Columbus Was Going to India; Now India Has Arrived

Dear Readers, In recent years, a remarkable development has been observed in America. Children of Indian-origin immigrants are climbing to the top in business and politics. One of the candidates running for Mayor of New York City is Zohran Mamdani, of Indian origin. He is a young, energetic, and ambitious politician. His campaign focuses on issues such as poverty, transportation justice, and the housing crisis. His stance has resonated widely in both American and Indian public opinion.

Zohran Mamdani

Zohran Mamdani was born on October 18, 1991, in Kampala, Uganda. His family is a Muslim family of Indian origin. His father is the world-renowned political scientist and historian Mahmood Mamdani, and his mother is the famous film director Mira Nair. Mamdani moved to the United States with his family at a young age. He attended Bronx Science High School in New York and then graduated from Bowdoin College with a degree in Africana Studies.

Mamdani's candidacy appears to be a significant turning point, not only in New York politics but also in the long sweep of history. Because five hundred and thirty years ago, a European sailor was trying to reach India, and today, the children of India have reached the heart of America. Once, Columbus sailed west to arrive in India. Now, India has come to America with its ideas, labor, and success.

15. CENTURY: THE GREAT RACE BEGINS WITH THE SCENT OF SPICES

At the end of the 1400s, there was a great quest in Europe: "How do we reach India?" At that time, silk, spices, gold, pearls, and precious stones all came from Asia, meaning India and the Far East. But because these goods reached Europe through Arab and Ottoman traders, prices were very high. Europeans wanted to find a sea route to reach India directly. This way, they would eliminate intermediaries and seize the riches of Asia for themselves. This goal turned the two most powerful maritime kingdoms of the 15th century—Portugal and Spain—into rivals. Both countries dreamed of circumnavigating the world to reach the "golden gates of the East." PORTUGAL TOOK THE LEAD Under the leadership of the Portuguese King, Henry the Navigator, Portugal began mapping the African coast. The goal was to sail around the southern tip of Africa and head east, to India. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias reached the tip of what is now South Africa and named it the "Cape of Good Hope." Ten years later, in 1498, Vasco da Gama rounded this cape and arrived at the port of Calicut on India's western coast. This was one of the greatest maritime discoveries in human history: Europe had, for the first time, reached India directly by sea. SPAIN DID NOT WANT TO BE LEFT BEHIND: ANOTHER WAY, FROM THE WEST While Portugal went east, Spain entered the scene with a different idea. At that time, a little-known sailor, Christopher Columbus, presented a proposal to the royal court: "The world is round. If I go west, I will reach India by a shorter route." In fact, thinking the world was round was not a new idea at the time; educated people had known this since antiquity. But Columbus's difference was that he had miscalculated the circumference of the world. He thought the world's circumference, which is actually 40,000 kilometers, was only 29,000 kilometers. He also thought Asia was much larger than it was, believing it was located just west of Europe. For this reason, he thought, "I will reach India in a few weeks' journey." He first offered his proposal to the King of Portugal but was rejected. He then convinced Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand of Spain. With their support, in 1492, he set sail across the Atlantic Ocean with three ships (the Santa María, Pinta, and Niña). ARRIVAL IN AMERICA INSTEAD OF INDIA After months of travel, Columbus sighted land on October 12, 1492. The place he reached was today's Bahamas Islands. He then reached Cuba and Hispaniola (today's Haiti and Dominican Republic). But Columbus believed these were islands on the eastern coast of Asia. That's why he called them "the West Indies (Las Indias Occidentales)." He also called the indigenous people he encountered "Indians (Indios)." The term "American Indian" was born from this misconception. Columbus went to America four times in his life (1492, 1493, 1498, and 1502). But each time, he still thought he had reached India. He never realized he had discovered a new continent. When he died in Valladolid, Spain, in 1506, he was still saying: "I found the western route to Asia, to India." THE ONE WHO REALIZED THE TRUTH: AMERIGO VESPUCCI Two years before Columbus's death, the Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci explored the coasts of South America and realized that these lands did not belong to Asia. In a letter he wrote in 1503, he said: "We have reached not the shores of Asia, but a completely new world." In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller incorporated these discoveries into his map and named the continent "America" in honor of Amerigo. Thus, the truth that Columbus never realized in his lifetime was announced to the whole world after his death. WHO WILL OWN THE NEW LANDS? THE POPE INTERVENES Columbus's arrival in America created great tension between Portugal and Spain. Because everyone began to ask: "Who will own the newly discovered lands?" The two Catholic kingdoms were on the verge of conflict. To resolve this crisis, Pope Alexander VI intervened. In 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed. With this treaty, the world was divided into two by an imaginary line:

• The east of the line (the Africa and Asia side) was given to Portugal,
• The west of the line (the America side) was given to Spain.

This agreement was the beginning of a colonial division system that would last for centuries. Portugal established a trade network extending from Brazil to India, while Spain built a vast empire in Mexico, Peru, and the Philippines. THE BIRTH OF THE TERM "AMERICAN INDIAN" The peoples living in America before Christopher Columbus's discovery are today called "American Indian." Of course, these peoples have no connection to India. The origin of the term is based on the mistaken discovery of the American continent by Europe and a geographical misconception. In 1492, Christopher Columbus, upon arriving in the Caribbean islands, named the place "Las Indias" (the Indies). He also called the indigenous people he encountered "indios" (Spanish for "Indians"). This misnomer became permanent in European languages: it passed into English as "Indian," into French as "Indien," and into Turkish as "Kızılderili / Amerikan yerlisi" (Red Indian / American native). So the phrase "American Indian" is actually the product of a geographical error: the American continent being mistaken for Asia. In the 16th–17th centuries, the word "Indian" began to be used in Europe to describe all indigenous peoples of the American continent. In the 18th–19th centuries, racist and reductionist terms like "Red Indian" also emerged. In the 20th century, this term began to be criticized because "Indian" described both people from India and Native Americans, which created confusion and colonial connotations. In the context of the United States, the official documents today use the phrase "American Indian and Alaska Native." However, many indigenous communities prefer the term "Native American" or, more directly, "Indigenous Peoples." FIVE CENTURIES LATER, THE WIND HAS TURNED More than five hundred years have passed. Once, the West sought the riches of the East. Today, the children of the East have settled in the heart of the West. People are no longer going to India; India is coming. American business, science, and politics are now filled with people of Indian origin. Google's CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft's head Satya Nadella, US Vice President Kamala Harris, and now New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani... All are of Indian origin, but they are shaping the future of America. Once, Columbus tried to reach India. Now, the children of India have a say in America's tallest buildings, laboratories, and assemblies. History sometimes circles silently. Columbus's route, while going west, actually turned east. Today, the world is completing the same circle. Once, sails from Europe opened to Asia; now they extend from Asia to America. Mamdani's candidacy appears to be a significant turning point, not only in New York politics but also in the long sweep of history. Because five hundred and thirty years ago, a European sailor was trying to reach India, and today, the children of India have reached the heart of America. However, the irony of history is that while the indigenous people of America, mistakenly named "Indian," are still struggling with poverty on reservations, the children of actual India are now competing for the wealth and pinnacle of this country. How strange!