Christopher Columbus
Cristoforo Colombo (Italian), Cristóbal Colón (Spanish), Christopher Columbus (Anglicized Latin), Christ-bearing Dove (as we would literally translate his name if it were Native), wrote in his first report, while on his way home from his first voyage of discovery across the unknown western sea:
"The lands... are all most beautiful... and full of trees of a thousand kinds, so lofty that they seem to reach the sky. And some of them were in flower, some in fruit, some in another stage according to their kind. And the nightingale was singing, and other birds of a thousand sorts, in the month of November... The people of this island, and all of the others I have found and seen... all go naked, men and women... they are artless and generous with what they have, to such a degree as no one would believe but he who had seen it. Of anything they have, if it be asked for, they never say no, but do rather invite the person to accept it, and show as much lovingness as though they would give their hearts... they believed very firmly that I, with these ships and crew, came from the sky; and in such opinion they received me at every place where I landed, after they had lost their terror. And this comes not because they are ignorant; on the contrary, they are men of very subtle wit, who navigate all those seas, and who give a marvelously good account of everything... And as soon as I arrived in the Indies, in the first island that I found, I took some of them by force, to the intent that they should learn and give me information of what there was in these parts. And so it was, that very soon they understood and we them, by what speech or by what signs... To this day I carry them who are still of the opinion that I come from heaven, from much conversation which they had with me. And they were the first to proclaim it whenever I arrived; and the others went running from house to house and to the neighboring villages, with loud cries of "Come! Come see the people from heaven!..."
Learned opinion favors Watling's Island in the Bahamas for the scene of the first landing, October 12; Columbus named the place San Salvador. Then, doubtless with the help of Arawak guides, he went to Cuba and then to San Domingo, which he named Española, where the Santa Maria was wrecked, and where he left a dozen of his men to establish and hold a little fort, La Navidad. He sailed away to return to Europe on January 4, 1493, taking with him his six 'Indian' interpreters, and returned to the Caribbean the following autumn with 17 ships and 1,500 more people from heaven, most of them coming as colonists. He also brought horses, twenty stallions and mares surviving from the thirty-four he had shipped aboard at the start of the voyage out.
Other islands in the Antilles were explored; a town was founded on Española and later moved to the south coast of the island (and called Santo Domingo) when gold was discovered there.
Christ-bearing Dove attacked the cannibal Caribs wherever they were found - a cargo of 600 of them were sent to Spain to be sold as slaves in 1498 - but he did his best to enforce just treatment of the guileless and defenseless Tainos, as the Arawak island people called themselves. Two days after first encountering them on that October day in 1492 he had noted in his journal that
"These people are very unskilled in arms... with fifty men they could all be subjected and made to do all that one wished...,"
but he had also written
"I knew that they were a people who could better be freed and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force... they remained so much our friends that it was a marvel..."
But the Spanish settlers needed laborers for their plantations and mines, and the 'Indians' were uninterested in work; the priests also protested that the 'Indians' could not be taught and converted unless they were forced into congregations. More settlers came, 200 more in 1498, 2,500 in 1502, 1,000 to 2,000 a year after. It became necessary, of course, to congregate the 'Indians' in villages under Spanish jurisdiction and see that they stayed congregated, and worked and worshipped properly!
Some of the Tainos tried to rebel, more fled to the hills and other islands and the mainland, still more died in the epidemics of the strange new diseases that had come with the people from heaven. By 1513 there were 17 chartered Spanish towns in Española, and 14,000 Tainos left out of an estimated original quarter of a million on the island.
The first 'Indian' children fathered by the people from heaven grew to manhood. The survivors, if there were any, of the first naked islanders who had ventured down to the beach to approach the hairy, shining strangers became old men, and their stories had long ago lost their savor. Christ-bearing Dove, white-haired and bumbling among important newcomers who refused to obey him, sailed away for the last time. Some of the Tainos may have heard that he had died a year or so later. They may have been too busy dying themselves, and running and hiding, to care.
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Background:
In 1451, Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy. Columbus' father was a weaver, and it was expected that Columbus would become one also. Instead, Columbus dreamed of becoming a sailor and so he talked with sailors and studied maps and charts.
When Columbus was fourteen, he was hired as a cabin boy. His main voyages were short trips to the Mediterranean Sea. By the time Columbus turned thirty he became a captain.
In 1476, Columbus became a Portuguese citizen and married Felipa. This is where his thoughts of traveling west to reach the Indies started to grow. He knew a voyage would be expensive, so in 1482, he asked King John II of Portugal for money and ships to sail west to the Indies. When the King refused, he went to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. At first, he was rejected but when Columbus asked Spain the second time, Queen Isabella decided to fund the expedition.
Columbus was given three ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. He also received eighty-eight men to serve as crew members.
On August 3, 1492, Columbus and his ships headed westward. Along the journey, the sailors began to be frightened. On October 10, they demanded that Columbus go back to Spain. To stop the tyranny, Columbus said that if they didn't sight land within two days, they would turn around.
Two days later, they saw birds and Columbus changed his direction to follow the birds. At 2:00 A.M., the morning of October 12, 1492, a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana on the Pinta sighted land.
Columbus dressed in his finest clothes to go ashore. He kissed the ground and claimed the land for Spain. There were people living on the island. They perceived Columbus as though he were a god. Columbus called these people "Indians" because he believed he had reached the Indies. He also announced the island to be named San Salvador.
He visited other islands in search of gold. The Santa Maria wrecked on a coral reef and Columbus had to leave without it. Columbus returned to Spain and forced some Indians to join him. He returned three more times, all voyages being unsuccessful in reaching the Indies. Columbus never saw the United States and he never thought he had found a new world, but he is still honored in America by celebrating Columbus Day on October 12, the day of his first landing in 1492. Many places in the United States are named after him including: Columbus, Ohio; Columbia, South Carolina; Columbia, Maryland; District of Columbia; and the South American nation of Columbia.
So why isn't America named "Columbia?" When a map maker was making a new map he decided to include the new world, and he decided to give it a name. He called it "America" in honor of Amerigo Vespucci. In reality, Columbus nor Vespucci discovered America. Because "to discover" means to see or learn or find something for the first time...
the Native Americans are the true discoverers of America.
The first Native Americans followed the animals over the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska. Gradually, groups of people went different directions. The tribe that met Columbus was called the Tainos. The Tainos lived on grassy plains and lowland rain forests. They inhabited the Northeastern coast of South America three thousand years ago. The natives were tall, handsome, and clean-shaven people. Their skin was olive-tan and many of them wore face and body paint.
The Tainos had to be surprised to see a large wooden boat land and strangely dressed men get out and kiss the ground. Columbus reported that the "Tainos liked a peaceful, unhurried life" (Clare, 28). They built hammocks to sleep in and men smoked tobacco while women told stories. In the Taino culture, old people cared for the children and prepared meals. The young women cultivated the fields, while the young men hunted for snakes, turtles, and iguanas.
The Tainos worshipped a supreme god but also believed in lesser spirits. When Columbus arrived, the Tainos believed Columbus and his men to be gods. This historic encounter where the Tainos met the Europeans was on the island the Tainos called Guananhani, their word for iguanas. According to Spanish, the Tainos hid in the bushes when they arrived. Soon the Tainos came out to meet the Europeans. Little did they know how it would change their lives.
In the beginning, the Tainos were amazed at the European's ships and their beautiful colors. They welcomed them into their homes, and were sure the Europeans were gods. Columbus wanted to convert the Tainos to Christianity. Columbus forced six Tainos to be his guides as he toured the other islands. He took these captives back to Spain with him.
Friendly relations between the two peoples did not last long. During another Spanish voyage, many Tainos were beaten and murdered. When the Spanish became hungry, they ransacked villages, leaving the Taino people helpless. Europeans brought diseases along with them that the Tainos lacked immunity to. The Tainos were no match for the weapons of the Europeans. An estimated fifty thousand Tainos perished in the year 1494. There were also many Indian captives, so the Europeans decided to ship the Taino prisoners in bondage to Spain. Some sixteen hundred Tainos were taken to the port. Only five hundred and fifty captives could be jammed onto the boat. The rest were left behind to be slaves to the Spanish that stayed behind.
Columbus issued a high tax on the Tainos. They were stuck. On one side if they refused to pay the tax, they faced death and on the other, they faced starvation. They were homeless in their own land.
They were devastated by abuse, starvation, and disease. They were subjects of high taxes, and soon were forced to be subjects of the crown. Life was never the same for the Indians after that day in 1492.