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Discover America 1: Columbus
Wilbur F. Gordy |  | | | Momentous enterprises do not always have graceful starts. This was true of the famous explorer, Christopher Columbus. In terms of simply finding a patron for his expedition, Columbus only obtained his fateful partnership with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain after he had already unsuccessfully pitched his idea to the Portuguese and the English. And although Ferdinand and Isabella did eventually support Columbus’ endeavor, the regal couple spent a long time delaying and deliberating until they finally made a contract with the explorer in April 1492. 1 | Proudly possessing royal assurances that included an elevation to the nobility, a special rank of “High Admiral of the Ocean Sea,“ future governorship of any discovered lands, and the permission to keep a share of obtained treasure, almost all of these assurances were eventually voided. 2 | Christopher Columbus relocated to the city of Palos de Moguer to prepare for his journey. By August, he had gathered and equipped his three ships, the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria, and was ready to embark on the next minor step of his journey. 3 | The Pinta, meaning ‘The Painted One’, was one of the three ships Columbus used on his first transatlantic voyage, along with the Niña and the Santa Maria. The Pinta was the fastest of the three ships. 4 | At last, all was ready, and a half-hour before sunrise on Friday morning, August 3, 1492, this little fleet, The Pinta, with one hundred and twenty men and provisions for a year, sailed out of the port of Palos to the Canary Islands. It was a sorrowful hour for the poor sailors, who felt that they had looked upon their homes and their friends for the last time. 5 | Three days into the voyage, on August 6, 1492, the rudder of the Pinta broke or became un-shipped. The crew was able to secure the rudder with ropes until they could reach the Canary Islands for repairs. They arrived in the Canary Islands on August 9, where the rudder was repaired. 6 | On September 6th, he set sail again. When once out of sight of land, the sailors, overcome with fear, cried and sobbed like children. But new trials awaited them. At the end of a week, the compass needle no longer pointed to the North Star, and this strange fact filled the superstitious sailors with alarm. 7 | Great was their consternation when a few days later the vessels entered vast stretches of seaweed. At first, the little fleet easily ploughed its way through this mass of floating green. But at the end of three days, on account of a light wind, the vessels moved more slowly. 8 | In their dismay, the sailors feared that the vessels might never get through this immense sea of grass, but might have to lie there and rot, or, perhaps, escaping this danger, run upon rocks and shoals lying just beneath the grass and be broken in pieces. 9 | Though they were in the midst of obstacles apparently insurmountable, they were also in the path of the trade winds that steadily bore them onward. But in their terror, the sailors imagined they could never return because the wind would not allow them to sail in the opposite direction. When the wind began to blow from the southwest, they were once more relieved of their fears. 10 | Some lost birds like these sailors appeared intermittently in the sky. This sight gladdened their hearts, and joy welled up in the sky. They danced and sang. They hugged each other. Their thoughts of reaching the shore prevailed, but that soon became in vain, too. 11 | A sailor with very eager eyes shouted over and over, "Land... land..." Then he was shocked to discover that it was just clouds in the distance. 12 | The crews were in despair. Now, in the belt of trade winds that were steadily blowing them farther and farther from home and friends, they cried in dismay: “We can never return to Spain. We are lost! What shall we do?” They begged Columbus to turn back. They became angry when he refused and declared he was crazy and was leading them all to destruction. They even plotted to throw him overboard some night and say that he fell into the sea while looking at the stars. 13 | Columbus felt that dangers were growing thick about him, but he never faltered in his purpose. His strong will and his abiding faith in success kept him stanch in face of difficulties that would have caused an ordinary mind to give way. 14 | On October 11th, unmistakable signs of land appeared. A thorn branch with berries on it, a reed, and a carved stick came floating by. New life stirred in every heart, and the sailors looked eagerly in every direction for land. 15 | The king and queen had promised a reward equal to nearly $600 of our present money to the sailor who should be the first to see land. Columbus had promised, in addition, a velvet cloak. Accordingly, all were on the alert to catch the first glimpse of land, and kept on the watch during the entire night after the appearance of the thorn-branch and carved stick. 16 | About ten o’clock Columbus himself saw in the distance a light, which looked like a torch in the hands of some one moving along the shore. About two o’clock next morning, Friday, October 12th—or October 21st, according to our present method of reckoning time—a sailor on the Pinta saw, about five miles off, a low strip of land. This was an island of the Bahama Group. Just ten weeks had elapsed since the voyage began at Palos, and with intense eagerness, Columbus and his men awaited the coming of daylight. 17 | At dawn, the boats were lowered, and all went on shore. Columbus, dressed in a rich robe of scarlet, carried the royal standard. His followers also bore banners, on each of which was a brilliant green cross with the letters “F.” and “I.”, the Spanish initials for Ferdinand and Isabella, on each side. Above the letters were crosses. Columbus threw himself, kneeling, upon the ground. He wept for joy, and, kissing the earth, took possession of the land in the name of the king and queen of Spain. The sailors now fell upon their knees at Columbus’s feet. They kissed his hands and begged him to forgive them for their evil thoughts toward him. 18 | Columbus called the people he saw “Indians.” He thought he was in India. At first the natives fled to he woods in fear of the Spaniards’, but later they returned and worshipped the white men as beings from he sky. They thought the vessels were great birds and the sails were wings. The Spaniards at once began to trade with the Indians, giving them such trifles as tiny bells, red caps, and glass beads, in exchange for tame parrots, cotton yarn, and a few small ornaments of gold, such as the natives wore in their nose. 19 | Columbus wrote in his journal saying they were very poor. Their skin was dark, and they wore no clothes. They seemed to be young and strong. Their hair was long in back. It was cut short over in front. Colors were painted all over their bodies. The men carried sticks. The tips were made of pointed fishbones. They rode in canoes with paddles that looked like wooden shovels. 20 | The canoes were made of tree trunks. Some were large enough to carry forty men. Homes were put in groups of twelve to fifteen. They were shaped like tents and had high chimneys. Inside the tents, hanging between posts, were nets used as beds and called “hammocks.” 21 | Columbus called the island where he landed San Salvador (Holy Savior). He wrote: “I know not where first to go, nor are my eyes ever weary of looking.” The singing of the birds was so pretty he never wanted to leave. There were so many parrots he could hardly see the sun. In fact, all of the birds were very different from any he had seen. The many kinds of trees had fruits of all different tastes. 22 | Columbus sailed about landing here and there. He sent parties to find out about the land and people. Everywhere he looked for the cities of Asia. He always believed that he was in India. 23 | On Christmas morning (December 25, 1492), the Santa María ran up on a sandbar. It was still dark. The waves soon broke her in pieces. As the Pinta had already gone. Now, the Niña was the only ship left. This little vessel was too small for all the men. Forty men wanted to stay where they were. They wanted to build a fort out of the wood from the Santa María. The ship’s guns would keep the fort safe. These men had supplies for one year. They began the first Spanish settlement. 24 | On January 4, 1493, the Niña sailed for Spain. On February 12th, a great storm began breaking up the little Niña. Poor Columbus! He was afraid. He and his men had gone through so many hard things. Were they going to die in this strange sea? Was the world never going to hear about his new world? 25 | Columbus wrote two papers about his discovery. He sealed them. He addressed them to Ferdinand and Isabella. He wrapped each in a cloth. He put big cakes of wax around them. Columbus placed them in barrels. One barrel he tossed into the sea. The other barrel stayed on deck with him. The Niña passed safely through the storm. On March 15th, seven and a half months after they left, the Niña came home. 26 | The king and queen welcomed him. There was a great parade. Six Indians whom Columbus had brought back with him walked in the parade. They were painted and wore feathers and bits of gold. Next came men carrying birds and animal skins from the New Land. Columbus rode on horseback. Many of Spain’s great men rode horses beside him. 27 | The parade stopped at the house where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella waited. Columbus went into the throne room. They stood up to honor him. When he bowed to kiss their hands they asked him to rise and sit by them. 28 | The poor sailor, once despised as an idle dreamer, had become a distinguished personage, honoured alike by kings and princes and people. It was no longer necessary to force men by royal decree to sail with the great admiral. Many were now eager to go where they might reap wealth and honor. 29 | In September, 1493, Columbus again sailed, this time with a fleet of seventeen vessels and fifteen hundred men. Many of the latter were young men of noble birth and belonged to families of wide influence. All supposed they were going to the East Indies, the land of jewels and spices and precious metals. With the purpose of founding a colony, Columbus took with him not only horses, mules, and cattle, but vines, vegetables, and seeds of many kinds. 30 | When the fleet reached the island of Haiti, and the place where he had in the previous winter left the little colony of forty men, he found that the fort and provisions had been destroyed, and that eleven corpses had been buried near by; but not one of the forty men was ever again seen alive. After building a little town, called Isabella in honor of the queen, Columbus began exploring by land and sea. He found much that was beautiful and interesting but much more that was disappointing. 31 | Moreover, the Indians were sometimes unfriendly, and his own men were often unruly and treacherous. At length, after four years of varying fortune, he started home, and after a long, hard voyage, during which provisions gave out, he and his men, weak with hunger, finally reached Spain in June. He was kindly received and was promised more ships for another voyage. 32 | In May, 1498, with six vessels and two hundred men besides the sailors, Columbus started on a third voyage, this time directing his course more to the south than he had done before. He landed on an island, which he named Trinidad, and then sailed along the northern coast of South America. 33 | He was not well, however, and in August turned his course for Santo Domingo, where he found things were going badly. Trouble with the Indians had arisen, and even more serious trouble in the colony itself had broken out. For two years Columbus struggled to set things right. However, he was not successful as a colonizer. Besides, many people were beginning to lose faith in him because he did not get the expected treasures for Spain. Many others were jealous of his fame and plotted to ruin him. At length, an official was sent from Spain to Haiti to look into the situation. When he reached the island, he confiscated Columbus’s property, put him in chains, and sent him as a prisoner to the country from which he had but recently sailed with high honor. 34 | In Spain the people were sympathy with the admiral in his disgrace; so too was the queen, who sent money and summoned him to court. She received him there with tears in her eyes, and he broke down and wept at her feet. 35 | In 1502 Columbus started on a fourth voyage, sailing along the eastern coast of Central America. But he was not able to accomplish much and finally suffered a shipwreck on the island of Jamaica, where he spent a year of misery. At last he set out for home, arriving there only a short time before Queen Isabella, his only protector, died. 36 | Poor, sick, and discouraged, Columbus dragged out a weary life for eighteen months longer. He died in Spain of a broken heart, May 20, 1506, in utter ignorance of the greatness of his discovery. So little appreciated was he that the city annals make no mention of his death. It remained for succeeding generations to lift his name from obscurity and to give faithful acknowledgement of his achievements in the advance of human progress. 37 ★ |  |
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156 reads • May 2025 • 2354 words • 37 rows
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