Kolumbus transnational: Verflochtene Geschichtskulturen und europäische Medienlandschaften im Kontext des 400. Jubiläums der Entdeckung Amerikas 1892

Abstract

Columbus in Transnational Perspective: Entangled Historical Cultures and European Media Landscapes in the Context of the 400th Anniversary of the Discovery of America (1892)

While in historical research there is a general call for transnational history, the transnational level of historical cultures often remains under-represented. The latter has for long focused on the development of single national narratives when dealing with historical cultures. This is especially true for late nineteenth-century Europe, when the continent can be seen at the height of national divide and imperial ambition. Consequently, its historiographies are perceived to play a major role in the construction of separate national identities. By contrast, this article utilises the celebrations around the quartercentenary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas as a case study to analyse how forms of approaching, interpreting and transmitting history in different European contexts were deeply entangled. The study is based on illustrated newspapers and popular periodicals from five European regions, which provided access to textual and visual material for mass audiences to an unprecedented extent. The analysis of articles covering the anniversary unveils regional, national, transnational and pan-European patterns of historical sense-making. These affect historical narratives as well as the ways in which the press illustrated the past, produced historical truth, and created identification with the historical personage. Columbus and his deeds became symbols of modernism and embodiments of European superiority that were open for adaptation into different contexts. Therefore, historical cultures in Europe have to be characterised as both permeable and multi-dimensionally entangled.