Research


Administrative History

The national Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission was established by the U.S. Congress in 1985 (Public Law 98-375). It was mandated to create a "strengthened awareness of our common history and heritage as American peoples" by promoting and coordinating activities to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the voyages of discovery of Christopher Columbus.

To guide its work, the commission set forth a number of goals: to commemorate Columbus as visionary; to commemorate the "fact that Europeans and Africans of many origins predominate among the mix of people and cultures that arose in the New World in the wake of Columbus, with Spain taking the lead;" to commemorate the "fact that the native inhabitants of the New World also contributed important elements to the blend of cultures and peoples" and that the "transformation of America after 1492 involved real human costs as well as gains;" to promote the idea that the mix of Old and New World cultures "led the modern world towards republican and democratic government;" and to promote cooperative scientific activities emphasizing space science and exploration.

With the consent of Congress, New York Governor Mario Cuomo was appointed to the commission in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan. Cuomo appointed his wife Matilda to act as his official representative to the commission. By virtue of authorizing legislation, the commission was terminated in 1992; its final report was issued in 1993.

According to its 1993 final report, the quincentenary highlighted the Hispanic contributions of Old and New World cultures and the influences each had upon the other. As mentioned in the final report, the Quincentenary Commission called attention to the need to document the Spanish colonial past of the Americas, to translate the rich resources of Spanish archives, to preserve and interpret Spanish colonial sites in the United States, to support exhibitions and educational programs that emphasize Spanish colonial heritage and to support events that "bring together artists from both parts of our hemisphere." In 1993 Puerto Rico played a special role in the quincentenary by commemorating Columbus' second voyage to the New World in 1493 in which Columbus traveled to the modern-day U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.