Voices ofMexico /October • December, 1992 19 , self-taught geographer Humberto López Torres *

plague identifies a semi-ruined house character and his yearning for gold. Five hundred years atter his arrival, as his birthplace. In Spain, there are All this was interpreted as a clear Christopher Columbus and his versions (never validated) that indication of his Jewish origin. personality are still objects of polemic, Columbus was born in Plascencia, Columbus' great grandfather was especially regarding his birthplace, the Extremadura; Tortoso, Catalonia; and a farmer from Moconesi, in the high origin of his forebears and his exact even Pontevedra, Galicia. All serious valley of Fontanabuona. His landing place on October 12, 1492. researchers now agree, on grandfather, Giovanni, born in An English writer at the end of documentary evidence, that Moconesi, moved to Quinto. In the the last century started a legend that Christopher Columbus was Genoese. Middle Ages, Jews were neither Columbus was Greek. In 1682, two The question of his homeland farmers nor lived in rural areas. hundred years earlier, another resolved, a novel has been hatched Domenico Colombo, his father, Englishman said Columbus was about his family. The legend of a was active in the Fregoso Party and born in London. In the 1930s, Jewish Columbus arose in Jewish was several times appointed guardian Portuguese amateur historians circles in the 15th century, when of the city gates, a title and devised the thesis that Zarco, the someone named Colombo boasted of responsibility forbidden to Jews and discoverer of Porto Santo and being related to the discoverer. the sons and nephews of converted Madeira, and Christopher Columbus Emphasis was placed on some of Jews at that time. Domenico bought were one and the same person. his features: his aquiline nose, his and sold real estate, also forbidden The city of Calvi, Corsica, still thorough knowledge of the Old to Jews. calls itself the admiral's cradle and a Testament, his mystical or fanatical There are four acceptable hypotheses about where he landed in YVVYYYVVVVVVVIFY YVVVVVVVV VVVVVVVV VVVVVVYVVVYYTY the Bahamas: Guanahaní, Grand Turk- Caicos, Cat Island and the Samaná Christopher Columbus still inspires lively hypothesis about islands close to San debate five hundred years after he Salvador. The last three hypotheses can be demonstrated there was no abyss on the discarded based on information provided by Columbus about the other side of the Atlantic, just more land. His island where he landed on October 12. efforts made the Americas, Europe, Asia and Published in El Financiero, May 21-22, 1992. Africa aware of each other. Journalist. 20 Voices of Mexico /October • December, 1992

After very detailed research, experts It was hard for him to convince The king was unaware of his agree that the landing was on scientists and officials about the death. The chronicler of Valladolid Guanahaní, the Taino name for the viability of his plan. But specialists did not record it, nor did Spain inform island Columbus called San Salvador. such as Friar Antonio de Marchena, the world that its famous discoverer Later called Trianglo, then Guanahaní Father Juan Pérez, both from La had died. again, and then Watling. More Rábida, and Father Diego Deza, A forgotten Columbus was not the recently, the Bahamas government professor at the University of result of occasional negligence. It rechristened it San Salvador. Salamanca and prior of the monastery lasted three centuries, though he left in Insofar as his personality is of St. Stephen, did believe in him. his wake an inescapable reality that concerned, Christopher Columbus had Thanks to them, Don Enrique de modified the geography of the globe the psychological make-up of a Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia, and the conscience of Europe. modem man: concrete and practical Luis de la Cerda, Duke of Medinacelli, His biography, written by Father to the last detail. He trusted only direct and Queen Isabella herself were Las Casas around 1550, was not experience, which he always strove interested in the plan, the queen published until 1875. A similar work to acquire. He used it to map out his becoming its official sponsor. by Andrea Bernáldez, Columbus' plans and from it conceived his Financing carne from Luis de contemporary, was printed in 1870. grand project. Santangel, a converted Jew and He was neither inept nor intimate friend of King Ferdinand, II inefficient, but did not possess the treasurer of the House of Aragon and Ever since he thought up his plan to principal political gifts of cautious general tax collector, but also a reach the Orient from the west,

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firmness in his decisions and a businessman with ties to Genoese and Columbus had been wavering between profound knowledge of men, the latter Florentine merchants established in Messianism (the conversion of being essential for prudent selection and Cordoba. thousands of souls to the Catholic when handing out posts. While Isabella was alive, faith), and materialism (searching for The image of Columbus as a Columbus had access to the Court and gold). To his arguments based on mere adventurer is false, though he four trips were authorized. When she geography and cartography, he added never spurned and often or perhaps died on November 26, 1504, he no substantial doses of fantasy to always pursued adventure. But his longer had a sponsor and, though his convince his sponsors. plan to reach the Orient by sailing son Diego belonged first to the During the riskiest first voyage, west was neither impulse nor queen's, then to the king's guards because they were heading into the improvisation. It was the result of a —and carne to be a shrewd member of unknown, Columbus shaved the rigorous study of geography, the Court, skillful at getting favors-- number of miles' sailed daily to make consulted, modified, discussed and he achieved nothing in his father's the sailors believe they had covered a finally accepted by those who behalf. Afflicted with rheumatism and shorter distance than they really had. believed in him: gout, Christopher Columbus died and, grudgingly, her husband delirious and hallucinating in I See Voices of Mexico. No. 18, Jan-Mar, Ferdinand of Aragon. Valladolid on March 20, 1506. 1992, p. 77. Volees of Mexico /October • December, 1992 21

He was convinced the new lands between Europe and Far Eastern Asia. France, was attacked by pirates and were Japan and China (Cipango and Deliberate or not, the error was Columbus was miraculously spared by Cathay as Marco Polo called them). enormous.2 swimming almost 10 km to Portugal. Neither the discoveries made alter his, Such distortions led King John II Although he sailed from Portugal nor the knowledge that he was of Portugal to reject the plan in 1485, to Iceland and England and got to responsible for falsifying and Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile know Guinea in equatorial Africa, measurements of degrees and miles to do the same in 1490. Columbus did not receive the during the first voyage, shook him What finally convinced the command of a ship. He applied from that belief before he died. Spanish rulers of the trip's viability himself rather to the study of land and During his stay in Portugal and in was the support Columbus got from sea geography, geometry, physics and Porto Santo, Columbus analyzed the the Franciscans at La Rábida and from astronomy. His knowledge of classical Greek geographic studies in the expansionist euphoria inspired by heavenly bodies, tides, currents and depth and based his entire plan on the capitulation of , the last latitudes fed his fantasies. Ptolemy. For the latter, Terra Firma Moslem stronghold in Spain, on His thirst to discover gold extended from Cape St. Vincent, the January 2, 1492. deposits that would make him westernmost point of the Iberian Moreover, Columbus was not the immensely wealthy, his obsession peninsula, to Cape Catignara, great sailor some of his panegyrists with spreading Catholicism to every designated the easternmost point of have described. Son of Domenico, comer he discovered, as well as his Asia, and covered 180 degrees of wool merchant and later tavern keeper, vehemence and knack of persuasion, latitude, that is, half of the globe. young Christopher had a chance to caught the eye of the rulers, courtiers

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But for Marino de Tiro, the sail coastwise when he was thirteen and merchants of emerging Spain, second-century Greek mathematician, or fourteen years old. He sailed enlisted their support for the voyage Terra Firma extended 225 degrees, 45 between Genoa and Savona, west as and, if successful, would earn him the more than those calculated by far as Nice and later Portovenere and title of Admiral of the Ocean Sea and Ptolemy. On his own, Columbus south to Corsica. viceroy and governor of all the lands added another 28 degrees to Marino The Centurione, Spinola and he discovered. de Tiro's 225 degrees because of Di Negro families, merchants, ship His inexperience as a sailor indications culled from Marco Polo, owners and friends of his family, took brought him finto conflict with Martín as well as another 30 for the distance him as passenger on voyages to the Alonso Pinzón, who almost led a between Cathay and Cipango. Greek island of Chios and then, also as mutiny on the first voyage and then This would encompass the a passenger, beyond Gibraltar to see deserted with the Pinta and its entire continental mass, so that the rest of the the Atlantic. But the fleet, sailing to crew. Pinzón died five days after sea would leave 77. He substracted the ships returned triumphant another 9 degrees for a stop he 2 Columbus' corrections did not go far to Spain. enough to compensate for Ptolemy's His excessive vehemence in planned to make at the Canaries. Of miscalculation of a degree measuring 50 Ptolemy's 180 degrees, only 68 nautical miles instead of 60 as was later maintaining that his arguments were remained, almost a third to be sailed determined (Editor's note). irrefutable and his lack of tact when 22 V oices of Mexico /October • December, 1992

giving his reasons, gradually lost him to the Spanish crown and maneuverable and fit for coastal the confidence of the rulers. His third questionable claim to have been the traffic, though not made for sailing on and fourth voyages were authorized first white man to see the new the high seas. Their triangular lateen "as the best way of getting rid of an continent earned him the honor of sails were replaced by square sails irksome postulant rather than out of having his name attached to it. bent to taller masts. any interest in acquiring new lands." The third caravel, La Gallega Columbus always thought III —so called because it belonged to a was the Malaysian peninsula. If he had Columbus took 90 men with him in Galician, — was sailed 100 miles farther, he would three ships on his first voyage. Except anchored at Palos awaiting cargo. have realized it was an island. But he for four foreigners —a Portuguese, a Columbus chartered it and because it turned back. On the fourth voyage, he Genoese called Jacobo Rimo, a was larger than the other two, chose it touched Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Venetian and a Calabrese— plus as his flagship, christening it the Santa María. ♦ AAAAAAAAAAA.AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.AA The crew aboard the Santa María consisted of 39 men; 27 sailed in the 11 Experts agree that the landing was on Pinta and in 24 in the Niña. Guanahaní, the Taino name for the island Columbus, captain of the fleet, was also captain of the Santa María. The Columbus called San Salvador captain of the Pinta was Martín Alonso Pinzón, and his brother Vicente commanded the Niña. Rica and , but clung to his Columbus, all were Spaniards, mostly Besides sailors, there was an belief that it was an island off the Andalusians. Only four were in interpreter, Luis de Torres, who knew south of Cathay "and that exploring trouble with the law: one Bartolomé Hebrew and Arabic; a master-at-arms; among them, he would find a strait de Torres, who fled Palos after killing a notary and secretary; an accountant leading him to the Indies." If he had a man in a fight; the other three, his and a king's steward, Pedro Gutiérrez, followed the coast northwest, he friends, helped him escape. Of these, who was suspected of being a spy for would have touched Yucatan. Juan de Moguer became navigator of King Ferdinand and Columbus' In Columbus' lifetime, before the his ship. enemies at Court. fourth voyage, other "discoverers" set The expedition had powerful The voyage lasted 217 days, forth, with royal consent, on the route sponsors, like Luis de Santangel, the from August 3, 1492 to March 15, Columbus had opened eight years Duke of Medinacelli and Luis de la 1493. During that time, they earlier. Peralonso Niño, navigator of Cerda, so that Queen Isabella was discovered the trade winds; the the Santa María in 1492, discovered the estuary of the Amazon River; A4114kAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Rodrigo de Bastidas sailed from Venezuela to the Gulf of Darien in 11 His plan to reach the Orient by sailing what is today Panama; Pedro Alvarez Gouvea Cabral, a Portuguese west was neither an impulse nor an navigator, discovered the coast of improvisation. It was the result of a Brazil, while the Venetian, Giovanni Caboto, went north in search of the rigorous study of geography "Seven Cities" on behalf of Henry VII of England. Alonso de Ojeda reached the never in danger of having to pledge magnetic pole, different from the Gulf of Paria at the mouth of the her jewels as collateral. On the geographical one; great banks of Orinoco, which Columbus had contrary, the Crown, under pretext of algae floating on the water's surface, explored, and made a fortune of African contraband recently making navigating enormously millions in pearls he found there. discovered in the port of Palos, forced difficult, as well as heretofore With him traveled a Florentine, the the municipality to pay for the unknown birds, vegetation and fruit. employee of a commercial bank in construction and fitting out of two On September 30, Martín Alonso Seville, called Americo Vespucci. His caravels for a twelve-month voyage. Pinzón thought he saw something later appointment as chief navigator The Niña and the Pinta were fast, resembling an island. False alarm. Voices of Mexico /October • December, 1992 23

Something similar happened on carrying grains, cereals, grapevines, eaten away by mollusks called "wood October 7, when a bombard was fired horses, pigs and sheep. This was the worms." He remained shipwrecked in from the Niña and a flag hoisted on voyage that began colonization, Jamaica for an entire year. He was the mainmast, a signal that land was confrontations with natives, disputes rescued, transferred to and, sighted. The disillusionment added to between Spaniards and the from there, returned to Spain. discontent among the crew. enslavement of native peoples who, With his body devastated and his spirit humiliated, he arrived in Seville AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA♦ in October 1504. Though he was only 53 years old, he suffered from gout, It was hand for him to convince scientists and advanced arthritis caused him and officials of the viability of his plan frequent fevers. Although he was recognized as Admiral of the Ocean Sea, such was On the night of October 11, sent back to Spain, were sold at the not the case with the titles of viceroy Columbus believed he saw a light on slave market in Seville. or governor. Only two percent of the the rough seas, not revealing it but On his third voyage, Columbus rights and privileges from commercial writing it down in his diary. Pedro reached the Gulf of Paria, at the mouth operations were granted him. Gutiérrez, the king's spy, also saw the of the Orinoco. There he founded Christopher Columbus' life, light, but Rodrigo Sánchez, the royal . But cruelty to the thought and actions place him at the inspector, did not. natives and uprisings among the transition between the Middle Ages On the morning of October 12, Spaniards led the king and queen to and the Renaissance. His theoretical, from the Pinta, seaman Antonio send Francisco de Bobadilla to replace philosophical and theological views Rodríguez Bermejo cried out the Columbus, who was sent back to were medieval as were his scientific long awaited words: "Land, land!" and Spain in irons. suppositions. In contrast, his inquiring won the 10,000 maravedis offered to On his fourth and final voyage, mind, noteworthy love of nature, the first man to sight land on the other Columbus touched the coast of Central capacity —when the moment arrived- side of the Atlantic. But, to the king America, which he imagined to be an to attempt to explain hitherto and queen, Columbus said he had island. He was shipwrecked in one of unobserved phenomena and undefined sighted it first and they believed him. his vessels, while the other two were facts were pure Renaissance. The landing was on the island called Guanahaní, which Columbus christened San Salvador, part of the Bahamas archipelago. Then he touched Cuba and Haiti. Columbus' flagship ran aground on a coral reef in Caracol Bay, in what is now Haiti, on Christmas Eve 1492, and its timbers became part of the ill-fated fort and first settlement at Navidad. On the return voyage, two violent storms almost sank the Niña, with Columbus aboard, and the Pinta. The admiral arrived in Barcelona on April 30, 1493, where the Court was at that time. He was rendered honors reserved only for the great figures of Spain. Two months after his arrival in the Gothic city of Barcelona, news of his discovery had shot all across Europe. On September 25 of that year, "Americae rectectio", medallions with Joannes Stredan (drawing). Columbus began his second voyage. Christopher Columbus' and Americus Collaert (engraving). Antwerp, 1585. He took 1,200 men in 27 ships, also Vespucius' portraits. 24 Voices of Mexico /October • December, 1992

IV part of the world and, as it dropped at Alfonso V of Portugal about the Christopher Columbus' enterprise to Bristol, it would rise somewhere else. viability of crossing the Atlantic enter the Atlantic proposed to Portugal far outstripped the rest of westward as the shortest route to the demonstrate two things: to reach the Europe in discoveries, subjugations Indies, to the east. Indies by the shortest route and prove and colonizations at this time. The In an extensive letter accompanied the theory that the Earth was round, a Azores, Madeira and African territories by maps, cartographic reports, and truism accepted by all in the 15th from modem Senegal, including measurements on parallels and century but that had remained Mauritania, to Equatorial Guinea, were meridians, Toscanelli stated that unproven until then. Portuguese territories. It had a "crossing the Atlantic was the shortest Columbus had studied geography, physics and geometry in depth, he had A ÁAÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁAÁAÁÁÁAÁÁÁÁAAAÁAAAÁÁÁAAAAÁÁÁÁÁAAÁ gone into the classical Greek scientists, he took Marco Polo's II The Genoese, besides being descriptions of Cathay and Cipango as knowledgeable about the sea and dogma, and he considered himself the one to carry out Ezra's Old Testament science, was audacious and ambitious prophecies. Living in Portugal, Genoese Columbus voyaged to Iceland and, on powerful fleet and its rulers were all way to reach Asia." The maps were the return trip, proved that there were interested in maritime expeditions. A very detailed and graphically traced the 13-meter tides in the port of Bristol Portuguese, Bartolomé Díaz route to Cipango and Cathay, with the certain times of the year. Therefore, it rounded the Cape of Good Hope, the possibility of finding islands on the way. was impossible for the sea around the southernmost tip of Africa, in 1488. Neither Alfonso V nor his court continent to end in an abyss, as the In 1474, Florentine Paolo gave that statement much importance, Medieval contended. Toscanelli, a humanist, student of and the letter and maps were shelved If the tide rose at Bristol, it would codices, mathematician and in the royal archives. Though not necessarily have to drop in another geographer, was asked by King totally confirmed, Columbus is said to have had access to the letters and knew how to take advantage of their content. Columbus' detractors say that when he lived in Porto Santo with his Portuguese wife, Felipa Moniz Perestrello, the survivor of a shipwreck from an expedition that had crossed the ocean and found new lands was washed up on that coast. Columbus talked with him, got all the useful information he could out of him, and left him to die (some say killed him so that no one else would know his secret). When he presented his plan for an Atlantic voyage to King John II of Portugal in 1483, the king did not reject it outright. He submitted it to the consideration of temed men such as cosmographer Diego Ortiz, bishop of Ceuta, and to the Jewish experts in nautical geography, José and Rodrigo Vizinho. They were unanimous in R. Bonatti (etching). their opinion that Columbus' Columbus meets Indians. P. Polaggi (printing). calculations were incorrect. Following Voices of Mexico /October • December, 1992 25

this, the king officially turned who vaguely promised support but or gray eyes, with a steady gaze. His Columbus down. without confirming anything. air, as a whole, was quite noble, with a The circumstances of Ferdinand Once again, the monks of La certain solemnity and a marked and Isabella's official rejection were Rábida intervened: Father Diego willpower. Obstinate and silent, with similar. In May 1486, they received Deza, Beatriz de Bobadilla, Marquise an enigmatic mien. But when he Columbus in Cordoba. Their de Moya and lady-in-waiting to the wanted to be persuasive, he expressed impression was that the Genoese, ■ ■ ♦ besides being knowledgeable about •••••••• • ••••••••••AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA••••••• the sea and science, was audacious and ambitious. The plan was presented to I‘In 1982, at the Columbian Exposition in them as an instrument for obtaining Chicago, 71 portraits of the navigator were gold and riches with which they could reconquer Jerusalem. placed side by side, and no two were alike The proposal was placed in the hands of a commission of experts headed by Father Fernando de queen, her husband Andrés de himself with ease and this happened Talavera, superior of the Prado Cabrera, and the merchant Luis when he wanted something. monastery and the queen's confessor. It de Santangel, Columbus once again As far as we know, he was never was composed of scholars in different presented his plan to the Spanish king obsessed with women. Many different disciplines, almost all professors at the and queen at Santa Fe, the Christian passions bound his heart. But, though University of Salamanca. camp near Granada. he was attractive, he had an almost Their judgement was rendered at The Castilian bureaucracy impassive lack of concern for the the end of 1490, more than four years took three months to draw up the opposite sex, a kind of cold later, and was negative. Columbus' contract between the Crown and disposition to let women throw hypotheses were considered Columbus. It was signed on Apríl themselves at him. He had love affairs, "senseless": the distance calculated 17, 1492, the date on which but awaited them unmoved, searching between Castile and the Indies was preparations officially began for and not searching, a prisoner of just as unlikely as that "there might the voyage that was to change desires that were not exactly his own. be a place the existence of which the world. His wife, Felipa Moniz Perestrello, whom he married in AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAILAAAAAAAAAAA Lisbon in 1468 and who bore his son Diego, belonged to a family of some 11 Although of medieval spirit, nobility related to courtly circles. Her Columbus was a Christian and a father, a cultivated man of the sea, belonged to a circle of young men Catholic in the modern sense educated by Henry the Navigator at the famous school at Sagres. He participated in the discovery could still be unknown so many V of Madeira around 1437 and headed millennia after having been created No one can say with certainty what the expedition that occupied Porto by ." Christopher Columbus was really Santo. For that, he received the title Columbus was almost not like. At the 1982 Columbian of governor and the right to govern. received at Court in 1491. His Exposition in Chicago, 71 portraits of Later, he was a municipal advisor insistence became bothersome for the navigator were placed side by side in Lisbon. rulers concerned with fighting their and no two were alike. With and Felipa's father had already died final battle against the Moslems and without moustache, differing skin when Columbus met her and the their stronghold in Granada. They tones, a face sometimes long, family's rank and fortunes were had titile interest in maritime sometimes oval. somewhat diminished. But for adventures and discoveries. His biographers describe him as Columbus, the marriage meant a Columbus made representations having a Nazarene air, hair dishevelled, step upward in Portuguese society. to Charles VIII of France and Henry reddish, a flaming blond that soon Felipa died around 1485 and, so it VII of England, but to no avail. He turned white. A man of good stature, appears, without the widower showing again approached John II of Portugal, "taller than average," lively clear-blue much despair. 26 V oices of Mexico /October • December, 1992

In pursuit of the king and queen, wanted. And Columbus, though no and apostasy were one and the Columbus resided in Cordoba from of women, was not used same thing. the end of 1485 and all of 1486. to saying no either. There is likewise evidence of his There he met the beautiful Beatriz It has also been said that Queen negative characteristics: his fondness Enríquez de Harana, fifteen years his Isabella's pulse quickened when for money and privilege, his mistrust, junior. Stunned by the warm words of Columbus appeared at Court. Isabella miserliness, nepotism, indifference to the Genoese, by his fantasies and was the same age as Columbus, had the terrible practice of slavery and, dreams of wealth, she was fascinated honey-colored hair, light-colored eyes aboye all, pride. In the final years of by him. She became his lover, giving and white skin. She was not tall and her his life, he felt he was the man to birth to his second son, Fernando, in figure was rather round. All told, there initiate the Third Era: the era of the August 1488. was a mixture of softness and Holy Spirit. No one can deny that Columbus AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA•AA was a great geographer: self-taught, but sensitive, sharp and inspired. 11 No one can deny that Columbus Having just arrived in the New was a great geographer: World, he was an attentive observer of the land, plants, animal behavior, self-taught, but sensitive, distribution of heat and variations in the Earth's magnetism. sharp and inspired His was not the case of a fortunate traveler become discoverer by chance. He was the inventor of a hitherto Beatriz carne from a family of arrogance, but a sensitive spirit with a unheard of idea. vintners with their own lands near propensity to give reign to fantasies. From the Late Paleolithic on, 20 or Santa María de Trasierra, near To judge from his encounters 25 thousand years ago, the Americas Cordoba. Beatriz was well-to-do, knew with different women throughout his had been populated by men who how to read and write, qualities lifetime, Columbus must have been a crossed the Bering Strait. When infrequent in women not of the fascinating man. He was pleasant- Columbus landed in San Salvador, nobility. The relationship with looking upon first appearance and there were millions of inhabitants on Columbus differed little from marriage, women instinctively opened their the continent. Great civilizations though the navigator never married her. arms to him more than he did or prospered and others had already Christopher Columbus was a poor probably had intentions of doing. disappeared. man who knew how to choose well-to- do women. First his wife Felipa, then AAAAAÁAÁÁAÁAAAAÁÁÁAAÁÁAÁAÁAAAAAAÁAAAAAÁÁAAAÁÁA Beatriz. There is talk of others, but no historical proof. 11 Columbus' merit rests on the fact The intervention of Beatriz de Bobadilla, Marquise of Moya, was that his voyage proved there was no very important in getting the queen to authorize Columbus' plan. Some abyss on the other side of the ocean say that Columbus never married Beatriz Enríquez de Harana so as not to awaken the marquise's jealousy Although of medieval spirit, Columbus' merit rests on the fact and lose the benefit of her access to Columbus was a Christian and a that his voyage demonstrated that the Court. Catholic in the modem sense. He there was no abyss on the other side When Columbus began his had a solid, sincere, inexhaustible of the ocean. There was more land. first voyage, he put in at Canary faith, free of superstition and Only because of his voyage, Europe, Islands and stayed from August 12 to hypocrisy at all times. He was never a Asia and Africa became aware of the September 6 on Gomera Island, clergyman nor did he hesitate to existence of a new world. And the where Beatriz de Bobadilla was confront clerics in defense of his Americas became aware of the governor. The Marquise of Moya was plan and to demonstrate its viability existence of three other continents. It young, beautiful, energetic and at a time when, in the eyes of the was a mutual encounter that deeply impetuous. She knew what she Inquisition, dissent from dogma changed the course óf history