CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS: THE JUDGMENT OF HISTORY

Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of America; he was a daring navigator, brave and intrepid, ambitious and cruel with the Indians, admired and blessed in some countries and hated in others. Was Columbus a great man? Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS In 1492 Christopher Columbus was 41 years old, white with blue eyes, reddish hair that had prematurely grayed, and in times of little people he is of good stature. He is always courteous, a very devout Christian (even somewhat fanatical) and respectful in demeanor. He knows that God has called him to carry the cross from the West to the Indies. He signs himself as Cristo Ferens, the bearer of Christ, and insists on his high origins even though his father Domenico and his mother Susana Fontana Rossa are all from textile families from Genoa. Anxious, he looks out from the innocence of the Middle Ages to the wisdom of the Renaissance and insists on using wrong figures in his navigation, when he is the greatest instinctive navigator of all time, and in the end, he will be righter than the best scientists of his epoch. Don Cristóbal Colón, Admiral and Viceroy, will end the Western Infinite Ocean Sea. (Text in brackets by the author) – Mauricio Obregón, 1977 Origins and first voyages as a sailor. Genoa and Portugal Christopher Columbus, discoverer of America (born Genoa? 1451 – died Valladolid, 1506). The origin of this navigator, probably Genoese (Italy was not yet unified as a nation), is shrouded in mystery by himself and his first biographer, his son Hernando. According to most modern biographers of him, he was born in Genoa, Liguria in 1451, the same year as Elizabeth the Catholic and two years before Constantinople fell to the Turks. In Liguria a dialect is spoken unintelligible in the rest of the peninsula, a dialect that young Cristóbal speaks but surely does not learn to write. He resides in Genoa and Savona until he comes of age, working on the cards and looms of his parents, although his soul is lost on the horizons of navigation. Genoa is an amphitheater full of ships, sails and seagulls, which were the stimulus to awaken his passion for the sea and navigation. Around 1471 he set sail as a sailor on one of the Genoese coastal ships chartered to René d'Anjou; then he makes another trip to the Aegean to defend a Genoese factory on the island of Chios; and finally in 1476 he went out to the Atlantic in a Genoese convoy that was attacked and sunk by the pirate Guillermo de Casanova, near Cape San Vicente (Portugal). Clinging to an oar, Columbus arrived at Lagos Beach on August 13, 1476, from where he traveled to Lisbon to meet his brother Bartolomé, who two years younger than him, already works as a cartographer. For two generations, Europe has overlooked the Ocean through Portugal. Daring Portuguese sailors from the school of the Infante Henry the Navigator (1415 – 1460) use the Azores Islands ̶ discovered in 1432 by Gonzalo Velho Cabral ̶ to luff the return navigation from the African coast to Portugal. The objective of these voyages was first to explore and exploit these coasts to establish factories and ports that served for the trade and the capture of slaves, and later as a stopover to circumnavigate Africa and reach a route to India, from where the precious spices from the legendary Moluccas came from. And this is how Portugal extends its domains from the Azores and Madeira (excluding the Canaries) to Cape Bojador, C. Blanco and C. Verde on the west coast of Africa. The Portuguese sailors are skilled cartographers, from whom Columbus learned this trade, and it is in Lisbon where Columbus, working as a commercial agent for the Centurione house, learned to read Latin and to write the language that many Portuguese used at that time, Spanish, language that will always write with some Portuguese inflection. He then 2 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño dedicated himself to making maps and acquiring self-taught training: he learned the classical languages that allowed him to read ancient geographical treatises (taking knowledge of the idea of the sphericity of the Earth, defended by Aristotle); and he began to take notice of the great geographers of the time, such as the Florentine Paolo Toscanelli (1397 – 1484). Columbus returned to sea with the Portuguese, and in 1477, after a stopover in Ireland, he sailed with them to Iceland, where he saw two corpses with a strange oriental appearance arrive with the tide. Later it will be said that on his voyage to the north, Columbus heard about Vinland and the voyages of the Vikings from Iceland to supposed lands beyond the Nordic Ocean. The certain thing is that the discoverer already developed the intention of a trip by the Western Ocean, but not by the icy northern latitudes, but more to the south at tropical level towards the dominions of the Great Khan of China. Then he went as captain to the Portuguese islands of Madeira, and in 1479 he married Felipa de Perestrelo y Moniz, daughter of the founder and Captain General of Porto Santo, Bartolomé Perestrelo, who was in the service of Henry the Navigator in his time. In 1480 Felipa gave Columbus her first son, Diego, but in 1484 she left him a widower. In 1483 Columbus travels with the Portuguese to the African Gold Coast and takes note of the wind that blows from the Azores towards Portugal, and the opposite happening from the Canaries, from where the wind always blows towards the Ocean. The question of the earth's circumference Since ancient times, everyone who has seen a sail disappear in the sea or a coast on the horizon knows that the world is round, but until Magellan measured the Pacific, many calculated that Asia was very large or the Earth very small, therefore that the sea between Asia and Europe was not very extensive, and therefore it was supposed that it was possible to reach the eastern coast of Asia by sailing west through the Ocean Sea, that is, the Atlantic Ocean. Eratosthenes of Cyrene (276 BC – 194 BC), director of the Library of Alexandria, had calculated an earth circumference of 39,614 km (the current measurement is 40,008 km) by trigonometry, based on the distance from Siena to Alexandria and the difference between the angle of the shadow cast by an object at the same time in both cities. However, 150 years later, Posidonius of Rhodes (135 BC - 51 BC), astronomer, historian and geographer, used the same method as Eratosthenes but obtained a significantly lower result: 28,800 km, a measure that was accepted by the astronomer, mathematician and geographer Claudius Ptolemy (100 – 170 AD) in his work Geography. In the fifteenth century, geographers in general, and the learned Florentine physician Paolo Toscanelli among them, accepted a smaller Earth, since the extension of Asia and the Ocean Sea were not known; some remembered Eratosthenes' calculations, but accepting an earth circumference of 39,600 km was simply enormous. In 1474 Toscanelli sent a letter to Prince Don Joao with his conclusions about the size of the Earth and the possibility of reaching Asia by sailing west through the Ocean, (currently the existence of said letter is doubted). Columbus later found out about this, for which he entered into a correspondence with Toscanelli, and from him he received a map, now disappeared, but surely similar to the map of Henricus Martellus of 1488 and the globe of Martín Behaim of 1492. Now Columbus has a scientific foundation for his project to reach the eastern coast of Asia by always sailing west across the Ocean. 3 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño Columbus's idea: a trade route to Asia sailing west across the Ocean Sea From both sources came Christopher Columbus´ idea that the Earth was spherical and that the eastern coast of Asia could be easily reached by sailing west (since a series of erroneous calculations had made him further underestimate the perimeter of the Globe). and suppose, therefore, that Cipango (Japan) was 2,400 nautical miles from the Canary Islands, (approximately the situation of the Antilles.) Portuguese sailors versed in Atlantic navigation surely informed him of the existence of islands that allowed a stopover in transoceanic navigation; and it is even possible that, as less contrasted theories claim, he had news of the existence of lands to be explored on the other side of the Ocean, coming from Portuguese or Nordic sailors (or from the papers of his own father-in-law, colonizer of Madeira). With all this, Columbus conceived his project to open a naval route to Asia from the west, based on the correct hypothesis that the Earth was round and on the double error of assuming it was smaller than it is and ignoring the existence of the American continent, which stood in the way of the projected route. The economic interest of the project was undoubtedly at that time ̶ since European trade with the Far East was extremely lucrative ̶ based on the importation of spices and luxury products; Such trade was carried out by land through the Middle East, controlled by the Arabs; The Portuguese had been trying for three generations to open a maritime route to India along the African coast (an undertaking that Vasco da Gama would culminate in 1498). Columbus offered his project to King Joao II of Portugal, who submitted it to a commission of experts who soon rejected it, since not all had forgotten the accurate calculations of the Greeks and Muslims about the earth's circumference, and the 10,000 miles that separate Portugal of Asia (four times what Columbus calculated) there was no ship that crossed them without the American scale, which neither the experts nor Columbus foresaw. Rejected by Portugal, Columbus dispatched his brother Bartholomew to convince Henry VII of England and Charles VIII of France, and he embarked in 1485 with his son Diego for Spain. He makes a pilgrimage to the Franciscan monastery of La Rábida, where he meets Friar Antonio de Marchena, an astronomer who not only listens to Columbus, but also introduces him to the Duke of Medina, who is enthusiastic about the project but needs the approval of the Queen, whose traveling court is now in Cordoba. When Columbus arrives in Córdoba, leaving his son Diego in La Rábida, the court has already advanced towards Granada. In Córdoba Columbus befriended Diego de Arana, future bailiff of the ship Santa María, who introduced him to her relative Beatriz Enriquez, who in 1488 gave Columbus her second son, Fernando, although he never married her. Fernando will be a bibliophile, scientist and historian, and will bequeath to the Cathedral of Seville his great Columbian Library, which includes the books and maps that he will inherit from his father. On May 1, 1486, Isabel la Católica received Columbus in the Alcazar of Córdoba. The Queen is as educated as Joao of Portugal (her personal library ranges from Aristotle to Boccaccio) and also submits Columbus's project to a commission of scholars, chaired by his confessor, Fray Hernando de Talavera, who delays the matter, without decision. But in addition to culture, the Queen has a feminine instinct, and she does what Don Joao did not do: she retains the impetuous sailor with a salary of three thousand maravedis each quarter. For two years Columbus endured the uncertainties of Talavera, until tired of 4 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño waiting he requested an audience with Joao II of Portugal. He arrives in time to see Bartolomé Díaz anchor, who has at last rounded the Cape, opening the African road to India for Portugal. Columbus' project loses importance for Portugal and is rejected, and the Genoese returns to Spain to receive the refusal of the Spanish commission in 1490. Tired of the Iberians, Columbus leaves for La Rábida to pick up Diego to go to France, but Fray Juan Pérez awaits him at the monastery, who insists that contact be maintained with the Queen, and that she sends him clothes and a mule so that he can present in the camp of Santa Fe, in the Vega de Granada, where the kings await the surrender of the city. The Crown of Castile agrees to finance Columbus's naval project The trees that embellished the splendid palace of the Alhambra leaned their branches torn by the agitated passage of horses and Moors who fled in terror. Boabdil, the last Moorish king, silently wept his defeat, to which Aixa, his mother, complained: "You cry as a woman, what you have not known how to defend as a man." The last Moorish redoubt was finally recovered by the throne of Castile. “Two days after the month of January 1492, by force of arms I saw the Royal flags of your Highnesses placed on the towers of Alhambra”, Columbus will say at the beginning of his diary. There is a new study commission, but Columbus, a good businessman, also demands new conditions: he and his heirs will be Admirals and Viceroys in perpetuity of the lands he discovers, and 10% of what these lands produce will correspond to them, in addition to a series of privileges, faculties and authorities to name successors and deliver justice in lawsuits that arise in the distribution of land and property. The commission rejected Columbus' advantageous request and the Genoese withdrew again towards La Rábida with the conviction of leaving Spain and going to France. But here Luis de Sant angel intervenes, notary public and personal treasurer of King Don Fernando, convinces the Queen that she has nothing to lose, and advances almost a million and a half maravedis from the Holy Aragonese Brotherhood (which will later replace the King), so that the Queen does not even have to pawn her jewels. A few leagues from Santa Fe, the emissaries of the Catholic Kings cut off Columbus, and communicated the new news to him: Queen Isabella approved his project and petition through the mediation of the king's treasurer, Luis de Sant angel, and the agreements that will culminate with the Capitulations of Santa Fe, signed on April 17, 1492. Capitulations granted by the crown of Castile to Christopher Columbus: a) The title of Admiral of the Ocean Sea throughout his life; b) The right to bequeath said title to his descendants and heirs; c) The title of viceroy and governor of all the islands and mainland that he discovered; d) The right to propose shortlists of all the holders of public offices with command; e) One tenth, minus the costs, of all merchandise, gold, silver, precious stones and spices that are trafficked; f) The right to try all lawsuits that are filed for said spices. In exchange, Columbus offered the Catholic Monarchs a new trade route and other lands to exploit. The ships and sailors participating in the adventure The preparations for the trip begin on May 23, 1492 in the port of Palos. Fray Juan Pérez reads the royal order for the city of Palos to pay the fine owed to the crown by 5 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño building two caravels: La Pinta and La Niña. One of the most prominent sailing families in Palos, the Pinzón, took over as tenants of these two ships, Martín Alonso Pinzón acting as captain of La Pinta, and his brothers Vicente Yáñez Pinzón and Francisco Martín Pinzón as captain of La Niña and master of La Pinta, respectively. The indispensable Pinzón brothers recruit 90 adventurers who have no idea what awaits them. Providentially, the ship Santa María or Gallega arrives in the port from Galicia, the same ship that Columbus chartered with everything and its owner, Juan de la Cosa, a marine explorer who accompanies the Admiral on his first voyage and will later complete half a dozen exploration voyages to America and will draw the first map of the New World. The total cost of rigging the fleet was about two million maravedis, equivalent to about twenty thousand dollars today. There is no exact representation of Columbus's ships, but based on nautical instructions, map illustrations and a contemporary "model", Mataró's ship, which unfortunately is neither a nao nor a caravel, experts have produced the following specifications (* ) Santa María La Pinta La Niña Ship type Capacity Length / beam (m) Draft (m) Rigging (sails) Castles Crew nao 100 barrels 25 / 8 2.1 square bow and stern 39 caravel 60 barrels 22.5 / 6.6 1.85 square / Latin bow and stern 25 caravel 55 barrels 21.4 / 6.3 1.8 Latin stern 20 (*) The "replicas" of these ships are anchored at the Las Caravels Dock in Palos de la Frontera, Spain. Commander of the nao ship is Columbus, master is the owner, Juan de la Cosa, pilot Per Alonso Niño, notary Rodrigo de Escobedo, bailiff Diego de Arana, and as "interpreter" Luis de Torres (supposedly he knew Hebrew, Chaldean and Arabic). De La Pinta is captain Martín Alonso Pinzón (the first to see America and the first to return to Spain), master Francisco Martín Pinzón, pilot Cristóbal García Sarmiento, and owner Cristóbal Quintero who goes as a sailor. La Niña´s is Captain Vicente Yañez Pinzón, future discoverer of the Amazon River, master and owner Juan Niño, pilot Sancho Ruiz de Gama and Francisco Niño, owner and sailor. The three families of great navigators are well represented: the Pinzón, the Niño and the Quintero. Also accompanying Columbus, the Ligurian navigator Michele de Cuneo, his brothers Bartolomé and Diego, as well as Bartolomeo Fieschi and Diego Méndez, who will save the Admiral in his last trance. Each ship carries a surgeon, but none carries a priest, perhaps because Columbus is worth three and never forgets the holy offices. The greatest naval adventure in history begins At dawn on Friday, August 3, 1492, where the Odiel and Tinto rivers meet on the Saltes bar, in the port of Palos, the three ships whose names will never be forgotten set sail for the Canary Islands. They make a stopover in San Sebastián on the Canary Island of 6 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño Gomera, and while La Pinta's rudder is being repaired and La Niña's sail is being changed, Don Cristóbal falls in love with Inés Pedraza de Bobadilla, widow of the Captain General of the port. There is no wedding in Gomera either, since both the Admiral and the Governor of the island have many other pending issues. On September 6, the fleet weighs anchor and passes in front of Fierro, the westernmost of the Canary Islands, although the trade winds stop blowing at this latitude and it takes three days to lose sight of the island and its high Teide volcano that crowns Tenerife, from which they see “a great fire coming out”. From then on, the journey runs smoothly. Columbus guides the fleet in latitude 28º N, those of the Canaries, chasing the brightest stars of the constellations of Taurus, Orion and the Dog, surely the Pleiades and Sirius. In addition, he measured the height of the pole star with the dial and that of the sun at noon, correcting the declination with some tables brought from Portugal. Longitude measurement was much more difficult and uncertain, based on fleet speed and compass calculation. Columbus made these measurements secretly with luxury of intuition. For the time, he used vials of sand for half an hour each, with which he calculated the guards of 8 vials and the days (6 guards). Turning the light bulb in the afternoon, the cabin boy sang: "Blessed be the hour in which God was born and Saint Mary who gave birth to him, and Saint John who baptized him..." The only cabin on board is the captains, where the Admiral works and sleep, the rest of the crew sleeps under the stars; but they all eat the same, salty meat or fish, lentils and chickpeas cooked on the coals that under the bow castle smoke in a box full of sand. They also carry the famous seafood biscuit that with some salty flour is transformed into bread on the coals; wine until it lasts, and rancid water until rainwater is collected in a candle. On September 16 they enter the Sargasso Sea, (at the level of Bermuda) a huge obstacle for navigation made up of algae and garbage, whose center without winds or currents is a "dead calm". On the 19th they see bottlenose dolphins, gannets, turtle doves and whales. On the 25th, Martín Alonso believes he sees land in “a sea like a river”, and “many sailors start to swim”, according to the Diary. It also describes a "branched tail bird that makes the gannets vomit what they eat, to eat it." At the beginning of October, the rain arrives and bird sightings become frequent, but as the distance traveled exceeds what was expected, there is a threat of mutiny controlled by the Admiral. A worried Martín Alonso begins to consult with Columbus, who promises to return if there is no land in three days. At 10 pm on the 11th, Columbus sees a flickering light on the horizon, but the King's “Veeder”, Rodrigo Sánchez de Segovia, a bureaucrat, does not see it. At two o'clock in the morning on the 12th, Rodrigo de Triana's cry was heard from La Pinta, EARTH! EARTH IN SIGHT! and Martín Alonso confirms that in the light of the moon some white cliffs can be seen. But Columbus will keep the ten thousand maravedis that the King promised to the one who sees the Indies first, and Rodrigo de Triana will go to die (a time later) in the Pacific navigating with Juan Sebastián Elcano. Transcription of Columbus' diary, abridged by Bartolomé de las Casas Thursday, October 11. After sunset, he sailed to his first course, to the West; They would travel twelve miles every hour and until two hours after midnight they would travel ninety miles, which is twenty-two and a half leagues. And because the caravel Pinta was more sailing and went ahead of the Admiral, she found land and made the signals that the Admiral had ordered. This land first 7 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño saw a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana; Since the Admiral, at ten o'clock at night, being on the stern castle, he saw a fire, although it was something so closed that he did not want to affirm that it was land; but he called Pero Gutiérrez, confectioner of the King's dais, and told him that it looked like a fire, that he should look, and he did so and viola; He also told Rodrigo Sánchez de Segovia that the King and Queen had sent to the army as a Veeder (watcher), who did not see anything because he was not in the place where he could see it. After the Admiral said so, he saw himself once or twice, and it was like a wax candle that rose and rose, which to the few would seem to be an indication of land. But the Admiral was certain to be close to land. For this reason, when they said the Salve, which all the sailors used to say and sing in their own way and they all meet, the Admiral begged and admonished them to keep a good watch on the forecastle, and to look carefully around the land, and to If he told him first that he saw land, he would then give him a silk doublet, without the other favors that the Monarchs had promised, which were ten thousand maravedis of juro to whoever saw it first. Book of the first navigation and discovery of the Indies. COLUMBUS, Christopher, Abridged relationship of Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas. The arrival of Columbus in the Bahamas. First contact with the "Indians" The Admiral is a prudent sailor and does not want to approach an unknown coast before dawn. The crew members counted the hours of the morning and dawn did not come. Finally, the first rays of dawn showed the eyes of the crew a green, jungle area with extensive beaches: it was a paradisiacal island! At first light on October 12, the fleet turned to the south of the island and searched in the transparent water for a passage through the coral reef that Columbus called "the sandbank of stones." With the sun rising, the Admiral in a boat enters the dazzling beach, where "the generous naked Indians receive him joyfully." The Indians call their island "Guanahaní" in their barely intelligible language. Columbus baptizes it as San Salvador, takes possession in the name of the Catholic Monarchs, and notes that these people "better free themselves and convert to our Holy Faith with love than with force... because it seemed to me that they had no sect." –There is still doubt today regarding the identification of this island, despite the fact that in 1925 the name San Salvador was given to a small island formerly known as Watling (the name of a Caribbean pirate). This island belongs to the archipelago of the Bahamas and although the explorer and historian Mauricio Obregón undoubtedly identifies it as the Guanahaní island, the National Geographic Society indicates the Cayo Samaná island (in the Bahamas themselves) as the most probable. Columbus calls all the islanders "Indians" as inhabitants of what he considers to be the islands furthest off the eastern coast of Asia, known as the Indies. The first ethnological description that Columbus makes of these Indians says: "Saturday, October 13. After dawn, many of these men came to the beach, all young men, as I have said, and all of good stature, very handsome people, their hair not frizzy, except straight and thick, like horse silk, and all of their foreheads and heads very wider than any other generation that has seen up to now, and very beautiful eyes and not small 8 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño and none of them dark, except for the color of the canaries, nor should anything else be expected in the latitude of the island of Hierro in the Canary Islands, under a line Very straight legs, all to one hand and no belly, except well done”. "They came to the ship with rafts (canoes) that are made from the foot of a tree, like a long boat and all in one piece and carved very marvelously according to the land, and large, since in some of them forty or forty-five men came, and other smaller ones, until there were some in which only one man came. They rowed with a shovel like a baker's and it works wonderfully and if it gets upset, then they all start swimming and straighten it out and empty it with pumpkins that they bring”. Discovery and exploration of the Bahamas and the Antilles San Salvador is not mainland and Columbus knows it. He has to continue in search of the mainland coast of Cathay of the Great Khan or the empire of Cipango (Japan). He carries greeting letters from the Kings of Castile addressed to the prince, king or president of the Asian nations that he may reach to offer trade relations with Spain. He therefore begins to "spin islands" with the guidance of half a dozen Indians in canoes at the head of his navy. He marvels at the colorful fish, the singing of a great variety of birds and parrots. After glimpsing a veritable multitude of small islands referred to by Columbus as “Lucayans” (Bahamas), he names some as Concepción, Fernandina, and Isabela. Then he heads further south and in the midst of great confusion, as Columbus believes he is near the Cathay coast, he arrives in Cuba (Gibara port) and with great mistrust sends Luis Torres, the interpreter, and Juan Pérez to explore inland . The Admiral suspects that they will find gold, in what he thinks is the furthest cape in Asia. But his small embassy returns without the gold and without the spices, but with an herbal "brand" that gives a pleasant "incense." The explorers tell of many men they met on the way to a village, all of them with a brand of herbs that they put into a dry leaf and folded like a musket lit at one end, while at the other they sucked the smoke that from the herbs shed. This habit would be transmitted to the Europeans and they would soon discover that it was as addictive as gold. The Admiral explores the north coast of Cuba first to the west, and then returns to the east to reach a cape that he baptizes Alpha and Omega (today Maisy), from where he continues his navigation to the east until arriving, on the day of San Nicolás (December 6), to a magnificent port in Haiti that still bears this name today, and which is one of the five sites he locates on his Christmas map (in addition to Tortuga Island, Monte Christi and Cibao. After naming Port-au-Prince, he explores the coast north of the island, and dazzled by its beauty he baptizes it as Hispaniola (Española). Hispaniola and Fort Christmas Some trouble awaits Columbus on Hispaniola. Here he finds out that Martín Alonso Pinzón took off with La Pinta to the island of "Babeque" in search of gold. The Santa María and La Niña enter the small reef inlet on December 24 that today bears the name of Lemonade Bord de Mer. The Admiral and his people receive and celebrate numerous embassies of Indians (and his pretty daughters). Columbus notes in his diary that the 9 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño Indians are so tame that it would be easy to put them to work, but he always treats them well and showers them with gifts. In a nearby village, the Admiral meets the cacique Guacanagarí, with whom he exchanges gifts and invites him to a meal. The cacique tells Columbus about the existence of gold in a place called "Civao" which the Genoese supposes was Cipango, his obsessive goal. The cacique also expressed his great fear of the "Caribbeans" - a cannibal tribe -, to which Columbus promised that the Kings of Castile would give an account of them. That night, while the sailors rest on land, they leave only a young cabin boy in charge of the helm on the Santa María, and at 11 p.m. the boy feels the keel creak on the coral and gives the alarm. He went to a rescue boat, but nothing could be done, the ship was stranded firmly, and soon began to make water. Columbus requests help from the village of Guárico, where he commands Guacanagarí, but everything was in vain, the ship Santa María partially sank among the corals. At dawn the Admiral decides to dismantle the ship to improvise a fort with its timbers, which will be called Christmas in honor of the date, and where Columbus will leave Diego de Arana in command of some 39 men. His plan is to sail to Spain as soon as possible, report the discovery, and return to Hispaniola to found a permanent colony. He entrusts Guacanagarí, the kind "King of that land" to lavish his friendship and support on the men he leaves behind at Fort Navidad and promises to return with many gifts. The return to Spain On January 2, 1493, the Admiral aboard the La Niña – loaded with gold – set sail for the east. He also carries some Indians, parrots and gifts, so the boat sails slowly due to excess weight. He passes Monte Christi, which remains in his marine mind as a sign for the return to Christmas. On January 6, he sees La Pinta approaching and reluctantly accepts Pinzón's excuse that he is bringing gold. In the Yaque del Norte river they find more gold. Finally, the two caravels’ head towards Europe from the eastern end of what is now Santo Domingo. On the return trip, the ships have problems with the winds during the rest of January. The month of February enters with stormy winds and on the 13th La Pinta is lost in a gale, while Columbus gathers his sails, and fearful that his discovery would be lost, he throws a barrel into the sea with an extract from his diary. With great difficulties he reaches Santa Maria in the Azores on the 15th, where he endures another storm until the 24th of February. Finally, on March 3, he glimpsed the Lusitanian coast under the moonlight, and Columbus, unable to hold on, neither his men nor his ship, decided to anchor in Lisbon on March 5, 1493. Columbus requested an audience with the King of Portugal and Don Joao II receive him and order La Niña to be repaired. On the 13th the Admiral set sail for Palos, passed the Saltes bar on the 15th and dropped the anchor where it was lifted seven months ago. On his great voyage, Columbus spent a month to the Canary Islands, another to San Salvador, three in the Antilles, one in the Azores, and another to Lisbon and Palos. That same day La Pinta enters Palos. It had sailed from Hispaniola to Galicia, where Pinzón requested an audience with the Catholic Monarchs, but they did not want to receive him without Columbus. Martín Alonso arrived sick, and in less than a month he died. Without his help it would have been difficult to recruit people and assemble the expedition, he was the first to confirm the discovery and the first to bring the news to Europe; but his "touch" of rebellion and his desire to walk alone have never been forgiven. 10 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño The Admiral visits La Rábida to fulfill his promises, and on Easter Sunday he receives the response from the Kings to the letters he sent them from Lisbon to Barcelona and Córdoba. The Letter is addressed to the "Admiral Viceroy" and there is already talk of a second trip. Columbus picks up his children in Córdoba, where Beatriz has mothered them both, and advances triumphantly towards Barcelona with a large retinue of Indians, parrots, birds and gold. On April 20, 1943 he enters the great room of Tinell where he receives from the Sovereigns the coat of arms of the two kingdoms of Castile and Aragon in a field with islands and anchors. Columbus had discovered America by chance as a result of his intuition and willpower. Although he failed in his original idea of opening a new trade route between Europe and Asia, he opened something more important: a "New World" that, in the following years, would be explored by navigators, missionaries and soldiers from Spain and Portugal, incorporating a vast empire to Western civilization and profoundly modifying the political and economic conditions of the Old Continent. Although the Vikings had reached North America some five hundred years earlier (Leif Ericson's expedition), they had left no permanent settlements and had not circulated the news of the discovery, thus leaving it without consequences until the time of Columbus. On May 3, Pope Alexander VI promulgated the bulls that divided the world between Spain and Portugal, for the length that passes one hundred leagues to the west of the Azores (about 445 km). The second voyage (September 25, 1943 – June 11, 1496) The Admiral set sail of Cádiz with an armada of 17 ships: 3 carracks, 2 large ships and 12 caravels (including La Niña). The flagship is the Maria Galante, a ship of 200 barrels; They carry more than 1,200 men (including Catalan friars), cattle, tools, seeds, and 20 horses. But no women go, and at the proposal of Columbus no Jews, nor heretics, nor infidels go, since it was up to the Church to convert the Indians to the Catholic faith. They travel with Admiral Juan de la Cosa, the father of Fray Bartolomé de las Casas and Alonso de Ojeda who would later be the second discoverer. On November 19, he arrived at the island of Dominica (it was Sunday) where the jungle hangs from the cliffs. Then the navy spun the necklace of the Lesser Antilles, beginning with Guadalupe, the island of San Juan (which would later change its name with its capital, Puerto Rico, and finally arrived at Hispaniola and the fort Navidad. The admiral easily recognized the place where he had ordered the construction of the rudimentary Fort Navidad. A fire had consumed everything and the decomposed corpses of the Spaniards loomed among the rubble. reconnoitering the interior of the island, he found the cacique Guacanagarí, who told Columbus that Indians from another island had attacked the fort and massacred the Spaniards, and that he himself had been wounded, although apparently, he did not have a single scratch; it was totally impossible to obtain from him a convincing explanation of the disaster that occurred. From that moment Columbus began to have problems with the natives, whom he threatened to turn into slaves if they did not deliver large amounts of gold and spices, and with his own companions, unhappy with the reality of a trip that must have been promising to appear extremely difficult and 11 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño uncomfortable. Columbus, alternately too hard or too soft on each other's behavior, was unable to assert himself. It began to be obvious that the great navigator was a lousy administrator, angry, vengeful and indecisive, so much so that even his collaborators began to hate him. And they lost no opportunity to sharply criticize him in his reports to the court. Then the Admiral chose – with little success – a site near the Yaque River to found the first and also ephemeral Spanish colony in America, La Isabela. Leaving his brothers Bartolomé and Diego in Hispaniola, he dispatched twelve ships laden with gold to Spain, and he continued west aboard the La Niña (now called Santa Clara) with the caravels San Juan, Cardera, and others, exploring the south coast of Cuba. A few miles off the eastern end of it he had his officers sign that this was indeed the mainland cape and not an island, and returned to explore most of Jamaica. Meanwhile, emissaries were already beginning to come and go between Spain and America; Bartolomé and Diego lost authority in Hispaniola; and Columbus, to please the colonists, had to abandon his benevolent policy towards the Indians and authorize the first "encomiendas". The encomienda de indies came from an old medieval institution established by the need for protection of the inhabitants of the peninsular border at the time of the Reconquest. In America, this institution had to adapt to a very different situation and raised problems and controversies that it did not have before in Spain. Although the Spanish generally accepted that indigenous people were human beings, they defined them as incapable, who like children or the disabled, were not responsible for their actions. With this justification they maintained that they should be "entrusted" to the Spanish. Indigenous tributes in kind (which could be metals, clothing, or food such as corn, wheat, fish, or chickens) were collected by the chief of the indigenous community, who was in charge of taking them to the encomender (the person in charge of the encomienda). In Santo Domingo, the Admiral survived his first hurricane, and finally set sail for Guadalupe with the faithful Niña, accompanied by La India, the first caravel built in America. He made the mistake of returning to Spain from the south, for which he had to sail against the wind for almost two months to Cádiz, to complete the three years of this great voyage of triumphs and disappointments. On June 11, 1496 Columbus landed in the port of Cádiz with La Niña and La India. Sufficient problems awaited him in Castile to solve and that would delay his return to the New World he had discovered. The third voyage (May 30, 1498 – November 25, 1500) With things and lawsuits settled in Spain, the Admiral set sail from San Lucar de Barrameda, with stops in Porto Santo, Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands with three ships, plus another three that went directly to Santo Domingo, the new capital of Hispaniola. He travels with Bartolomé de las Casas, who would later provide part of the transcripts of the Diaries of Columbus. On July 31, 1498, he arrived at the island of Trinidad, and for the first time explored part of the continent, the Gulf of Pariah, which separates this island from Venezuela. In his recognition of this area, which the Admiral considered "an earthly paradise", he understood that he had finally found the continent due to the large amount of fresh water that flowed into the sea at the mouth of the Orinoco River. He sailed for the islands of Chacachacare, Margarita, Tobago (“Bella Forma”) and 12 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño Granada (“Concepción”). He initially described the land as belonging to a continent unknown to Europeans, but later withdrew and said it was Asia. From Margarita Island Columbus sailed obliquely toward Santo Domingo, a remarkable venture across the Caribbean Sea, starting from an unknown point and arriving at a fixed destination. In Hispaniola he encountered general discontent from the Spanish who felt deceived by Columbus about the riches they would find. Repeatedly tried Columbus to agree with the Taino Indians and the Caribs, and repelled the rebellion led by Roldan; but letters had already been sent to the Catholic Monarchs accusing Columbus and his brothers of bad government. On August 23, 1500, Francisco de Bobadilla, an administrator sent by the Kings with authority to depose and arrest Columbus and his brothers, arrived in Hispaniola. Finally, Bobadilla embarked Columbus and Bartholomew ̶ in chains and shackles ̶ in the caravel "La Gorda", back to Spain to appear before the Kings. On the voyage Columbus was offered to remove the shackles, but he refused and devoted the time to writing a long letter to the Kings. Upon arriving in Spain, he regained his freedom, but he had lost his prestige, his powers and the title of Viceroy, despite the fact that his sons had been named "pages" of the court. Before his removal and arrest, Columbus had sent a letter from Santo Domingo to the Spanish court with a map and more than a hundred pearls from the island of Margarita, and with this he began to lose not only his authority but his monopoly. Before the end of the century, Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci (who would eventually give the continent his name) set sail for the New World. They reached present-day Venezuela in 1499 and collected news about its riches; other sailors eventually found the pearl deposits. Their attempt to evade the Andalusian port so as not to declare them cost them a conviction. In the same year, 1499, Vicente Yáñez Pinzón became the first European to reach the Amazon River and, according to various historians, he must be considered the true discoverer of Brazil. He returned to the peninsula on September 30, 1500 with a shipment of highly valued wood called brazilwood. In a new capitulation, signed with Fernando the Catholic on September 5, 1501, he was named captain and governor of Santa María de Consolation up to the mouth of the Amazon River, but he did not return to the area. In the year 1508 he returned to the Caribbean with the mission of looking for a passage to the Pacific Ocean; he explored the entire coast of Central America and the Yucatan peninsula, establishing the first contact with the Aztec civilization. These voyages, although their objectives were limited, provided great information to the Crown. Other competing sailors were Per Alonso Niño who sailed through Venezuela, Diego de Lepe arrived in Brazil, and in 1497 another Genoese, Juan Cabot planted the banner of Henry VII of England in Labrador and Newfoundland (Terranova). The fourth voyage (May 11, 1502 – November 7, 1504) . Columbus –who was no longer the great Admiral– set sail from Cádiz and Gran Canaria with 4 ships and 140 men, including his son Fernando Colón, and in three weeks they reached Martinique. He later explored the coasts of present-day Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, as well as the Gulf of Urabe in present-day Colombia. From this point he sailed towards Santo Domingo, where he recognized the 13 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño omens of the first hurricane of the summer, but his warning was ignored by the second governor of Hispaniola, Obando, who did not even allow Columbus to land on his island, and let a fleet of 24 ships set sail. that foundered in the Strait of Mona with ex-governor Bobadilla as captain. The storm weathered, Columbus followed the southern coast of Cuba west and crossed to the island of Bonac off the coast of Honduras, where some Indians in a very elegant canoe invited him to accompany them west. If he had, Columbus would have discovered Yucatan, but he preferred not to go any further downwind. Columbus knew about the voyages of Ojeda and Niño through Venezuela, those of Vicente Pinzón and Lepe through Brazil, that of Bastidas through Colombia, and that of Juan Cabot through Labrador and Newfoundland. To take the lead again, Columbus sought a strait in Central America as Marco Polo had done in Malacca. On several occasions he believed he had found a channel, although he always ran into a river, stranding two of his ships, one in the Belen River and the other in Porto Bello. Finally, tired and overwhelmed, he headed north and landed in the Cayman Islands, which he called Turtles, due to the large number of turtles that were in and around them. Finally, unable to reach Hispaniola, he stranded the captain ship and the Bermuda on the beach of Santa Gloria (now Santa Gloria Bay) on the north coast of Jamaica, running out of a ship to return to Spain. After a perilous canoe trip to Santo Domingo, Columbus was rescued and sent to San Lucar de Barrameda in a packed caravel with more than 100 people on board, while Queen Isabella was dying in Spain. Will, death and burial After his last voyage, Columbus suffered the heartbreak and disappointment of having lost his power and titles. The last months of his life were sad and sick, although he was not poor. He still dreamed of undertaking a mission to rescue Jerusalem from the Turks. On May 19, 1506, one day before his death in Valladolid, Christopher Columbus drew up his will before Pedro de Inoxedo, notary of the Catholic Monarchs. He left his son Diego Colón, his brother Bartolomé Colón, and Juan de Porras, treasurer of Vizcaya, as testamentary and executors of his last wishes. In that document he appears cited as admiral, viceroy and governor of the islands and mainland of the Indies discovered and to be discovered. The will180 says: "I constituted my dear son Don Diego as my heir to all my goods and offices that I have sworn and inherited, which I made in the estate, and I do not envision the male heir, that my son Don Fernando inherits in the same way , and I do not intend the male child to inherit, that Don Bartolomé inherits my brother by the same guise; In the same way, if I do not have a male heir, let my brother inherit another; That the closest relative to my line be understood like this from one to another, and this be forever. And I do not inherit a woman, except if a man is not missing; And if this happens, be the woman closest to my line. From which it is understood that he has two sons, Diego and Fernando, and that the heir is the firstborn, according to customary use. 14 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño He also mentions in the will the small amount (a tale of maravedis) that the Catholic Monarchs put for the discovery company, having himself to put an amount for the trip. He also cites Doña Beatriz as Fernando's mother, which attests that they never married. After his death, his body was treated with a process called excarnation, whereby all the flesh is removed from the bones. She was initially buried in the Convent of San Francisco (Valladolid) and, later, his remains were transferred to the Monastery of La Cartuja in Seville. At the wish of his son Diego, they were transferred again in 1542, this time to Santo Domingo. After the conquest of the island of Santo Domingo in 1795 by the French, they moved them again to Havana and, after the Cuban war of independence in 1898, their remains were transferred for the last time (for now) by the cruise ship Conde. de Venadito to the Cathedral of Seville, where they rest in a sumptuous catafalque. A sea of controversies The biography of Christopher Columbus is full of anecdotes, myths and controversies, to which the work written by his son Fernando or Hernando Colón, known as "History of the Admiral", dedicated to his father, contributed. Indeed, some historians doubt the reliability and authenticity of this work, published many years after his death in 1539, and which was not known until 1571. In the opinion of some, the travel story is true, but the biographical part is false and invented It does not clarify the place of birth of Columbus, and makes him a descendant of a noble family, educated at the University of Pavia, all of which is considered false. Origin. The origin of Christopher Columbus is still debated today. His name in Italian is Christophoros Columbus, an anthroponym that inspired at least one American nation, the Republic of Colombia, and two North American regions, the District of Columbia in the United States and British Columbia in Canada. But despite his Italian name, he is not known to have written in this language, probably because in his childhood he only spoke Ligurian and learned to write Spanish late in life with Portuguese inflections, and according to others with Catalan twists. For this reason, some point to it as originally from Portugal, others from Catalonia and others from Galicia. There is no shortage of those who have considered him as a Jew (Crypto-Jew), and even from nations such as Greece, Norway, Croatia, etc. However, the majority sector believes that he was born in Savona, Republic of Genoa into a humble family of textile workers. The egg of Columbus. The Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy defines the Columbus egg as: "Something that appears to be very difficult but turns out to be easy when knowing its artifice." The origin of this saying is related to an anecdote published by Girolamo Benzoni in the book History of the New World (Venice, 1565). This places us in a game between Columbus and a group of nobles. In response to a question about the sphericity of the earth, Columbus asked for an egg and invited the nobles to try to make the egg stand upright on its own. The nobles were unable to keep the egg upright and when it returned to his hands, Columbus slammed the egg against the table, cracking it slightly and causing the egg to stand. Although this anecdote is likely to be a legend, it has become very popular. 15 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño Columbus's relationship with the natives. Some historians and certainly the indigenous population of America have described Columbus' feat and its consequences not as a discovery, but as an "encounter" or "contact" with disastrous results for the indigenous communities of the New World; the natives were enslaved for labor and massacred at the slightest rebellion. The “discovery” opened the door to the conquests of the Aztec Empire by Hernan Cortés and the Inca Empire by Francisco Pizarro for Spain, and with it three centuries of indigenous servitude to which was added the trade and sale of Africans as slaves. But how much did Columbus participate in this type of unfavorable relationship? It should not be forgotten that Columbus started the first encomiendas under the pressure of the Spanish colonists, and with a total lack of ability to negotiate both with the natives and with the Spaniards themselves, he bloodily suppressed claims and rebellions, causing a massacre among the Indians. tainos. The government of Columbus and his brothers in Hispaniola did not meet the expectations of the Spanish monarchs. Not only did they confront the Spaniards on the island, but failing to obtain the wealth they had foreseen, they attacked the natives and sold some as slaves, thus disobeying the express orders of Isabella the Catholic, who had made her will clear, that the natives were treated as subjects of Castile. For this reason, the first Viceroy, Admiral and Governor of America was arrested and sent in chains before the Queen by the investigator Francisco de Bobadilla. His behavior was not consistent with what Spain proposed in its laws, although the distance, among other reasons, led to behaviors similar to that of Columbus with the indigenous people, which were denounced by Fray Bartolomé de las Casas and disapproved by the New Laws. Where are the remains of Columbus? There is still some controversy today about the final destination of the remains of Christopher Columbus, after appearing in 1877, in the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, a lead box containing fragments of bones and bearing an inscription reading "Illustrious and distinguished male Christopher Columbus". Those remains remained in the Santo Domingo Cathedral until 1992, the year in which they were transferred to the Columbus Lighthouse, a pharaonic monument built by the Dominican government to preserve the supposed remains of Columbus. Apparently, at the time of exhuming the body from the Santo Domingo Cathedral, it was not very clear which was the exact tomb of Christopher Columbus, due to the poor state of the tombs, which makes it at least likely that only part of the bones was collected, leaving the other part in the cathedral of Santo Domingo. Studies are still lacking that are more conclusive in this regard. To find out what the real remains were, it was proposed to take DNA samples from both skeletons: the one from Seville and the one from Santo Domingo. In the preliminary study, a probable filial link was detected between the bones buried in the Cathedral of Seville and those of his son Diego. On August 1, 2006, the research team led by José Antonio Lorente, forensic doctor and director of the Genetic Identification Laboratory of the University of Granada, who studied the bones attributed to the admiral that have been in the Seville cathedral since 1898, confirmed that "yes they are those of Christopher Columbus". This affirmation is based on the study of the DNA compared with that of his younger brother Diego and with that of his son Hernando. According to DNA studies, it is determined that Christopher Columbus was a man, between 50 and 70 years of age, with no signs of pathology, no osteoporosis and some cavities. Mediterranean, moderately robust and of medium size. 16 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño It is still expected that the authorities of the Dominican Republic allow the study of the remains attributed to the Admiral that are in that country, which would allow completing the story around this issue. But this study is no longer decisive to identify the remains of the discoverer. It is estimated that there may be remains in other places, since those in the Andalusian capital do not reach 15% of the entire skeleton, so it could turn out that those in Santo Domingo also correspond to the discoverer of America. Who discovered America? The controversies about Christopher Columbus and his great feat have been extended to question the discovery of America by him. Indeed, Columbus' bold project consisted of sailing west through the unknown and "infinite" Ocean to reach East Asia, establishing a trade route with Cathay (China) or Cipango (Japan) to India. The bases of the project rested on two pieces of knowledge: 1st. The roundness of the Earth, true; and 2nd. A globe of 28,800 km in circumference, false (the figure is 40,008 km). This error was undoubtedly the reason why Columbus undertook his voyage, an error of great importance in history, since if the real diameter of the Earth had been known, the project would not have been carried out. Therefore, this error resulted in the greatest serendipity in history, (defined as an accidental and unexpected discovery or finding), the discovery of the New World. After exploring the mouth of the Orinoco on his third voyage, Columbus knew he had found the continent, never mind that he mistook it for the eastern tip of Asia. Amerigo Vespucci was the first European to understand that the lands discovered by Christopher Columbus formed a new continent; for this reason, the cartographer Martín Waldseemüller in his 1507 map used the name "America" in his honor as a designation for the New World. However, Vespucci's often fanciful and contradictory account of his voyages has ranked him as one of the most controversial figures of the Age of Discovery. If discovering is revealing (or revealing) what is hidden, Columbus discovered the true dimension of the Ocean Sea (previously infinite); he discovered the route to and from the New World; he discovered the islands of the Bahamas, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Antilles, and the Caribbean, and reached the continent's coasts through Venezuela, Colombia, and probably Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. Columbus' audacity, perseverance and faithful navigational instinct allowed him to discover a New World for Europe that would forever change the historical evolution of humanity. The so-called pre-Columbian "discoveries" of the Americas, attributed to Vikings, Chinese and Irish monks, if indeed they occurred as traditions seem to indicate, were not discoveries because they did not reveal the "hidden" lands and islands of the continent to the rest of the world. world; Europe did not know in his time of these trips, explorations and landings; Europe and the ancient world did not change their knowledge of geography. In short, these trips did not change history. Columbus after the discovery of America. Spain and Europe Christopher Columbus, a robust and tall man, the most famous and daring sailor in history, a formidable instinctive navigator, has been, through the centuries, the measure of his sympathetic admirers and detracting critics. Columbus's reputation in history has followed a curious course. His obsession, obstinacy and skill as a navigator dragged all of 17 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño Europe across the ocean. “The admiral was the first to open the doors of that ocean that had been closed before for many thousands of years,” wrote Bartolomé de las Casas half a century later in a comprehensive document, which remains today as one of the most important sources of information about Columbus. "He gave the light that enlightened others to discover" Upon his death, Columbus's immediate reputation declined due to his failure as a colonial administrator and due to the protracted dispute between the Crown and his heirs, due to a lawsuit filed that questioned the originality of the Columbus project, which according to some witnesses was the idea of one of his captains. Over time, de Las Casas forced on his contemporaries the question of the morality of Columbus and his successors for their brutal treatment of the Indians. In the early years of the sixteenth century, Amerigo Vespucci, a more perceptive interpreter and more acrimonious writer, had stolen the map and credit for the discovery from Columbus, but not for long, as his star was soon eclipsed by Hernan Cortés and Francisco Pizarro, who obtained the gold and glory of conquering for Spain, not an assortment of islands, but two magnificent American empires, that of the Aztecs in Mexico, and that of the Incas in Peru; and also by other sailors, such as Vasco de Gama, who actually reached India, and by the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián el Cano on a circumnavigation voyage that was the first to verify the sphericity of the Earth, and he left no doubt as to the magnitude of Columbus's error in believing that he had reached Asia. Many history books written in the first decades of the 16th century highlighted the discovery of America, but barely mentioned the name of Christopher Columbus. It was not until the works of Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, who produced an encyclopedia of information about the discovery, the biography written by his son Fernando, and the extensive writings of Bartolomé de las Casas that Columbus began to rise from the shadows, but not as a historical figure, but as a myth and a symbol. In 1552 Francisco López de Gómara wrote: "The greatest event since the creation of the world (excluding the incarnation and death of Him who created it) was the discovery of the Indies." Columbus became a bold and visionary man, a hero who rose above opposition and adversity to change history. By the end of the 16th century, English explorers and historians recognized the primacy and inspiration of Columbus, "He who shook them all," wrote Richard Hakluyt, a historian of exploration, in 1598. He began to be celebrated in poems and plays first in Italy, and later in Spain: very popular in 1614 was the representation of "The New World discovered by Christopher Columbus". The North American colonies. The United States (USA) In 1692, the people of Boston and New York did not celebrate the bicentennial of the discovery, but the association between Columbus and America thrived in the 18th century, as the American-born population grew, when there was less reason to identify with the country of origin. The colonists began to think of themselves as a different people from the English. By virtue of their isolation and common experience in a new land, they had now become Americans. Samuel Sewall of Boston was the first to suggest naming his land after Columbus, "the high-minded hero sent by God to find these lands," since he considered himself a messenger of God. At the time of Independence, Columbus became a national icon, a hero, second only to Washington. The Columbus celebration reached its 18 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño climax during the tercentenary of the discovery, in October 1792. By then, King's College in New York had been renamed Columbia University, and the planned national capital was given the name District of Columbia, perhaps to appease those who demanded that the entire country be designated Columbia. It's not hard to understand the allure of Columbus compared to King George III. Columbus had found his way out of the tyranny of the Old World. As a result of his vision and his audacity, there was now a land free of kings and tyrants, a vast continent for a new beginning. For the 19th century new material emerges. On the one hand, the lost diary of Columbus from his first voyage is discovered, which was used not to value the real man, but to embellish the symbolic myth of Columbus; and on the other, "The story of the voyages of Christopher Columbus" is published in 1828 by the famous writer Washington Irving, which provides more ammunition to turn the man into a romantic mold hero, favored by the literature of the time, "a genius inventor of noble ambitions, inspired by lofty thoughts and the anxiety to distinguish himself by great achievements”. Irving accepts that Columbus may have been faulty and partly to blame for the enslavement and slaughter of Indians, but acquits him by pointing out that "they were errors of the time." Nineteenth-century Americans romanticized the mythical figure of Christopher Columbus like other national heroes; the typical story that takes the hero by his own effort and ambition, from rags to riches, from the cottage to the White House. The story of Columbus and his voyages are taught in schools as a symbol of what can be achieved through tenacity and effort. In these stories it is remembered that "Columbus came to beg for a piece of bread at the doors of convents in Spain", as the speaker Edward Everett pointed out to his audience. “We find great encouragement in every page of our story,” Everett declared. “You don't find many examples of men who have grown up poor and obscure. A vast continent was added to the geography of the world by the effort and perseverance of a humble Genoese sailor, the great Columbus, who by firmly pursuing the enlightened conception that he had formed of the figure of the Earth, before any navigator, He acted on the belief that it was round, and discovered the American continent”. With the influx of millions of immigrants after the American Civil War, Columbus took on a new role, that of ethnic hero. Irish Catholic immigrants founded the "Knights of Columbus" in New Haven in 1882. Fraternity literature described Columbus as "a prophet and seer, an instrument of Divine Providence, and an inspiration to each Knight to become a better Catholic and a better citizen." The Knights grew in number and influence, promoted scholarly studies in American history, and funded the Columbus Memorial at Union Station in Washington, D.C., seeking canonization for their hero. At the same time, the French Catholics launched a campaign to sanctify Columbus, on the grounds that "he had carried the Christian faith to half the world." But despite the support of Pope Pius IX, the proposal was not approved by the Vatican. The rejection of the sainthood of Columbus was based on the long relationship without marriage that he had with Beatriz Enriquez de Arana, his lover and mother of his son Fernando, and the lack of evidence that he had performed a miracle, as the church defines it. . The commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the voyage of Columbus was celebrated throughout the United States for an entire year. As part of the festivities with 19 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño music bands and choirs, the symphony "From the New World" by Antonin Dvorak, a Russian musician, who composed this work to evoke the beauty of American landscapes, was heard. In New York, Italian immigrants seeking identity with the American community raise funds to erect a statue of Columbus on an Italian marble column, placed in the southwest corner of Central Park, and later dubbed the "Columbus Circle." But the greatest celebration was the World's Columbian Fair and Exposition in Chicago (18921893), dubbed the "jubilee of mankind" by President Grover Cleveland, who at the press of a button switched on the Fair's extensive electric lighting and activated the flow of that new invention, electricity, to set in motion all the machines and architectural marvels by which the United States warned the world of its emergence among the giants of nations. Columbus is now the symbol of American success. The invocation was a prayer to give thanks for the "greatest of all voyages, by which Columbus lifted the veil that hid the New World from the Old, and opened the way for the future of mankind." A few historians, searching for the man behind the myth, tried to put down a counterpoint punch to Columbus's fawning hymns. Among them, Henry Harrises’, a historian with extensive study material on Columbus, did not tolerate excuses in continuing to treat Columbus as a demigod, although in the end his judgment was favorable. Biographer Justin Winsor, more than any other, cast a dark stain on the figure of Columbus, pointing out that he was a man ambitious for gold and power; His spirit lacked nobility and generosity, having given an example of this by stealing the credit and the promised reward to whoever first announced "Earth". Winsor wrote: "There is no better example in history of a man who showed the way and lost it." "Columbus left the new world his legacy of crime and devastation." Winsor's assault on the Columbus legend was the exception at the end of the 19th century, and was not taken kindly by those who had constructed a different image of Columbus. But since the beginning of the 20th century, historians began to expose multiple contradictions, gaps, and suspicions of fiction in popular history. No one was sure when and how Columbus had conceived his idea, what was his real goal; what kind of man was he: an inspired but rational genius? A lucky adventurer? A man confused by mysticism? A man of the Renaissance, or of the Middle Ages? It was not until 1942 when Columbus was rescued from mythology and his image reconfigured into the only thing that could be assured: Columbus was an inspired and skillful sailor. His biographer, Samuel Eliot Morison wrote: “beyond dispute, Columbus was never a saint; but he could sail a ship and he had the courage and determination to take it where presumably no one had gone before”. The celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America in the United States were undoubtedly cooler than the last two hundred years. Since the 1990s, a wave of antipathy has been building among the population with Native American Indian blood. The Indians were now "waiting for an apologetic Columbus" for all the damage to their primitive but free cultures caused by the discovery and the bad example set by Columbus by enslaving and mistreating the Indians by demanding they provide him with gold. It is clear that the world is changing at a fast pace. The American nation that in the long term benefited the most from the discovery of the New World, the United States, continues 20 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño to venerate the figure of Columbus but no longer as a hero, or a saint, or a genius or a symbol, but as a sailor. skillful and daring, obsessed with the idea of crossing the Infinite Ocean to reach Asia, establish a trade route to India, and obtain privileges, fame and fortune with his discoveries; but his project contained errors and did not know the true dimension of the Ocean, culminating in the discovery of America without knowing it, but perhaps long anticipating what other navigators did not dare to attempt. His travels and explorations opened the way for other discoverers, and with it changed the history and future of mankind. Hispanic America. Latin America The extraordinary feat of Columbus' voyages, the discovery of the New World, and the figure of the daring navigator who achieved the titles of Admiral and Viceroy, were soon eclipsed by the Spanish conquests in America. Two great empires, the Aztec and the Inca, fell under the conquistadors Hernan Cortés and Francisco Pizarro to give rise to their colonization as the Viceroyalties of New Spain (current Mexico) and Peru (Peru, part of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile and Brazil) respectively. The Spanish crown extended its conquests to most of Central and South America: General Captaincy of Guatemala (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and the state of Chiapas); Viceroyalty of New Granada (Panama, Colombia and Ecuador); General Captaincy of Venezuela (current Venezuela); Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and part of Bolivia); General Captaincy of Chile (current Chile and part of Patagonia); and the island territories of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Hispaniola, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Barbados, and the Malvinas. The Spanish colonies remembered Columbus and his voyages of discovery, but as part of his story and without granting the daring Admiral the roles of icon and romantic hero that European immigrants to North America gave Columbus. After all, the Spanish had conquered great indigenous empires and cultures, established colonies throughout the Americas, and now made it their priority to Christianize the indigenous people. Unlike the colonists in North America, in the Spanish Viceroyalties the colonists took indigenous women as wives, which led to miscegenation. The education of Indians and mestizos was aimed at forming devout Christians who, by accepting the Catholic religion, owed much to Christopher Columbus and his discovery of America, which made possible the arrival of the Spaniards who brought the true Christian Faith. All in all, the figure of Columbus evokes a dual feeling among the indigenous population: on the one hand, the discovery was conceived by God through his messenger, Columbus, who paved the way for Christianity; on the other hand, the discovery of Columbus initiated the conquest, slavery and mistreatment of the natives. As anticolonialism developed in the Viceroyalties and Spanish colonies, the image of Columbus acquired a negative tone, despite the attempts of the Catholic Church to restore it. With the independence of the Spanish colonies between 1810 and 1823, Columbus returned vindicated to his true dimension: an inspired, instinctive, skillful, genius sailor, with an obsession to navigate the Ocean beyond what no other had dared, to find a trade route to Asia and India. What is known of his biography and his travels are taught in all schools in America, and he is considered a global icon. However, how could it be otherwise, he 21 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño presents the duality between admiration, for having carried out the discovery of America and animosity, for the abuses committed against indigenous peoples after said event. In different countries, the day of the discovery of America by Columbus is commemorated on October 12, 1492. The date of the discovery has become a festive and protest day in many areas. In Spain, this date, October 12, has been adopted as the National Holiday of Spain and Hispanic Day, in the United States of America Columbus Day is celebrated, in different countries of Latin America: Argentina (since 1917), Venezuela (1921 - 2002), Mexico (1928) and Chile (1931), celebrate Columbus Day as Día de la Raza. In Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez changed the name of Columbus Day to Day of Indigenous Resistance, likewise the National Indian Council, representing the 36 Venezuelan indigenous ethnic groups, requested that the statues of Christopher Columbus be removed and that they be replaced by that of the cacique Guaicaipuro who resisted the Spanish invasion. That same day a group of indigenous activists demolished the statue of Columbus located in Caracas. Descendants of native Indians, as well as those sympathetic to their causes, are understandably reluctant to celebrate the anniversary of the discovery of America or Columbus Day, seeing him as worse than a pirate, a fortune-seeking adventurer who stole and raped the land, in an act that still continues today. Historians today refer to both the consequences and the actions that the European intervention in America caused to the indigenous American population. More than a "discovery" there is talk of a contact or "encounter", ironically an "encounter" between two different worlds with devastating consequences, catastrophes and the spread of diseases. Despite all the negative, the biological effect by the emergence for greater human genetic diversity, mestizos and mulattoes, the exchange of plant and animal species with eventual globalization, were generally beneficial. Place names Despite everything, the name of Columbus is widely used throughout the terrestrial geography: Colombia owes its name to the Admiral, as well as different regions, cities and rivers, such as several capitals of the United States (Columbia in South Carolina, Columbus in Ohio and New Mexico, or the Federal District of Columbia where the federal capital is located). Other examples are the Canadian province of British Columbia, the Columbia River in the United States, and the City of Colón in Panama, as well as the homonymous province. In Argentina there are two cities called Colón, one in the province of Buenos Aires and the other in the province of Entre Ríos. In Cuba there is also a city called Colón, in the province of Matanzas. Puerto Colón (in Paraguay), Ciudad Colón (Costa Rica), Colón (México), San Juan de Colón (Venezuela), San Marcos de Colón (Honduras). Also, the archipelago of the Galapagos Islands, officially receives the name of "Archipelago de Colón". The monetary unit of Costa Rica is the Colón, as is it in El Salvador, although in the latter country the Salvadoran Colón is practically replaced by the US dollar, thanks to the entry into force of the "Monetary Integration Law" of the 1st of January 2001. 22 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño In Spain, specifically in the province of Huelva, there is a historical-artistic route around the figure of Columbus, the Pinzón brothers and the events surrounding the discovery. This route is called "Colombian Places" and was declared a historical-artistic site of the province. Christopher Columbus in history Judging Christopher Columbus historically means separating the man from the legend, and asking ourselves, was Columbus a great man? No, if his greatness is measured by the stature of his morals and his acts compared to that of his contemporaries. We will never know what course history would have taken if Columbus had been kinder, more generous. To say that Columbus acted according to the accepted standards of his time is to concede that he was no better or superior to his time and his contemporaries. To contend that even if Columbus had acted in a generous and exemplary manner, others would have eventually corrupted his efforts, is again asking the question. In fact, the only example that Columbus left his companions and his competitors was that of arrogance, megalomania and lack of magnanimity. He never agreed to share the credit for his accomplishments. Whatever his original goal was, his ambition for gold drove him from island to island to the brink of paranoia. The only future he could anticipate was that of personal wealth and for his family, probably more than most people of his time, in the chimera of the imminent end of the world. Yes, if greatness derives from the audacity of his project and his travels, from his surprising discovery, the revelation of a New World and the magnitude of the impact on subsequent history. Columbus crossed the unknown Atlantic Ocean without navigational charts, a reckless undertaking. He discovered new lands and people, returned to report, and gave others the opportunity to follow him, paving the way for intercontinental travel, trade, and expansion. It is true that if Columbus had not done so, other sailors would have eventually reached the American coast, just as the Portuguese discovered the coast of Brazil accidentally in 1500. But it was Columbus's idea, though ill-conceived in many ways, and his persistent tenacity. immune to criticism and ridicule, which achieved his immeasurable success, just as the apocryphal tale tells it, Columbus showed the world how to stand an egg on its end. Whether Columbus was a great man, or just the agent of a great revelation, depends on how he figures in history; and this in turn depends on the wavering judgment of posterity about the consequences of the discovery of America by Europe. His reputation is inexorably tied to America. Columbus's place in history can only be judged in relation to America's agreed place in history. Surely this has not yet been established. It will be interesting to see how Columbus will be characterized in the coming decades. What will be said of Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America in 2092? It seems its destiny is to serve as a gauge of our confidence and complacency, of our hopes and aspirations, of our faith in progress and the human capacity to create a more just society. --o-23 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño Signatures of Christopher Columbus. Left: Xpo Ferens. On the right: The Admiral. Replicas of the Pinta, the Niña and the Santa María at the Dock of the Caravels of Palos de la Frontera. 1st trip (1492-1493) 2nd trip (1493-1496 3rd trip (1498-1500) 4th trip (1502-1504) Trips of Columbus 24 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño Departure from the port of Palos, the work of Evaristo Domínguez, in the Palos de la Frontera Town Hall. Arrival of Christopher Columbus to America. First landing of Christopher Columbus in America, by Dióscoro Puebla.1862 25 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño Christopher Columbus before the Catholic Monarchs in the court of Barcelona. Shield used of motu propio in 1502 by the Columbus family Tomb of Christopher Columbus Seville Cathedral. Statue of Christopher Columbus in Santo Domingo, the work of French sculptor Ernesto Gilbert. 26 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE AND TRAVELS OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 1451 April 22: Isabel I of Castilla was born, called La Católica future Queen of Castile and who will support the future Admiral Columbus in his travels to the new world. August 25 – October 31: it is presumed that in this range of dates Christopher Columbus was born in the Republic of Genoa – Italy. He was the son of a married couple of humble weavers: Domenico Colombo and Susana Fontana Rosa. 1452 March 10: Fernando called El Católico, King of Aragon and Castile, was born. 1466- 1469 Columbus began his stage as a navigator making cabotage trips in the region of Genoa (Italy) 1470 September: Columbus together with his father Domenico signs a document in Genoa where he declares to be over 19 years of age. October 2: Isabel de Aragón y Castilla, eldest daughter of the Catholic Monarchs and Queen of Portugal, was born. 1474 December 13: Isabel I proclaims herself Queen of Castile based on the Treaty of the Bulls of Guisando. 1474 – 1475 Colón lives with his parents. At least once he sailed to the island of Chios (Quios) on a trading mission. 1476 August 13: The ship in which he travels as a sailor is wrecked off the coast of Portugal and Columbus is taken to Lisbon (as a result of a pirate attack?) 1476 – 1477 Columbus in Lisbon, earning his living as a cartographer and commercial agent. He travels to England and later embarks in Bristol bound for Iceland. 27 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño 1479 September-October: Columbus marries Felipa Perestrelo e Moniz, and briefly stays in Madeira and Porto Santo. He is introduced to the Portuguese court. 1480 Birth of Diego Columbus his son in Porto Santo. 1482 War between Spain and Granada. Columbus travels to Guinea at least twice. 1484 He meets with King Joao (John) II of Portugal, and his plan is rejected by a Royal Commission. 1485 January: His wife Felipa Perestrelo e Moniz dies. Columbus arrives at the monastery of La Rábida, in Palos de la Frontera, with his son Diego. 1486 The Catholic Monarchs receive Christopher Columbus. 1486 – 1487 Conferences of the Board of Cosmographers, which rejects the Columbian plan. 1488 Hernando Colón was born in Córdoba, the natural son of Columbus and Beatriz Enriquez de Arana. Columbus: sends his brother Bartholomew Columbus to offer his ideas to the kings of France and England. 1491 Christopher Columbus visits the Catholic Monarchs in the Santa Fe camp. 1492 January 2: conquest of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs. The last Muslim king, Boabdil, leaves the Iberian Peninsula after more than 700 years of Islamic occupation. End of the Reconquest. March 31: edict of prescription against the Jews. April 17: the Capitulations of Santa Fe are signed between Christopher Columbus and the Catholic Monarchs. 28 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño August 3: Columbus begins his first Atlantic crossing from the port of Palos de la Frontera (Huelva). August 11 – Alexander VI succeeds Innocent VIII as pope. August 12: arrives on the island of La Gomera, (Canary Islands). September 6: set sail from La Gomera. September 8: he leaves the island of Hierro and continues his journey. October 12: Columbus discovers Guanahani. October 15: he discovers Fernandina Island. October 15: Columbus discovers Isabela. October 28: Columbus discovers Cuba (Juana). December 6: Columbus discovers Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic). December 25: The Santa María runs aground in Haiti and its remains are used to build Fort Navidad, the first Spanish settlement in America. 1493 January 4: Columbus aboard La Niña leaves Fort Navidad on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and begins his return to Spain from his first American voyage. February 19: The Portuguese navy tries to capture Columbus in the Azores islands on his return trip, to prevent him from divulging the other route to the Indies that he believes he has discovered. March 1: The caravel La Pinta docks in the port of Bayonne (Pontevedra) on its way back from America. The scoop on the success of the Columbus expedition was given. March 15: Christopher Columbus returns to Palos de la Frontera after his first voyage. In the month of April: the Catholic Monarchs receive Christopher Columbus with all honors in Barcelona. May 2: Bull of Pope Alexander VI establishing the demarcation zones of Portugal and Spain. September 26: Second trip. Christopher Columbus sets sail from Cádiz. November 12 – November 15: Columbus discovers Dominica, Mari galante, Guadalupe, Montserrat, Santa María la Antigua, Santa María la Redonda, Eleven Thousand Virgins and San Juan Bautista, in present-day Puerto Rico. November 27: Columbus finds the ruins of Fort La Navidad. 1494 January 2: Foundation of Isabela. May 13: Columbus discovers Jamaica. 29 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño June 7: Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal, establishing new demarcation zones. March 10: Columbus returns to Spain. June 11: Columbus landed in Cádiz. 1497 January: Christopher Columbus makes a will. April: Preparations for another expedition begin. 1498 May 30: Columbus begins his third voyage in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. July 31: Columbus discovers the island of Trinidad. August 2: Columbus sails through the mouth of Serpentes where he observes the strength of the current of the Orinoco River that flows there and sweetens the water. August 4: Columbus enters the Gulf of Pariah, finds himself before the Orinoco delta and sets foot on the American continent. August 5: Christopher Columbus on his third voyage to the New World landed for the first time on the American continent at the site where the future town of Macura will be founded (1738) on the Pariah Peninsula – Sucre state – Venezuela. August 14: Christopher Columbus discovers the island of Cubagua – Nueva Esparta state – Venezuela. August 15: Columbus discovers the islands of Coche and Asunción Island (which Cristóbal Guerra changed its name to Margarita from the state of Nueva Esparta – Venezuela. 1499 January 26: Vicente Yanez Pinzón discovers the coast of Brazil. May 10: The first geographical charts of Amerigo Vespucci are published. May 18: Juan de la Cosa and Alonso de Ojeda set sail from Cádiz for the New World, where Ojeda discovers the Leeward Islands (Netherlands Antilles) and De la Cosa explores the coasts of Guyana and Venezuela. May 21: The Catholic Monarchs grant liberties to those who travel to America. 1500 August 27: Bobadilla arrives in Hispaniola as governor. September 23: Bobadilla arrests the Columbus brothers and sends them to Spain at the beginning of October. 30 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño November 24: Columbus and his brothers, chained, landed in Cádiz. December 17: Columbus is received in Granada by the Catholic Monarchs. 1502 February: The new governor Nicolás de Obando leaves for Hispaniola. May 11: From San Lucar de Barrameda (Cádiz, Spain), Columbus sets sail on his fourth voyage to America. June 15: Columbus discovers the islands of Martinique and Santa Maria. 1503 May 10: Columbus discovers the Cayman Islands. April 24: Christopher Columbus founds what would be the first Spanish settlement on the American mainland, Santa María de Belen, on the coast of Veraguas (Panama). 1504 November 7: Columbus landed in San Lucar de Barrameda. November 26: Isabel la Católica dies in Medina del Campo. 1506 May 20: Christopher Columbus died without knowing that he had discovered new lands of an unknown continent: America. 31 Christopher Columbus. How does history judge him? Alfonso J. Treviño BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES De las Casas, Bartholomew: Diary of Christopher Columbus De las Casas, Bartolomé: Book of the first navigation and discovery of the Indies. Relation of Christopher Columbus summarized by De las Casas. Columbus, Fernando: Life of the Admiral León, Jesús: A Genoese in pursuit of a dream. In: V Centenary of the Discovery of America, fascicular series, 1992. Martínez de la Torre, Carlos: The greatest trip of all time. In: V Centenary of the Discovery of America, fascicular series, 1992. Boehringer Ingelheim: Christopher Columbus. Navigators of history, fascicular series, 1992. Obregon, Mauricio: Columbus and Vespucci. In: From the Argonauts to the Astronauts. Bookstore Editorial Argos, S.A., Barcelona, Spain, 1977. Wilford, John Noble: Discovering Columbus. In: The New York Times Magazine, August 11, 1991. --o-- Alfonso J. Treviño Treviño Monterrey, N. L. September 09, 2015 Revised May, 2023 32