Bobadilla: Unveiling Columbus' Mismanagement

484 Words1 Page

Witness : Francisco de Bobadilla (for viceroy of the indies after Columbus)
(In the perspective of Bobadilla) I, Francisco de Bobadilla was a colonial administrator and Spanish conquistador. I was a Knight of the Order of Calatrava and an Castilian of the Royal House . I was sent as a judge to the island of the San Salvador, where I arrested Columbus for Corruption in his government. I served as governor of Indies for 2 years .
In 1499 I was the one to succeed Christopher Columbus , sent by king Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Upon my arrival in the Colony of Santo Domingo on Hispaniola in August 1500, I upheld accusations of mismanagement made by Columbus, and had Columbus sent back to Spain in chains.

From the beginning Columbus proved …show more content…

He promised a paradises but he failed and that’s why i was sent by your majesty to immediately to replace him.
These were told to me by your majesty as reasons to Columbus’s imprisonment . And i personally agree to all of this as i had went to Christopher after his first voyage to assist him , but instead he humiliated me by saying that the positions were already taken and then wanted to appoint me as a notary. But when i went there myself with permission from the king and queen , i collected lot of complaints against Diego and Cristobal, discovering they had made a bad administration, and serious abuses of authority, which ordered his arrest and transfer to Spain. In addition, it seized all assets of the Columbus brothers. For which i believe in reality I think he didn’t take me just because , i was a judge i would have banished him from the new world the moment I saw all this violation and misconduct he made with the power he possessed as the governor of the indies.
And that’s why i believe that , as the witness of the incident , I think that Christopher Columbus has no right to be given the title of being heroic

Open Document