Christopher Columbus, journal excerpts and letter - Essay Example

Topic: Christopher Columbus, journal excerpts and letter (1492-93) Christophe Columbus is a learned man of cosmology and hailed from Cugureo within the city and lordship of Genoa (Cohen, 1992 p. 27). He was described as intelligent, charming and great in Latin. He was a traveler in greater of Mediterranean and becomes educated in navigation. Later he stayed in Portugal. Columbus sailed in four voyages, found many people in large populations and made some proclamations in a royal standard in taking “possession of these people for their Highnesses.” (Cohen, 1992, p. 115). Having persuaded the King of this voyage, he departed Spain in 1492 and commanded the Pinta, The Nina, and Santa Maria ships. The sojourner reached remote islands and places. He named the first island found San Salvador in honor to Lord and Saviour who gave such ‘miracle’ (Cohen, 1992, p. 115) although natives called it Guanahani. The second island he has gone to was named Santa Maria de Concepcion, the third was “Fernandina” and the fourth was “Isabela”. The fifth island was named “Juana” (Cohen 1992 p. 115). What catches Columbus’ attention as he makes and encounters the native islanders? When Columbus met some native men gathered he immediately took notice of their masculine features, long hair and bodies painted in black, red and white. His compassion made him think that these persons should be converted to Christianity “by love and not by force”. (Cohen 1992) He also noticed that there were villagers who immediately left their homes when the ships were seen to have arrived in the area. In his report, he described his amazement at how these people received their gifts and their strong interest in material things was illustrated by how the natives immediately put these materials on their body (Mar, 1996). He described them as very friendly towards them and he believed that these people can be without problems converted to Christianity. He felt delighted to have taught the villagers how to make use of red caps and of strings of beads to put on the neck. (Mar, 1996) The gesture delighted them with each other and immediately developed some wonderful emotional attachments. He described that with a good rapport. Some of the natives swam and sailed with their boats and brought them parrots, balls of cotton thread, javelins and some goods in exchange for the articles given to them in the utmost good will (Mar, 1996). Columbus thought that these people were very poor because they were naked, including their women. He observed that most of those he had seen were young natives with great fine features and uncut hair. Their bodies were painted colorfully and by their appearance they resembled the people from the Canaries. He further described that the people were tan, some were white. The paintings were brushed on the faces, some on their entire body while some others painted their eyelids and nose. He immediately saw that these people had no weapons and believed that they were not acquainted with weaponry because they were showed swords and they grabbed the blades and consequentially cut themselves because of their ignorance. He also observed that the natives had no iron javelins but they had sticks with attached fish-bones at the ends. The natives were of good size and stature and handsome. He related that he saw some of these peoples were marked with scars and learned from them that there were also sailors who had come into that village and had hurt them, made them prisoners, although he gathered that they had also defended themselves from more harm. He said that these people were ingenious and had no religion. He believed that those people had come from the continent. They were quite easily learning the language from him and his men, thus Columbus decided to bring some of them with him on his subsequent journey. In his landfall to Cuba, he thought he had found China and asked his two men to investigate the area. Those men were apparently Jews and spoke Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic and Spanish. Columbus had brought them as interpreters. The men failed to meet the Chinese Emperor but were well received as guests of by the natives in Taíno village. There they learned smoking tobacco, which eventually became their routine. When Columbus landed in an Island of Hispaniola, although the place was known by the natives as Haiti, he renamed the place as Island La Española, later changed to Hispaniola when Latin writers wrote about its discovery. When Santa María ship went aground and was later abandoned, Columbus continued the voyage using the Niña and had serious a discourse with local chieftain Guacanagari to leave his 39 crew in a settlement in La Navidad. What is Columbus general attitude towards the new land and its people? In his transcripts, Columbus professed his eagerness to go to India to see princes, people and territories, and to acquire their positions about the best way about how to convert them to Christianity.  In all lands where he made landfall, he renamed them and considered those natives ignorant. As natives were objects of his findings, he also seriously thought that slave trade can be a great earning enterprise. He was kind to them, though, as he did not mention in his letters any violent experiences with the natives nor was there undue force exerted to ward off people. He was technically diplomatic to them. But like conquerors in a conquest, he thought of these natives as good objects for slavery. Noting his little regard for the natives, he called the residents of East Indies as "Indios" and considered them as potential good and skilled servants." He used some of them as guides in further exploring other sites on the islands in the Caribbean which he mistook as either Japan or perhaps the Chinese mainland. He was, however, disappointed when Queen Isabela of Spain reasonably thought that slave trading was not feasible with the New World. What is the broader context for Columbus’s voyage of exploration? What is the meaning/significance of the voyage and the discovery for Columbus, based on what he writes? Columbus voyage added geographic proof that the earth is inhabited by many peoples of varied language, belief system, practices and are economically thriving in a system that are helpful to them (Mar, 1996). His interest in geography and in developing a nautical highway was expressed in his documents where he mentioned his plan to draw a nautical chart, which details several parts of the ocean and land locations (Mar, 1996). He also planned to compose a book that features the latitudes and longitudes of these areas, which is generally used by some geographers and historians in their endless validation and analysis up to these days (Mar, 1996). Such voyage and discovery gave substantial meaning to them and to the Spanish government who were looking forward to territorial expansion in pursuit of both economic and political interests (Mar, 1996). Many of those areas, where he landed, were described as not inhabited by people and are havens to wild animals. Places were verdant and fertile (Mar, 1996). He further described those territories as enriched with great rivers which can be sailed through by ships. In that land inhabited by Cathaginian merchants, farms were established befitting of soil’s fertility and climate’s mildness (Mar, 1996; Herring, 1962). Villages thereafter established and profess “pain of death” to anyone who would attempt to conquer their land or sail thereto (Mar, 1996; Herring, 1962). Historically, geographers found it surprising that such Columbus voyage was considered as the most significant expedition in history (Mar, 1996; Herring, 1962). For them it’s a voyage which failed because Columbus, before he embarked on such a travel, had made a promise to the Spanish King to find an easier route towards Chinese trade markets (Mar, 1996; Herring, 1962). Instead of finding Chinese silks and spices, he brought home some trinkets and a few bedraggled Spanish natives from Hispaniola, some of which died within the course of the voyage. Added to this was the loss of largest of the three ships assigned to him (Mar, 1996; Herring, 1962). Albeit criticized, Columbus was heralded in history as the man who discovered America and had written many more books in his memory than most prominent explorers and scientists in this world (Herring, 1962). In fact, America named District of Columbia’s (where the nation’ Capital is situated) and forty of American cities after him - the "Admiral of the Ocean Sea” (Mar, 1996; Herring, 1962). Ironically, Columbus wasn’t really able to have a landfall on North American continent. Although he failed to arrive to his specifically planned destinations-- the Asian territories, he was still able to interact with people from Cuba, Venezuala, Canary Islands, Hispaniola, Haiti and the Dominican Republic (Mar, 1996; Herring, 1962). Sadly, out of mismanagement, he was imprisoned for awhile in Hispaniola. Despite the difficulties and sadness in that voyage, he was able to return to Spain in 1504 (Mar, 1996; Herring, 1962). His voyage to Barcelona was welcomed with joy due to the prosperous outcome of sailing. The religious authorities expressed satisfaction with his report and gave him a solemn reception of the city and by officers of the court. He was well honored since the King would require his presence (Cohen, p. 114; Herring, 1962). He was reported as politically and physically crippled in his return and died there at the age of 55. His historic voyage inspired Spanish conquistadors to continue his quest (Thomas, 2005). Thus, Coronado in America, Cortes in Mexico, and Pizarro in Peru sailed to conquer and claim areas (Thomas, 2005). They conquered and subjected territories making them as their empires (Thomas, 2005). What various interpretations of this document have there been (in different places, and at different times)? What contexts or situations have informed each interpretation?  There were varied interpretations of Columbus’s journey. Some criticized him for his failures and of misrepresenting of facts of places where he had gone. Others thought that he failed really in achieving his targets and plans. Yet other experts looked at Columbus’s power of imagination and fantasies which contributed to Renaissance. Flint (1992) opined that his voyages to the unknown featured medieval perceptions sourced from Mediterranean tradition about the tales of the seas and from books read or from the mappae-mundi. The latter is great schematic maps. Flint (1992) argued that Columbus’s thinking has seriously influenced his discoveries. Flint (1992) perceived that Columbus’s reports made modern reconstructions to literatures which molded his learning. Notably, Columbus also declined pronouncements by authorities but took part in vibrant discourses to prove and disprove controversial arguments. Flint (1992) argued that Columbus was eminently sensible when he thought that the areas and seas that he had gone to were like paradise on earth. What might be some impediments or challenges to our own reading / understanding of the primary text? How can one seek to overcome these obstacles? The reading requires some map visuals to see how Columbus voyage went through and to be able to see the exact location where he has gone through. This is significant in as much as, based on his reports, he made some changes of names in those sites where he made some landfalls. As all these are written in history and reported to the Spanish King and Queen, the information became a historic database of his view of the world written in prose. While we appreciate the difficulties of such voyage that is trailblazing the seas in search for continents and territories, but for those who are eager to expand territorial control, the route created by Columbus is a good navigation to follow through, in pursuit of either economic or political interests. Researchers need to undertake further triangulation of data made by Columbus by comparing it to the present global navigation maps. It will help validate which is true and untrue in his findings. It will also determine where he has really gone to and bridge relations with other people. But clearly, there is so much more to both, his endeavors and our interpretation of them as well as of his (and others’) account of their discoveries, than geography. There is, increasingly, a political and human dimension. And this constitutes, perhaps, the greatest obstacle to our understanding of the significance of Columbus’s finds. Working towards understanding of his discoveries, as reported by the original crew, it is impossible not to notice how much our vision of the world – and indeed the world itself - have changed since Columbus’s times. Slave trade, a very viable and readily considered and often implemented option then, is a political insult – and indeed a crime - nowadays. Religious expansion and crusades have given way to multiculturalism. Conquering of new fertile and rich lands using brute force has been replaced by means much more subtle, such as economic expansionism and multinational corporations, which, ironically, cuts both ways, given the recent phenomenon of job outsourcing to poor countries by economically and technologically advanced nations, whose workforce now pays the price in the form of significant unemployment. Even culturally and linguistically, immense advances have occurred, and the use of certain terms, whether explicitly made by Columbus and his men or implicit in their description of the newly discovered ethnicities and their practices, would probably be strongly advised against in most civilized societies, if not for moral, then at least for legal reasons. The world is a global village now, and the sense of sheer and intense exotic at the discoveries of new lands and new peoples on our planet is all but gone. In a way, it could be stated that globalization began precisely when Columbus “failed” to achieve his goal of finding China: indeed, intercontinental exchange (for want of a better word, perhaps even “transactions”!) of goods, traditions, some sorts of vegetables, religious beliefs, ethnicities etc. and even diseases (!) must be attributed to his sailings. Certainly, on such a grand scale, in terms of sheer extent of the distance between his native land – and the new ones he happened to come across. It is poignant that no matter how far one goes on planet Earth, no matter how acute the differences and diverse the cultures, economies, societies and peoples’ lives, the fundamental similarities are always there. The greater the distinction between far-flung quarters of the world, the stronger the sense of unity among what really is the only real “race”, the Human Race. References Cohen, J.M., The Four Voyages: Being His Own Log-Book, Letters and Dispatches with Connecting Narratives, England: Penguin Books, 1992 Flint, V.I.J. The Imaginative Landscape of Christopher Columbus, Princeton University Press, New Kersey, US. 1992: 1-182. Minster, C. The First New World Voyage of Christopher Columbus (1492).Latin American History. About.com http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/latinamericatheconquest/p/Columbusfirst.htm Accessed: March 19, 2012. Herring, Hubert. A History of Latin America From the Beginnings to the Present.. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962 Thomas, Hugh. Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan. New York: Random House, 2005. Paul Halsall Mar. Medieval Sourcebook: Christopher Columbus: Extracts from Journal, Fordham University, New York. 1996. Read More