On this Columbus Day, I share the story of Christopher Columbus’s letter.
For years, royal courts had rejected his proposals for an expedition to get to the Far East by going west across the Atlantic. The royals’ advisors knew about Erastothenes’ measurement of the circumference of a spherical earth back around 200 BC and they knew the approximate overland distance from Europe to the Far East. Subtracting the distance of the land route from the circumference of the Earth gave one the approximate distance Columbus would have to sail going west. This distance was too vast for the ships at that time to cross. The sailors would die of starvation or disease before that distance could be crossed. The advisors accurately concluded that Columbus had significantly underestimated his proposed route’s distance.
In 1492, however, the Catholic Spanish finally drove the Muslin Moors out of Spain. The Moors had successfully invaded coastal Spain in 711 and periodically expanded further. For almost 800 years, there was on-again, off-again wars between the two groups. Finally the Spanish got the upper hand and early in 1492, drove the Moors out.
Now the royal money that had been being spent paying soldiers and buying equipment and supplies could be used for something else. Several courtiers urged Ferdinand and Isabella to sponsor Columbus (and contributed some of their own money into the investment). Their thinking was that the expedition would probably fail but if it did discover something new out there where no European had ever sailed before, there might be a significant payoff, both in terms of revenue and enhanced world power. This led Ferdinand and Isabella to sponsor the expedition with certain agreements. To quote Wikipedia:
“King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella promised Columbus that if he succeeded he would be given the rank of Admiral of the Ocean Sea and appointed Viceroy and Governor of all the new lands he might claim for Spain. He had the right to nominate three persons, from whom the sovereigns would choose one, for any office in the new lands. He would be entitled to one-tenth (diezmo) of all the revenues from the new lands in perpetuity. He also would have the option of buying one-eighth interest in any commercial venture in the new lands, and receive one-eighth (ochavo) of the profits.”
Columbus set off in August, 1492. He sighted land in October, 1492. He spent 3 months exploring many of the islands in the Caribbean. In December, the Santa Maria ran aground and had to be abandoned. He had 39 men start a settlement in what is now Haiti, promising to come back for them. He left for Spain in January, 1493 and reached it in March.
He had the rank of Admiral of the Ocean Sea but that was all. He had the possibility of becoming incredibly wealthy but only if he could organize a second expedition so that he could become Viceroy and generate revenues and commercial ventures. So he wrote a letter, one copy to Isabella and Ferdinand, another copy to his primary court supporter describing the success of his first expedition. The letter is worth reading in its entirety but here is a summary.
Columbus announces he has taken legal possession for the crown of many undiscovered islands far to the west. He then describes the land. The following excerpt captures the tone of it.
“Española is a marvel; the sierras and the mountains and the plains and the fields and the land are so beautiful and rich for planting and sowing, for raising all kinds of cattle, for building towns and villages. The harbours are beyond the belief of anyone who has not seen them, and the many great rivers give good waters of which the majority bear gold…. On this island there are many spices and great mines of gold and other metals. “
(Columbus was constantly following rumors of gold but found very little.)
Then he talks about the people. They don’t have a religion (so they can be converted). They have wonderful canoes. They are very generous and giving. The people are very timid. Their only weapons are pointed sticks. The men and women go around naked as the day they were born.
Near the end, he makes a pitch.
“Their Highnesses can see that I will give them as much gold as they require if Their Majesties will give me only a very little help; as much spice and cotton as Their Majesties may order to be shipped, … and as many slaves as they may order to be shipped…”
Somebody had this letter printed and it went “viral” throughout Europe. Rivers of gold. Naked women. Timid men with only sharpened sticks. Fertile land for the taking. When Columbus set out on his second expedition in September, 1943, he led 17 ships and 1500 men. Now Columbus could become a viceroy. Now he could become “entitled to one-tenth of all the revenues from the new lands in perpetuity.”
When he got back to the settlement where he had left 39 of his first crew, he found none of them. The local “Indians” said that his men had quarreled over gold, taken women, stole from the villages and had gradually been killed off.
The colonists started colonizing and enslaving and raping and Columbus set off exploring for more islands and lands to claim. He returned to Europe in June of 1496.
In 1498, he set off on his third (of four) expeditions. He laid claim to more islands and made the first European landfall on South America. However, the main story of this third expedition was the anger of the colonists who had come over on the second expedition. Many had died. Life was harder, more difficult here than they had been led to believe by Columbus. Columbus requested the royal court to appoint a commissioner to help him govern, however the court also was receiving negative reports from some of the colonists. When the commissioner arrived (Columbus was off exploring), he heard reports of brutal tyranny. The commissioner took possession of Columbus’s property and declared himself governor. When Columbus and his brother returned, they were put in chains and sent back to Europe where they spent six weeks in jail. The king finally released them, heard their story, recalled the governor, and restored Columbus’s wealth. However, they did not give governance back to Columbus. They appointed a new governor.
I share this story because it is so filled with karma stemming from the original contract between the royal court and Columbus. To cash in, he needed the second expedition which led him to write an enticing description of the islands he had discovered which led hundreds of men to travel across the sea with the wrong expectations which led to anger at Columbus and brutality towards the natives (who soon also began dying from European diseases) which led the royal court (especially after Cortes conquered the real “gold mine” of the Aztecs) to realize they had promised far more to Columbus than they were willing to now give, once they realized the scale of what he had started with his first voyage. (Up until the late 1700’s, the descendants of Columbus sporadically sued the royal court based on the original contract with Columbus.) In addition, the gold that flowed into Spain caused hyperinflation, corruption, and pursuit of short-lived empire. What are the ideal things one should devote one’s life towards?
If you enjoyed this story, you will probably be fascinated by the story of the Requiremento – an absurd solution to balance the desire to Christianize natives while seizing all the wealth of their land.
October snippets
I added an Autumn Equinox photo of a Mt. Shasta sunset picture to my Mt. Shasta Sunsets post. Now it contains 4 pictures of Mt. Shasta, completing the annual cycle.
Sam’s Tail
When I take Sam walking off the leash, he goes roaming afield while I occupy myself with what I am doing. When my mind thinks of Sam again, I look up to see where he might be. 95% of the time, the first thing I see is his tail in an upturned arc. The speed with which I spot that tail becomes a new topic for contemplation.
My first thoughts were of how “unnatural” a smooth, up curved shape is in nature. Plant leaves can smoothly droop – but downward, not upward. Branches and twigs can grow upward but not smoothly. I can’t think of anything on the size scale of a dog’s tail in nature that can arc smoothly upwards. Therefore, the pattern really stands out, leading my eyes to spotting it right away. That led to wondering whether the tail evolved to that outline because that outline is so distinctive. That would make it an ideal way to advertise social dominance.
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