Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus set out to find a route to Asia in 1492.Many of his voyages were disaster and disappointments. Christopher left many of his settlers behind on the Island of Hispaniola. The settlers demanded gold and sexual partners as a homecoming gift. On Columbus’s third voyage he traveled to South American mainland which brought him closer to paradise. But once he got back to Hispaniola he was arrested. He later died after his fourth voyage. There was a journal summary written by Bartolome de las Casa.

The letter from Columbus to Luis de Santangel was regarding the first voyage, it was written at sea on February 15, 1493. It had been Thirty-three days when Columbus and his crew had found many little islands filled with people. He decided to give the islands names. He named the first island San Salvador, the second one Isla de Santa Maria de Con ceroidon, the third Fernandina, the fourth one was named Isabella, and the fifth one was named Juana. Columbus was determined to find big cities on these islands so he traveled eastward until he found another island that he named Espanola. On the island there were many rivers and trees that were so high they looked as if they were touching the sky. The land was high with many sierras and very lofty mountains. There were also birds and fruits of much diversity.

The Letter from Columbus to Ferdinand and Isabella is talking about his fourth voyage, which he wrote in Jamaica on July 7, 1503. In the beginning of the letter he talks about his crew and how they have gotten sick. He demands that whoever did this to them to come forward. Columbus was later made a prisoner while waiting on ships to come rescue him. He started his voyage at age twenty-one and is now ended it with gray hair. Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was son of the village alderman. He watches Columbus in chains passing through Cadiz. Cabeza de Vaca took 600 man to Hispaniola where a quarter of the left and then to Cuba where 2 of his ships were lost in a hurricane. He told the rest of his crew that for now on it would be every man for himself. The other rafts were wrecked on Galveston Island.

After that there was only Cabeza de Vaca and 3 other men who survived the wreck. He spent his first 2 years as a prisoner of the Han Capoque clans of the Karankawa Indians. The Indians took them north where they gained power. He was arrested again by the Christians. That sent him south where he was able to lead an expedition to the new world. After the expedition he was forbidden to return to America.