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147-494: Culebrina is Spanish for "forked lightning". In maps the river name has been spelled different ways: Christopher Columbus is said to have anchored and come ashore near the mouth of the Culebrinas River in 1493. A stone cross monument was erected to mark the site, but it was destroyed by the 1918 San Fermín earthquake . In the 1898 Military Notes on Puerto Rico by the U.S. it is written that Culebrina River "is bounded on

294-516: A Genoese dialect ( Ligurian ) as his first language, though Columbus probably never wrote in it. His name in 15th-century Genoese was Cristoffa Corombo , in Italian, Cristoforo Colombo , and in Spanish Cristóbal Colón . In one of his writings, he says he went to sea at 14. In 1470, the family moved to Savona , where Domenico took over a tavern. Some modern authors have argued that he

441-601: A caravel —evidently covering up the loss of his flagship, the Santa María . He reports that La Navidad is located near reported gold mines, and is a well-placed entrepot for the commerce that will doubtlessly soon be opened with the Great Khan ("gran Can") on the mainland. He speaks of a local king near Navidad whom he befriended and treated him as a brother ("y grand amistad con el Rey de aquella tierra en tanto grado que se preciava de me lhamar e tener por hermano")—almost certainly

588-493: A finance minister to Ferdinand II of Aragon. It is unsurprising that Columbus singled Santangel out as the first recipient of the news. Santangel had been the person who made the case to, and persuaded, Queen Isabella to sponsor Columbus's voyage eight months earlier. Indeed, Santangel arranged for much of the financing to the Castilian crown (much of it from his own pocket) to enable the monarchs to sponsor it. As Santangel had

735-684: A copy to his brother, Juan Sanchez, then a merchant in Florence .) Nonetheless, some historians believe that Columbus sent three distinct letters: one the Catholic Monarchs (the manuscript copy), another to Luis de Santangel (origin of the printed Spanish editions), and a third to Gabriel Sanchez (origin of the Latin editions). In other words, that the Santangel and Sanchez letters, although practically identical, are nonetheless distinct. However, this leave open

882-554: A degree of longitude along the equator) spanned 56.67 Arabic miles (equivalent to 66.2 nautical miles, 122.6 kilometers or 76.2 mi), but he did not realize that this was expressed in the Arabic mile (about 1,830 meters or 1.14 mi) rather than the shorter Roman mile (about 1,480 m) with which he was familiar. Columbus therefore estimated the size of the Earth to be about 75% of Eratosthenes's calculation. Third, most scholars of

1029-467: A fierce man-eating tribe of "monsters" in the area (probably Caribs ), although Columbus himself disbelieved the stories, and dismissed them as a myth . The letter provides very few details of the oceanic voyage itself, and covers up the loss of the flagship of his fleet, the Santa María , by suggesting Columbus left it behind with some colonists, in a fort he erected at La Navidad in Hispaniola. In

1176-532: A five-week voyage across the ocean. On 7 October, the crew spotted "[i]mmense flocks of birds". On 11 October, Columbus changed the fleet's course to due west, and sailed through the night, believing land was soon to be found. At around 02:00 the following morning, a lookout on the Pinta , Rodrigo de Triana , spotted land. The captain of the Pinta , Martín Alonso Pinzón , verified the sight of land and alerted Columbus. Columbus later maintained that he had already seen

1323-511: A large army of ten thousand cavalry and one hundred thousand infantry to that end. The sign off varies between editions. The printed Spanish letter is dated aboard the caravel "on the Canary Islands " on February 15, 1493. ("Fecha en la caravela sobra las yslas de Canaria a xv de Febrero, ano Mil.cccclxxxxiii"), and signed merely "El Almirante", while the printed Latin editions are signed "Cristoforus Colom, oceanee classis prefectus" ("Prefect of

1470-841: A light on the land a few hours earlier, thereby claiming for himself the lifetime pension promised by Ferdinand and Isabella to the first person to sight land. Columbus called this island (in what is now the Bahamas) San Salvador (meaning "Holy Savior"); the natives called it Guanahani . Christopher Columbus's journal entry of 12 October 1492 states: I saw some who had marks of wounds on their bodies and I made signs to them asking what they were; and they showed me how people from other islands nearby came there and tried to take them, and how they defended themselves; and I believed and believe that they come here from tierra firme to take them captive. They should be good and intelligent servants, for I see that they say very quickly everything that

1617-533: A los otros"). Columbus connects the monsters story to another local legend about a tribe of female warriors , who are said to inhabit the island of "Matinino" east of Hispaniola ("first island of the Indies, closest to Spain", possibly referring to Guadeloupe ). Columbus speculates that the aforesaid canoe-borne monsters are merely the "husbands" of these warrior women, who visit the island intermittently for mating. The island of women reportedly abounds in copper , which

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1764-501: A lot of gold, spices , cotton (repeatedly referenced in the letter), mastic gum , aloe , slaves , and possibly rhubarb and cinnamon ("of which I heard about here"). Columbus ends the letter urging their Majesties, the Church, and the people of Spain to give thanks to God for allowing him to find so many souls, hitherto lost, ready for conversion to Christianity and eternal salvation. He also urges them to give thanks in advance for all

1911-419: A lot riding on the results of this expedition, perhaps more than anybody else, it was perhaps natural for Columbus to address his first letter to him. Moreover, as the letter indicates, Columbus sought more financing to return with an even larger fleet to the Indies as soon as possible, so it would be useful to contact Santangel immediately, so he could set the wheels in motion for a second voyage . The story of

2058-507: A manuscript copybook, known as the Libro Copiador , containing a copy of Columbus's letter addressed to the Catholic Monarchs, has led to a revision of this history. The Copiador version has some very distinctive differences from the printed editions. It is now increasingly believed that the Latin edition printed in Rome is actually a translation of the letter to Santangel, and that the letter to

2205-566: A mistress in 1487, a 20-year-old orphan named Beatriz Enríquez de Arana . It is likely that Beatriz met Columbus when he was in Córdoba , a gathering place for Genoese merchants and where the court of the Catholic Monarchs was located at intervals. Beatriz, unmarried at the time, gave birth to Columbus's second son, Fernando Columbus , in July 1488, named for the monarch of Aragon. Columbus recognized

2352-473: A nearby smaller island, which he named Mariagalante , now a part of Guadeloupe and called Marie-Galante . Other islands named by Columbus on this voyage were Montserrat , Antigua , Saint Martin , the Virgin Islands , as well as many others. On 17 November, Columbus first sighted the eastern coast of the island of Puerto Rico , known to its native Taino people as Borikén . His fleet sailed along

2499-411: A new continent. He described the islands, particularly Hispaniola and Cuba , exaggerating their size and wealth, and suggested that mainland China probably lay nearby. He also gave a brief description of the native Arawaks (whom he called " Indians "), emphasizing their docility and amenability, and the prospects of their conversion to Catholicism. However, the letter also revealed local rumors about

2646-608: A plan to seek a western sea passage to the East Indies , hoping to profit from the lucrative spice trade . After the Granada War , and Columbus's persistent lobbying in multiple kingdoms, the Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II , agreed to sponsor a journey west. Columbus left Castile in August 1492 with three ships and made landfall in the Americas on 12 October, ending

2793-568: A reference to Guacanagaríx , cacique of Marién . In the Copiador version (but not the printed editions), Columbus alludes to the treachery of "one from Palos" ("uno de Palos"), who made off with one of the ships, evidently a complaint about Martín Alonso Pinzón , the captain of the Pinta (although this portion of the Copiador manuscript is damaged and hard to read). The Copiador version also mentions other points of personal friction not contained in

2940-503: A road caved in. There is a bridge on PR-438 that goes over the Culebrinas River in barrio Magos and when the river floods the road is closed. In mid 2018, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced its list of projects for Puerto Rico. $ 400,000 was earmarked to study how to reduce damage caused by a flooding Río Culebrinas. In June 2018, a large project, by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and

3087-507: A variety of ways. Columbus often wrote about seeking gold in the log books of his voyages and writes about acquiring it "in such quantity that the sovereigns... will undertake and prepare to go conquer the Holy Sepulcher " in a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy . Columbus often wrote about converting all races to Christianity. Abbas Hamandi argues that Columbus was motivated by the hope of "[delivering] Jerusalem from Muslim hands" by "using

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3234-459: A verse epigram added by Leonardus de Cobraria, Bishop of Monte Peloso. No original manuscript copy of Columbus's letter is known to exist. Historians have had to rely on clues in the printed editions, many of them published without date or location, to reconstruct the history of the letter. It is assumed that Columbus wrote the original letter in Spanish. As a result, historians tend to agree that

3381-507: A wool weaver who worked in Genoa and Savona , and owned a cheese stand at which young Christopher worked. His mother was Susanna Fontanarossa . He had three brothers— Bartholomew , Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo (also called Diego) —as well as a sister, Bianchinetta. Bartholomew ran a cartography workshop in Lisbon for at least part of his adulthood. His native language is presumed to have been

3528-541: A young age and traveled widely, as far north as the British Isles and as far south as what is now Ghana . He married Portuguese noblewoman Filipa Moniz Perestrelo , who bore a son, Diego , and was based in Lisbon for several years. He later took a Castilian mistress, Beatriz Enríquez de Arana , who bore a son, Ferdinand . Largely self-educated, Columbus was knowledgeable in geography, astronomy, and history. He developed

3675-426: Is a small postscript dated March 14, written in Lisbon, noting that the return journey took only 28 days (in contrast with the 33 days outward), but that unusual winter storms had kept him delayed for an additional 23 days. A codicil in the printed Spanish edition indicates that Columbus sent this letter to the "Escribano de Racion", and another to their Highnesses. The Latin editions contain no postscript, but end with

3822-473: Is also unlikely Columbus initiated the long letter in the middle of the storm—he surely had more urgent matters to attend to; he probably wrote the main body of the letter in the calm period before the storm began on February 12, and hurried to finish them when the storm hit.) There is some uncertainty over whether Christopher Columbus sent the letters directly from Lisbon, after docking there on March 4, 1493, or held on to them until he reached Spain, dispatching

3969-487: Is bringing normal (full-haired) Indians back to Spain who have been to Jamaica, who will report more about it (rather than bringing the island's own bald-headed inhabitants, as claimed in the printed letters). Columbus also gives an account of some of his own activities in the letters. In the letter, he notes that he ordered the erection of the fort of La Navidad on the island of Hispaniola, leaving behind some Spanish colonists and traders. Columbus reports he also left behind

4116-428: Is called " Cuba " by the natives ("aquéllos llaman de Cuba"). He also gives more details about the gold island, saying it is "larger than Juana", and lying on the other side of it, "which they call Jamaica ", where "all the people have no hair and there is gold without measure" ("que llaman Jamaica; adonde toda la gente della son si cabellos, en ésta ay oro sin medida"). In the Copiador letter, Columbus suggests that he

4263-675: Is contained in a letter by Luis de la Cerda y de la Vega , Duke of Medinaceli , in Madrid, dated March 19, 1493. It was possibly fear of the interception of the courier from Lisbon by Portuguese agents that prompted Columbus to introduce some disinformation in his letter. For instance, Columbus claims he wrote the letter on a caravel while he was around the Canary Islands (rather than the Azores) probably in order to conceal that he had been sailing in Portuguese territorial waters. (The manuscript letter to

4410-554: Is known that in the autumn of 1477, he sailed on a Portuguese ship from Galway to Lisbon, where he found his brother Bartholomew, and they continued trading for the Centurione family. Columbus based himself in Lisbon from 1477 to 1485. In 1478, the Centuriones sent Columbus on a sugar-buying trip to Madeira. He married Felipa Perestrello e Moniz , daughter of Bartolomeu Perestrello , a Portuguese nobleman of Lombard origin, who had been

4557-536: Is said to them; and I believe they would become Christians very easily, for it seemed to me that they had no religion. Our Lord pleasing, at the time of my departure I will take six of them from here to Your Highnesses in order that they may learn to speak. Columbus called the inhabitants of the lands that he visited Los Indios (Spanish for "Indians"). He initially encountered the Lucayan , Taíno , and Arawak peoples. Noting their gold ear ornaments, Columbus took some of

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4704-523: Is the first known document announcing the completion of his first voyage across the Atlantic, which set out in 1492 and reached the Americas . The letter was ostensibly written by Columbus himself, aboard the caravel Niña , on the return leg of his voyage. A postscript was added upon his arrival in Lisbon on March 4, 1493, and it was probably from there that Columbus dispatched two copies of his letter to

4851-556: Is uncertain; he never clearly renounced his belief he had reached the Far East. As a colonial governor, Columbus was accused by some of his contemporaries of significant brutality and removed from the post. Columbus's strained relationship with the Crown of Castile and its colonial administrators in America led to his arrest and removal from Hispaniola in 1500, and later to protracted litigation over

4998-620: The Reconquista , an expensive war against the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula , were eager to obtain a competitive edge over other European countries in the quest for trade with the Indies. Columbus's project, though far-fetched, held the promise of such an advantage. Though Columbus was wrong about the number of degrees of longitude that separated Europe from the Far East and about the distance that each degree represented, he did take advantage of

5145-747: The Americas , each voyage being sponsored by the Crown of Castile . On his first voyage he reached the Americas, initiating the European exploration and colonization of the continent , as well as the Columbian exchange . His role in history is thus important to the Age of Discovery , Western history , and human history writ large. In Columbus's letter on the first voyage , published following his first return to Spain, he claimed that he had reached Asia, as previously described by Marco Polo and other Europeans. Over his subsequent voyages, Columbus refused to acknowledge that

5292-520: The Cape Route around Africa to Asia. Columbus had to wait until 1492 for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to support his voyage across the Atlantic to find gold, spices, a safer route to the East, and converts to Christianity. Carol Delaney and other commentators have argued that Columbus was a Christian millennialist and apocalypticist and that these beliefs motivated his quest for Asia in

5439-628: The Cape of Good Hope ). Columbus sought an audience with the monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile , who had united several kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula by marrying and now ruled together. On 1 May 1486, permission having been granted, Columbus presented his plans to Queen Isabella, who, in turn, referred it to a committee. The learned men of Spain, like their counterparts in Portugal, replied that Columbus had grossly underestimated

5586-658: The Caribbean islands of the Americas . Convinced nonetheless he had discovered the edges of Asia, Columbus set sail back to Spain on January 15, 1493, aboard the caravel Niña . According to the journal of his voyage, on February 14, Columbus was caught in a storm off the Azores islands. The resulting poor condition of his ship forced him to put in at Lisbon ( Portugal ) on March 4, 1493. Columbus finally arrived at Palos de la Frontera in Spain eleven days later, on March 15, 1493. During

5733-548: The Caribs from the Leeward Islands , although neither the word "cannibal" nor "Carib" appears in the printed editions (however, in the Copiador letter, he claims the "monsters" come from an island called "Caribo", possibly Dominica ). Columbus says the monsters are reported to be long-haired, very ferocious, and "eat human flesh" ("los quales comen carne humana"). Columbus has not seen them himself, but says that local Indians claim

5880-503: The Ciguayos , the only natives who offered violent resistance during this voyage. The Ciguayos refused to trade the amount of bows and arrows that Columbus desired; in the ensuing clash one Ciguayo was stabbed in the buttocks and another wounded with an arrow in his chest. Because of these events, Columbus called the inlet the Golfo de Las Flechas ( Bay of Arrows ). Columbus headed for Spain on

6027-522: The Columbian exchange , named after him. These events and the effects which persist to the present are often cited as the beginning of the modern era . Columbus was widely celebrated in the centuries after his death, but public perception fractured in the 21st century due to greater attention to the harms committed under his governance, particularly the beginning of the depopulation of Hispaniola's indigenous Taíno people, caused by Old World diseases and mistreatment, including slavery . Many places in

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6174-481: The Copiador version Columbus refers to a red hot chili pepper by its Taíno name, agís ). Columbus claims the Indians practice monogamy ("each man is content with only one wife"), "except for the rulers and kings" (who can have as many as twenty wives). He confesses he is uncertain if they have a notion of private property ("Ni he podido entender si tenian bienes proprios"). In a more detailed passage, Columbus describes

6321-480: The Copiador version, Columbus makes no mention of the latitudes nor the native name Guanahanin .) In his letter, Columbus describes how he sailed along the northern coast of Juana (Cuba) for a spell, searching for cities and rulers, but found only small villages "without any sort of government" ("no cosa de regimiento"). He notes that the natives usually fled when approached. Finding this track fruitless, he decided to double-back and head southeast, eventually sighting

6468-572: The Niña , but a storm separated him from the Pinta, and forced the Niña to stop at the island of Santa Maria in the Azores. Half of his crew went ashore to say prayers of thanksgiving in a chapel for having survived the storm. But while praying, they were imprisoned by the governor of the island, ostensibly on suspicion of being pirates. After a two-day standoff, the prisoners were released, and Columbus again set sail for Spain. Another storm forced Columbus into

6615-578: The Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER), to clear debris from Culebrinas River in Moca was deemed a success. Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus ( / k ə ˈ l ʌ m b ə s / ; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four Spanish-based voyages across

6762-517: The donatary captain of Porto Santo . In 1479 or 1480, Columbus's son Diego was born. Between 1482 and 1485, Columbus traded along the coasts of West Africa , reaching the Portuguese trading post of Elmina at the Guinea coast in present-day Ghana . Before 1484, Columbus returned to Porto Santo to find that his wife had died. He returned to Portugal to settle her estate and take Diego with him. He left Portugal for Castile in 1485, where he took

6909-623: The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, the Silk Road was closed to Christian traders. In 1474, the Florentine astronomer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli suggested to King Afonso V of Portugal that sailing west across the Atlantic would be a quicker way to reach the Maluku (Spice) Islands, China , Japan and India than the route around Africa, but Afonso rejected his proposal. In

7056-553: The trade winds , which would prove to be the key to his successful navigation of the Atlantic Ocean. He planned to first sail to the Canary Islands before continuing west with the northeast trade wind. Part of the return to Spain would require traveling against the wind using an arduous sailing technique called beating , during which progress is made very slowly. To effectively make the return voyage, Columbus would need to follow

7203-401: The 1480s, Columbus and his brother proposed a plan to reach the East Indies by sailing west. Columbus supposedly wrote to Toscanelli in 1481 and received encouragement, along with a copy of a map the astronomer had sent Afonso implying that a westward route to Asia was possible. Columbus's plans were complicated by Bartolomeu Dias 's rounding of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, which suggested

7350-669: The 19th century, this letter was the only known direct testimony by Columbus of his experiences on the first voyage of 1492. It is estimated that, on the whole, between 1493 and 1500, some 3,000 copies of the Columbus letter were published, half of them in Italy, making it something of a best-seller for the times. By contrast, Columbus's 1495 letter of his second voyage and his 1505 letter of his fourth voyage had only one printing each, probably not exceeding 200 copies. Original versions of Columbus's letter, written by his hand, have never been found. Only

7497-463: The Americas, exploring the Lesser Antilles in 1493, Trinidad and the northern coast of South America in 1498, and the east coast of Central America in 1502. Many names he gave to geographical features, particularly islands, are still in use. He gave the name indios ("Indians") to the indigenous peoples he encountered. The extent to which he was aware the Americas were a wholly separate landmass

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7644-420: The Americas. He sailed with nearly 1,500 men, including sailors, soldiers, priests, carpenters, stonemasons, metalworkers, and farmers. Among the expedition members were Alvarez Chanca , a physician who wrote a detailed account of the second voyage; Juan Ponce de León, the first governor of Puerto Rico and Florida; the father of Bartolomé de las Casas; Juan de la Cosa , a cartographer who is credited with making

7791-528: The April 1492 " Capitulations of Santa Fe ", King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella promised Columbus that if he succeeded he would be given the rank of Admiral of the Ocean Sea and appointed Viceroy and Governor of all the new lands he might claim for Spain. He had the right to nominate three persons, from whom the sovereigns would choose one, for any office in the new lands. He would be entitled to 10% ( diezmo ) of all

7938-580: The Aragonese official Luis de Santángel , the principal supporter and financial backer of Columbus's expedition. Copies of Columbus's letter were somehow picked up by publishers, and printed editions of his letter began to appear throughout Europe within weeks of Columbus's return to Spain. A Spanish version of the letter (based on the letter he sent to Luis de Santángel) was printed in Barcelona probably in late March or early April 1493. A Latin translation of

8085-475: The Arawaks prisoner and insisted that they guide him to the source of the gold. Columbus did not believe he needed to create a fortified outpost, writing, "the people here are simple in war-like matters ... I could conquer the whole of them with fifty men, and govern them as I pleased." The Taínos told Columbus that another indigenous tribe, the Caribs , were fierce warriors and cannibals , who made frequent raids on

8232-533: The Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs , opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas . His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean and Central and South America. The name Christopher Columbus is the anglicization of the Latin Christophorus Columbus . Growing up on the coast of Liguria , he went to sea at

8379-510: The Barcelona edition (which has no date or publisher name, and the appearance of being hurriedly printed) was probably the first to be published, and was the closest to the original manuscript. At the end of the Barcelona edition there is a codicil stating: This suggests that Columbus dispatched two letters—one to the Escrivano de Ración , Luis de Santángel, and another to the Catholic Monarchs. In

8526-457: The Canary Islands west to Japan; the actual distance is 10,600 nmi (19,600 km; 12,200 mi). No ship in the 15th century could have carried enough food and fresh water for such a long voyage, and the dangers involved in navigating through the uncharted ocean would have been formidable. Most European navigators reasonably concluded that a westward voyage from Europe to Asia was unfeasible. The Catholic Monarchs, however, having completed

8673-566: The Castilian crown, known as the pleitos colombinos , alleging that the Crown had illegally reneged on its contractual obligations to Columbus and his heirs. The Columbus family had some success in their first litigation, as a judgment of 1511 confirmed Diego's position as viceroy but reduced his powers. Diego resumed litigation in 1512, which lasted until 1536, and further disputes initiated by heirs continued until 1790. Between 1492 and 1504, Columbus completed four round-trip voyages between Spain and

8820-644: The Catholic Monarchs of Spain. They were replaced by the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. The two earliest published copies of Columbus's letter on the first voyage aboard the Niña were donated in 2017 by the Jay I. Kislak Foundation to the University of Miami library in Coral Gables, Florida , where they are housed. On 24 September 1493, Columbus sailed from Cádiz with 17 ships, and supplies to establish permanent colonies in

8967-495: The Catholic monarchs in the middle of a storm around the Azores on February 14, and sealed them in watertight casks, one thrown overboard, another tied to the stern , so that if the ships foundered, the letters would drift on their own to land. It is nearly impossible to suppose the letters were dispatched in this manner; the casks were probably fished back when the storm subsided, and the post-script confirms they were sent later. (It

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9114-401: The Earth; and the number of miles or leagues in a degree of longitude , which was possible to deduce from the theory of the relationship between the size of the surfaces of water and the land as held by the followers of Aristotle in medieval times. From Pierre d'Ailly 's Imago Mundi (1410), Columbus learned of Alfraganus 's estimate that a degree of latitude (equal to approximately

9261-503: The Ganges" ( India intra Gangem ). Thus the islands of "India beyond the Ganges" claimed to have been reached would roughly correspond to modern Indonesia or thereabouts. The earlier printed Spanish edition bears no title, nor does the manuscript copy of the letter to the Catholic monarchs ( Libro Copiador ). In the letter, Christopher Columbus does not describe the journey itself, saying only that he traveled thirty-three days and arrived at

9408-503: The Indian oar-driven canoe ( canoa , the first known written appearance of this word, originally from the Taíno language ). Columbus compares the Indian canoe to the European fusta (small galley). Towards the end of the letter, Columbus reveals that local Indians told him about the possible existence of cannibals , which he refers to as "monsters" ("monstruos"). This is a probable reference to

9555-571: The Indians are "not slow or unskilled, but of excellent and acute understanding". He also notes that the "women appear to work more than the men". Columbus's physical descriptions are brief, noting only that the natives have straight hair and "nor are they black like those in Guinea". They go around usually naked, although sometimes they wear a small cotton loincloth . They often carry a hollow cane , which they use to both till and fight. They eat their food "with many spices which are far too hot" ("comen con especias muchas y muy calientes en demasía"; in

9702-441: The Indies implausible. Columbus had left for France when Ferdinand intervened, first sending Talavera and Bishop Diego Deza to appeal to the queen. Isabella was finally convinced by the king's clerk Luis de Santángel , who argued that Columbus would take his ideas elsewhere, and offered to help arrange the funding. Isabella then sent a royal guard to fetch Columbus, who had traveled 2 leagues (over 10 km) toward Córdoba. In

9849-415: The Indies. The Copiador letter signs off as "made in the sea of Spain on March 4, 1493" ("Fecha en la mar de España, a quatro días de março"), a stark contrast to the February 15 given in the printed versions. There is no name or signature at the end of the Copiador letter; it ends abruptly "En la mar" ("At sea"). In the printed Spanish editions (albeit not in the Latin editions nor the Copiador ), there

9996-411: The Monarchs was never translated nor printed. In other words, all the printed editions, Spanish and Latin, derive from the same Spanish letter to Luis de Santangel,. In this view, the reference to "Raphael Sanxis" added by the Roman printer is regarded as a simple error, probably arising from confusion or uncertainty in Italy about whom exactly was holding the office of "Escribano de Racion" of Aragon at

10143-443: The Monarchs writes the location as "Mar de España". ) In the letter, Columbus also locates the islands at 26°N, quite north of their actual location, probably trying to set them above the latitude line designated by the Treaty of Alcáçovas of 1479 as the boundary of the exclusive dominions of the Portuguese crown (he fell a little short—the treaty latitude was set at the Canary islands latitude, approximately 27°50', which cuts around

10290-411: The Ocean fleet"). However, it is doubtful Columbus actually signed the original letter that way. According to the Capitulations of Santa Fe negotiated prior to his departure (April 1492), Christopher Columbus was not entitled to use the title of " Admiral of the Ocean Sea" unless his voyage was successful. It would be highly presumptuous for Columbus to sign his name that way in February or March, when

10437-399: The Spanish court needed to be informed of the results of his voyage as soon as possible. Had Columbus decided to wait until he reached Palos to dispatch his letter, it might have been received too late for the Spanish monarchs to react and forestall any Portuguese actions. The earliest Spanish record of the news, reporting that Columbus "had arrived in Lisbon and found all that he went to seek",

10584-474: The Spanish court. The letter was instrumental in spreading the news throughout Europe about Columbus's voyage. Almost immediately after Columbus's arrival in Spain , printed versions of the letter began to appear. A Spanish version of the letter (presumably addressed to Luis de Santángel ), was printed in Barcelona by early April 1493, and a Latin translation (addressed to Gabriel Sánchez  [ es ] )

10731-502: The Spanish crown sent him 20,000 maravedis to buy new clothes and instructions to return to the Spanish court for renewed discussions. Columbus waited at King Ferdinand's camp until Ferdinand and Isabella conquered Granada , the last Muslim stronghold on the Iberian Peninsula, in January 1492. A council led by Isabella's confessor, Hernando de Talavera , found Columbus's proposal to reach

10878-504: The Taínos, often capturing their women, although this may have been a belief perpetuated by the Spaniards to justify enslaving them. Columbus also explored the northeast coast of Cuba, where he landed on 28 October. On the night of 26 November, Martín Alonso Pinzón took the Pinta on an unauthorized expedition in search of an island called "Babeque" or "Baneque", which the natives had told him

11025-728: The Western Hemisphere bear his name , including the South American country of Colombia , the Canadian province of British Columbia , the American city Columbus, Ohio , and the United States capital, the District of Columbia . Columbus's early life is obscure, but scholars believe he was born in the Republic of Genoa between 25 August and 31 October 1451. His father was Domenico Colombo ,

11172-572: The boy as his offspring. Columbus entrusted his older, legitimate son Diego to take care of Beatriz and pay the pension set aside for her following his death, but Diego was negligent in his duties. Columbus learned Latin , Portuguese, and Castilian. He read widely about astronomy, geography, and history, including the works of Ptolemy , Pierre d'Ailly 's Imago Mundi , the travels of Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville , Pliny 's Natural History , and Pope Pius II 's Historia rerum ubique gestarum . According to historian Edmund Morgan , Columbus

11319-454: The calends of May"). The Latin editions also have an epilogue with an epigram lauding Ferdinand II by the Neapolitan prelate Leonardus de Corbaria, Bishop of Monte Peloso. For much of the past century, many historians have interpreted these notes to indicate that the Latin edition was a translated copy of the letter Columbus sent to the Catholic monarchs, who were holding court in Barcelona at

11466-503: The curving trade winds northeastward to the middle latitudes of the North Atlantic, where he would be able to catch the " westerlies " that blow eastward to the coast of Western Europe. The navigational technique for travel in the Atlantic appears to have been exploited first by the Portuguese, who referred to it as the volta do mar ('turn of the sea'). Through his marriage to his first wife, Felipa Perestrello, Columbus had access to

11613-408: The distance to Asia. They pronounced the idea impractical and advised the Catholic Monarchs to pass on the proposed venture. To keep Columbus from taking his ideas elsewhere, and perhaps to keep their options open, the sovereigns gave him an allowance, totaling about 14,000 maravedis for the year, or about the annual salary of a sailor. In May 1489, the queen sent him another 10,000 maravedis , and

11760-401: The east than Japan, including the mythical Antillia , which he thought might lie not much farther to the west than the Azores , and the distance westward from the Canary Islands to the Indies as only 68 degrees, equivalent to 3,080 nmi (5,700 km; 3,540 mi) (a 58% error). Based on his sources, Columbus estimated a distance of 2,400 nmi (4,400 km; 2,800 mi) from

11907-546: The first world map depicting the New World ; and Columbus's youngest brother Diego. The fleet stopped at the Canary Islands to take on more supplies, and set sail again on 7 October, deliberately taking a more southerly course than on the first voyage. On 3 November, they arrived in the Windward Islands ; the first island they encountered was named Dominica by Columbus, but not finding a good harbor there, they anchored off

12054-556: The first voyage aboard the Niña were donated in 2017 by the Jay I. Kislak Foundation to the University of Miami library in Coral Gables, Florida , where they are housed. Christopher Columbus , a Genoese captain in the service of the Crown of Castile , set out on his first voyage in August 1492 with the objective of reaching the East Indies by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean . Instead of reaching Asia, Columbus stumbled upon

12201-478: The first voyage , probably dispatched to the Spanish court upon arrival in Lisbon, was instrumental in spreading the news throughout Europe about his voyage. Almost immediately after his arrival in Spain, printed versions began to appear, and word of his voyage spread rapidly. Most people initially believed that he had reached Asia. The Bulls of Donation , three papal bulls of Pope Alexander VI delivered in 1493, purported to grant overseas territories to Portugal and

12348-429: The first voyage. Columbus found the fort in ruins. He learned from Guacanagaríx , the local tribe leader, that his men had quarreled over gold and taken women from the tribe, and that after some left for the territory of Caonabo , Caonabo came and burned the fort and killed the rest of the men there. Columbus%27s letter on the first voyage A letter written by Christopher Columbus on February 15, 1493,

12495-405: The grounds that Columbus's estimate for a voyage of 2,400 nmi was only a quarter of what it should have been. In 1488, Columbus again appealed to the court of Portugal, and John II again granted him an audience. That meeting also proved unsuccessful, in part because not long afterwards Bartolomeu Dias returned to Portugal with news of his successful rounding of the southern tip of Africa (near

12642-503: The interpreter Luis de Torres , and founded the settlement of La Navidad , in present-day Haiti . Columbus took more natives prisoner and continued his exploration. He kept sailing along the northern coast of Hispaniola with a single ship until he encountered Pinzón and the Pinta on 6 January. On 13 January 1493, Columbus made his last stop of this voyage in the Americas, in the Bay of Rincón in northeast Hispaniola. There he encountered

12789-525: The island of La Spañola ( Hispana in the Latin letter, modern Hispaniola ). In the letter, Columbus says that he believes Juana is actually part of the continental mainland ( terra firme ) of Cathay ( Catayo , archaic for China ), even though he also admits some of the Indians he encountered informed him that Juana was an island. Later in the letter, Columbus locates the islands at the latitude of 26°N , more north of their actual location ("es distinta de la linea equinocial veinte e seis grados"). (Note: in

12936-580: The island's southern coast for a whole day, before making landfall on its northwestern coast at the Bay of Añasco , early on 19 November. Upon landing, Columbus christened the island San Juan Bautista after John the Baptist , and remained anchored there for two days from 20 to 21 November, filling the water casks of the ships in his fleet. On 22 November, Columbus returned to Hispaniola to visit La Navidad in modern-day Haiti , where 39 Spaniards had been left during

13083-482: The islands for the Catholic monarchs, and left men (and a ship) at La Navidad, may have been emphasized to forestall any Portuguese claim. The explicit recipient of Columbus's Spanish letter was the Escribano de Ración —at that time, Luis de Santángel. An official position of the Crown of Aragon , the Escribano de Ración was the high accountant or comptroller of the king's household expenditures, and can be thought of as

13230-410: The islands of "the Indies" ( las Indias ), "all of which I took possession for our Highnesses, with proclaiming heralds and flying royal standards, and no one objecting". He describes the islands as being inhabited by "Indians" ( Indios ). In the printed letters, Columbus relates how he bestowed new names on six of the islands. Four are in the modern Bahamas : (1) San Salvador (for which he also gives

13377-480: The lands he visited and claimed for Spain were not part of Asia, in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary. This might explain, in part, why the American continent was named after the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci —who received credit for recognizing it as a " New World "—and not after Columbus. On the evening of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed from Palos de la Frontera with three ships. The largest

13524-503: The large island of Hispaniola, and explored along its northern coast. Columbus exaggerates the size of these lands, claiming Juana is greater in size than Great Britain ("maior que Inglaterra y Escocia juntas") and Hispaniola larger than the Iberian peninsula ("en cierco tiene mas que la Espana toda"). In his letter, Columbus seems to attempt to present the islands of the Indies as suitable for future colonization . Columbus's descriptions of

13671-608: The letter (addressed to Gabriel Sanchez) was printed in Rome about a month later. Within the first year of his arrival, eight more editions of the Latin version were printed in various European cities—two in Basel , three in Paris , another two in Rome and another in Antwerp . Already by June 1493, the letter had been translated by a poet into Italian verse, and that version went through multiple editions in

13818-560: The letter are almost all titled "Letter of Columbus, on the islands of India beyond the Ganges recently discovered". The term "India beyond the Ganges" ( India extra Gangem ) was the archaic term from Ptolemy frequently used by earlier geographers to refer vaguely to Southeast Asia (roughly from Burma down to the Malay Peninsula ); the Indian subcontinent proper was referred to as "India within

13965-471: The letter contains more native names of islands than the printed editions. For instance, in the Copiador letter, Columbus notes that island of "monsters" is called "Caribo", and explains how the warrior-women of Matinino send away their male children to be raised there. It also refers to an island called "Borinque" ( Puerto Rico ), unmentioned in the printed editions, that the natives report to lie between Hispaniola and Caribo. The Copiador letter notes Juana

14112-463: The letter to the monarchs (even though handling royal correspondence was outside his formal functions, Santangel's proximity to Isabella may have been a security consideration ); still others believe it the other way around, that the letter to Santangel was submitted first to the monarchs to get royal approval before being forwarded to Santangel for ultimate publication (it would have been consistent with Santangel's office as Escribano , to oversee and pay

14259-460: The letter was addressed to "Raphael Sanxis" (assumed to mean Gabriel Sanchez, the treasurer of the Crown of Aragon ), and has an opening salutation hailing the Catholic king Ferdinand II of Aragon (later Latin editions correct the addressee's name to "Gabriel Sanchez" and add Isabella I of Castile to the salutation). The prologue notes that the translation into Latin was undertaken by the notary Leander de Cosco and completed on April 29, 1493 ("third of

14406-559: The letter, Columbus urges the Catholic monarchs to sponsor a second, larger expedition to the Indies, promising to bring back immense riches. A slightly different version of Columbus's letter, in manuscript form, addressed to the Catholic monarchs of Spain, was found in 1985, part of the Libro Copiador collection, and has led to some revision of the history of the Columbus letter. The two earliest published copies of Columbus's letter on

14553-426: The letters only after his arrival at Palos de la Frontera on March 15, 1493. It is highly probable, albeit uncertain, that Columbus sent the letter from Lisbon to the Spanish court, probably by courier. Columbus's journal says that upon docking in Lisbon, Bartholomew Dias (on behalf of King John II of Portugal ) demanded that Columbus deliver his report to him, which Columbus strenuously refused, saying his report

14700-446: The local name, Guanaham in the Spanish edition and Guanahanin in the Latin letter; modern English texts normally render it as Guanahani ), (2) Santa Maria de Concepcion , (3) Ferrandina ( Fernandinam in the Latin version, in modern texts Fernandina ), and (4) la isla Bella (given as Hysabellam in the Latin version, and La Isabela in modern texts). He also names (5) La Isla Juana ( Joanam in Latin, modern Cuba ) and (6)

14847-636: The middle of the Florida peninsula). He gives no details of his bearing, no mention of whether he sailed west, north or south, or whether the waters were shallow or deep—Columbus's letters "say much and reveal nothing". Moreover, he is unclear about the length of the trip, claiming it took "thirty-three days" (which is roughly correct if measured from the Canaries, but it was seventy-one days since he left Spain itself; Columbus's letter leaves it ambiguous). Finally, his emphatic statement that he formally "took possession" of

14994-405: The monsters have many canoes, and that they sail from island to island, raiding everywhere. However, Columbus proclaims disbelief in the existence of these "monsters", or rather suggests this is likely just a local Indian myth pertaining to some distant Indian seafaring tribe who are probably not unlike themselves ("I regard them as of no more account than the others", "yo no los tengo en nada mas que

15141-399: The native inhabitants of the Indies islands as primitive, innocent, without reason ("like beasts", "como bestias"), and unthreatening. He describes how they go about largely naked, that they lack iron and weapons, and are by nature fearful and timid ("son asi temerosos sin remedio"), even "excessively cowardly" ("en demasiado grado cobardes"). According to Columbus, when persuaded to interact,

15288-416: The natives are quite generous and naïve, willing to exchange significant amounts of valuable gold and cotton for useless glass trinkets, broken crockery, and even shoelace tips ("cabos de agugetas"). In the printed editions (albeit not in the Copiador version) Columbus notes that he tried to prevent his own sailors from exploiting the Indians' naïveté, and that he even gave away things of value, like cloth, to

15435-465: The natives as gifts, in order to make them well-disposed "so that they might be made Christians and incline full of love and service towards Our Highnesses and all the Castilian nation". Columbus makes particular note that the natives lack organized religion, not even idolatry ("no conocian ninguna seta nin idolatria"). He claims the natives believed the Spaniards and their ships had "come down from heaven" ("que yo...venia del cielo"). Columbus notes that

15582-422: The natives of different islands seem to all speak the same language (the Arawaks of the region all spoke Taíno ), which he conjectures will facilitate "conversion to the holy religion of Christ, to which in truth, as far as I can perceive, they are very ready and favorably inclined". Possibly worried that his characterization might make it appear that the natives are unsuitable for useful labor, Columbus notes that

15729-607: The natural habitat in his letters emphasize the rivers, woodlands, pastures, and fields "very suitable for planting and cultivating, for raising all sorts of livestock herds and erecting towns and farms" ("gruesas para plantar y senbrar, para criar ganados de todas suertes, para hedificios de villas e lugares"). He also proclaims that Hispaniola "abounds in many spices, and great mines of gold, and other metals" ("ay mucha especiarias y grandes minas de oros y otros metales"). He compares lush and well-watered Hispaniola as more favorable to settlement than mountainous Cuba. Columbus characterizes

15876-463: The nautical charts and logs that had belonged to her deceased father, Bartolomeu Perestrello , who had served as a captain in the Portuguese navy under Prince Henry the Navigator . In the mapmaking shop where he worked with his brother Bartholomew, Columbus also had ample opportunity to hear the stories of old seamen about their voyages to the western seas, but his knowledge of the Atlantic wind patterns

16023-409: The next couple of years. A German translation appeared in 1497. The rapid dissemination of Columbus's letter was enabled by the printing press , a new invention that had established itself only recently. Columbus's letter (particularly the Latin edition) forged the initial public perception of the newly discovered lands. Indeed, until the discovery of Columbus's on-board journal, first published in

16170-502: The original letter was drafted, before that success was confirmed by the royal court. Columbus only obtained confirmation of his title on March 30, 1493, when the Catholic Monarchs, acknowledging the receipt of his letter, address Columbus for the first time as "our Admiral of the Ocean Sea and Vice-Roy and Governor of the islands which have been discovered in the Indies" ("nuestro Almirante del mar Océano e Visorrey y Gobernador de las Islas que se han descubierto en las Indias"). This suggests

16317-510: The period of human habitation in the Americas now referred to as the pre-Columbian era . His landing place was an island in the Bahamas , known by its native inhabitants as Guanahani . He then visited the islands now known as Cuba and Hispaniola , establishing a colony in what is now Haiti . Columbus returned to Castile in early 1493, with captured natives. Word of his voyage soon spread throughout Europe. Columbus made three further voyages to

16464-531: The port at Lisbon. From there he went to Vale do Paraíso north of Lisbon to meet King John II of Portugal, who told Columbus that he believed the voyage to be in violation of the 1479 Treaty of Alcáçovas . After spending more than a week in Portugal, Columbus set sail for Spain. Returning to Palos on 15 March 1493, he was given a hero's welcome and soon afterward received by Isabella and Ferdinand in Barcelona. To them he presented kidnapped Taínos and various plants and items he had collected. Columbus's letter on

16611-427: The printed editions, e.g. references to the ridicule Columbus suffered in the Spanish court prior to his departure, his bowing to pressure to use large ships for ocean navigation, rather than the small caravels he preferred, which would have been more convenient for exploring. At the end of his printed letter, Columbus promises that if the Catholic Monarchs back his bid to return with a larger fleet, he will bring back

16758-458: The printed editions—Spanish and Latin—are known. However, a third version of the letter, contained in a 16th-century manuscript collection known as the Libro Copiador , was discovered in 1985. This manuscript version differs in several significant ways from the printed editions and, although its authenticity is still tentative, many believe the Copiador version to be a closer rendition of Columbus's original missive. The published Latin versions of

16905-479: The printed letters, Columbus claims to be bringing back some of the gold island's "bald-headed" inhabitants with him. Earlier in the letter, Columbus had spoken also of the land of "Avan" ("Faba" in the Copiador letter), in the western parts of Juana, where men are said to be "born with tails" ("donde nacan la gente con cola")—probably a reference to the Guanajatabey of western Cuba. The Libro Copiador version of

17052-405: The printed version of the Spanish letter, the post-script is dated March 14, rather than March 4; this could be just a printer's error; the letter to the monarchs in the Libro Copiador gives the correct post-script date, March 4, 1493. In his summary of the on-board journal, Columbus's son Ferdinand Columbus (corroborated by Bartolomé de las Casas ) reports that his father wrote two letters to

17199-447: The printers). The reply of the Catholic monarchs to Columbus, dated March 30, 1493, acknowledges receipt of the letter, but clarifies nothing about how it was delivered. It was long believed by historians that the printed Spanish editions, although bearing no addressee except "Señor", was based on the copy of the letter sent by Columbus to Luis de Santangel, but that the Latin edition printed in Rome (and subsequently Basel, Paris, etc.)

17346-498: The privileges he and his heirs claimed were owed to them by the crown. Columbus's expeditions inaugurated a period of exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted for centuries, thus bringing the Americas into the European sphere of influence. The transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Old World and New World that followed his first voyage are known as

17493-464: The publication of the letter by the Roman printer Stephanus Plannck, possibly with an eye to help popularize and advance the Spanish case. The letter's subsequent reprinting in Basel , Paris and Antwerp within a few months, seems to suggest that copies of the Roman edition went along the usual trade routes into Central Europe , probably carried by merchants interested in this news. The 1985 discovery of

17640-417: The question of why Columbus would have sent a separate letter to Gabriel Sanchez, treasurer of Aragon, with whom he was not intimate, nor was particularly involved in the Indies enterprise, nor any more influential in court than Santangel or some other people Columbus might have addressed. The choice of Gabriel Sanchez may, however, have been at Luis de Santangel's recommendation or initiative. Gabriel Sanchez

17787-574: The resources of newly discovered lands". Despite a popular misconception to the contrary, nearly all educated Westerners of Columbus's time knew that the Earth is spherical , a concept that had been understood since antiquity . The techniques of celestial navigation , which uses the position of the Sun and the stars in the sky, had long been in use by astronomers and were beginning to be implemented by mariners. However Columbus made several errors in calculating

17934-408: The return journey, while aboard the ship, Columbus wrote a letter reporting the results of his voyage and announcing his discovery of the "islands of the Indies". In a postscript added while he was idling in Lisbon, Columbus reports sending at least two copies of the letter to the Spanish court—one copy to the Catholic Monarchs , Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile , and a second copy to

18081-399: The revenues from the new lands in perpetuity. He also would have the option of buying one-eighth interest in any commercial venture in the new lands, and receive one-eighth ( ochavo ) of the profits. In 1500, during his third voyage to the Americas, Columbus was arrested and dismissed from his posts. He and his sons, Diego and Fernando, then conducted a lengthy series of court cases against

18228-499: The same year the monarchs furnished him with a letter ordering all cities and towns under their dominion to provide him food and lodging at no cost. Columbus also dispatched his brother Bartholomew to the court of Henry VII of England to inquire whether the English crown might sponsor his expedition, but he was captured by pirates en route, and only arrived in early 1491. By that time, Columbus had retreated to La Rábida Friary , where

18375-537: The second copy of the letter, the one ostensibly sent to the Catholic Monarchs, has been more complicated. The "contain" verb in the codicil of the Spanish Letter to Santangel leaves ambiguous which one was contained in which. Some believe the letters to the Monarchs and to Santangel were sent separately, perhaps even on different days (March 4 and 14 respectively) others suggest Santangel was supposed to personally deliver

18522-404: The signature in the printed editions was not in the original letter, but was an editorial choice by the copyists or printers. In the Copiador version there are passages (omitted from the printed editions) petitioning the monarchs for the honors promised him at Santa Fe, and additionally asking for a cardinalate for his son and the appointment of his friend, Pedro de Villacorta, as paymaster of

18669-539: The size of the Earth, the distance the continent extended to the east, and therefore the distance to the west to reach his goal. First, as far back as the 3rd century BC, Eratosthenes had correctly computed the circumference of the Earth by using simple geometry and studying the shadows cast by objects at two remote locations. In the 1st century BC, Posidonius confirmed Eratosthenes's results by comparing stellar observations at two separate locations. These measurements were widely known among scholars, but Ptolemy's use of

18816-457: The smaller, old-fashioned units of distance led Columbus to underestimate the size of the Earth by about a third. Second, three cosmographical parameters determined the bounds of Columbus's enterprise: the distance across the ocean between Europe and Asia, which depended on the extent of the oikumene , i.e., the Eurasian land-mass stretching east–west between Spain and China; the circumference of

18963-414: The son of Santangel's cousin (also, confusingly, named Luis de Santangel, like his father) were accused of conspiracy in the murder of the Spanish inquisitor Pedro de Arbués in 1485. Juan and Alfonso escaped abroad, Guillen was tried but given the chance to repent. The Santangel brother-in-law, however, was found guilty of Judaizing and sentenced to death. Gabriel Sanchez himself was also accused, but he

19110-677: The south and east by the Lares Mountain ridge, and on the north by small hills of little interest. From the Lares Mountains it flows from east to west and empties on the west coast north of San Francisco de la Aguada, in the center of the bay formed between Point Peñas Blancas and Point San Francisco." In 2007, Tropical Storm Olga caused flooding on the river, forcing an evacuation. In late May, 2019 multiple areas in various municipalities suffered flooding, felled trees, landslides and closed highways when Río Culebrinas flooded. In San Sebastián,

19257-423: The statement in the apocryphal book 2 Esdras ( 6:42 ) that "six parts [of the globe] are habitable and the seventh is covered with water." He was also aware of Marco Polo's claim that Japan (which he called "Cipangu") was some 2,414 km (1,500 mi) to the east of China ("Cathay"), and closer to the equator than it is. He was influenced by Toscanelli's idea that there were inhabited islands even farther to

19404-426: The temporal goods found in abundance in the Indies that shall soon be made available to Castile and the rest of Christendom. The Copiador version (but not the printed Spanish or Latin editions) also contains a somewhat bizarre detour into messianic fantasy, where Columbus suggests the monarchs should use the wealth of the Indies to finance a new crusade to conquer Jerusalem , Columbus himself offering to underwrite

19551-539: The time accepted Ptolemy's estimate that Eurasia spanned 180° longitude, rather than the actual 130° (to the Chinese mainland) or 150° (to Japan at the latitude of Spain). Columbus believed an even higher estimate, leaving a smaller percentage for water. In d'Ailly's Imago Mundi , Columbus read Marinus of Tyre 's estimate that the longitudinal span of Eurasia was 225° at the latitude of Rhodes . Some historians, such as Samuel Eliot Morison , have suggested that he followed

19698-410: The time, the bishop or the printer mistakenly assuming it was Gabrel Sanchez and not Luis de Santangel. But another possibility is that the Aragonese bureaucracy made a copy of Santangel's letter, and forwarded a copy to Sanchez for his information, and that this letter found its way to Italy by some channel, with or without royal permission (a fragment of an Italian translation suggests the treasurer sent

19845-480: The time, the pope was then deep in the midst of arbitrating between the claims of the crowns of Portugal and Spain over Columbus's discoveries. The papal bull Inter caetera , delivering the pope's initial opinion, was issued on May 3, 1493, albeit there remained disputed details to work out (a second and third bull followed soon after). It is possible Bishop Leander sought to use Columbus's letter to influence that process. While in Rome, Bishop Leonardus arranged for

19992-466: The time. The story commonly related is that after Columbus's original Spanish letter was read out loud at court, the notary Leander de Cosco was commissioned by Ferdinand II (or his treasurer, Gabriel Sanchez) to translate it into Latin. A copy was subsequently forwarded to Naples ( then part of the Crown of Aragon), where Bishop Leonardus got a hold of it. The bishop subsequently carried it to Rome, probably to report its contents to Pope Alexander VI . At

20139-405: The warrior-women forge into weapons and shields. Columbus rounds off with a more optimistic report, saying the local Indians of Hispaniola also told him about a very large island nearby which "abounds in countless gold" ("en esta ay oro sin cuenta"). (He doesn't give this gold island a name in the printed letters, but in the Copiador version, this island is identified and named as " Jamaica ".) In

20286-500: Was a carrack , the Santa María , owned and captained by Juan de la Cosa , and under Columbus's direct command. The other two were smaller caravels , the Pinta and the Niña , piloted by the Pinzón brothers . Columbus first sailed to the Canary Islands. There he restocked provisions and made repairs then departed from San Sebastián de La Gomera on 6 September, for what turned out to be

20433-539: Was a translated version of the copy of the letter sent by Columbus to the Catholic Monarchs. The printed Spanish and Latin editions are practically identical, with only some very minor differences, most of them attributable to the printers. In particular, the Latin edition omits the postscript and codicil pertaining to the Escribano , and adds a prologue and epilogue not present in the Spanish editions, which give some clues as to its assumed provenance. The earliest Latin version (although bearing no date or printer name) states

20580-460: Was for the monarchs of Spain alone. Columbus probably realized time was of the essence. It was common for royal and commercial agents to accost and interview returning sailors in the docks, so the Portuguese king would likely have the information he sought soon enough. Once he determined the location of the islands discovered by Columbus, John II might initiate a legal offensive or dispatch his own ships, to claim them for Portugal. So Columbus realized

20727-642: Was not a scholarly man. Yet he studied these books, made hundreds of marginal notations in them and came out with ideas about the world that were characteristically simple and strong and sometimes wrong ... Under the Mongol Empire 's hegemony over Asia and the Pax Mongolica , Europeans had long enjoyed a safe land passage on the Silk Road to India , parts of East Asia , including China and Maritime Southeast Asia , which were sources of valuable goods. With

20874-844: Was not from Genoa, but from the Aragon region of Spain or from Portugal. These competing hypotheses have been discounted by most scholars. In 1473, Columbus began his apprenticeship as business agent for the wealthy Spinola , Centurione, and Di Negro families of Genoa. Later, he made a trip to the Greek island Chios in the Aegean Sea , then ruled by Genoa. In May 1476, he took part in an armed convoy sent by Genoa to carry valuable cargo to northern Europe. He probably visited Bristol , England, and Galway , Ireland, where he may have visited St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church . It has been speculated he went to Iceland in 1477, though many scholars doubt this. It

21021-530: Was of a family of conversos who traced their origins back to a Jew named Alazar Goluff of Saragossa , and Sanchez was married to the daughter of Santangel's cousin (also named Luis de Santangel). Although there is no record of Sanchez's direct involvement in the organization or financing of the fleet, his nephew, Rodrigo Sanchez, was aboard Columbus's ship as either a surgeon or a veedor (or fiscal inspector). Years earlier, Gabriel Sanchez's three brothers—Juan, Alfonso and Guillen—as well as his brother-in-law,

21168-521: Was published in Rome around a month later (ca. May 1493). The Latin version was swiftly disseminated and reprinted in many other locations— Basel , Paris , Antwerp , etc.—still within the first year of his arrival. In his letter, Christopher Columbus claimed to have discovered and taken possession of a series of islands on the edge of the Indian Ocean in Asia; Columbus was not aware that he had stumbled upon

21315-489: Was rich in gold. Columbus, for his part, continued to the northern coast of Hispaniola , where he landed on 6 December. There, the Santa María ran aground on 25 December 1492 and had to be abandoned. The wreck was used as a target for cannon fire to impress the native peoples. Columbus was received by the native cacique Guacanagari , who gave him permission to leave some of his men behind. Columbus left 39 men, including

21462-590: Was soon extricated by his employer, King Ferdinand II. Perhaps not coincidentally, another of the persons implicated in the conspiracy was the uncle of Leander Cosco, the Latin translator of Columbus's letter to Sanchez, who may himself have been a relative to the Sanchez clan. Gabriel's brother Juan Sanchez set himself up in Florence as a merchant, and is known to have received a copy of Columbus's letter from Gabriel Sanchez, which commissioned to be translated into Italian (only

21609-459: Was still imperfect at the time of his first voyage. By sailing due west from the Canary Islands during hurricane season , skirting the so-called horse latitudes of the mid-Atlantic, he risked being becalmed and running into a tropical cyclone , both of which he avoided by chance. By about 1484, Columbus proposed his planned voyage to King John II of Portugal . The king submitted Columbus's proposal to his advisors, who rejected it, correctly, on

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