“Columbus sailed the ocean blue…”

“Listen to me, O coastlands, and hearken, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name…. I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Scripture quote from Columbus’s journal

Born in Genoa, Italy

Worked in family wool shop in childhood

Trained in cartography

In 1484, at thirty-three, he and his brother Bartolomeo were hired as mapmakers

Studied Eratosthenes – Greek geographer from two thousand years ago

Experience sailing as far north as Iceland and as far south as Guinea

Created own calculations from Canary Islands to Cipangu (Japan) – came within 150 leagues.

Appetite whetted by rediscovery of Norse Islands by the Danish in 1476

Natural rock formation on Corvo Island

He signed his name encased in a triangular pattern representing different names for God

“Christopher Ferens , or Christ-bearer”

Wrote a book entitled Book of Prophecies…

“For the execution of the journey to the Indies I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps…”

Upon first discovery of gold… “remember to whom she ought to thank for it.”

To outfit three caravels with ninety sailors for one year

Cost = 2 million maravedis = $1.3 million

Sail Southwest by South to the Canary Islands and then along the 28th Parallel – Trade Winds

Return north of the equator – Prevailing

Westerlies

1484 - Presented plan to King John II of Portugal – denied

1484 – sent brother to King Henry VII of England – denied

1486 – plan finally presented to the Sovereigns of Castille and Aragon – had been preoccupied fighting at Grenada

“Columbus’ scheme rested on weak foundations, uncertain and impossible to any educated person.”

Commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabella in Spring of 1492: Greedy and summarily dismissed Intervention by Luis de Santangel! Collateral?

Shipped out August 3, 1492 – followed unsuccessfully by Portuguese mariners

Was there an attempted muntiny?

October 11th – landfall – “San Salvador” – see Columbus’ letter – Watling Island in the Bahamas

“From signs I was able to understand that in the south there was a king who had large vessels of gold and possessed much of it…”

Exploring the surrounding islands for gold, the Santa Maria becomes grounded

Columbus names the island La Navidad – builds a fort there.

At one point in the exploration the Pinta disappears – allure of wealth

The Nina and Pinta return to Spain and Columbus meets with the King and Queen

Pope Alexander VI sends a congratulatory letter to be read in the court…

“We heard indeed that…you had some time ago designed in your minds to send for and discover some islands by others, in order to induce the natives and inhabitants thereof to worship our redeemer…you appointed our beloved son, Christopher Columbus…Who, at length, by divine aid, having used diligence, discovered while navigating in the Ocean, certain very remote islands and also mainland which had hitherto not been found by others; herein dwell multitudes of people living peaceably and…imbued with good morals; and the hope is entertained that if they were instructed, the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ might easily be introduced to the aforesaid lands and islands.”

May 4, 1493

Granted title Admiral of the Ocean Sea

Spain rewarded him with 335,000 maravedis

1/8 of the returns on his original investment for the expedition

He requested even more…

Seventeen vessels, twelve hundred men, and record travel time!

The unexpected scene at La Navidad

Columbus’s men turn against him so he: Demands tribute of gold from Indians Established system of Spanish tax collectors Indians forced into slave labor…Las Casas

writes…

“Since violence, provocation and injustice from the Christians never ceased, some fled to the mountains, and others began to slay Christians, in return for all the wrongs and the torture they had suffered. When that happened, vengeance was immediately taken; the Christians called it punishment, yet not the guilty alone, but all who lived in a village or a district, were sentenced to execution or torture.”

The tribute system eventually breaks down

Replaced by the “encomienda” system, which Spain made official policy for Haiti in 1502

This would be modeled later in Mexico, Peru, and Florida

In two years, the population of Espanola decreased by 1/3, or by 100,000.

Eight years later, the population had cut in half.

Four years after that only 20,000 remained.

Espanola falls into chaos, plagued with rebellions

During the third trip, Ferdinand and Isabella replace Columbus with Bodadilla he is put in irons.

In 1502, “The Admiral of Mosquitoes” attempts to return to Espanola and is refused entrance.

He proceeded down the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica – he finds the source of gold.

This discovery ushers in the era of the Conquistadores.

Columbus dies in 1506 at the age of fifty-three.

“Estimates of Haiti’s pre-Columbian population range as high as 8,000,000 people…When Christopher Columbus returned to Spain… the census of Indian adults in 1496, conducted by his brother, was 1,100,000.”

James Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me

“For North America alone, estimates of native populations in Columbus’s day range from 2 to 18 million. By the end of the 19th century the population had shrunk to about 530,000.”

David Meltze, How Columbus Sickened The World

How could any pre-modern civilization eliminate seven million people in just over two years?

At most, after two trips, Columbus could have had one thousand men at his command.

Estimates for deaths caused by the Columbian exchange in the New World have reached 56 million!

Most recent research puts the entire native population on both continents at 53 million.

The trend in pre-Columbian population estimates is falling – 1976 researchers lowered the number by 4 million.

More conservative estimates set total at 8.5 million for all of pre-Columbian North America.

It’s possible that James Loewen is correct in espousing the “Afro-Phoenician voyages.”

It’s also possible that these voyages infected the native population in pre-Columbian America.

It’s well-known that the Aztecs slaughtered hundreds of thousands in religious ceremonies.

Archeologists have discovered pre-Columbian decimated villages.

Victor Davis Hanson, author of Aztec Warfare, estimates that the Aztecs sacrificed between ten and eighty thousand in 1487 in a single ceremony.