Okay, where did we leave off? Oh yes, Christopher Columbus is spending New Year's at his new New World pad.
Pop Quiz: What was the theme of the last sentence?
When we left off, Columbus had built up La Navidad (his home away from home...far, far, away from home) in what he called Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti). He built up a stockade using wreckage from the Santa Maria, which had sank on Christmas Eve when it hit a reef.
On Monday night, December 31st, Columbus threw a massive New Year's Eve party, a party that the natives would talk about for centuries. The next day he had a nasty hangover and wanted to die. Okay, I just made that up. It could have happened though.
Anyway, New Year's came and went and on Friday, January 4th, it was time to depart for Spain. Apparently, Friday was Columbus's preferred travel day. Pop Quiz #2: What ship did Columbus leave in?
Answer: There was only one ship left. The Pinta was taken by Señor Pinzón to look for gold. The Santa Maria was now a stockade, so that leaves us with the Niña. (Notice the accent I added to Pinzon and the squigly thing I added to Nina. What is it called? ....hold on....asking my wife....it's a....what? an atildee? how do you spell that? Oh well, doesn't matter. It does matter actually, but I don't feel like looking it up now).
Okay, so Columbus departs on January 4th in the Niña. He left behind 39 of his men and took with him 10 to 25 natives (1). (I'm not aware of any records of Columbus asking the natives for a show of hands of all those "who want to go to Spain"). Well, after two days, guess who shows up? Yep, our man Pinzón.
Possible conversation between the two upon reuniting:
Columbus: "So, where's all your gold?"
Pinzón: "Shut up."
So, the Niña and now the Pinta head back to Spain. They officially leave Hispaniola on January 16th and travel together until February 14th when a storm in the North Atlantic separated the two. (Insert Valentine's Day joke here). After a couple of stops in Portugal, he finally arrives at his home port of Palos on March 15th. (2) Just a few hours later, the Pinzón and Pinta both arrive at the same dock. Sadly, Pinzón died just days later.
While back in Spain, Columbus met with the rulers of Spain (Ferdinand and Isabella). "Columbus presents Isabella with " 'Indians,' parrots, strange animals, and some gold; he demands and receives the reward that rightfully belongs to the sailor Rodrigo de Triana of the Pinta, who first sighted land last year." (3)
Apparently Columbus's presentation made a considerable impression on Ferdinand and Isabella - so much so that they made him governor of the land he had discovered in the New World and sent him back this time with not 3 ships, not 4 ships, not 5 ships, not 10 ships, not 15 ships, but....17 ships!
Columbus hung out in Spain for 6 months before him and his 17-ship entourage departed on September 24th. I looked it up and it was not a Friday. It was a Tuesday. They left from Cádiz on the 24th and according to answers.com they also left from the Canary Islands on October 13th. I'm guessing they made a stop there. I'm not a historian and so I'm allowed to not know some things. But I am going to look up October 13th. Was it a Friday? Was it a Friday? No, it was a Sunday.
Okay, so exactly 3 weeks later Columbus and his approximately 1,500 men arrive on the other side of the Atlantic. On November 3rd, Columbus began his Island Discovering-And-Naming Tour by naming Dominica. The next day he arrived at a place soon to be known as Guadeloupe.
Other tour stops included:
Montserrat
Antigua
Redonda
Nevis
Saint Kitts
Sint Eustatius
Saba
Saint Martin
Saint Croix
Virgin Gorda
Tortola
Peter Island
Islas de Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Virgenes.
The last one translates to Saint Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins. It was a long name and according to http://www.christopher-columbus.eu/voyage-2.htm, only the first and last names (Islas Virgenes) were used......The Virgin Islands.
Now, while in Guadeloupe, Columbus rescued a couple of "Arawak tribespeople who have been taken by Caribs from the island of Boriquén, [and] agrees to return them to that island" (4). After a number of stops, including many in the list above, Columbus reaches the aforementioned island on November 19th. And while there, Columbus was unable to resist the urge to go ahead and name it. What name did he give it? San Juan Bautista. Who did he name it after? Well, San means Saint; Juan is Spanish for John; and Bautista translates to "Baptist". John The Baptist. You're thinking, "I've never heard of that island. It must be a real small one." No, you've heard of it. It now goes by the name of Puerto Rico.
In music, a band will often end a tour at their home city. Columbus arrived at Hispaniola on November 22nd, then made it home (his New World home, that is) on November 28th. However, it was not a joyful homecoming as he reached La Navidad. He arrived "only to find that the fort has been burned down and its garrison are all dead, some men having been killed in arguments over gold and women, others slain by natives in revenge for kidnapping their women." (5)
Not what Columbus wanted to find. But, as they say in life, you gotta move on and that is what Columbus did. Sailing eastward, he arrived at what would be his new home on December 8th. He named it La Isabela.
What did Columbus do the rest of the month? I'm not sure, but I'm guessing he was building up his new settlement. He didn't have a sunken ship to work with, so I'm not sure what materials he used. I suppose I'll find out when I begin to check out.....1494. Stay tuned...
(1) http://www.christopher-columbus.eu/voyage-2.htm
(2) http://www.answers.com/topic/1493
(3) http://www.answers.com/topic/1493
(4) http://www.answers.com/topic/1493
(5) http://www.answers.com/topic/1493
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
1492
It was August of 1492. Christopher Columbus, an explorer from Spain, set sail for the Indies. Little did Columbus know that exactly 500 years later, John Park, a resident of Camarillo, California, would set sail for Ventura College after receiving his driver's license earlier in the month.
Had someone told Columbus this fact before his ship left the dock on Friday, August 3rd, 1492, I am confident that Columbus would have..........given absolutely no response whatsoever and his journey would have been delayed by approximately 12 seconds.
However, Columbus was determined that his journey would have an impact on people. Yes, he was looking to find the Indies and probably was not averse to the idea of bringing home some loot, but an excerpt from his diary revealed an additional desire:
"At this time I have seen and put in study to look into all the Scriptures which the Lord has opened to my understanding.
"It was the Lord who put into my mind (I could feel His hand upon me) the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because He comforted me with rays of marvelous inspiration from the Holy Scriptures...
"I am a most unworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy, and they have covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvelous presence. For the execution of the journey to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps. It is simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah had prophesied...
"The Lord made me a messenger of the new heavens and the new earth of which Isaiah speaks and St. John in the book of the Revelation. And He showed me the place where to find it..." (1)
And so on that Friday, Columbus knelt down on the dock, received Holy Communion, and embarked on a cruise that would change the world.
There were three cruise ships on this vacation: the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria.
After about a week, they made a stop at the Canary Islands. Of course, back then - when you stopped at a place, you also discovered it. I wouldn't have minded staking my claim to Hawaii. "Aloha! It's yours."
They remained there a few weeks and departed, continuing to head west.
Now, the university I attended was on the quarter system, where each term was 10 weeks. And by the end of the 10 weeks, you were ready to pull your hair out. So, it is no surprise to me that the patience of Columbus's crew finally exhausted itself after...you guessed it...10 weeks. They threatened mutiny. But just like my Calculus class, the pain and agony would not stretch itself beyond the 10 weeks. On October 11th, they began to see signs of land, "pieces of wood loaded with barnacles, green bulrushes, and other vegetation." (2) On October 12th, they saw the Promised Land. It wasn't actually the Promised Land and it wasn't the land they were even looking for, but after over two months in the ocean, any land is the Promised Land. And you can't go wrong with the the Bahamas. Of course, there were no resorts there because like I said, when you arrived at a place, you discovered it. There were people there however, and Columbus assumed he had reached the East Indies.
So, perhaps because there were no resorts, they continued to sail on. About two weeks later, they arrived at the Dominican Republic, where they likely spotted the ancestors of many future Major League baseball stars. By October 28th, they arrived in Cuba. He eventually called the island Hispaniola and referred to the natives as Indians. He "hoped to convert them 'to our Holy Faith by love rather than by force' by giving them red caps and glass beads 'and many other things of small value.' (3)
The discovery of things like corn and tobacco, while interesting to Columbus, was not all that exciting to one Martín Alonso Pinzón, who took off with the Pinta looking for gold. So, down to two ships, Columbus continued his journey. On December 6th, Columbus landed at an island which he named La Isla Espanola or Hispaniola. It is where modern-day Haiti is located.
On Christmas Eve, two ships became one as the Santa Maria hit a reef and by the next day, had sank. (4)
I'm guessing it was a motivator behind Columbus's decision to make the aforementioned island the site of the first European settlement in the New World. He called it La Navidad, building a stockade there out of the remnants of the Santa Maria. (5)
Well, that brings us to the end of 1492. Somewhere in the world on the evening of December 31st, Dick Clark's ancestors were celebrating the final hours of this historic year and looking forward to another exciting year of discovery. Of course, it is possible that his ancestors hadn't even heard of Christopher Columbus and/or turned in early that night.
(1) Rick Wood, Mission Frontiers (http://www.missionfrontiers.org/), Sep 01, 1992, Volume 14:9-12. Used by permission of Mission Frontiers.
(2) A Patriot's History Of The United States (From Columbus's Great Discovery To The War On Terror) by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen
Copyright Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen, 2004
Published by the Penguin Group
Page 4
(3) A Patriot's History Of The United States (From Columbus's Great Discovery To The War On Terror) by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen
Copyright Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen, 2004
Published by the Penguin Group
Page 4
(4) http://www.answers.com/topic/1492
(5) http://www.answers.com/topic/1492
Had someone told Columbus this fact before his ship left the dock on Friday, August 3rd, 1492, I am confident that Columbus would have..........given absolutely no response whatsoever and his journey would have been delayed by approximately 12 seconds.
However, Columbus was determined that his journey would have an impact on people. Yes, he was looking to find the Indies and probably was not averse to the idea of bringing home some loot, but an excerpt from his diary revealed an additional desire:
"At this time I have seen and put in study to look into all the Scriptures which the Lord has opened to my understanding.
"It was the Lord who put into my mind (I could feel His hand upon me) the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because He comforted me with rays of marvelous inspiration from the Holy Scriptures...
"I am a most unworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy, and they have covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvelous presence. For the execution of the journey to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps. It is simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah had prophesied...
"The Lord made me a messenger of the new heavens and the new earth of which Isaiah speaks and St. John in the book of the Revelation. And He showed me the place where to find it..." (1)
And so on that Friday, Columbus knelt down on the dock, received Holy Communion, and embarked on a cruise that would change the world.
There were three cruise ships on this vacation: the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria.
After about a week, they made a stop at the Canary Islands. Of course, back then - when you stopped at a place, you also discovered it. I wouldn't have minded staking my claim to Hawaii. "Aloha! It's yours."
They remained there a few weeks and departed, continuing to head west.
Now, the university I attended was on the quarter system, where each term was 10 weeks. And by the end of the 10 weeks, you were ready to pull your hair out. So, it is no surprise to me that the patience of Columbus's crew finally exhausted itself after...you guessed it...10 weeks. They threatened mutiny. But just like my Calculus class, the pain and agony would not stretch itself beyond the 10 weeks. On October 11th, they began to see signs of land, "pieces of wood loaded with barnacles, green bulrushes, and other vegetation." (2) On October 12th, they saw the Promised Land. It wasn't actually the Promised Land and it wasn't the land they were even looking for, but after over two months in the ocean, any land is the Promised Land. And you can't go wrong with the the Bahamas. Of course, there were no resorts there because like I said, when you arrived at a place, you discovered it. There were people there however, and Columbus assumed he had reached the East Indies.
So, perhaps because there were no resorts, they continued to sail on. About two weeks later, they arrived at the Dominican Republic, where they likely spotted the ancestors of many future Major League baseball stars. By October 28th, they arrived in Cuba. He eventually called the island Hispaniola and referred to the natives as Indians. He "hoped to convert them 'to our Holy Faith by love rather than by force' by giving them red caps and glass beads 'and many other things of small value.' (3)
The discovery of things like corn and tobacco, while interesting to Columbus, was not all that exciting to one Martín Alonso Pinzón, who took off with the Pinta looking for gold. So, down to two ships, Columbus continued his journey. On December 6th, Columbus landed at an island which he named La Isla Espanola or Hispaniola. It is where modern-day Haiti is located.
On Christmas Eve, two ships became one as the Santa Maria hit a reef and by the next day, had sank. (4)
I'm guessing it was a motivator behind Columbus's decision to make the aforementioned island the site of the first European settlement in the New World. He called it La Navidad, building a stockade there out of the remnants of the Santa Maria. (5)
Well, that brings us to the end of 1492. Somewhere in the world on the evening of December 31st, Dick Clark's ancestors were celebrating the final hours of this historic year and looking forward to another exciting year of discovery. Of course, it is possible that his ancestors hadn't even heard of Christopher Columbus and/or turned in early that night.
(1) Rick Wood, Mission Frontiers (http://www.missionfrontiers.org/), Sep 01, 1992, Volume 14:9-12. Used by permission of Mission Frontiers.
(2) A Patriot's History Of The United States (From Columbus's Great Discovery To The War On Terror) by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen
Copyright Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen, 2004
Published by the Penguin Group
Page 4
(3) A Patriot's History Of The United States (From Columbus's Great Discovery To The War On Terror) by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen
Copyright Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen, 2004
Published by the Penguin Group
Page 4
(4) http://www.answers.com/topic/1492
(5) http://www.answers.com/topic/1492
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