"Christopher Columbus"

This blog post is comprised of my notes on the headnote section on Christopher Columbus in the 7th edition of The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume A.

"Christopher Columbus"

• Lived 1451-1506
• Won the support of Ferdinand and Isabella for his 'enterprise of the Indies' in 1492 and had a series of four voyages between 1492 and 1504.
• Over the course of his voyages, Columbus's feelings shifted from that of wonder, to being gripped with the disasters he experienced, and finally ended in great disappointment.
•  1492:  friendly relations with the Taino Indians on Hispaniola --> Columbus then leaves Hispaniola --> The settlers who remain at Hispaniola demand gold and sex from the Taino Indians --> 1494: Columbus returns to find no living Europeans on Hispaniola
• From there, Columbus establishes another settlement --> He leaves once again -->1496: He returns to Spain to clear his name of charges brought against him by other Europeans in the Indies in the aftermath of total disorder in the second settlement he left.
• In 1498, Columbus begins his third voyage during which he found the South American mainland, which he believed to be near Paradise on Earth.  Unfortunately, his illusions of Paradise fall apart when he returns to Hispaniola to find his Spanish settlers openly rebelling against his authority.
•  Columbus is able to squash these rebellions by creating a truce in which he allows the Taino Indians to be enslaved by the settlers, though he is not happy about the enslavement.
•  In 1500, Columbus is arrested again and brought to Spain to face more charges brought against him..
• Finally, he heads a fourth voyage with the intent of clearing his name after the charges brought against him.  His intentions to reclaim his reputation falls short as he becomes shipwrecked and stranded in Panama and then in Jamaica before he finally suffers a breakdown and is saved and returned to Spain where he dies shortly thereafter.
• Writings from Columbus's voyage exist, but the journal from the first voyage was written by a cleric rather than by Columbus himself; therefore, the letters that Columbus wrote to the king and queen, to a royal officer, and to a woman of the Spanish court are the most authentic writings available for study.