Columbus Letter On The First Voyage - Content of The Letter

Content of The Letter

The published Latin versions of the letter are almost all titled "Letter of Columbus, on the islands of India beyond the Ganges recently discovered". The term "India beyond the Ganges" (India extra Gangem) was the archaic term frequently used by earlier geographers (e.g. Ptolemy) to refer vaguely to Southeast Asia (roughly from Burma down to the Malay peninsula); the Indian subcontinent proper was referred to as "India within the Ganges" (India intra Gangem). Thus the islands of "India beyond the Ganges" claimed to have been reached would roughly correspond to modern Indonesia or thereabouts. The earlier printed Spanish edition bears no title, nor does the manuscript copy of the letter to the Catholic monarchs (Libro Copiador).

In the letter, Christopher Columbus does not describe the journey itself, saying only that he travelled thirty-three days and arrived at the islands of "the Indies" (las Indias), "all of which I took possession for our Highnesses, with proclaiming heralds and flying royal standards, and no one objecting". He describes the islands as being inhabited by "Indians" (Indios).

In the printed letters, Columbus relates how he bestowed new names on six of the islands. Four are in the modern Bahamas - 1. "Sant Salvador" (for which he also gives the local name, Guanaham in the Spanish edition, and Guanahanin in the Latin letter, modern English texts normally render it as "Guanahani"), 2. "Santa Maria de Concepcion", 3. "Ferrandina" (Fernandinam in the Latin version, in modern texts "Fernandina") and 4. "la isla Bella" (given as Hysabellam in the Latin version, and "La Isabela" in modern texts). He also names 5. "La Isla Juana" (Joanam in Latin, modern Cuba) and 6. the island of "La Spañola" (Hispana in the Latin letter, modern Hispaniola). In the letter, Columbus says that he believes Juana is actually part of the continental mainland ("terra firme") of Cathay ("Catayo", archaic for China), even though he also admits some of the Indians he encountered there informed him it was an island. Later in the letter, Columbus locates the islands at the latitude of 26°N, a fair bit north of their actual location ("es distinta de la linea equinocial veinte e seis grados"). (Note: in the Copiador letter, Columbus makes no mention of the latitudes nor the native name "Guanahani")

In his letter, Columbus describes how he sailed along the northern coast of Juana (Cuba) for a spell, searching for cities and rulers, but found only small villages "without any sort of government" ("no cosa de regimiento"). He notes that the natives usually fled when approached. Finding this track fruitless, he decided to double-back and head southeast, eventually sighting the large island of Hispaniola, and explored along its northern coast. Columbus exaggerates the size of these lands - claiming Juana is greater in size than Great Britain ("maior que Inglaterra y Escocia juntas"), and Hispaniola larger than the Iberian peninsula ("en cierco tiene mas que la Espana toda").

In his letter, Columbus seems to attempt to present the islands of the Indies as suitable for future colonization. Columbus' descriptions of the natural habitat in his letters emphasize the rivers, woodlands, pastures and fields "very suitable for planting and cultivating, for raising all sorts of livestock herds and erecting towns and farms" ("gruesas para plantar y senbrar, para criar ganados de todas suertes, para hedificios de villas e lugares"). He also proclaims that Hispaniola "abounds in many spices, and great mines of gold, and other metals" ("ay mucha especiarias y grandes minas de oros y otros metales"). He compares lush and well-watered Hispaniola as more favorable to settlement than mountainous Cuba.

Columbus characterizes the native inhabitants of the Indies islands as primitive, innocent, without reason ("like beasts", "como bestias"), and unthreatening. He describes how they go about largely naked, that they lack iron and weapons, and are by nature fearful and timid ("son asi temerosos sin remedio"), even "excessively cowardly" ("en demasiado grado cobardes").

According to Columbus, when persuaded to interact, the natives are quite generous and naive, willing to exchange significant amounts of valuable gold and cotton for useless glass trinkets, broken crockery and even shoelace tips ("cabos de agugetas"). In the printed editions (albeit not in the Copiador letter) Columbus notes that he tried to prevent his own sailors from exploiting the Indians' naïveté, and that he even gave away things of value, like cloth, to the natives as gifts, in order to make them well-disposed "so that they might be made Christians and incline full of love and service towards Our Highnesses and all the Castilian nation".

Columbus makes particular note that the natives lack organized religion, not even idolatry ("no conocian ninguna seta nin idolatria"). He claims the natives believed the Spaniards and their ships had "come down from heaven" ("que yo...venia del cielo"). Columbus notes that the natives of different islands seem to all speak the same language (the Arawaks of the region all spoke Taino), which he conjectures will facilitate "conversion to the holy religion of Christ, to which in truth, as far as I can perceive, they are very ready and favorably inclined."

Possibly worried that his characterization might make it appear that the natives are unsuitable for useful labor, Columbus notes that they are "not slow or unskilled, but of excellent and acute understanding". He also notes that the "women appear to work more than the men".

Columbus' physical descriptions are scant, noting only that the natives have straight hair and are "not black like Ethiopians". They are usually naked, although sometimes they wear a small cotton loincloth. They often carry a hollow cane, which they use to both till and fight. They eat their food "with many spices which are far too hot" ("comen con especias muchas y muy calientes en demasía"; in the Copiador letter Columbus refers to a red hot chili pepper, by its Taino name, agís). He claims they practice monogamy ("each man is content with only one wife"), "except for the rulers and kings" (which can have as many as twenty wives.). He confesses he is uncertain if they have a notion of private property ("Ni he podido entender si tenian bienes proprios"). In a more detailed passage, Columbus describes the Indian oar-driven canoe ("canoa", the first known written appearance of this word, originally from Taíno language). Columbus compares the Indian "canoe" to the European fusta (small galley).

Towards the end of the letter, Columbus reveals that local Indians told him about the possible existence of cannibals, which he refers to as "monsters" ("monstruos"). This is a probable reference to the Caribs from the Leeward Islands, although neither the word "cannibal" nor "Carib" appears in the printed editions (however, in the Copiador letter, he claims the "monsters" come from an island called "Caribo", Dominica?). Columbus says the monsters are reported to be long-haired, very ferocious and "eat human flesh" ("los quales comen carne humana"). Columbus has not seen them himself, but says that local Indians claim the monsters have many canoes, and that they sail from island to island, raiding everywhere. However, Columbus proclaims disbelief in the existence of these "monsters", or rather suggests this is likely just a local Indian myth pertaining to some distant Indian seafaring tribe who are probably not unlike themselves ("I regard them as of no more account than the others", "yo no los tengo en nada mas que a los otros").

Columbus connects the monsters story to another local legend about a tribe of female warriors, who are said to inhabit the island of "Matinino" east of Hispaniola ("first island of the Indies, closest to Spain,", Guadaloupe?). Columbus speculates that the aforesaid canoe-borne monsters are merely the "husbands" of these warrior women, who visit the island intermittently for mating. The island of women reportedly abounds in copper, which the warrior-women forge into weapons and shields.

Lest his readers begin to get wary, Columbus rounds off with a more optimistic report, saying the local Indians of Hispaniola also told him about a very large island nearby which "abounds in countless gold" ("en esta ay oro sin cuenta"). (He doesn't give this gold island a name in the printed letters, but in the Copiador letter, this island is identified and named as "Jamaica"). In the printed letters, Columbus claims to be bringing back some of the gold island's "bald-headed" inhabitants with him. Earlier, Columbus had spoken also of the land of "Avan" ("Faba" in the Copiador letter), in the western parts of Juana, where men are said to be "born with tails" ("donde nacan la gente con cola") - probably a reference to the Guanajatabey of western Cuba.

The letter to the Catholic Monarchs found in the Libro Copiador contains some additional details from the natives' reports that is not found in the printed editions. For instance, in the Copiador letter, Columbus notes that the "monsters" live on an island called "Caribo", that the warrior-women of Matinino send away their male children to be raised in Caribo. The natives also report an island called "Borinque" (Puerto Rico) that lies between Hispaniola and Caribo, that Juana is called "Cuba" by the natives ("aquéllos llaman de Cuba"). He also gives more details about the gold island, saying it is "larger than Juana", and lying on the other side of it, "which they call Jamaica", where "all the people have no hair and there is gold without measure" ("que llaman Jamaica; adonde toda la gente della son si cabellos, en ésta ay oro sin medida"). In the Copiador letter, Columbus seems to suggest that he is bringing normal (full-haired) Indians back to Spain who have been to this island, who will report more about it (rather than bringing the island's own bald-headed inhabitants, as claimed in the printed letters).

Columbus also gives an account of some of his own activities in the letters. In particular, he notes that he ordered the erection of the fort of La Navidad on the island of Hispaniola, leaving behind some Spanish colonists and traders. Columbus reports he also left behind a caravel, evidently covering up the loss of his flagship, the Santa María. He reports that La Navidad is located near reported gold mines, and is a well-placed entrepot for the commerce that will doubtlessly soon be opened with the Great Khan ("gran Can") on the mainland. He speaks of a local king near Navidad whom he befriended and treated him as a brother ("y grand amistad con el Rey de aquella tierra en tanto grado que se preciava de me lhamar e tener por hermano") - almost certainly a reference to Guacanagaríx, cacique of Marien.

In the Copiador letter to the monarchs (but not the Spanish and Latin editions), Columbus alludes to the treachery of "one from Palos" ("uno de Palos"), who made off with one of the ships, evidently a complaint about Martín Alonso Pinzón, the captain of the Pinta (although this portion of the Copiador manuscript is damaged and hard to read). The Copiador version also mentions other points of personal friction not contained in the printed editions, e.g. references to the ridicule Columbus suffered in the Spanish court prior to his departure, his bowing to pressure to use large ships for ocean navigation, rather than the small caravels he preferred, which would have been more convenient for exploring.

At the end of his printed letter, Columbus promises that if the Catholic Monarchs back his bid to return with a larger fleet, he will bring back a lot of gold, spices, cotton (repeatedly referenced in the letter), mastic gum, aloe, slaves and possibly rhubarb and cinnamon ("of which I heard about here").

Columbus ends the letter urging their Majesties, the Church and the people of Spain to give thanks to God for allowing him to find so many souls, hitherto lost, ready for conversion to Christianity and eternal salvation. He also urges them to give thanks in advance for all the temporal goods found in abundance in the Indies that shall be soon be made available to Castile and the rest of Christendom.

The Copiador letter to the Monarchs (but not the printed Spanish or Latin editions) also contains a somewhat bizarre detour into messianic fantasy, where Columbus suggests the monarchs use the wealth of the Indies to finance a new crusade to conquer Jerusalem, Columbus himself offering to underwrite a large army of ten thousand cavalry and hundred thousand infantry to that end.

The sign off varies. The printed Spanish letter is dated aboard the caravel on the Canary Islands on 15 February 1493. ("Fecha en la caravela sobra las yslas de Canaria a xv de Febrero, ano Mil.cccclxxxxiii"), and signed merely "El Almirante", while the printed Latin editions are signed "Cristoforus Colom, oceanee classis prefectus" ("Prefect of the Ocean fleet"). However, according to the Capitulations of Santa Fe signed prior to his departure (April, 1492), Christopher Columbus was not entitled to use the title of "Admiral of the Ocean Sea" unless his voyage was successful. It would be highly presumptuous for Columbus to sign his name that way in February or March, when the original letter was drafted, before that success was confirmed by the royal court. This suggests the signature was not in the original letter, but was an editorial choice by the copyists or printers. Columbus only obtained confirmation of his title on March 30, 1493, when the Catholic monarchs, acknowledging the receipt of his letter, address Columbus for the first time as "our Admiral of the Ocean Sea and Vice-Roy and Governor of the islands which have been discovered in the Indies" ("nuestro Almirante del mar Océano e Visorrey y Gobernador de las Islas que se han descubierto en las Indias").

In the Copiador letter there are passages (omitted from the printed editions) petitioning the monarchs for the honors promised him, asking for a cardinalate for his son, and the appointment of his friend, Pedro de Villacorta, as paymaster of the Indies. The Copiador letter signs off as "made in the sea of Spain on March 4, 1493" ("Fecha en la mar de España, a quatro días de março"), a stark contrast to the February 15 given in the printed versions. There is no name or signature at the end of the Copiador letter, it ends abruptly "En la mar" ("At sea").

In the printed Spanish editions (albeit not in the Latin editions nor the Copiador), there is a small postscript dated March 14, written in Lisbon, noting that the return journey took 28 days (in contrast with the 33 days outward), but that unusual winter storms have kept him detained for an additional 23 days. A codicil in the printed Spanish edition indicates that Columbus sent this letter to the "Escribano de Racion", and another to their Highnesses. The Latin editions end with a verse epigram by Leonardus de Cobraria, Bishop of Monte Peloso.