawrocki, Dennis Alan, Art in Detroit Public Places, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan, 1980, p. 26
14. Riedy, James L., Chicago Sculpture, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Illinois, 1981, pp. 204–205
15. "Chicago – Christopher Columbus". Vanderkrogt.net. 21 November 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
16. Harris, Moira A., Monumental Minnesota: A Guide to Outdoor Sculpture, Pogp Press Inc., 1992, p. 17
17. Bach, Ira and Mary Lackritz Gray, A Guide to Chicago's Public Sculpture, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1983, pp. 9–10
18. Evert, Marlyn and Vernon Gay, photographs, Discovering Pittsburgh's Sculpture, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, 1983, pp. 182–183
19. Beajer and Style, Public Sculpture in Wisconsin: An Atlas of Outdoor Monuments, Memorials and Masterpieces in the Badger State, SOS! Wisconsin, Save Outdoor Sculpture and Fine Arts Conservation Services, Madison Wisconsin, 1999, p. 106