Kids Cube/4_History.iso/jubilee/exped.dat

Text File | 1992-02-16 | 4KB | 65 lines

     Between 1492 and 1506 Columbus made four voyages to
the New World. Artists were not a part of the earliest
voyages. Visual woodcuts were based on descriptions in
Columbus's letters. These woodcuts are a clue to how
discovery inspired the European imagination. People were
impressed by new things that recalled something very old
like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Europeans of that
period were overdressed, so Columbus's tale of naked men
and women was real news! Many sixteenth century works
depicting native Americans reflect European fantasies of
a lost or primitive world. The news of the Great
Discovery traveled quickly from Spain to Italy because
of the efforts of the monarchs to secure title to the
new land from the pope. However, four months after
Barcelona had the news, people in Nuremburg,Germany and
much of Europe had no inkling of the discovery.
     Columbus's ship's log and letters and archaeological
digs in the Caribbean furnish more information about the
voyages. The log contains not only the course, but also the
objects sighted and descriptions of people,places,fauna,
flora,and Columbus's ideas of governing the Indies.
     Columbus was concerned that the crew would be
disturbed at being so far from home, so he kept two logs.
He made an "accurate reckoning" of the distance for himself
and a "phony" one for the crew. But since he overestimated
distance on his own reckoning, the phony version was closer
to the truth. One objective was to keep his fleet together
He probably devised a system of signals by fire and smoke
for changing course and striking sail. The two caravels
(the Pinta and Nina) had to restrict their speed by re-
ducing sail because the flagship was a slower ship.
     On the first voyage he discovered what is now the
Bahamas,Cuba,and Haiti.On Christmas eve of 1492,the Santa
Maria ran aground on a coral reef. The cargo was unloaded
and the ship was dismantled and the timbers were used to
fortify houses of the first settlement.
     A myth took shape on board the Pinta on the homeward
journey that Martin Alonso Pinzon, the Captain of the
Pinta, appeared to be the leader of the first voyage
"while Columbus was relegated to the role a of mere
window dresser who had influence at court" [Admiral of
the Ocean Sea]. During the voyage Pinzon altered course
without the Admiral's permission and disappeared for a
few weeks in his own search for gold.
     The second voyage was a large flotilla of 17 ships.
Columbus found that his original colony and the thirty-
nine men left behind at Fort Navidad had been wiped out by
native Taino Indians. He sent 550 Indians back to Spain to
be sold into slavery. At least 200 of them died on the way.
Queen Isabella was outraged that subjects should become
slaves and banned the sale of slaves.
     The third voyage took 330 additional colonists and
supplies to the Indies.
     In 1498 he discovered the South American continent.
     Columbus demanded that every Indian pay him a
tribute of gold every month. Indians were not miners and
they could not comply. Indians were made to pan for gold.
In 1508, the Dominican order of friars was outraged at
the treatment of Indians in the New World: "You are
destroying an innocent people".
     Columbus never did alter his conviction that he had
discovered a route to Asia despite the fact that he encoun-
tered naked savages instead of mandarins in silk brocades;
canoes instead of Chinese junks; and villages of huts
instead of teeming cities.