CCOLUMBUS

HRISTOPHER
Explorer of the New World
BE AN
EYEWITNESS TO...
Columbus’s
thrillingvoyages
of
exploration
C COLUMBUS
HRISTOPHER
EXPLORER OF THE
NEW WORLD
 Portuguese
traders
importing
slaves from
Africa

The royal treasurer

begs Queen Isabella
of Spain to back
Columbus’s voyage.

The Pinta

Columbus
lands at
San Salvador.
C
HRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS
EXPLORER OF THE
NEW WORLD

Written by
PETER CHRISP
Illustrated by
PETER DENNIS

A Dorling Kindersley Book

 Dorling Kindersley
LONDON, NEW YORK, SYDNEY, DELHI, PARIS,
MUNICH, and JOHANNESBURG

Project Editor Steve Setford

Contents
Art Editor Peter Radcliffe
Senior Editor Marie Greenwood 6
Senior Art Editor Carole Oliver
Managing Art Editor Jacquie Gulliver THE AGE OF
Publishing Manager Jayne Parsons
DTP Designer Nomazwe Madonko
EXPLORATION
Picture Researchers Amanda Russell, Pernilla Pearce,
and Marie Osborn
Jacket Designer Dean Price
Production Kate Oliver, Jenny Jacoby 8
Additional illustrations by David Ashby IN SEARCH OF THE INDIES
First published in Great Britain in 2001 by
Dorling Kindersley Limited,
80 Strand, London WC2R ORL,

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

Copyright © 2001 Dorling Kindersley Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication

may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior 10
permission of the copyright owner.
CHRISTOPHER
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library. COLUMBUS
ISBN 0 7513 1388 2

Reproduced by Colourscan, Singapore

Printed and bound by L.E.G.O., Italy
12
For Lisa
THE PLAN
see our complete
catalogue at 14
WWW.dk.com THE QUEST FOR A ROYAL
SPONSOR

16
SHIPS AND CREW
18
THE FLEET SETS OFF
 20 36
THE VOYAGE TO THE MAINLAND
24 38
THE MEN FROM THE SKY ANOTHER WORLD
26
SHIPWRECKED IN
HISPANIOLA

28
TRIUMPHANT
HOMECOMING

30
THE SPANISH 40
SETTLEMENT ACROSS THE WILD
CARIBBEAN
32
COLUMBUS RETURNS 42
STRANDED!
34
HORROR ON HISPANIOLA 44
VOYAGES OF
EXPLORATION

46
CONQUISTADORES
48
INDEX
The Age of
Exploration 1400S, Europeans knew
U NTIL THE EARLY
little about the wider world. But
everything changed in the 15th century,
when the kingdom of Portugal began
to send ships out on voyages of
exploration. Portuguese explorers
worked their way down the western
coast of Africa, establishing trading
posts as they went, and found a
route into the Indian Ocean.

“ This is the story of

heroes who, leaving
their native Portugal
behind them, opened a
Portugal

way to Ceylon [Sri

Lanka], and further, The African
coast, with
across seas no man had names given by

”
ever sailed before. Portuguese explorers
Luis de Camoens
(Portuguese poet)
The Lusiads, 1572 World map by Henricus
Martellus, c.1490
 Caravels had lateen (triangular)
CARAVEL sails, which were better than square
In little ships called caravels, sails for sailing into the wind.

Portuguese explorers sailed

out into the unknown
Atlantic Ocean. CITIES OF CATHAY
The Venetian Marco
Polo had visited China,
or Cathay as he called it,
in the 13th century. He
returned with tales of
Cathay’s wealthy cities.

Ceylon (Sri
Lanka), in the
Indian Ocean
 T H E A G E O F E X P L O R A T I O N

IN SEARCH
OF THE INDIES
THE AIM OF THE EUROPEAN VOYAGES
“ Cipangu
[Japan] has gold
in measureless
amounts. The
of exploration was to reach “the Indies”, island’s ruler has a
which was the old European name for very large palace
Asia. The Indies included all the eastern lands, entirely roofed with
from India to Japan. Europeans had only the

”
fine gold.
vaguest ideas of where these places were. The Marco Polo and
Rusticello of Pisa,
one thing they did know was that the Indies The Travels of Marco
Polo, c.1299
were rich. They had spices, gold, jewels, and silk
– goods that were scarce in Europe, and which
Europeans desperately wanted to get their hands on. Marco Polo journeyed
all over Asia on missions
for the Khan.
EUROPE MARCO POLO
Constantinople In the late 1200s, the
Ning- merchant Marco Polo of
E hsia
Tabriz OAD R OUT Venice became one of the
SILK R Shachow
Sultaniyeh Kashgar few Europeans to visit Asia.
P E Kerman A S I A CHINA He took four years to travel
AR

R
SIA the Silk Road to China,
AB

where he spent 17 years

IA

AN

IIN DIA
NDIA
serving the emperor Kublai
JAP

Khan as a diplomat.

THE SILK ROAD Spices such as

For centuries, spices and other eastern goods had been cinnamon added
brought west along a trade route called the Silk Road. exciting new
By the time they reached Europe they were hugely flavours to
expensive, because of the profits taken by all the European foods.
merchants who bought and sold them along the way.

Silk Road goods

THE GOODS CARRIED WEST along the
Silk Road came from all over Asia. Cinnamon
Silk fabrics were made in China.
Cinnamon came from Sri Lanka.
India supplied black pepper.
Cloves

SPICE ISLANDS
The most expensive
spices, including nutmeg
and cloves, only grew in
the “Spice Islands” (better
known as the Moluccas)
Silk Nutmeg Black pepper of eastern Indonesia.
FANTASTIC STORIES
On his return to Italy, Marco Polo’s stories of the
Indies were published as a book. It described
Asian rivers full of precious stones (above), and
many more fantastic sights. People loved his tales,
but many readers thought he had made them up.

8

EAN
OC
TIC
CHRISTIAN
EUROPE
ATLAN
OTTOMAN
EMPIRE
ME D
IT E R R A NE A N
NORTH
AFRICA
NO ROUTE EAST
Christian Europe (pink) was hemmed in by Muslims,
who ruled the lands to the south and east (green).
There had been bitter hatred between the two religions
since the 11th century, when the Christians began a
series of holy wars, called crusades, against the Muslims.
CAMEL CARAVAN
Camels were the main pack animals used to
carry goods along the Silk Road. They
travelled in long lines called caravans.
FACT file
• Marco Polo dictated his stories to a
writer named Rusticello while serving
a prison sentence in Genoa.
• His book claimed that the Chinese
burned black stones for fuel. His
European readers, who did not know
about coal, found this hard to believe.
• On his death bed, Marco Polo was
asked if he had made up his stories.
He replied that he had not recorded
half of what he had seen in the Indies.
• Other travellers’ tales told of giant
gold-mining ants, and headless people,
whose faces were on their chests.
I N S E A R C H O F T H E I N D I E S
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
By the 15th century, the
crusades had failed, and Europe
was on the defensive. The
Muslim Ottoman Turks
launched their own holy war,
sweeping through Greece and
the Balkans, and conquering
islands in the Mediterranean,
such as Rhodes. The strength
of the Ottoman Empire made it
S EA
MUSLIM harder than ever for Europeans
to reach the Indies overland.
LANDS
Ottoman forces
conquering Rhodes
in 1522
Camels could carry heavier loads
than horses or donkeys, and they
were better suited to the harsh desert
conditions encountered on the route.
Henry the Navigator
Prince Henry of Portugal, nicknamed
Henry the Navigator, realized that the
best way to get around the Muslim
barrier was by sea. In the early 1400s,
he sent a series of expeditions down
Riding their short, stocky horses, the Khan’s the coast of Africa. Henry had started
soldiers escorted Marco Polo on his missions. the age of European exploration.
Prester John
PRINCE HENRY HAD HEARD
travellers’ tales of a powerful
Christian king called Prester
John, who ruled somewhere
in Africa or Asia. He hoped
that the Portuguese voyages of
exploration would find Prester
John, so that he could help
Christian Europe fight a new
crusade against the Muslims.
Imaginary king
Although he was pictured on maps,
Prester John did not really exist.
9
 T H E A G E O F E X P L O R A T I O N

Engraving of Genoa harbour
Columbus’s home city, Genoa, was
one of the Mediterranean’s busiest
ports. As a boy, Columbus must have
watched hundreds of merchant ships
arriving and departing, and dreamed
of a life of adventure as a sailor.
ICELAND
N
EA
OC
CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS
BORN IN GENOA, NORTHERN ITALY, IN
1451, Christopher Columbus decided at
an early age that he wanted to go to sea,
rather than follow in his father’s footsteps as a
weaver and wool merchant. By his mid-teens,
Columbus was sailing on merchant voyages
all around the Mediterranean Sea. He had
little formal education, but showed a natural
skill as a navigator. Aged 25, he moved to
Portugal. For a young man curious to find out
about the world, Portugal in the age of
exploration was the ideal place to be.

LISBON DOCKS
C

PE

Columbus settled in the

TI

RO

Portuguese capital,
AN

EU

Lisbon, built beside the

ATL

LISBON wide River Tagus, which

IN

pours into the Atlantic

S PA

• Ocean. At the docks,

AZORES

MADEIRA
the air resounded with a
P ORTUGAL
babble of different
CANARY ISLANDS
languages as sailors from
many lands loaded and
CAPE VERDE
AFRICA unloaded cargo from ships.
ISLANDS
COLUMBUS THE SEAMAN
GUINEA As an experienced navigator,
Columbus was always welcome
at the bustling dockside.

Into the Atlantic

Columbus sailed on several trading
voyages out into the Atlantic Ocean
from Lisbon. He sailed north to
Iceland, and south to Guinea, all the
while learning about the great ocean
and its system of winds and currents.
EUROPEAN EXPORTS
Portuguese ships sailed to Africa
with cargoes of horses, glass
beads, brass bells, carpets,
English wool, and Irish linen.

Columbus saved himself SHIPWRECKED

by clinging on to a A shipwreck first brought
floating oar. Columbus to Portugal. In
1476, he sailed with a
Genoese fleet, which
was attacked by French
warships off the Portuguese
coast. Columbus’s ship sank,
but he made it safely ashore.

10
 C H R I S T O P H E R C O L U M B U S

Navigating in known waters

COLUMBUS LEARNED TO FIND HIS WAY at sea
using a magnetic compass and a map called a
portolan, which was marked with criss-cross
lines. When sailing in known waters, a mariner
could use these two navigational tools to plot a
“ At a very tender
age, I went to sea
sailing, and so I
have continued to
course between any two ports.
Compass this day. The art
A compass has a magnetic
needle that always points
of navigation leads
towards north. the man who
Portolan map
When drawing a portolan,
follows it to want to
a mapmaker used a grid of
criss-cross lines as a guide
know the secrets of

”
for accuracy. The lines also this world.
helped a navigator to find
the sailing direction and
Christopher Columbus,
distance from port to port. from a letter to the king
and queen of Spain,
1501
GOLD COAST TRADE
The Portuguese found a rich source of gold in part
of Guinea, West Africa, which they called “the Gold
Coast”. Gold from here was brought to Lisbon, where
it was made into coins called cruzados (“crusades”).
CAPTIVE CONVERTS
RICH REWARDS The Portuguese saw nothing wrong in
Columbus sailed to Guinea on a ship enslaving non-Christians. They made
like this. Deeply impressed by the gold the slaves convert to Christianity,
mines he saw, he realized how profitable believing that they would benefit by
voyages of exploration could be. learning about the “true faith”.

IMPORTING SLAVES
Sugar cane Between 1450 and 1500, around 150,000
In Africa, these African slaves passed through the Lisbon
from Madeira 11 slaves could
have been bought docks. The Portuguese bought them from
AFRICAN IMPORTS in exchange for a local slave traders and African chiefs. There
Ships arriving from Africa unloaded single horse. was frequent warfare between the chiefs, who
slaves, chests of gold dust, bundles of ivory, and often raided each other’s territories to take
barrels full of a pepper-like spice called malagueta. prisoners whom they could sell as slaves.

11
 T H E A G E O F E X P L O R A T I O N

“ The Earth is round.

Six parts of the globe
can be lived upon, the
seventh is covered with
THE PLAN
AS HE SAILED ON TRADING VOYAGES
in the Atlantic Ocean, Christopher
water...Between the end Columbus must have often gazed at
of Spain and the the western horizon, and wondered what
beginning of India lies secrets it held. This was still a mysterious
a narrow sea that can ocean. Nobody knew how wide it was,
be sailed in a few or what you would find if you tried to
days with a sail across it. Columbus had read Marco
favourable wind.
Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly,
Imago Mundi,
1410 ” Polo’s stories of the gold-roofed palace of
Cipangu and the wealth of the Great Khan of
Cathay. It struck him that these rich lands must
lie on the other side of the Atlantic, and that it might be
possible to reach them by sailing west. So Columbus
Imago Mundi began to work out a plan to sail across the Atlantic
Ocean, and find the riches of the Indies.
COLUMBUS FOUND SUPPORT for his
plan in Imago Mundi (“Picture of the Columbus always kept EVIDENCE
his copies of Imago Columbus studied geography books to
World”), a geography book written Mundi and Marco
by a French cardinal, Pierre d’Ailly. find evidence that his voyage was
Polo’s Travels beside possible. He calculated the size of
The cardinal had read in the ancient him as he worked.
Europe and Asia and the distance
Jewish book of around the Earth. Using only
Esdras that sea writers who would back up
covered only one- his ideas, he tried to
seventh of the prove that the
Earth’s surface. Atlantic was a
From this, d’Ailly narrow sea.
argued that the A skilled mapmaker,
Atlantic could not Columbus drew
charts to show
be a wide ocean. that his plan
was practical.

Columbus covered his copy

of Imago Mundi with notes
in different inks, showing
that he read it many times.

TOSCANELLI
Columbus learned that, in
1474, Italian scholar Paolo
Toscanelli had tried to
convince the Portuguese
king to back a western sea
voyage to Asia. Columbus
wrote to Toscanelli, who
sent him a sea chart and a
letter encouraging him in
his “great and noble desire”.

12
BIBLE
As a strong Christian,
Columbus believed
that all important
knowledge was in the
Bible, which was
thought to be the
word of God. The
only continents
mentioned in the Bible
are Europe, Africa, and
Asia, so he would have
had no inkling that the
Americas existed.
Columbus’s namesake,
Saint Christopher, was the
patron saint of seafarers
and travellers.
A deeply religious
man, Columbus often
read the Bible.
Columbus probably used
a crucifix and rosary
beads as prayer aids.
Mapping the Earth
ALL EDUCATED PEOPLE knew that the world was round,
but there were arguments about its size, and how much
of it was covered by water. Many scholars believed that
the Atlantic stretched over half the globe. Columbus
rejected this idea, as it made his voyage unthinkable.
Japan (Cipangu)
Spain
Africa
Asia Atlantic
Ocean
Columbus’s world
Columbus assumed that there was only the open water of the
Atlantic between Spain and Asia. He also thought that there were
many islands off the coast of Asia, where he could break his journey.
Japan Pacific North Europe
Ocean America

SAINT
CHRISTOPHER Asia
The name Christopher Africa
means ”Christ bearer”. It comes Australia
from the saint who, in legend, South America
carried a child safely across a The true picture
river. The child then revealed Columbus misjudged the size of the Earth, believing it to be much
that he was Jesus Christ. smaller than it really is. There are huge continents, the Americas, where
Columbus felt that he was a Columbus hoped to find Asia, and another, Australia, below Asia.
new Saint Christopher, chosen A huge ocean, called the Pacific, separates the Americas from Asia.
by God to carry Christianity
across the sea to the Indies.

MARTIN BEHAIM
The German geographer Martin
Behaim pictured the world in a
similar way to Columbus. He, too,
dreamed of making a western sea
voyage to the Indies. Although
Behaim was in Portugal at the
same time as Columbus, there
is no evidence that the two
men ever met.

BEHAIM’S GLOBE
In 1492, Martin Behaim
built a globe to show that a
westward sea voyage to the
Indies was possible. Behaim’s
is the oldest surviving globe
in the world today.

Copy of Behaim’s
1492 globe
 T H E A G E O F E X P L O R A T I O N

THE QUEST FOR

A ROYAL SPONSOR
COLUMBUS COULD NOT SAIL ON
his voyage without royal backing. He
wanted to arrive in the Indies as the
ambassador of a powerful king, and he
needed the king’s money to pay for all the
ships, crews, and supplies. Columbus was
also very ambitious and expected to be
rewarded for his discoveries by being made
a noble. So, in 1484, he approached King
John II of Portugal, and explained his plan. The
king did not believe in Marco Polo’s tales of AUDIENCE WITH THE QUEEN
Cipangu (Japan), so he turned Columbus down. In any After being rejected in Portugal, Columbus
moved to Spain in 1485 to seek sponsorship
case, John was far more interested in the wealth his ships from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
were already bringing back from their trips to Africa. A year later, Isabella met with Columbus in
Cordova and listened to his plan with interest.

Reconquest BEFORE THE COMMISSION

Ferdinand and Isabella knew little about
PRESENTING THE PLAN
Columbus explained his plan to
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA WERE BUSY geography or voyages of exploration, so the royal experts. To support his
they appointed a commission of experts ideas, he showed them his map of
fighting, and winning, a war against the the Atlantic, and read to them
Muslim Moors, who ruled southern Spain. to see if Columbus’s plan made
from his favourite books on
sense. The experts were
Only after the fall of Granada, mostly churchmen, along
geography.
the last Muslim stronghold, with some scholars
on 2 January 1492, and seamen.
could they give
their full
attention to
Columbus’s
proposal.
Arms of
Leon and
Castille

Woodcut of Ferdinand, commemorating Coat of arms

the conquest of Granada in 1492 of Granada
14
 T H E Q U E S T F O R A R O Y A L S P O N S O R

Santangel told
Return to Portugal Isabella she
was wrong
to reject
IN 1488, WHILE AWAITING THE EXPERTS’ DECISION, Columbus.
Columbus decided to try his luck again in Portugal. He
arrived in time to see the triumphant return of explorer
Bartolomeu Dias, who had just found a way around the
southern tip, or cape, of Africa into the Indian Ocean.

FRIEND AT COURT
Luis de Santangel, the royal treasurer, was a friend of
Columbus. Santangel told Isabella that Columbus’s plan
would bring Spain wealth and glory, and help to spread
the Christian religion. He warned that Spain would lose
out if a rival kingdom sponsored the voyage instead.

FINANCING THE TRIP

Santangel had so much faith in
Columbus that he offered to
pay for the voyage himself.
Won over by Santangel,
Hope and gloom Dias set up a Isabella said she would raise
The cape Dias found was named “Good Hope”. Dias cross on the the money for the trip, even if
had opened up an eastern sea route to the Indies. cape to claim it meant pawning her jewels.
The Portuguese now had no use for Columbus, so the land for
he gloomily made his way back to Spain. Portugal. Gold coin showing Ferdinand
and Isabella Columbus heard
the good news
from a royal
THE EXPERTS DECIDE messenger.
The experts concluded that Columbus’s ideas were The experts were
mistaken, and that it would take at least three not convinced
by Columbus’s
years to sail west to Asia. Isabella and Ferdinand calculations.
were also put off by Columbus’s demands – he
wanted to rule as viceroy over any lands that he
discovered. In January 1492, after six-and-a-half
years, Columbus was rejected once again.

COLUMBUS CALLED BACK

Meanwhile, Columbus packed his belongings
and set off for France, intent on offering his
plan to yet another king. But before long, a
messenger caught up with Columbus and told
him that the queen had changed her mind.
He would sail to the Indies after all!

15
 T H E A G E O F E X P L O R A T I O N

SHIPS AND CREW

Santa Maria
Ships had an official name, usually
that of a saint, and a female nickname.
Columbus’s flagship, Santa Maria, was
nicknamed La Gallega (“the Galician”)
after Galicia in northern Spain, where
she was made. A não, or round-bellied
cargo ship, she was the slowest vessel
in the fleet, and the hardest to handle.
ON 12 MAY 1492, COLUMBUS TRAVELLED
to the port of Palos, on the south coast
of Spain, to prepare for his voyage to
the Indies. The people of Palos had upset
Ferdinand and Isabella in some way, now
unknown. As punishment, they were ordered
to supply Columbus with two ships, Niña and
Pinta. Columbus hired a third ship, Santa Maria,
from his friend Juan de la Cosa. Getting the
ships was the easy part. Now Columbus had to find
more than 90 men and boys to crew his three ships.

The anchor was raised

INSIDE SANTA MARIA Falconet
EAGLE-EYES For four months, Santa Maria would be
and lowered on a long Lookouts stood
thick rope that ran forward and at the
home to a crew of more than 40 men
through this mast-head, their eyes and boys – together with cockroaches,
hole. scouring the seas for rats, lice, and fleas! Columbus had his
signs of land. own cabin, but everyone else slept in
the open air, on deck. The
areas below deck were
too smelly and cramped. WEAPONS
Columbus did not know if the people
of the Indies would be peaceful or
hostile, so the ships had small,
Spare sails swivelling guns called falconets, as
well as larger cannons called
lombards. The men were armed with
Meals were cooked swords, crossbows, and muskets.
Finding a crew above an open fire
At first, nobody in Palos on a fogón
(firebox). PUMP
wanted to sail with Rowing Every day the men had to pump
Columbus. Spanish sailors boat out water that leaked into the
did not want to risk their lives
hold. All wooden ships leaked.
on a dangerous voyage into
the unknown, captained by a
foreigner. Columbus’s plan
struck them as insane.
 The Pinzón brothers
NIÑA Lateen
The smallest ship, Niña, was a sails MARTÍN ALONSO PINZÓN, a respected local
caravel with lateen sails. Her official sea captain, welcomed Columbus’s plan to
name was Santa Clara. Niña means sail to the Indies. Pinzón was eager to sail
“little girl” and was probably a play with Columbus, and used his influence to
on the name of her owner, Juan win over his younger brother, Vincente
Niño, who sailed on the voyage as
her second-in-command. Easy to
Yáñez Pinzón, and the seafarers of Palos.
handle, even in storms, she soon
became Columbus’s favourite ship.
Mizzen mast Main mast
Foremast

PINTA
The fastest of the three
ships, Pinta was a caravel
with square sails, known
as a caravela redonda (“round
caravel”). Pinta is a Vincente Pinzón Martín Pinzón
nickname meaning Niña was put under the Made the captain of
“spotted one”; her official charge of Vincente. In Pinta, Martín fell out
the years to come, he with Columbus on the
name is not known. During would lead his own voyage, challenging his
the voyage, Pinta would voyages of exploration choice of route and
often race ahead of the other to South America. disobeying his orders.
Slim hull made Bowsprit ships, looking for land.
Pinta fast.
Falconets were mounted LOADING SUPPLIES
on the ship’s bulwarks Columbus bought enough supplies
BALLAST HELMSMAN (raised sides). Columbus’s
Stones were used as The helmsman steered to feed his men for months. Wooden
cabin
ballast, making the below deck, obeying barrels held wine, water, vinegar,
ship more stable. orders shouted down salted fish, pork, and beef. There
from the pilot above. were sacks of rice, flour, lentils, beans,
and ship’s biscuits (hard, flat bread).
Chickens for There were also boxes of cannon
eggs and Cargo was carried Pilot balls, gunpowder, crossbow bolts,
fresh meat in the hold.
fishing lines and hooks, and trade
goods such as woollen caps and
glass beads.
Checklist
of cargo

17
The Fleet
Sets off 3 AUGUST 1492,
S HORTLY BEFORE SUNRISE ON FRIDAY
Columbus’s little fleet set off from Palos. The ships
sailed south-west, towards the Canary Islands, where they
could take on more supplies. Columbus believed that Japan
lay directly west of the Canaries.
Red crosses were With luck and a good wind, he
painted on the sails of
the ships. Sailors was sure he would reach Japan
hoped these Christian in just a few days.
symbols would bring
them God’s protection.
The Pinta, under the
command of Martín
Alonso Pinzón
 The ships flew flags
decorated with the royal
coat of arms of Spain.
“I have decided to set
down each day full
details of everything I
do, see, and experience
on this voyage…Above
Columbus sailed on all, I must have no
the flagship, the regard for sleep, but
Santa Maria. must carefully watch
my course. All of this

”
will be no small task.
Christopher Columbus,
extract from his logbook of
the voyage, 1492

19th-century painting of
Columbus’s fleet

The little Niña, captained

by Vincente Yáñez Pinzón,
set off with lateen sails.
 T H E F L E E T S E T S O F F T H E V O Y A G E

THE VOYAGE FALSE LOG SARGASSO SEA LIFE AT SEA T IME OFF The perfect route
NORTH

IN
10th 16th In their time off, the sailors slept, tried Prevailing The North Atlantic wind blows in a
ATLANTIC O CEAN

S PA
LOGBOOK September After setting off again from September The fleet found itself sailing The men settled into a routine of four hours
A log records a ship’s progress. to catch fish, and made their own A MERICA winds huge, clockwise circle. Sailing west from
the Canaries, Columbus through a mass of bright-green of work, followed by four hours of rest. While entertainment. They gambled with the Canaries, Columbus had this wind
In his false log, Columbus decided to keep a false log of the seaweed, with little crabs crawling over the one half of each crew rested, the other half •
AS THEY SAILED TOWARDS THE CANARIES, recorded shorter distances than
the fleet had really travelled. He trip to show the crew. He knew surface of the weed. Everybody thought sailed the ship. It was a largely uneventful
dice, told each other stories, sang
songs, and grumbled about the length
12th October
10th October
Near mutiny
25th September
False alarm A ZORES
Palos behind him all the way. If he had sailed
west from Spain instead, he would have
that it might be a long voyage, that this was a sure sign of land. In fact, voyage, with a steady wind. The worst
the wind filled the square sails of Santa Maria did not want the crew to know
how far they had sailed into and his sailors would grow Columbus had discovered the problem the sailors faced was boredom.
of the voyage. They rarely washed,
but some occasionally jumped
Landfall at
San
9th August
Refitting Nina
had to battle against the wind. Whether
by luck or because he understood the
worried as they travelled Sargasso Sea, a vast area of floating overboard for a swim in the sea. wind, Columbus chose the perfect route.
and Pinta, driving them forward. Niña, with uncharted waters. Salvador •

A
farther from Spain. With weed in the open waters of the • • •
• CANARY

RIC
•
CU S A R G A S S O SE A
her triangular sails, had a harder time. Whenever his false log, he hoped North Atlantic. TRUSTING IN GOD BA 10th September ISLANDS

“
to calm their fears. Sailors knew that their lives depended False log
the following wind shifted direction, she had to 7th October 16th September
He knelt on the

AF
SEA OF WEED on good weather. Most were very HA I T I
Flock of birds Sargasso Sea
The Sargasso Sea takes religious and prayed to God and the
“go about”, which means that her crew had to its name from sargaço, saints, asking for a safe voyage. Every ground and kissed it
the Portuguese name for
throw the sails from one side of the masts to the gulf-weed.
evening, they sang a hymn, Salve
Regina, honouring the Virgin Mary.
with tears of joy for
other. Then, after four days at sea, Pinta’s rudder
jumped out of its settings. The rudder was
HOT MEALS
Each day the men had one hot meal, such as
stew, which was cooked over a wood Land at last the immeasurable
mercy of having
fire on the fogón. But in rough or
wet weather, the fire could not
On Friday 12 October, at two-o’clock
temporarily repaired, but soon came loose again. be kept alight, so the crew in the morning, a lookout on Pinta reached land. Then
Columbus would have to wait in the Canaries had to make do with
cold food. spotted some pale cliffs in the moonlight. the Admiral stood up
while the rudder was fixed, so he decided to use and named the island
the delay to change Niña‘s triangular sails to 25th
FALSE ALARM It was land at last! Martín Alonso Pinzón
On the Pinta, Martín
square ones, like those on his other two ships.
September
Alonso Pinzón shouted
had a cannon fired to let the other ships know San Salvador

”
that he had seen land to the south- the good news. Columbus decided to wait [Holy Saviour].
west. Columbus knelt to give thanks until dawn before going ashore. In daylight, he
9th REFITTING NIÑA to God, and the men sang a hymn. realized that they had arrived at an island. Ferdinand Columbus,
But the next day, the land turned The Life of the Admiral,
August The lateen-rigged Niña had three masts, NEW FITTINGS Columbus was rowed ashore, accompanied 1530s
all close together towards the rear of the Blacksmiths hammered out to be a bank of clouds. by an armed landing party.
ship. This was to allow plenty of room at the front out new iron fittings for
for the enormous triangular main sail. With her Pinta’s rudder.
newly cut square sails, it was more important
for the masts to be evenly spaced out along
the deck. So the central mast was now
moved nearer to the front.
The great rafts of weed are kept
afloat by clusters of air-filled
RAISING THE MAST bladders that resemble grapes.
The men carefully raised
Niña’s mast into its new
Columbus told the
forward position.
crew that it would FOLLOW THE BIRDS!
Dead reckoning Speed
Columbus, an experienced
be madness to turn
back now, so close
to their goal.
Niña’s lookout agreed
that there was land.
7th
October Great flocks of migrating birds
were seen, flying to the south-
seafarer, could tell how
COLUMBUS NAVIGATED more by “dead reckoning” fast his ship was going
west. Columbus guessed that the birds were
from the way it moved heading for land and ordered a change of
than by the position of the sun and stars. Dead course to follow them.
through the water. To
reckoning means finding a ship’s position by check his estimate, he
calculating the distance and direction it travels would look over the side
each day. Every evening, Columbus marked at bubbles or chips of 10th NEAR MUTINY
wood floating past. October As weeks passed with
his estimated position on his sea chart. no sight of land, the
Hourglass A magnetic compass Traverse board sailors grew increasingly anxious
To work out the distance told the helmsman Every half hour, the helmsman and restless. By 10 October, the
travelled, Columbus needed his direction. put a peg in a “traverse board” to crew of Santa Maria had had enough. ASHORE
record the direction in which 12th
to know his ship’s speed Traverse They crowded around Columbus, October As the armed party carried
over a set period of time. board he had been steering. At the
bottom of the board, a demanding and begging that the royal banners ashore,
Time was marked by a he give up his foolish plan Columbus proclaimed that the island, which
sandglass, which was turned second peg recorded
the distance travelled, and take them home. He he named San Salvador, now belonged to Columbus wept with
every half hour by one of tried to calm his men, the king and queen of Spain. Watching him
the ship’s boys. which Columbus joy and relief, for he
shouted down but refused to give in from the edge of the beach was a group of was certain that he
It took half an hour for all the from the deck. to their demands. amazed and curious islanders. had reached the Indies.
sand to flow from the top of
the glass to the bottom.
20 23
 T H E F L E E T S E T S O F F

THE MEN FROM

“ EYEWITNESS
We understood them
to be asking if we had
come from the sky.
THE SKY
COLUMBUS HAD ARRIVED AT THE
One old man climbed islands we now know as the Bahamas,
into the boat while the which were home to the Taino people.
other men and women The Tainos were amazed to see strange,
shouted ‘come and see bearded men who covered their bodies
the men who have come with clothes. They thought that the Spaniards

”
from the sky!‘ had come down from the sky.Once they had
Christopher Columbus,
got over their fear, the Tainos were eager to please
extract from his logbook
of the first voyage, the strangers. Columbus
1492
decided that these IN THE VILLAGES
“Indians” would Columbus travelled from
Columbus knew that, Two of the captives island to island, visiting
back in Spain, the later escaped. The rest make fine servants. Taino villages. Some of the
Tainos would make would never see their
a big impression homes again.
villages were more like towns,
on Ferdinand Cotton was woven with up to 1,000 huts
and Isabella. to make loincloths and 5,000 inhabitants.
and hammocks.

The Tainos
were skilled
at pottery.

Capturing guides Grinding

Although Columbus was pleased to maize to
reach land at last, it was clearly not make porridge
Japan. Where were the buildings
roofed with gold? To find Japan,
he needed guides, so he captured
seven Tainos and took them back
to his ships.

New foods Cassava root

The Tainos made
poisonous cassava
Maize
Maize was roasted
and eaten whole,
EVERYTHING IN THE ISLANDS roots edible by or ground up to
grating and soaking make a kind of
was new and strange to them. Dried cassava porridge. Chilli peppers
Columbus. His men were was baked into bread. Hot chillies
reminded
the first Europeans to enjoy Columbus of
many foods, such as maize, Pineapple the spices he
which we now take for This was one of the hoped to find in
granted. But they avoided few Taino foods the Indies,
that the Spaniards which is why
other Taino foods, such as liked as soon as we call them
lizards, spiders, and worms. they tried it. “peppers” today.

24
 T H E M E N F R O M T H E S K Y

The Taino culture Tall homes

Taino homes were
Some zemis were
roughly shaped
huts made of wooden stones, others
THE TAINOS WORSHIPPED A GREAT SPIRIT who lived in the poles, with cane were beautiful
sky, where they thought Columbus had come from. walls and tall, carvings.
sloping roofs
They believed that, on Earth, they were surrounded thatched with
by other spirits, called zemis. Some were forces of palm leaves.
nature, while others were the ghosts of ancestors.

Their foreheads were flattened

as babies, when boards were
strapped to them.

Decoration
Instead of wearing clothes, Zemis
the Tainos painted their People kept small
bodies in different colours carved or pottery
and patterns. In their figures of the zemis
pierced noses and ears in their huts, so that
they wore gold or the spirits would
stone jewellery. protect their homes.

The Tainos had no WHICH WAY TO JAPAN? The Spaniards received a The bells were made for
hard metals, so they None of the Tainos had ever warm and excited the legs of hunting hawks.
tipped their arrows and heard of Cipangu (Japan) or welcome. They gave the
spears with fish teeth. the Great Khan of Cathay. Tainos woollen hats and
glass beads to wear.

Brass for gold

Columbus’s most popular trade goods
were little brass bells. The Tainos
were eager to trade their gold nose
ornaments for these bells, which they
wore as earrings. Columbus was
disappointed to find that the Tainos
had only tiny amounts of gold, and
that the ornaments were wafer thin.

Each canoe was hollowed

out from a single
tree trunk.

THEY MUST BE INDIANS Taino canoes

Believing he was in the Indies,
Columbus naturally assumed that the
islanders were Indians. He could see that
they were not Europeans or Africans. As far as
he knew, this was what Asian people looked
like. Columbus’s mistake means that, to this
day, Native Americans are still called “Indians”.
SILENT DOGS
The Tainos kept dogs, which they fattened
and ate. The Spaniards were surprised to
find that Taino dogs never barked.
Columbus sailed through the islands,
giving each one a new Spanish name,
and claiming them all for Spain. As
news of his arrival spread, many
Tainos came out in their canoes to see
the “men from the sky”. They brought
colourful parrots, balls of cotton, bows
and arrows, and other goods to trade.

25
 T H E F L E E T S E T S O F F

Columbus outraged
On 21 November, when the fleet was
heading south along the Cuban coast,
Pinta suddenly sailed off to the east.
Tired of obeying Columbus, Martín
Pinzón had decided to go exploring
on his own. Columbus was furious
that Pinzón had deserted the fleet,
taking the fastest ship with him.
SHIPWRECKED
IN HISPANIOLA
COLUMBUS’S GUIDES TOLD HIM OF A LARGE
island to the south that they called Cuba.
Thinking that this might be Japan, he
sailed to Cuba, but again found no golden
palaces. However, the friendly Cuban Tainos
said there was another island to the east, called
Haiti, which was rich in gold. On 6 December
1492, Columbus reached Haiti. He was amazed
by its beauty and relieved that the local Tainos
seemed to have plenty of gold ornaments. He gave the
island a new name, La Isla Española (“the Spanish
Island”), which later became Hispaniola.

Hammocks
The Tainos slept in long cotton nets
slung from the posts of their houses.
These hanging beds were known as
hamaca. The idea would later be
adopted for use on ships by European
sailors, who called them hammocks.
RUN AGROUND!
On Christmas Eve (24 December)
1492, Santa Maria ran aground on
rocks off the coast of Hispaniola.
All efforts to refloat her failed.
When holes opened up in the hull,
which began to fill with water,
Columbus gave the order to
abandon ship.
Everything that
might be useful was
stripped from the ship.

Tobacco
leaves were
rolled into
cigars.

Drinking the smoke of herbs

The Spaniards were amazed to see
Cuban Tainos “drinking” the smoke of
rolled up leaves. They were smoking
tobacco. The Tainos also inhaled the
smoke through a wooden tube, called
a tobaco, inserted into one nostril.
HELPFUL INDIANS
Columbus wrote that the
Tainos wept at his misfortune,
and did everything they
could to aid him.
SALVAGE MISSION
The next day, the crew returned to their ship to salvage as
much as possible. They unloaded stores and trading goods
into the rowing boats from Santa Maria and Niña.

26
 R U N N I N G H E A D

“
12 October 1492 AT
The fleet reaches
San Salvador.
LA
N
T
The Admiral
IC
O
C
almost forgot his
EA
N grief for the loss of
6 January 1493
Columbus meets
the ship, for he
24 December 1492
Santa Maria
Pinzón again.
believed that God
CUBA 16 January 1493
runs aground. Columbus sails
for Spain.
had allowed it to be
CA RI B
BE
AN
21 November 1492 •
Navidad
wrecked so that he
S E Martín Pinzón leaves
A with the Pinta. HISPANIOLA should make a

”
JA M
AICA
(HAITI) settlement…
Ferdinand Columbus,
The Life of the Admiral,
1530s

AMONG THE ISLANDS Pinzón’s desertion and the

Columbus explored the north coast of Cuba, which wreck of Santa Maria
left Columbus with just The fort was built
he believed was part of the Asian mainland. Then one ship, Niña, so A wooden
he crossed over to Hispaniola (Haiti). Martín using timbers from stockade protected
Columbus could not risk the wrecked
Pinzón had got there first, and had even named a further exploration. the men’s home.
river after himself – the River Martín Alonso. Santa Maria.

Santa Maria did not BUILDING A SETTLEMENT

sink, but remained Niña was too small to take all the men back to
stranded on the rocks.
Spain, so 39 of them volunteered to stay behind.
To house the men, Columbus built a fort – the
Many Tainos rowed out in first European settlement in the Americas. It was
their long canoes to help the called Navidad (“Christmas”), since it was begun
crew unload the ship’s supplies. on Christmas Day 1492. Columbus promised to
return in a few months with supplies. The men
The Tainos were terrified were happy to stay, believing they would
by the noise as the cannon get rich on Hispaniola’s gold.
blasted shots through the
wreck of Santa Maria.
SHOW OF STRENGTH
The Tainos told Columbus about a
TIME TO GO HOME fierce people – the Caribs – who
Looking at his wrecked flagship regularly raided their island for
Santa Maria, Columbus realized captives to kill and eat. Columbus
that it was time to return home said they now had nothing to fear,
to Spain. He needed to tell since the Spaniards at Navidad
Ferdinand and Isabella about the would protect them from the Caribs.
lands he had discovered. He did To impress the Tainos, he fired a
not want Martín Pinzón to get cannon at a farewell feast. Niña set
there first and steal his glory. sail for Spain on 4 January 1493.

27
 T H E F L E E T S E T S O F F

“ The Catholic
sovereigns, surrounded
by their court, awaited him
on a magnificent throne
TRIUMPHANT
HOMECOMING
under a golden canopy. AFTER A STORMY RETURN JOURNEY
When he came to kiss their across the Atlantic Ocean, Columbus
hands, they stood up to reached Palos in Spain on 15 March
greet him as if he were a 1493. He then travelled overland to
great lord, and sat
Barcelona, where Ferdinand and Isabella
him beside them.
Ferdinand Columbus,
The Life of the Admiral,
1530s ” gave him a magnificent royal reception.
Sadly for Martín Pinzón, it was a very
different homecoming. On board Pinta, Pinzón
got back to Spain first, but the king and queen
refused to see him without Columbus. Pinzón went
home to Palos, where he is said to have died of grief.
ROYAL RECEPTION Vividly coloured
parrots were
The king and queen welcomed Columbus in the additional proof that
great hall of their palace. With his captured Tainos Columbus had been
and colourful parrots, Columbus put on a show to to the Indies.
impress them. He explained how he wanted to
return to Hispaniola and build a Spanish colony.

Message in a barrel
On the return journey, the sea was so
rough that Columbus thought Niña
might sink. He was worried that if he
died, Martín Pinzón, on Pinta, would
steal his glory and the men left in
Hispaniola would be forgotten. So he
wrote an account of the voyage, placed
it in a barrel, and threw it over the side.

Hero’s welcome
The news of
Columbus’s great
achievement reached
Barcelona before he
did. His arrival, in April
1493, caused a sensation.
As he rode through the
streets, everyone came out
to gaze at the man who
had found a sea route to
the Indies. Columbus was
acclaimed a hero.
Statue of Columbus by
The Tainos said “Ave
Barcelona's harbour, Maria”, a prayer honouring
commemorating his the Virgin Mary, which To the Tainos, the court Columbus presented gold, chillies,
great discovery Columbus had taught them. was an astonishing sight. and other souvenirs of his long trip.

28
 T R I U M P H A N T H O M E C O M I N G

“Admiral of the Ocean Sea”

FERDINAND AND ISABELLA richly rewarded Columbus with money
and titles. As they had promised, they made him a noble. He
was now “Admiral of the Ocean
Sea, Viceroy and Governor of
the Islands”. Columbus had the
right to rule Hispaniola on their
behalf and to take a share of its
wealth for himself.
Coat of arms
Columbus was allowed to have his
own coat of arms. It combined
images of the royal lion and castle Columbus, “Christ bearer”
of Spain with the islands he had After his return, Columbus began to
discovered. It also included five sign all his documents with a strange
golden anchors, which represented group of letters. The first three lines
his new position as Admiral of the remain a mystery. The last line says
Ocean Sea. “Christ bearer” in Greek and Latin.

NEW VOYAGE APPROVED

Ferdinand agreed at once to
DESCRIBING HISPANIOLA Columbus’s plan to return to
Columbus described the beauty of Hispaniola with a great fleet.
Hispaniola. He showed the king and
queen the Taino gold he had collected, Isabella was
saying it was just a tiny sample of the especially moved
by the sight of the
vast wealth of the island. gentle Tainos.

BAPTISM OF INDIANS
This plaque in Barcelona Cathedral
commemorates the baptism of the captured
Tainos. The king and queen acted as their
godparents, and gave them new Spanish
Christian names. Isabella was delighted to
see them become Christian.

THE POPE’S BACKING

QUIZZED BY THE COURT
The king, queen, and members of the royal
court plied Columbus with all manner of
questions about his eight-month long voyage.
Columbus had claimed the Caribbean
islands for Spain. To make their ownership
legal, Ferdinand and Isabella needed the
backing of Pope Alexander VI. The pope
was happy to give it. Although unaware of
it, the Tainos had become Spanish subjects.

29
The Spanish “ Hispaniola is
a wonder. The

Settlement
mountains, hills, plains,
and meadows are fertile
and beautiful. They are
most suitable for
planting crops and for
all kinds of cattle, and
1493, JUST SIX MONTHS AFTER HIS there are good sites for
IN SEPTEMBER
triumphant homecoming, Columbus sailed back to
Hispaniola. He had a grand fleet of 17 ships, carrying
building towns and
villages…There are
many great rivers, and

”
most contain gold.
more than 1,200 men, as well as horses, sheep, pigs,
Christopher Columbus,
seeds, and everything else he needed to build a Spanish from a letter written on
his first voyage,
15 February 1493
settlement in the Indies. This time, Columbus had no
trouble finding the men to sail with him. Thousands of
Spaniards volunteered, eager to share in the wealth of
Hispaniola. They included gentlemen, priests,
soldiers, craftsmen,
NAVIDAD
and labourers. This 1493 woodcut shows
Columbus’s men constructing the
fort of Navidad during his first
voyage. Columbus hoped to build
his new settlement around the fort.

The artist did not

know what Navidad
or Hispaniola looked
like, so he drew a
typical European
landscape and castle.
 T H E S P A N I S H S E T T L E M E N T

The great fleet
This picture shows Columbus’s fleet
of colonizers setting off from Spain,
with Ferdinand and Isabella saying
goodbye. The Tainos had been
amazed by the sight of Columbus’s
three ships on his first voyage.
Imagine how they felt when they now
saw 17 ships arriving!
COLUMBUS
RETURNS
ON 27 NOVEMBER 1493,
Columbus returned to Navidad,
where he had left behind 39
men at the end of his first voyage.
He was looking forward to a happy
reunion with them, and was certain that by
now they would have collected heaps of gold.
Columbus was horrified to learn that they were all
dead, and that their fort had been destroyed. The
local Tainos said that they were not to blame, but
Columbus could no longer trust them. He
sailed east, to found a new settlement.
FATE OF NAVIDAD Some important buildings
The Tainos told Columbus that the were made of stone, but the
Spaniards mostly lived in
men of Navidad had quarrelled among small thatched huts.
themselves, splitting into rival groups.
Some were killed by fellow Spaniards,
while others died of disease. But most
died when a powerful cacique (king),
called Caonabo, attacked their fort Caonabo led a
and burned it to the ground. surprise attack
at night.

Cannibal islands
On the way to Hispaniola, Columbus
visited the islands of the fierce Caribs,
who gave their name to the Caribbean
and to the word “cannibal”. Historians
still argue over whether they really ate
human flesh. Columbus was sure that
they did: in their houses, he saw human
limbs in cooking pots and captive
Tainos who were being fattened up.

THE SECOND VOYAGE 27 November 1483

While the settlers tried to get used to Columbus hears 2 January 1494 A T
life on Hispaniola, Columbus set off CU of the fate of Columbus LA
exploring again in April 1494 on trusty N
BA Navidad. founds Isabela. T
I
Niña. He sailed along the south coast
C

of Cuba, which he still thought was the

O

• • PUERTO
CE

Asian mainland, and reached Jamaica. JAMAICA HISPANIOLA RICO

AN

But he found no signs of the wealth

CA

of Asia. In September, he became

RI

seriously ill. Suffering from fever and

BB

April–September 1494 25 September 1494 14 November 1493

temporary blindness, he returned to
EA

N Columbus explores Columbus becomes First encounter

Hispaniola a disappointed man. SE Cuba and Jamaica. seriously ill and heads with the Caribs.
A
back to Hispaniola.

32
 C O L U M B U S R E T U R N S

A trade in diseases
THE SPANIARDS and the Tainos each passed Mosquitoes
on unfamiliar diseases to the other, with A week after arriving, 400
Spanish settlers became
devastating effect. Many Spaniards caught ill with an unknown
tropical fevers and syphilis, while the disease, probably caused
Tainos died from smallpox and measles. by mosquito bites. There
were so many mosquitoes
Smallpox virus in Isabela that Columbus
The smallpox virus travelled was nicknamed, “Admiral
to Hispaniola as an of the Mosquitoes”.
invisible passenger on Female mosquitoes pass
Columbus’s ships. In on tropical fevers as
Europe, it killed many Flamingoes
they feed on blood. While exploring the tiny islands off
children, but most adults
were immune to it. For Cuba, Columbus marvelled at the sight
the Tainos, it was fatal. of masses of brightly coloured wading
birds. From a distance, they looked
like flocks of pink sheep. These were
flamingoes, named after the Spanish
ISABELA FIRST CHURCH word flamenco (“flaming”).
Columbus called his new capital Isabela, in The church of Isabela was the
honour of the queen. He chose the location in first built in the Americas. The
the mistaken belief that there were gold mines sound of its bell fascinated the
nearby. It was an unhealthy, mosquito-infested Hispaniola Tainos.
place. By 1500, Isabela had been abandoned.

Taino caciques
Hispaniola was made up of several
kingdoms, each ruled by a great king,
or cacique (pronounced “katheekay”).
There were also many lesser caciques,
ruling the villages. Caciques were
treated with great respect and carried
on litters. To govern Hispaniola,
Columbus needed to win over the
caciques or defeat them in battle.

Columbus planned Isabela

around a main public square,
Taino guides led like a typical Spanish town.
the Spanish
explorers inland.
INTO THE INTERIOR
Columbus was desperate to find gold to
send back to Ferdinand and Isabella, in
order to justify the expense of the colony.
In January 1494, he sent a party of armed
Spaniards inland to look for gold mines.
They were led by a tough, aggressive
soldier called Alonso de Hojeda.
33
FACT file
• By 1494, two-thirds of the Spanish
settlers in Isabela had died.
• In 1492, there were around 100
million Native Americans. By 1600,
European diseases had killed 90 million
of them – the worst disaster in history.
• One Spaniard wrote that the Indians
“die so easily that the bare look and
smell of a Spaniard makes them give
up the ghost”.
• A mild form of syphilis already
existed in Europe, but the American
version brought back by the Spaniards
was far worse. The first mass outbreak
of this disease was in Italy, in 1494.
 T H E
HORROR ON
HISPANIOLA
FOLLOWING HIS RETURN TO HISPANIOLA,
in September 1494, Columbus was ill for
five months. The colony was ruled by his
younger brothers, Diego and Bartolomé, who
had crossed the sea to share in their brother’s
fortune. As foreigners, all three brothers were
unpopular with the Spaniards. The Spanish
settlers also felt that Columbus had lied to them
about the wealth of Hispaniola. While Columbus
lay on his sickbed, gangs of discontented Spaniards
were roaming around the island, living by plundering
Taino villages. The Tainos began to fight back.
Reign of terror
The Tainos reacted to raids on their
villages by ambushing stray Spaniards.
Columbus did not want to risk
upsetting his men. Instead of punishing
them for their brutal behaviour, he sent
them on an expedition against the
Tainos. Hundreds of Tainos were killed
or brought back to Isabela as slaves.
SHIPMENT OF SLAVES
In 1495, Columbus sent 500 Taino slaves
back to Spain. He hoped that these slaves
would make up for his failure to send the
gold he had promised. But the king and
queen were not happy with Columbus’s
“gift” – they had sent him to convert the
Tainos to Christianity, not to enslave them.
S P A N I S H S E T T L E M E N T
THUNDER-STICKS
The battle began with the roar of
musketeers firing their matchlock
guns. To the Tainos, matchlocks
were magic sticks that made
thunder and spewed fire.
FACT file
• Between 1494 and 1496, a third of
all the Tainos on Hispaniola died.
• Apart from the Tainos killed by the
Spaniards, thousands died of disease,
starvation, and overwork. Unable to
cope with Spanish rule, others killed
themselves by taking cassava poison.
• In 1492, there were some 300,000
Tainos on Hispaniola. By 1548, there
were less than 500 left.
• In 1510, the Spaniards began to ship
African slaves to Hispaniola, to replace
the dwindling numbers of Tainos.
DECISIVE BATTLE
After recovering from illness, Columbus
learned that the most powerful Taino
caciques had joined together and raised
a huge army, thousands strong. In
March 1495, he set off to fight them.
His 200 Spanish soldiers were vastly
outnumbered, but they had superior
weapons and devastated the Taino army.
The Tainos were terrified by the sight
of armoured Spaniards on horseback.
They had never seen horses before.
DEATH TOLL
Of the 500 Tainos that
Columbus captured and sent to
Spain, 200 perished during the
voyage. The rest died soon after.
 H O R R O R O N H I S P A N I O L A

Cavalry helmet
Arms and armour Helmets similar to
this one made the
Spaniards look like
THE SPANIARDS WERE EXPERT SOLDIERS, who had spent monsters from
years fighting Muslim armies in Spain. Equipped with another world.
swords and guns, the Spaniards saw little
reason to fear the poorly armed Tainos.

Breastplate
Taino arrows and
spears were useless
against steel
Matchlock gun breastplates.
A matchlock was Sword
fired by bringing a Spanish swords
burning cord, or were double edged
match, into contact for slashing, and Crossbow
with gunpowder. had a sharp point A crossbow fired a bolt
for stabbing. with great force, seriously
injuring any Taino it hit.

Some brave Tainos tried to Indians bringing

fight back, but they could
do little damage with their
fishbone-tipped spears.
gold tributes to
the Spaniards
DOGS OF WAR
One Spanish dog was
said to be as good as Naked Tainos
ten men in a fight had no defence
against Indians. against the terrible
Spanish weapons.

GOLD TRIBUTE
The conquered Tainos were ordered to give
their new rulers gold as tribute. Every three
months, each adult Taino was expected to fill
one hawk’s bell with gold dust. Unfortunately,
there was much less gold in Hispaniola than this
picture suggests. The Tainos could never find
enough to please the Spaniards.

The Tainos fled Columbus returns to Spain

in all directions. Disgruntled settlers returning to
Spain complained to Ferdinand and
Isabella about the way Columbus
ruled Hispaniola. In March
1496, Columbus sailed back
Before leaving, to Spain in Niña, in order
Columbus appointed to defend himself.
CONQUERING HISPANIOLA his brother Bartolomé
Columbus went on to conquer the whole island. as governor.
The cacique Caonabo, who had burned the fort
at Navidad, was captured by Alonso de Hojeda.
Hojeda tricked Caonabo into letting himself be
chained up by convincing him that some
handcuffs and leg-irons were royal bracelets.

35
To the “ I made a new
voyage to new skies
and lands which
had been hidden

Mainland
N HIS THIRD VOYAGE, IN
1498, COLUMBUS FOUND A LONG
until now…By my
efforts, these lands
are now known.
Christopher Columbus,
from a letter to
Juana de la Torre,
Queen Isabella’s
friend, 1500
”
O coastline, broken by the mouth of a mighty river whose
water made the sea taste fresh for miles around. Such a great Just off the mainland, Columbus
river could not flow from an island. Columbus realized that found a large island, which he
named Trinidad in honour of the
he had reached a mainland. This mainland would later be Holy Trinity (God as Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit).
known as South America.
Columbus’s fleet sailed Sixteenth-century
woodcut depicting scenes
between Trinidad and from the third voyage
the mainland.

The mainland Indians wore pearls,

which they fished for by diving
from their canoes.
 T O T H E M A I N L A N D

ANOTHER WORLD EYEWITNESS

THE KING AND QUEEN WERE WORRIED BY
events in Hispaniola, but they had not
yet lost faith in Columbus. They agreed
to pay for a third voyage of exploration,
I have come to
believe that this is a vast
continent, previously
unknown. I am led to
“
this view by the great
which set off in May river and the fresh-water
1498. Columbus was sea. If this be a
amazed to find a continent, it is a

Giant wave
mainland, which he
described as “another
world”. After exploring
marvellous thing.

part of its coast, he returned to

Christopher Columbus,
journal of his third voyage,
14/15 August
1498
”
Off the coast of Trinidad, Columbus’s Hispaniola. He found the island in
ships were almost wrecked by a giant
wave, possibly caused by an undersea
a state of chaos: half the Spaniards
volcano. The wave lifted the ships high had rebelled against his brother, Bartolomé.
into the air, and then plunged them so
low that they could see the bottom.
The Tainos had to
work hard, growing
food for their
Spanish masters.

ENCOMIENDA
To bring order to Hispaniola, Columbus
invented a new system. He gave each
Spanish settler a large plot of land, together
with the labour of all the Tainos living there.
This was later called the encomienda (“in trust”)
system, because the land and Indians were
held in the trust of the Spaniards.

ISABELA Early October 1500

Audience of monkeys CUBA Columbus is sent back A T L A
On 5 August 1498, Columbus landed • to Spain in chains. OCE NTI
C
AN
on the mainland. To legally claim the HISPANIOLA
land for Spain, he needed an audience •
of local people. The only inhabitants he SANTA
JAMAICA
DOMINGO PUERTO
found were chattering monkeys, so he
put off the ceremony until the next day, 21 August 1498 RICO 5 August 1498
when some friendly Indians turned up. The ships reach Columbus sets foot
Hispaniola. on the mainland.
ISLA
THE THIRD VOYAGE CA
MARGARITA

Columbus’s exploration of the mainland RI 5 August 1498

SE BB EA Giant wave
was cut short by a fresh bout of illness. A N
hits the ships.
Returning to Hispaniola, he reached
Santa Domingo, the island’s new capital, TRINIDAD
on 31 August 1498. His brother
Bartolomé had founded Santa Domingo SOUTH AMERICA
to replace the mosquito-infested Isabela.

38
 A N O T H E R W O R L D

Spaniards hanged for

rebelling against
the Columbus
brothers
Strange notions
COLUMBUS FOUND IT HARD to fit his newly
discovered mainland – an unknown
continent, not mentioned in the Bible –
into his view of the world. He also
developed some odd ideas
about the shape of the Earth.
Pear-shaped world
Columbus, who was sick at the
time, convinced himself that the
stars were nearer to Earth than
usual. He decided that he was
sailing uphill and getting closer to Columbus thought he was
the sky. This led him to conclude sailing towards the stem
that the Earth was pear shaped. of a pear-shaped Earth.
Paradise found?
The Earthly Paradise, described in the
Book of Genesis, was the only land in the
Bible whose location no one knew.
BOBADILLA Columbus believed that the Earthly
Ferdinand and Isabella heard alarming reports of the chaos Paradise lay on this newly
in Hispaniola. They sent Francisco de Bobadilla, a Spanish discovered continent.
nobleman, to restore order. On 23 August 1500, he reached
Santa Domingo, where Diego Columbus was in command.
Bobadilla was shocked to find that Diego had just hanged
seven Spanish rebels, and was about to hang five more.
Columbus never got
over the humiliation of
being chained up.

CHAINED
IN IRONS
Won over by
tales he heard from
Columbus’s enemies, Bobadilla
arrested all three brothers and People were shocked by the
had them chained in irons. They sight of the chained Columbus
were kept in prison for over a returning in disgrace.
month, and then sent back to
Spain by ship to stand trial.

FACT file DISGRACED

Bobadilla charged
Columbus with
• The ship’s captain who took him oppressing the
back to Spain felt sorry for Columbus, Spanish settlers and
and offered to remove the chains.
Columbus refused, saying he would
withholding gold
keep wearing his chains until the king from the king and
and queen ordered their removal. queen. However,
Columbus was never
• Columbus wore his chains for more tried. Upset by the
than three months.
way that Bobadilla
• He wore the chains to show how he had treated him,
had been rewarded for his many
services to Ferdinand and Isabella. Ferdinand and Isabella
immediately pardoned
• For the rest of his life, Columbus Columbus. He never
kept the chains in his bedroom, to
remind him of his treatment. He even forgot the experience.
asked to be buried with the chains.

39
 T O T H E M A I N L A N D

EYEWITNESS
ACROSS THE
“ Eyes never saw the sea
so vicious…Never did the
sky appear so threatening…
lightning came in such great
WILD CARIBBEAN
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA WELCOMED
flashes that I wondered Columbus at court, but refused to
whether it would destroy reinstate him as governor, since it was
my masts and sails. And all clear that he had made a mess of ruling
the while water came down Hispaniola. For months, Columbus
from heaven without
ceasing…men longed for
bombarded them with complaints about
death to put them out of his treatment. He made such a nuisance
of himself that they agreed to let him lead

”
their misery…
Christopher Columbus,
one more voyage of exploration. In
from a letter to
Ferdinand and Isabella,
1502, Columbus sailed with four ships
7 July 1503 across the Caribbean, searching for
an ocean route to India. It was a
terrible voyage across a
wild, stormy sea.
HURRICANE!
During the summer, the
Caribbean can be ravaged
by violent wind systems
called hurricanes. Columbus
Indian crocodiles? reached the Caribbean in time for
On the mainland, Columbus saw one of the worst hurricanes in
alligators, which he presumed were years. His ships survived, but
crocodiles. Columbus may have taken a fleet of 20 ships returning
this as an encouraging sign, because from Hispaniola to
he knew from books he had read that Spain was destroyed.
there were crocodiles in India. Among the 500 dead
Pottery figure
was his old enemy,
of Mayan Bobadilla.
woman

Mayas of the mainland

The ships encountered some Indians
in a boat wearing beautifully woven HEAVY DAMAGE
clothes. They were Maya people The wind tore at the sails.
from Central America. This was Anchors, rigging, and cables
the first European contact with one of were lost, as were the rowing
the rich civilizations of the mainland. boats and many stores.

40
 A C R O S S T H E W I L D C A R I B B E A N

CUBA
17 August–
14 September 1502
The ships are
HISPANIOLA
lashed by storms

JAMAICA
29 June 1502
25 June 1503 Columbus’s ships are
The ships become caught up in a
CENTRAL stranded in Jamaica. vicious hurricane.
AMERICA
7 February 1503 C ARIBBEAN
Columbus founds S EA
Santa Maria de Belén.

WATERSPOUT
On 13 December, the men were terrified
by the sight of a waterspout – a column of SOUTH AMERICA
• SOUTH AMERICA
water sucked up by an ocean whirlwind.
To protect his fleet, Columbus held up a
Bible and drew a cross in the air with his THE FOURTH VOYAGE
sword. The waterspout passed safely by. Columbus sailed down the coast of Central
Columbus was worried about his brother America, but failed to find a way through
Bartolomé, who was on board Santiago, to India. His attempt to found a mainland
the hardest ship of the fleet to sail. settlement, Santa Maria de Bélen, also failed,
when the settlers were attacked by Indians.
Shipworms
The Caribbean is home to wood-eating
molluscs called shipworms. These worm-
like creatures fastened themselves to
Columbus’s ships and munched away at
their hulls. Soon the hulls were riddled
with holes and rapidly filling with water.

Columbus’s son, Ferdinand, who

Everyone could see that, despite
their hard work, the ships were
had joined him for this voyage,
worked as hard as anyone else.
Hell on the high seas
slowly sinking.
AFTER MONTHS AT SEA, the Fleas and lice
ships became floating The men grew so weak
that they did not
hells. The men were bother to keep clean.
often soaked to the skin, They were bitten by
hungry, and seasick. fleas and blood-sucking
Many suffered from head and body lice.
tropical fevers caused
Flies and maggots
by insect bites. The crews suffered
from diarrhoea,
caused by flies
that feed on
excrement and
rotting meat and then transfer
germs to fresh food.

Rats
Rats were a nuisance and
ALL HANDS TO THE PUMPS a health risk on long
With each day that passed, the ships took on more voyages. They got
water – from the constant rain, from the waves lashing Damp biscuits into the food
The ship’s biscuits became stores in the
the sides of the ships, and through the holes bored by damp, soft, and crawling ships’ holds,
shipworms. The crews worked non-stop to pump and with maggots. They leaving behind
bail out the water, but they were fighting a losing battle. looked so disgusting that foul-smelling
some of the men waited urine and
until dark to eat them. droppings.
 T O T H E M A I N L A N D

EYEWITNESS STRANDED!
“ I am cut off…alone
in my troubles,
sick, each day
expecting death,
TWO OF COLUMBUS’S WORM-EATEN SHIPS
were leaking so badly that he had to
abandon them. He headed north with
and surrounded by the remaining pair, Santiago and La Capitana,
a million cruel and towards Hispaniola. Carried off course by
hostile savages.... easterly winds and currents, Columbus found
if you have charity, himself off Cuba. He tried to sail east to
truth, and justice, Hispaniola, but could make no progress against

”
weep for me! the winds. The ships were dangerously low in the
Christopher Columbus, water, and the crews were exhausted by constant
from a letter to
Ferdinand and Isabella, work at the pumps. Columbus was forced to land in Jamaica,
7 July 1503
where he would be stranded for over a year.
Sails were fixed
On the decks, the on the canoes.
HOUSEBOATS men built wooden
On 25 June 1503, the ships huts, thatched with
were beached and turned palm leaves.
into homes. Columbus’s
greatest worry was that the
Jamaican Tainos might attack.
To avoid provoking them, he
ordered his men to stay on SAILING FOR HELP
board, allowing only a few On 17 July 1503, Diego
to go inland to trade for food. Mendez, a loyal follower of
Penned up for months, the Columbus, set off for Hispaniola
crews grew increasingly to get help. He took two Taino
frustrated. Meanwhile, canoes, manned by seven
Columbus lay sick in his cabin. crewmen and ten Indians.

FACT file
• Columbus set off on his fourth
voyage with a crew of 143, including
55 boys. The large number of boys
may have been due to the fact they
could be paid less than grown men.
• More than 40 of the crew died on
the voyage. They perished from
sickness, drowning, and in battles with
the Indians and each other.
• Only 25 of the survivors returned to
Spain. The rest stayed in Hispaniola. PORRAS REVOLTS The mutineers robbed
They had done enough seafaring. Francisco de Porras, captain of Santiago, spread a rumour Taino villages as they
• Diego Mendez was so proud of his that Columbus did not intend to leave Jamaica, but wanted rowed along the coast
rescue mission that he had a canoe to keep everybody there to die with him. On 2 January towards Hispaniola.
carved on his grave stone. 1504, he convinced 48 men to join him in a mutiny. The
mutineers took ten Taino canoes and headed for Hispaniola.

42
 S T R A N D E D !

The Tainos panicked as A CUNNING PLAN

the Moon, turned blood-
red by the eclipse, began When the Tainos stopped bringing food to
to disappear. the ships, Columbus came up with a clever
plan to scare them into obedience. He knew
from an astronomy book that there would be
an eclipse of the Moon on 29 February. He
told the Tainos that he would punish them
that night by asking God to put out the
light of the Moon. The trick worked,
and the terrified Tainos brought all the
food they could find.

The men fought mainly Columbus’s men

with swords, since there was were fitter and
little gunpowder left. better fed than
SWORD FIGHT the mutineers.
The mutineers tried and failed three times
to reach Hispaniola in their canoes. Porras
now accused Columbus of using witchcraft
to keep them in Jamaica. On 19 May, the
mutineers marched back towards the ships
to fight. Bartolomé Columbus went to meet
them with 50 armed men. A fierce battle
followed, which Bartolomé won. Porras was
captured, and the mutineers surrendered.

After a year and five days on

Jamaica, the men were
overjoyed to see Mendez’s ship.

RESCUED AT LAST
Although Diego Mendez had reached
Hispaniola by August 1503, it was
several months before he was able to buy
a ship and load it with supplies to send to
Columbus. The ship arrived at the end of
June 1504, nearly a year since Mendez had
left with his canoes. Columbus told Mendez
that the day of his rescue was the most joyful
in his life. He had expected to die in Jamaica.

Disappointment
in death
COLUMBUS RETURNED TO SPAIN in
November 1504. He was now an old
man, his health ruined by his long
voyages. He spent his last months
pleading unsuccessfully to have his
rights restored. He died on 20 May
1506. With his voyages of exploration,
he had changed the course of world
history. Yet, to the day he
died, Columbus never Monks say prayers
realized that he had over the dying
Columbus, while his
not reached Asia. sons look on

43
 F A C T F I N D E R

VOYAGES OF
EXPLORATION John Cabot
1490S,
B Y THE LATE
Columbus’s voyages had
inspired other explorers to set
Like Columbus, Cabot was
a Genoese seafarer. In 1497,
he sailed west in search of
the Indies, backed by King
Henry VII of England. He
reached North America,
off across the Atlantic. At first, and believed it to be China.
In 1498, he set off on
they shared Columbus’s hope another voyage, but was
that they would reach the never heard from again.
CABOT LEAVING BRISTOL, ENGLAND, ON 20 MAY 1497
Indies. But gradually they
realized that the lands across
the Atlantic had nothing to do
with Asia. They had found two Cabot
1497
continents previously unknown
EUROPE
to Europeans, later named PACIFIC
OCEAN NORTH
North and South America. AMERICA
Vespucci
1499~1500
Balboa CARIBBEAN
1513 SEA
AFRICA

PACIFIC PANAMA
OCEAN
EQUATOR
SOUTH
AMERICA
LAND BARRIER ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Europeans were shocked to learn
that a vast land barrier blocked any
Vespucci and the “New World” KEY TO MAP:
Amerigo Vespucci made two
sea route to the wealth of the Indies. CABOT
Magellan
voyages to the mainland, in 1499 But when Balboa walked across 1519 VESPUCCI
and in 1501. Vespucci realized that America at its narrowest part (Panama), BALBOA
the mainland was not part of the it was hoped that this was a narrow
Indies. He wrote that it was a “New MAGELLAN
continent, and the Indies might be
World”, which he claimed to have
discovered. This impressed a German just a short sea journey beyond.
mapmaker, who suggested the name Magellan’s voyage across the Pacific
“America” in Vespucci’s honour. soon disproved this theory.

Balboa reaches the Pacific Ferdinand Magellan

In 1513, Vasco Núñez de In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan led a Spanish
Balboa led an expedition across fleet in search of a strait (passage of water)
the American mainland, and through America to the Pacific. He found
became the first European to a strait, at the tip of South America, and
see the Pacific Ocean. Wearing then discovered the true size of the
armour and waving his sword, Pacific. It took Magellan almost four
he waded into the water and months to reach the Philippines,
declared that this sea and all its where he was killed. Only one
islands now belonged to Spain. of his four ships, the Vittoria,
However, Balboa did not made it back to Spain. After
suspect that the Pacific is the three years at sea, Vittoria
world’s largest ocean, covering became the first ship to
a third of the Earth’s surface. sail around the world.

44
 V O Y A G E S O F E X P L O R A T I O N

Improvements in navigation
TO NAVIGATE, Columbus relied simply on his compass. Mirrors Eyepiece
He owned a quadrant, which was meant to be used to This tip
was aimed A sextant was quicker
work out latitude (north–south position) from the stars. at a star or Moveable bar
to use than a cross-
But Columbus always made mistakes with his quadrant. the Sun. staff, and more
In time, as more European ships took to the open seas, SEXTANT
accurate. (INVENTED
new and better tools for navigation were developed. 1730S)
QUADRANT CROSS-STAFF Scale
This side
(FIRST USED AT (INVENTED
was pointed SEA 1450S) EARLY 1500S)
at the Pole Sextant
Star. The navigator looked through the sextant’s eyepiece at
the horizon. Then he adjusted a mirror, fixed to a
moving bar, until it reflected the Sun or a star onto a
half-transparent mirror in front of his eyepiece. The
angle of the bar, read off the scale, told him his latitude.
Scale Chronometer
CHRONOMETER The greatest navigational problem was
The angle This tip was aligned (INVENTED finding a ship’s longitude (east–west
Plumbline 1760S)
was read off with the horizon. position). The solution was the
this scale. chronometer – a clock that
Quadrant Cross-staff kept accurate time on long
A quadrant consisted of a quarter circle The cross-staff was easier to use than voyages. The navigator
with a plumbline attached. One side of a quadrant. The navigator held the compared local time, worked
the quadrant was aimed at the Pole rod to his cheek, moving the sliding out from the height of the
Star. The star’s height, measured by cross-piece to gauge the height of a Sun, with the time back
the angle of the plumbline, revealed a star or the Sun above the horizon. home, shown on the clock.
ship’s latitude. But it was very hard to Measurements of latitude were read The difference told him how
use on the rolling deck of a ship. off a scale along the staff’s edge. far the ship had sailed east or west.

THE WORLD’S TRUE SIZE Compare this with the world This line shows the route taken On reaching the Philippines,
Magellan’s voyage revealed just how wrong map on pages 6–7, made only by Magellan’s ship Vittoria Magellan got caught up in a
about 60 years earlier. It is in 1519-22, on her historic local war. He was killed in a
Columbus had been in his ideas of geography. much more like the maps you voyage around the world. battle on 27 April 1521.
The world was much larger than Columbus can find in modern atlases. Magellan had set off with 270
suspected, and there was no short-cut to the men. Only 17 returned to
Indies. The Americas and the Pacific Ocean Spain on Vittoria.
stood in the way.
Some American
coastlines had
yet to be
mapped.

Crossing the
vast Pacific, Two continents,
Magellan’s men Australia and
grew so hungry that they Antarctica, were still
ate rats, sawdust, and leather. A WORLD MAP, C.1550 waiting to be found.

45
 F A C T F I N D E R

CONQUISTADORES Spanish troops

Hernán
Cortés
The Aztecs welcomed
Cortes to Mexico
with valuable gifts.

S PAIN NEVER DISCOVERED A

short cut to the riches of
Asia. However, Spaniards who
followed Columbus to the
American mainland found
civilizations that were much
wealthier than the Tainos of
Hispaniola. In the 16th century,
these mainland civilizations FALL OF THE AZTEC EMPIRE
were all destroyed by Spanish In 1519, Hernán Cortés led a Spanish army to Mexico. Moctezuma, the
Aztec ruler, thought Cortés might be a god, so he treated him well. It
conquistadores (“conquerors”). was a terrible mistake: two years later, the Spaniards had laid waste to
Tenochtitlán, the Aztec’s great capital city, and the empire was in ruins.
Tenochtitlán
C ENTRAL AT Bodies were
L
A MERICA hurled down
A
N

the temple
T
IC

steps. An Aztec, now

O

Uxmal Machu
CE

Pichu made to wear

AN

European clothes,
S OUTH
PACIFIC A MERICA brings his books
OCEAN to be burned by
the friars.
AZTECS
MAYA
INCAS
Friars were
Aztec religion Spanish
Aztecs, Maya, and Incas The Spaniards were horrified to learn holy men.
The conquistadores were amazed to find that the Aztecs captured prisoners in Burning the gods
three great civilizations on the American war and cut their hearts out to offer to Spanish friars followed the conquistadores to the
mainland: the Aztec empire of Mexico, the gods. The Aztecs believed that the Americas, preaching the Christian religion. The friars
the Inca empire of Peru, and the Mayan Sun would not rise if they did not make destroyed all the images of Aztec gods, convinced that
kingdoms of Central America. Each these sacrifices. This picture shows a these were devils. They ransacked Aztec and Maya
civilization was conquered in turn. sacrifice to Huitzilopochtli, god of war. libraries, burning books and often their owners as well.

Writing and record keeping

THE AZTECS, INCAS, AND MAYA each invented Inca quipu
complex methods of keeping records. These The Incas had no writing,
helped them to govern their subjects and yet they were able to
keep complicated
collect tribute from conquered peoples. The records using lengths
Aztecs and Maya also used their writing systems of coloured knotted
to keep track of events in sacred calendars. string, called quipus.
Mayan codex
The Maya developed a
complete alphabet, with
picture-signs to represent Aztec calendar stone
different sounds. Mayan The Aztecs used a simple form
codices (books) were used to of writing, with pictures standing
record religious information. for dates and events. This stone,
Only four codices survived covered with Aztec dates, shows
the Spanish conquest. the creation of the universe.

46
 C O N Q U I S T A D O R E S

PIZARRO AND THE INCAS

Francisco Pizarro led a tiny force of 180 After Columbus
Spaniards to Peru in 1532. He arrived THE PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY before the Spanish
when the Inca empire was weak due to conquest is known as ”Precolumbian” (before
civil war. In a bold move, Pizarro captured Columbus). Columbus’s voyages, which led to the
the Inca emperor, Atahualpa, in front of conquests, changed almost everything in the Americas.
his own army and demanded a roomful of The conquistadores introduced new animals, such as
gold as ransom. Atahualpa paid the ransom, horses, sheep, pigs, and cattle; new food crops, such
but Pizarro had him strangled anyway. as wheat; tools made from iron and steel; wheeled
This painted wooden beaker shows an transport; and, of course, the Spanish language.
Inca noble in a headdress, walking behind Religious legacy
his conqueror, a Spanish trumpeter. The Spaniards made the
native peoples give up their
Machu Pichu was only
Lost city of the Incas old religions and become
discovered in 1911.
The Incas were expert stonemasons who built mighty Christians. This cathedral, in
cities and fortresses out of huge stone blocks. This is Mexico City, was built on top
Machu Pichu, an Inca mountain stronghold 2,400 m of the ruins of Aztec temples
(7,875 ft) above sea level. It was never found by the torn down by conquistadores.
Spaniards, yet it was abandoned around the time of Mexico City itself is a
the conquest. Half the Inca population had died European-style capital, built
from European smallpox, which swept on the site of Tenochtitlán.
through South America, even
before Pizarro’s arrival. What survived?
Despite the changes, many
aspects of Native American
daily life survived the
Spanish conquest. Women in
Mexico and Central America
still cook meals, such as
maize tortillas, which were
eaten by the Aztecs and the
Maya. Traditional skills and
crafts live on, too: cloth is
still woven using a “backstrap
loom”, just as it has been for
many thousands of years.

GOLDEN REWARD
The mainland peoples used gold for jewellery
and ornaments. These were melted down by
CONQUEST OF THE MAYA MAYAN TEMPLES the conquistadores and sent back to Spain.
The Maya were the oldest mainland civilization, Like the Aztecs, the American gold and silver made Spain rich
and they were already in decline when the Maya built their temples and powerful, and was
on top of huge stone used to finance
Spaniards arrived. Yet they put up the strongest pyramids. This one is at
resistance to the conquistadores. They lived in Uxmal, in Mexico. Like European wars.
many kingdoms, which had to be conquered one many Maya cities,
by one. The last Uxmal was abandoned Beads decorated
400 years before the
Maya stronghold conquistadores arrived.
with spirals
fell in 1697. Nose plug
Necklace A Mexican gold nose
MAGICIAN’S The Magician’s This gold plug – one of the few
PYRAMID, Pyramid is 38 m necklace was not melted down by the
UXMAL, (117 ft) high. conquistadores.
found buried
MEXICO
inside the Aztecs’
Great Temple at
Tenochtitlán.

Doubloons carried
the Christian Cross.
Spanish doubloons
Much of the Aztec and Inca
gold was made into coins like these
doubloons, which are decorated with
the royal lion and castle of Spain.

47
Index Cathay, see China
conquistadores,
46–47
Cortés, Hernán, 46
Cosa, Juan de la, 16
conquest of, 35
discovery of,
26–27
rebellion, 38, 39
NO
Native Americans,
25, 33, 37, 46–47
Navidad, 27, 30, 32
Santa Maria, 16, 19,
20, 26–27
Santa Maria de
Bélen, 41
A Central America, 40, crew, 16–17 return to, 30–35 navigation, 11, 21, Santangel, Luis de,
Africa, 6, 9, 10, 11 41, 46–47 crossbows, 35 Hojeda, Alonso de, 45 15
Ailly, Pierre d’, 12 Ceylon, see Sri cross-staffs, 45 33, 35 Niña, 16, 17, 19, 20, Santiago, 41, 42
Alexander VI, Pope, Lanka crusades, 9 homes, 25 27, 32, 35 Sargasso Sea, 21
29 chilli peppers, 24 Cuba, 26, 27, 32, 42 horses, 34 Niño, Juan, 17 settlements, 27,
alligators, 40 China (Cathay), 7, hourglass, 21 North America, 44 30–35, 42
alphabet, 46 8, 44 DE hurricanes, 40 Ottoman Empire, 9 sextants, 45
armour, 35 Christianity, 15, 22, dead reckoning, 21 shipworms, 41
Atahualpa, Emperor, 46 Dias, Bartolomeu, 15 I P shipwrecks, 10,
47 converts, 11, 34, diseases, 33, 41, 47 Imago Mundi, 12 Pacific Ocean, 44, 26–27
Atlantic Ocean, 10, 47 dogs, 25, 35 Incas, 46, 47 45 Silk Road, 8–9
13, 23 Christopher, Saint, doubloons, 47 India, 8 Palos, 16–17, 18, 28 slaves, 11, 34, 38
Aztecs, 46, 47 13 Earth, 13, 39, 45 Indian Ocean, 6, 7, Panama, 44 smallpox, 33, 47
chronometers, 45 Earthly Paradise, 39 15 parrots, 28 South America, 36,
B Cipangu, see Japan eclipse, lunar, 43 Indies, 8 pearls, 37 38
Bahamas, 24 coat of arms, 29 encomienda system, 38 Isabela (town), 33, 38 Peru, 46, 47 Spain, 14–15, 16,
Balboa, Vasco de, 44 codices, 46 exploration, 6–17, 44 Isabella, Queen, see Philippines, 44, 45 28–29
baptisms, 29 colonies, 28, 33 Ferdinand & pineapples, 24 colonies, 46–47
Barcelona, 28, 29 Columbus, F Isabella Pinta, 16, 17, 18, 20, spices, 8, 11, 24
battles, 40 Bartolomé, 34, 35, falconets, 16, 17 22, 23, 28 spirits, 25
Behaim, Martin, 13 38, 41, 43 Ferdinand & Isabella JKL Pinzón, Martín, 17, Sri Lanka (Ceylon),
bells, 25 Columbus, of Spain, 14–15, Jamaica, 32, 42–43 18, 22, 23, 26, 7, 8
Bible, 13 Christopher: 28–29, 32, 38–40 Japan (Cipangu), 8, 27, 28 swords, 35
biscuits, 41 death, 43 flamingoes, 33 14, 18, 24, 26 Pinzón, Vincente, syphilis, 33
Bobadilla, F. de, 39, early voyages, fleas, 41 jewellery, gold, 47 17, 19
40 10–11 flies, 41 John II, King, 14 Pizarro, Francisco, T
body decorations, first voyage, fogón, 16, 22 Kublai Khan, 8 47 Tainos, 24–29, 32,
25 18–27 food, 22, 24, 41 La Capitana, 42 Polo, Marco, 7, 8–9, 33, 42, 43
breastplates, 35 fourth voyage, forts, 27, 30 Lisbon, 10–11 12 battles, 34–35
40–43 friars, 46 logbook, 19, 20–21 Porras, Francisco de, slaves, 34, 38
C homecomings, lombards, 16 42, 43 temples, 47
Cabot, John, 44 28–29, 35, 39, 43 G looms, 47 portolan map, 11 Tenochtitlán, 46
caciques, 32, 33, 34 illness, 32, 34, 38, Genoa, 10 Portugal, 6, 9, tobacco, 26
calendar, 46 42 globes, 13 M 10–11, 14, 15 Toscanelli, Paolo,
Canary Islands, 18, imprisonment, 39 gods, Aztec, 46 Machu Pichu, 47 Prester John, 9 12
20 planning, 12–13, gold, 11, 25, 26, 29, Magellan, Ferdinand, pumps, 16, 41 trade goods, 17, 25
cannibals, 32 14 33, 35, 47 44, 45 traverse board, 21
cannons, 16, 27 preparations, Gold Coast, 11 maize, 24, 47 QR Trinidad, 36, 38
canoes, 25, 27, 42 16–17 Granada, 14 matchlocks, 34, 35 quadrants, 45
Caonabo, 32, 35 second voyage, 32 Guinea, 10, 11 Maya, 40, 46, 47 quipus, 46 VWZ
Cape of Good signature of, 29 Mendez, Diego, 42, rats, 41 Vespucci, Amerigo,
Hope, 15 sponsors, 14–15 HI 43 rebellions, 38, 39 44
captives, 24, 28, 34 third voyage, Haiti, 26 Mexico, 46, 47 record keeping, 46 Vittoria, 44, 45
caravans, 9 36–39 hammocks, 26 Moctezuma, 46 rudders, 20 waterspouts, 41
caravels, 7, 17 Columbus, Diego, helmets, 35 monkeys, 38 waves, giant, 38
Carib people, 27, 32 34, 39 Henry VII, King, 44 Moors, 14 S weapons, 16, 34, 35
Caribbean Ocean, Columbus, Henry the mosquitoes, 33 San Salvador, 23 winds, 23
26–27, 29, 40 Ferdinand, 41 Navigator, 9 Muslims, 9, 14, 35 Santa Domingo, 38, writing, 46
cassava, 24, 34 compass, 11, 21 Hispaniola, 28, 29, 42 mutinies, 22, 42, 43 39 zemis, 25

Acknowledgments
The publisher would like to thank
the following for their kind
permission to reproduce their
images:
Position key: c=centre; b=bottom;
l=left; r=right; t=top
AKG London: 10tl, 26bl, 44bc;
Bibliotheque Nationale 8br, 9tr; British
Library 11t; Erich Lessing 29br; Sevilla
Biblioteca Columbina 12cl; Veintimilla
47cl; Bridgeman Art Library, London /
New York: Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid,
Spain 46tr; British Library 6–7, 9b; Library
of Congress, Washington 35 cr; British
Library, London: 34cl, 45b; British
Museum: 8bl, 12tl, 15cr, 47br; INAH
40bl, 46bl; Corbis UK Ltd: 36–37;
Bettmann 32cl; The Art Archive: Palazzo
Farnese Caprarola/Dagli Orti 44br; Mary
Evans Picture Library: 18–19dps, 39tl; De
Lorgues 43br; Glasgow University
Library: Ms Hunter 46cr; INAH: 40bl,
46bl; Katz Pictures: The Mansell
Collection 14bl, 15tl, 30–31; Museum of
Mankind: 47t; Museum of Order St.
John: 35c (above); Peter Newark's
Pictures: 44cl; Ernest Board 44tr; National
Maritime Museum: 11tc, 12br, 41bc, 45tr,
45cr; N.H.P.A.: Kevin Schafer 39cr;
Robin Wigington, Arbour Antiques: 35tl;
Scala Group S.p.A.: Biblioteca Nazionale
Firenze 46c; Science Photo Library: Eye
of Science 33tl; Wallace Collection: 35cl
(above); Warwick Castle: 35tc.
CCOLUMBUS HRISTOPHER

BE AN EYEWITNESS TO...
Columbus’s
thrillingvoyages
of
exploration
About the series
• Vivid storytelling brings
the past to life.

• Exciting eyewitness accounts

make you feel part of the action.

• Stunning photographs, pull-out

details, and exploded views help
you piece together the story.
PRE-PUBLICATION DATA
Format: PLCJ, 276 x 216 mm (107⁄8 x 81⁄2 in)
Extent: 48 pages
Full colour throughout
More than 70 photos and 50 illustrations
Approx. 15,000 words
Publication Date: Autumn 2001
Price: £9.99
ISBN: 0 7513 1388 2