Culp ENGL 227 Project
josh_19
Christopher Columbus is one of the most recognized figures in American history. While someobody would have eventually landed on this massive continent Christopher Columbus was the first, even though he found it by mistake while looking for a sea route to the Indies. Columbus was an interesting character and remains somewhat mysterious even to this day. Through some of his written works we can gain some insight into his reasonings, beliefs, and actions. I chose to include among certain pictures the Writings of Christopher Columbus, Descriptive of the Discovery and Occupation of the New World which include letters to and from the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, who financed his voyages. Also, the very first letter that he wrote to his friend, in latin, announcing his disovery of the new world, and The Journal of the First Voyage to America (which is the work that we read in class), and finally The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, which is a historical fiction novel by Washington Irving (whom we also studied in class). I chose to include this work of fiction along with Columbus' own writings because I think it will show the American idea of Columbus and could shed some light on where we get some of our beliefs about Columbus. I think these works convey a more accurate depiction of Columbus becuase we are getting a glimpse into what kind of man Columbus was, the kind of man he thought he was, as well as the facts and myths that we have grew up believing.
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Christopher Columbus was born sometime between August and October of 1451 in Genoa. He was a maritime explorer and navigator. He is credited with discovering the Americas in 1492 while looking for a trade route to the West Indies. He sailed for the King and Queen of Spain and was financed to go on three more voyages to the New World. This picture is a posthumus portrait by a painter named Ghirlandaio it is believed to be based on what he would have looked like some time during the time of his voyages which would have put him in his forties, although this is debated because there are no known portraits of Columbus done from when he was actually alive. |
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Writings of Christopher Columbus, descriptive of the discovery and occupation of the New World
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This volume among other items contains a letter that Columbus wrote to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. This letter is said to have been sent sometime during Columbus' second voyage to the Americas. In this letter Columbus is outlining his ideas for colonization of the new world which include his opinions on churches, magistrates, taxation and townships. However, the majority of the letter is focused on the search, mining, and distribution of gold. Columbus goes in to grave detail explaining how he feels gold should be mined distributed and taxed in the new colonies. I found this interesting because in Columbus' own words it is evident that he was not so much concerned with exploration and scholar as much as he was preoccupied with getting rich and gaining power. While gold is not the sole subject of the letter it is definately the dominant one. Also, contained in this volume is the privalages of Columbus that were set forth by the King and Queen. These are the powers and limitations set on Columbus by the royal family. They include Columbus title was to be Admiral of the Indies and he would enjoy all the powers that an Admiral in Spain would. However, he was only allowed to keep but one third of his findings and was not to step outside of his juristiction on any of the many boundaries the King set. Disputes were said to have arisen from these stipulations set on Columbus, that is to say he was not happy having to answer to anyone when he was in the land that he discovered. This could demonstrate that Columbus was much more interested in his financial gain and reputation than anything else. |
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The Latin letter of Columbus, printed in 1493 and announcing the discovery of America
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This letter is said to be one of the only works of Columbus that is entirely in his own pen and not re-written from his notes by another author years later. It was the first letter that he sent after his discovery of the new world. It was sent to Louis de Santangel who was the treasurer to the King and Queen and an avid supporter of Columbus and was very instrumental in convincing the two to approve and finance Columbus' voyage. The letter begins with a massive description of the new land by Columbus along with his impressions of the natives. The reader can tell from the tone of the letter that Columbus is very excited to have succeeded (he believes) and is overjoyed at the new worlds potential to make him prosperous and famous. He begins by describing the land as very beautiful and the natives as very timid and also naive as he accounts numerous occasions when he feels he took advantage of them during trading, although he does not express remorese in the least. However, after the initial descriptions Columbus begins to relate his ideas for the islands' financial potential. He describes places with "uncalculable amounts of gold" and the natives would be none the wiser if they were to begin to mine for it and that they could probably be made into slaves fairly easily. Columbus was writing this letter to a friend to whom he was indebted for being so valuable in convincing the King and Queen to allow his voyage. He is obviously proud of his accomplishment and never shows many signs of humulity, however, he does convey his true intentions for this new land and they are to garner him prestige and wealth with very little concern at the cost.
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Christopher Columbus, his own book of privileges, 1502
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Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World with three ships the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Columbus is believed to have sailed on the much larger and grander Santa Maria but the picture is a painting of the Nina, one of the smaller ships that were mostly used to store supplies or to help bring back all the riches they would find (Columbus hopes). |
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The life and voyages of Christopher Columbus
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The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus was a novel by the American author Washington Irving. Many believe that this is biographical work but in fact it is mostly fiction based on facts but expanded upon by Irving's imagination. This work differs from the others so far in this project in different ways. For one Columbus had no hand at all in the writing of this work and it presents Columbus in a different light. One of the main points in the book is that Columbus was an enthused explorer who just wanted his chance to go out and prove that there was new land out there and that the world was not flat. However, we know that Columbus was not trying to find new land but simply a shorter route to the West Indes and in fact none of the scientists back in the 1400's believed that the world was flat; that notion had been rejected in the time of Aristotle hundreds of years earlier. Irving's Columbus is presented as a hero who was an underdog and acheived greatness despite all the trials and tribulations he faced. During this time in our country's early history, America needed this Columbus and embraced him accordingly, his triumph over adversity resonated particularly well with the new republic and its own hardships as did his symbol of a great explorer moving westward. Irving had thus created a Columbus that America wanted to believe in and with this distortion of facts and clever imagination came to be the Christopher Columbus that we learn about in grade school and have a holiday for in the middle of October, not the Columbus that wrote about enslaving a race of people and mining a country for all its natural resources.
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The journal of Columbus` first voyage : "Columbus"
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The Journal of Columbus was the text that we read in class. This work is written by columbus in journal form but it is meant to be a detailed account of his voyage and findings to the King and Queen of Spain. The journal was also rewritten by Bartoleme de Las Casas some forty years after his death. Much of this work is also in the aforementioned letter to his friend Louis de Santangel but is expanded in greater detail. He describes the land as a paradise and the people as peaceful however he doesn't seem to deem this as an admirable quality, but one that he can potentially take advantage of. He only mentions the prospect of converting these natives to Christianity in passing and in my opinion it is not so much because he believes its the right thing to do or that he really cares, but because that it will probably solidify his position with the King and Queen by making his cause seem more noble. Once again he describes the potential of the new world in terms of wealth both agriculturally and human labor. He makes no secrets about his search for precious metals and is more than willing to swindle the natives for knowledge of its whereabouts. Although, in certain parts of the journal Columbus is more sympathetic to the natives than in other exercerpts and some scholars believe that this is probably the writings of Las Casas who was said to be much more sympathetic towards the natives than Columbus was. This adds to the mystery of Columbus because we do not always know exactly know which person's point of view we are reading, therefore it is hard to attain an accurate portrayal of Columbus.
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I think this picture is particularly interesting and telling of how we see Columbus today. He is depicted as a conquering hero claiming the heathen land for the good of the Crown and country. He is shown kneeling and looking up at the sky more than likely thanking God for his new discovery (although we have seen so far that Christianity is not on top of Columbus lists of priorities for this new land) and if one looks closely you can see a native hiding in the bushes behind the explorers. I think this is the way that we as a society now like to think of Christopher Columbus much the same way that we believe in Irving's character. He was a hero destined to discover this new land and helped put it on its way to being livable by the civilized peoples of the world. |
In conclusion, Christopher Columbus will always be remembered as the person who disovered the Americas. To many people Christopher Columbus was a hero, an underdog that despite many obstacles triumphed and acheived his goal of finding new land and disproving the theory that the world was flat. However, much of this is myth that is based on a ficticous novel by Washington Irving. We now know or believe that Columbus was in fact searching for a trade route to the Indies and no one during this time period actually believed that the world was not round. We can assume from his own writings and that of others that upon finding this new land Christopher Columbus did his best to position himself for increased wealth and power with little regard for this new land or its peoples. While he may or may not have been the man they teach us about in elementary school he is the first explorer credited with landing on what we call home and for that he will always be remembered regardless of his intentions.
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