In 1492, Christopher Columbus was a self-made man who worked his way up to being the Captain of a merchant vessel. He gained the support of the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, for an expedition to the Indies. With the support of the Spanish monarchy, he set off to find a new and faster trade route to the Indies. Upon the arrival of his first voyage, Columbus wrote a letter to Luis de Santangel, a “royal official and an early supporter of his venture,” in February 1493 (35). The epistle, letter, entitled “Letter to Luis de Santangel Regarding the First Voyage” was copied and then distributed in Spain before being translated and spread throughout Europe. The Letter is held in such regard with the people as it is considered the first printed description of the new world. Through his description of the nature of the islands, Columbus decided the future fate of the islands. His description of the vast beauty of the nature around him, declares both the economic and nationalistic motivations for colonizing the new world. Columbus’ letter to Santangel, dated February 15, 1493, has a very positive and upbeat tone. From the very beginning he proclaims the five islands have been claimed for Spain with a “proclamation made and the royal standard …show more content…
He describes the harbors on the islands as “beyond comparison” and the mountains are “beyond comparison with the island of Tenerife,” one of the largest of the Canary Islands (36). By comparing the islands with other locations known for their resources and beauty, Columbus is able to paint a picture of lands that are even more magnificent and worth colonizing. The picture Columbus is painting is of five islands with unlimited resources, vantage points, a harbor that can be a grand trading hub while all being surrounded by the beauty of God’s nature. His description makes it very difficult to pass up such an
Christopher Columbus and Alvez Nunez Cabeza de Vaca were both explorers for Spain, but under different rulers and different times. The more famous, Christopher Columbus, came before de Vaca’s time. Columbus sailed a series of four voyages between 1492 and 1504 in search for a route to Asia which led accidentally to his discovery of new land inhabited with Indians. Christopher sailed under the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella for his journey to the “Indies,” whom he was loyal to by claiming everything in their name. De Vaca , followed in Christopher’s footsteps and journeyed to Hispanionola for Spain’s emperor, Charlves V, the grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella. Both, Columbus and de Vaca composed a series of letters addressing the main issue of their journey to the new land, but both were expressed in a different manner, included different material, and were motivated to write for dissimilar reasons.
Reading both passages of the two explorers, Christopher Columbus and Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, gives a great description of how the world was back in the 1500s. Now, although both were Spaniard explorers, each had different experiences and discoveries. One of the differences is how they approached exploring the new world. For instance, Columbus went to find new land in the west, while Cabeza de Vaca went as an expedition to already found lands. In addition, Columbus had a lot of success, while Cabeza de Vaca since the beginning, because of Narváez, “endured many disasters” (Baym, et al., 2013, p. 28). Furthermore, Christopher Columbus considered most important to find more land, and especially the route to reach Asia.
Toward the end of pre-colonial times in Europe, due to the fall of Constantinople, many European nations felt the need to find an alternate route to the East Indies. The trade of rare goods such as spices, rice, exotic fruits and silk fabrics were much in demand, but came at extreme prices. In the beginning of the ‘Age of Exploration’, Portugal was in the forefront with the early explorers Henry the Navigator, Zarco and Tristao Vaz Teixeira, and Diogo Silves discovering the Madeira Islands, the Azores, and the exploration of Africa respectively, but King John the II of Portugal was unconvinced by Christopher Columbus’s pleas to fund his plan to sail West to the East Indies. Columbus made many demands for self-profit, including ten percent of any riches with which he returned, and even an ‘Admiralty’. Subsequently, Columbus took his plans to Queen Isabella of Spain. Spain acquiesced, and Columbus set off on his fateful journey. The Roman Catholic Church was very interested in expanding the Christian faith during this time and applied its influence on the monarchy. Religion also played a large personal role as Columbus truly believed that God spoke to him, and guided his hand. Additionally, at this time in Europe, land and food were at a premium. The monarchs of the era were fully aware that the acquisition of more land, slave labor and possible natural resources would greatly increase their power, prestige and subsequent wealth. After learning of Columbus’ successful return and the Treaty of Tordesillas (which divided the New World between Spain and Portugal), King Henry VII of England threw his hat into the ring and sent John Cabot sailing from Bristol on an attempt to find a shorter route to the ‘Indies’. Not to be left out in ...
This text was created to bring to light the hardship Natives went through during the Age of Exploration. The populous, who only hear rumors and short stories from all territories west of the Atlantic Ocean, cannot grasp the tough and difficult task that is at hand in the Americas. From these short blurbs of what is said about the west, they make inferences of what it is like, and how it is possible for another land mass to be unknown to many for so long. But for those who do know what is past the Atlantic, know that this Agenda of the King and Queen must be fulfilled and to do so would be to claim land for Spain for it to be settled upon. On top of that is to further collect the riches of the Americas to benefit Spain in the conquest of the Americas.
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, and he discovered the new land and wrote a letter to Luis de Sant’ Angel in 1493.Columbus was telling Angel about the island that he landed on it.
This voyage and all that Columbus wrote seems to have been done in greed. Columbus flattered the King and Queen repeatedly to win them over for his desired future endeavors. The first letter written to the King and Queen of Spain began immediately with overly exaggerated praise. In this matter, he could have directly addressed them with one endearing term rather than “Most Christian, High, Excellent, and Powerful Princes, King and Queen of Spain” (Halsall). He then describes his intent to “perform the embassy…discharge the orders… [and] keep an account…Sovereign Princes” as he prepares to write his journal. With this in mind, the demand of writing a journal and keeping track of his journey will keep him from sleeping and cause “many trials” all for “Your Highness.” When land was found, Columbus was the one who “bore the royal standard” when he went to shore and “took possession…for the King and Queen.
It is thought by many that Christopher Columbus was a skilled sailor on a mission of greed. Many think that he in fact did it all for the money, honor and the status that comes with an explorer, but this is not the case entirely. Columbus was an adventurer and was enthused by the thrill of the quest of the unknown. “Columbus had a firm religious faith and a scientific curiosity, a zest for life, the felling for beauty and the striving for novelty that we associate with the advancement of learning”. He had heard of the legendary Atlantic voyages and sailors reports of land to the west of Madeira and the Azores. He believed that Japan was about 4,800 km to the west of Portugal. In 1484, Columbus wanted support for an exploratory voyage from King John II of Portugal, but he was refused. In 1485, Columbus took his son Diego and went to Spain to get some help.
After reading the two letters written by Christopher Columbus in the midst of his many voyages, I have found many similarities and differences between the two. The first letter was written to Luis de Santangel on February 15, 1493 at sea. Ten years later, the second letter was written to Ferdinand and Isabella. This letter, regarding his fourth voyage, was written on July 7, 1503. The tone in this letter compared to the first letter was abysmal. Some did not believe it was written by the same person. This makes what happened in that ten year gap become very important. It is what happened during that time that will lead one to discover the changes in attitude made by Columbus between the two letters he wrote.
In reality, was Espanola really that marvelous? Everyone has their own beliefs, but conspiracists such as myself believe that Columbus is a master in exaggeration, and his tales of Espanola and the other grand islands could have all been Spanish propaganda created to instill nationalism and to dream of a perfect idea/image of a future for Spain that simply was not
"Letter to King Ferdinand of Spain." Letter to King Ferdinand of Spain. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2014. <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/hns/garden/columbus.html>.
Some of the problems when studying history are the texts and documents that have been discovered are only from perspective. Furthermore, on occasion that one perspective is all there may be for historians to study. A good example of this textual imbalance can be found from the texts about the discovery of the New World; more specifically, the letters of Christopher Columbus and Pêro Vaz de Caminha during their voyages to the New World. Plenty of the text from this time is written from the perspective of the Europeans, as the Indigenous population did not have any written text. What this means is that it provided only one perspective, which can drastically hinder how history is interpreted. Columbus’s letter of his first voyage to the Caribbean
Kindness in today’s society only gets one so far. The saying nice guys always finish last might simply hold some truth. In “First Encounters,” we gain insight about how the initial explores of America interacted with the natives. European ideology had no room for this other hemisphere or in fact the people that lived there. The text we go on to read describes just how gruesome this time period truly was. The Natives were referred to as “savages.” They currently we're at war with themselves during the arrival of the westerners, increasing the body count even higher. Then we proceed on to read about Christopher Columbus’s personality through his letters to Luis De Santangel and his role during the exploration of this newly discovered land. Christopher
Columbus and Champlain were both devoted to the success of their expeditions; however, Columbus had far more selfish intentions. Columbus was an Italian who sought aid for a journey that would travel across the Atlantic Ocean in search for riches in the East. His support did not come easy as he was rejected by the courts of Portugal, France, and England. Ultimately, Columbus was able to gain authorization and funding for a voyage to begin in 1492 by the Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel. After starting the long awaited expedition in April, Columbus was able to reach the West Indies by October of that year. Upon encountering the New World, Columbus immediately claimed the land along with its natives for his Spanish sovereigns.
Although this essay is historically accurate it lacks important details, which might paint a different view of Columbus. Boorstin writes favorable of Columbus and depicts him as a heroic and determined figure who helped shape history, but he neglects to include Columbus’ unethical acts committed in the world that was not supposed to exist, the Americas. When Columbus first discovered the New World, he took care that the royal standard had been brought ashore and he claimed the land for Spain in front of all, including the indigenous population who had been sighted even before Columbus made landfall. According to the medieval concepts of natural law, only those territories that are uninhabited can become the property of the first person to discover them. Clearly this was an unethical act. Thus, the first contact between European and non-European worlds was carried out through a decidedly European prism, which ensured Spanish claim to the islands of the Americas. Faced with a colony in an inhospitable area, the Spanish soon inaugurated the practice of sending regular military parties inland to subdue the increasingly hostile natives. Members of the indigenous population were captured and enslaved to support the fledgling colony. The object of Columbus’ desire changed from exploration and trade to conquest and subjugation.
This is an analysis of Christopher Columbus’s Letter on His First Voyage on page 381. Christopher Columbus wrote a letter to his King and Queen of Spain, while he was in the West Indies. He wrote this letter in February 1493 reflecting on his voyage across the Atlantic in 1492. After reading this letter, I can tell that Columbus felt like he was better than the native people of the different islands he journeyed and that a lot of things they did were very strange to him. I can also tell that the world was a lot different to him and to people in 1492, than it is to people in 2014 because he referred to the native people of the various islands he traveled to as Indians, whereas most people in 2014 know that India and Latin American are not the