Christopher Columbus and His Enterprise of the Indies
by Christopher Columbus is possibly the best known explorer of the middle ages. Born in Genoa, Italy in 1451, not much is know of his early life but as a young man he worked as a sailor and then became a sea fairing entrepreneur.
In September 1493, the second expedition set sail from Cadiz comprising of seventeen large ships and one and half thousand colonists, arriving in the New World in November. By the time he got back to Hispaniola, the thirty-nine men he had left had been slaughtered by the native people and a second colony was founded.
Columbus swiftly set about subduing the native Taino tribe and conducted what some believe to be a campaign of genocide. He enslaved many and slaughtered many more, taking the population down from as many as eight million when he and his crew first arrived to around three million by 1496.
After exploring numerous islands in the Caribbean including Puerto Rico and Jamaica, he returned to Spain in June 1496 but was not well receive as the second expedition had proved expensive for his patrons, the king and queen of Spain.
Columbus with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Source
With all concerned still believing the territory found was in Asia, a third, smaller expedition was organised with Columbus instructed to find a strait to India. In May 1498, six ships set sail carrying provisions and more colonists, who landed this time in Trinidad and then entered the Gulf of Paria in Venezuela.
It was here, when he realised the size of the Orinoco River, that Columbus is said to have known he was not in Asia but in fact had discovered a new continent which he believed must be the outer regions of the Garden of Eden, (although some historians maintain that he still believed it was Asia he had found when asked about it on his death bed).
He returned to Hispaniola where he had left his brothers in charge, Diego and Bartholomew. Conditions there were in decline and Columbus decided to take charge, ruling with an iron hand causing resentment from the colonists and local chiefs alike. Complaints of his brutal rule got back to Spain and in 1500 a chief justice was sent to bring him and his brothers back to Spain in chains.
However on his return he was realised from bondage and allowed a fourth expedition by his patrons who were impressed by his belief that he had found the location of the Garden of Eden. He was instructed to find the earthly paradise and the kingdoms of gold believed to be nearby.
On his return to the New World, he explored the coast of Central America looking for gold and on attempting to return to Hispaniola, got marooned in Jamaica where he was stranded for a year before being rescued.
In November 1504, he returned to Spain, three weeks before Queen Isabella died. After that the king was uninterested in seeing the explorer, who, although gained a substantial income from Hispaniola gold, felt mistreated by the monarch and believed more expeditions were in order.
Columbus died on May 20, 1506 after finding what would, unbeknown to him, make Spain the richest and most powerful country in Europe over the next century as a result of the great wealth they would take from his discovery of the New World.
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Post Commentpapaleng
On May 22, 2009 at 9:26 am
a well-written article. Thanks for the history lesson.
Ashish
On June 16, 2009 at 6:51 am
Auron your knowledge of history is superb. I can see lots of your articles are simply superb with helpful insight in the past. Cheers mate and keep up the good work. One day you can write historical encyclopedia.
DA Cournean
On June 16, 2009 at 7:22 am
Great article!
Juancav
On June 16, 2009 at 10:39 am
Note what he did Christopher Columbus, as they continued to conquer territory.Great article.
John McDonnell
On June 16, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Thank you for a much more balanced article.
Mystical Whitewolf
On June 16, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Great article. Well wriiten.
Joe Dorish
On June 17, 2009 at 8:45 am
Good balanced article.
MMV Abad
On June 17, 2009 at 9:32 am
Great interesting facts.
awesley
On June 17, 2009 at 11:14 pm
I enjoyed the article. My only concern was the phrasing “…conducted what some believe to be a campaign of genocide.”
Why the ‘what some some believe’? It should have been stated as strongly as the following sentence, which says “He enslaved many and slaughtered many more.”
Auron Renius
On June 18, 2009 at 3:26 am
Thanks for all the comments guys.
Awesley, there is still some historical debate over the question of Columbus and genocide, despite the overwhelming evidence, some don’t want to let go of the idea of him as a national hero. However, even his apologists cannot deny he took slaves and was responsible for mass murder.
I discuss his part in the genocide of the native people of the New World further in my article ‘Christopher Columbus and the Genocide of the Taino Nation’.
http://www.socyberty.com/History/Christopher-Columbus-and-the-Genocide-of-the-Taino-Nation.789147
Ryan
On November 23, 2009 at 6:45 pm
What historical evidence? I don’t consider myself a Columbus apologist by any stretch. Nor do I subscribe to the apple pie myths about Columbus and the flat earth nonsense, but to me the charges of genocide also seem like an equal if not more prolific stretch.
Every article I read about Columbus being this baby killing Hitler character from the 15th century are big on claims and flimsy on hard evidence. This article even is even off base. I’ve read anywhere from 1000-1500 colonists accompanied Columbus on the second voyage in 17 ships. How can this be when the ships of Columbus’s era where so small? The largest crew estimates I can find are about 40 per ship on the second voyage. Simple math puts this at 680 colonists, and that’s on the high side especially considering the ships also needed to carry supplies, weapons, fresh water, food, etc. Okay so let’s settle on a 1000 men just to liberally round the number up. How could 1000 Spaniards equipped with limited armor and swords and little knowledge of the area cause the extinction of nearly the entire Tiano people as many now claim which was estimated in the millions? Adolf Hitler need a massive modern army, a rail system, a police force, and camps with lethal cunning means (i.e. gas chambers) to carry out genocide on the level that people are accusing Columbus of.
I’m not saying Columbus was a great man, even a good man. He was probably an oppertunist, a capitalist, a man of his times, but not a deliberate blood lusting murderer. Hero or Hitler? The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.
Geomorphosis
On December 21, 2009 at 10:55 am
Good opinion Ryan. But you are talking to the greatest historian with the most reliable sources.
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