Fact #49958

Christopher Columbus's expedition seeking a Western route from Europe to India, makes landfall in The Bahamas, thus accidentally discovering the 'new world' of North America. In 1936, Chu Berry and Andy Razaff will be inspired to write the song Christopher Columbus, which will be recorded by Fats Waller, Fletcher Henderson, Andy Kirk, Benny Goodman, The Ink Spots, Duke Ellington and many others. Adherents of the Rastafarian religion, however, see Columbus as an oppressor, thus the Burning Spear reggae song Christopher Columbus castigates the explorer for claiming to have discovered the West Indies when, in fact, they were already inhabited by the Arawak tribe. Another song inspired by Columbus is Christopho Columbo, performed by Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong in the 1951 movie Here Comes The Groom. The 1960 Jimmy Jones hit, Good Timin', also refers to Columbus' achievements, with the lines "Who in the world woulda ever known what Columbus could do, If Queen Isabella hadn't hawked her jewels in 1492".