A Christopher Columbus Chronology (1451-1506) 1451 Christopher Columbus is born in Genoa, Italy. 1469 Fernando of Aragon and Isabel of Castile marry. 1474 The crowns of Aragon and Castile are united. 14 76 Columbus arrives in Portugal for the first time. 1477 Columbus moves to Lisbon, Portugal. 14 79(?) Columbus marries Felipa Moniz Perestrelo. September 4, 1479: Treaty of Alca<;ovas between Portugal and Spain is signed. 1483- 1485 Columbus tries and fails to receive the support of King ]oao II of Portugal for a voyage of discovery. 1485 Columbus moves to Spain with his son Diego, born ca. 1480; his wife Felipa had died by that time. 1486- 1487 A commission convened by Fernando and Isabel examines Co­ lumbus's plans. january 1486: Columbus is received by Fernando and Isabel at Alcala de Henares and presents his plans for a voyage of discovery. August 1487: Fernando and Isabel tell Columbus that the com­ mission has not approved his plans. 1487- 1488 The Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias sails around the Cape of Good Hope, reaching the Indian Ocean. 1488 August: Birth of Fernando Colon, the natural son of Columbus and Beatriz Enriquez de Arana. 1492 january 2: The reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula ends with the occupation of Granada by Fernando and Isabel. 177 178 CHRONOLOGY March 31: Fernando and Isabel sign a decree ordering the Jews of Spain either to be baptized or to leave the country by July 31. April 17: Fernando and Isabel grant to Columbus the Capitula­ tions of Santa Fe. August 3: Columbus sets sail, with three ships, from Palos, Spain, on his first voyage. October 12: Columbus lands on the island of Guanahani, in the Bahamas, and names it San Salvador. December 24-25: Santa Marfa is shipwrecked. 1493 january 16: Columbus sets sail on his return voyage, leaving thirty-nine Spaniards at the newly established settlement, La Navidad. March 15: Columbus reaches Palos, Spain. September 25: Columbus sets sail, with seventeen ships, from Cadiz, Spain, on his second voyage. November 3: Columbus reaches Dominica. November 27-28: Columbus reaches Navidad, on Hispaniola, and finds that it has been razed and the men killed. December: On Hispaniola Columbus chooses the site for the set­ tlement of Isabela. 1494 The French invasion of Italy leads to Spanish intervention and war. April 24-September 29: Columbus explores the south coast of Cuba and Jamaica. june 7: The Treaty of Tordesillas between Portugal and Spain is signed. 1496 Bartolome Colon founds the city of Santo Domingo on Hispan­ iola, the oldest continuous European settlement in the Americas. March 10: Columbus sails back to Spain with two ships. june 11: Columbus arrives in Cadiz, Spain. 1497 May 20-August 6: John Cabot sails roundtrip from Bristol, En­ gland, to the northern peninsula of Newfoundland. 1498 May 20: Vasco da Gama reaches the southwest coast of India, after sailing south and east around the Cape of Good Hope. May 30: Columbus leaves from Sanlucar de Barrameda, with six ships, on his third voyage. August 1: The Spaniards land on Trinidad. August 5: Columbus sends two boats to land on the South Amer­ ican mainland. CHRONOLOGY 179 1499 May 18: Amerigo Vespucci embarks on the first exploration after Columbus's of the coast of South America. 1499- 1500 November-September: Vicente Yanez Pinzon sails from Palos to Brazil, explores the Amazon, and returns to Palos. 1500 April 22: Pedro Alvares Cabral lands on the coast of Brazil. August 23: Francisco de Bobadilla, appointed by Fernando and Isabel, arrives in Santo Domingo and seizes Columbus's private quarters and possessions. October: Columbus and his brothers are sent home to Spain in chains. December: Fernando and Isabel release Columbus. 1501 September 3: Queen Isabel appoints Nicolas de Ovando royal gov­ ernor of the Indies, in succession to Columbus. 1502 April 15: Ovando arrives in the Indies to serve as governor until 1509. May 9: Columbus sets sail, with four ships, from Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth voyage. 1503 june 25: Columbus is marooned on Jamaica. 1504 june 29: Columbus and the other survivors leave Jamaica and return to Hispaniola. September 12: Columbus sets sail for Spain. November 7: Columbus arrives at Sanhicar de Barrameda, Spain. November 26: Queen Isabel dies. 1506 May 20: Columbus dies in Valladolid, Spain. Glossary adelantado Governor of a province agnus dei A small religious medal stamped with the figure of a lamb, honoring Jesus, "the lamb of God" aje A sweet potato almadia A wooden canoe arroba A unit of weight equal to 11.5 kilograms astrolabe A compact instrument used to observe the celestial bodies for timetelling, navigation, and astrological purposes Ave Maria A prayer in honor of the Virgin Mary axi Capsicum; red or chili pepper blanca A small copper coin bohio A word meaning "house," used by the Tainos to indicate the island on which they lived bohuti A seer or prophet; also a type of medical practitioner cacique A Taino chieftain cahiz A grain measure equivalent to 4. 78 metric tons castellano A gold coin worth 490 maravedfs, or 1.31 Venetian ducats; the Venetian ducat weighed 3.5 grams, so the castellano weighed approxi­ mately 4.6 grams. Cathay An old name for China, especially northern China Cipangu The Chinese name for Japan ceuti A Portuguese coin; 3 ceutis equaled 1 blanca cohoba A hallucinogenic powder inhaled through the nose corregidor The royal magistrate or governor of a city in Spain or in the Spanish colonies cross-staff An angle-measuring instrument consisting of a rod or staff and a sliding cross-bar, used at sea to determine the angle of celestial bodies 180 GLOSSARY 181 cruzado A Portuguese gold coin of approximately the same weight (3.5 grams) and fineness as the Venetian gold ducat, which was the interna­ tional standard encomienda A grant entitling a Spanish colonist to the labor of a group of Indians, supposedly in return for instructing them in the Christian faith excelente A gold coin worth two castellanos, or 2.62 Venetian ducats, at the time of Fernando and Isabel fanega A unit of volume varying between 225 and 555 liters Guards The stars Beta and Gamma of Ursa Minor, farthest from the North Star hidalgo A member of the lower nobility of Spain Indies The West Indies, the islands enclosing the Caribbean Sea between southeastern North America and northern South America maravedi A unit of accounting in Christian Spain; 375 maravedis had the value of a Venetian gold ducat marco (mark) A weight approximately equal to 230 grams real A Portuguese silver coin of about the same weight (3.5 grams) as the Venetian gold ducat reboans A wooden drum rubbio A unit of dry measure (about 194.4 liters) used to weigh sugar at Madeira Salve Regina A hymn in honor of the Virgin Mary zemi An idol; a Taino spirit or supernatural being Questions for Consideration 1. The term globalization describes the increasing interdependence of the world's diverse regions and their economies. What part did Columbus's voyages play in this process? 2. Why did the Portuguese crown reject Columbus's proposal for a west­ ward voyage to Asia? Why did the Spanish crown accept it? 3. To what extent were Columbus's voyages and the Spanish coloniza­ tion in the Americas that resulted from them the continuation of medieval commercial and colonizing practices in the Mediterranean and Iberia? 4. To what extent were Columbus's voyages motivated by his Christian faith, and to what extent did religious factors determine the Spanish crown's support for them? What other motives-commerce, rivalry with other European powers-were involved? In what ways were the motives connected? 5. Why did Columbus's voyages lead to permanent European settlement in the Americas, whereas the tenth-century Viking voyages did not? 6. What does Columbus's Log tell us about his first impression of the peoples he encountered and of their reactions to him? 7. Why did relations between the Spanish colonists and the indigenous peoples of the Indies deteriorate so rapidly? What were the conse­ quences for both the indigenous peoples and the colonists? 8. How did Columbus's relationship to the Spanish crown change over time, and why? 9. Is it possible to arrive at a balanced understanding of Columbus's voy­ ages using the European sources we possess, in the absence of docu­ mentation from the Tainos or Caribs? 10. Assess the significance of European maritime technology and superior weaponry in making the Enterprise of the Indies possible. 11. Analyze the consequences of the exchange of food plants, animals, and diseases among Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas after 1492. 182 QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION 183 12. How was Columbus's achievement judged by his contemporaries? How has the assessment of the man and his voyages changed over time, and why? 13. Some historians argue that we should no longer use the term discovery to describe Columbus's 1492 voyage or the term Indians to describe the people he encountered. Why are these long-accepted terms now being criticized? Is this criticism valid? 14. Why was Christopher Columbus adopted as a national hero in the United States, and what role has he played in the formation of the nation's identity? Selected Bibliography PRIMARY SOURCES Carrillo, Jesus, ed., and Diane Avalle-Arce, trans., preface by Anthony Pag­ den. Oviedo on Columbus. Repertorium Columbianum 9. Turnhout, Bel­ gium: Brepols, 2000. Cummins, John. The Voyage of Christopher Columbus: Columbus's Own journal of Discovery, Newly Restored and Translated. New York: St. Mar­ tin's Press, 1992.