Trollheart

Well yeah probably, but I just can't see say Francis Drake or some German explorer or some French guy going "oh let's live in peace." I'm not saying Columbus wasn't a cunt, just that they were all cunts back then and no matter who "discovered" America, it wasn't going to end well. Remember Leif Ericsson and his war with the natives?
I know. What a beauty. And look who she was married to. Looks like he should be sitting at a special table with a bib, being fed soft gruel or something doesn't he? Classic Spanish beauty, huh?

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Janszoon

I was thinking, if dumpsters existed in the fifteenth century, that's where he woke up every morning. He has that beer for breakfast look.

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

The Batlord

Sure but "people were just like that back then" is a lazy copout. Not everyone was like that. People recognized how ****ed up it was.

Now, I don't chalk this up to Chris being a once in a generation bad dude, I chalk this up to the economic incentives that drive all ****heads with enough startup cash they can scrape together without already being rich enough to luxuriate in pre-existing opulence without getting on their alpha grindset.

They're not peasants working the land but they also have aristocrats lording over them to aspire to and so they do the worst things to attain that next level of wealth so they can have that opulence and this is what our version of Jeff Bezos is, or Cecil Rhodes who was a whatever son of a modestly wealthy family who had to use that modest wealth to found South Africa and become literally the worst dude.

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Trollheart

I'm not saying "people were like that back then". I'm saying people are STILL like that. I'm not for a moment excusing his behaviour, as I think I said. I'm just saying we're not in a situation here where, another guy on board the SM finding America wouldn't have done the same. The idea across Europe was, and to some extent still is, though not as upfront, that the white European was the apex and all other civilisations were inferior. You seem to keep thinking I'm giving him a pass and shrugging and saying it wasn't his fault, he was a man of his time. I'm not: I'm saying no matter who "discovered" America for Europe, the same thing would have happened.

Basically, tl;dr: fuck Columbus but anyone in his time and we would have been saying fuck that guy.

I've explained it now and I'm not going to engage in any more argument about it with you, as you seem to want to have a debate that doesn't exist.

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Trollheart

Spanish Gold: Their Catholic Majesties Bankroll the Voyage

It seems pretty incredible to me that at this point Columbus is believed to have been about fifty years of age. Remember, this was the fifteenth century, when human life expectancy was much lower than it is today. Columbus would have been considered well past middle age and perhaps heading into old age, and for a man of such “advanced years” to undertake a grand enterprise like this must have added to the doubts of those who believed it pure folly. He also had a son by now, Diego, and with the passing of his wife had taken a mistress in Castile, Beatriz Enriquez de Arana, who would give him a second son, Fernando. Columbus first gained the attention and interest of two dukes, the Duke of Medina Celi and the Duke of Medina Sidonia, with the former so enthused that he was ready to provide a small fleet for the Genoan, but had second thoughts at the last minute, believing the project required royal backing.

And so he introduced Columbus to Ferdinand and Isabella, and the proposal was made. Since Constantinople had fallen, the usual access route to the Indies, the famous Silk Road, had been closed, making travel east even more difficult and more dangerous. Columbus told the two Spanish monarchs (it’s not recorded if Isabella was present when he had his first audience with her husband, but she was brought in later) that it was his hope to convert the “Indians” to Christianity, and that the proceeds of trade which would result from the discovery, and conquest of the New World would enable Ferdinand and Isabella to mount a campaign to take back Jerusalem from the Muslims. For two such deeply Catholic monarchs - so much so that they had, as mentioned, been titled as such by the Pope - such an opportunity was not to be missed.

The monarchs convened a council, this perhaps showing how both were prepared to listen to others and let them make the arguments and ask the questions about which they themselves knew little or nothing; Ferdinand has already been noted as having been a pious and humble man, and while Isabella certainly had a firebrand streak, both monarchs knew that there were those in Spain who were better placed to make a judgement on this man’s proposal. Much was discussed, including religious scripture, the actual distance to the West Indies - which it turned out Columbus had very much underestimated - and of course the cost and its potential return to the Crown. In the end, no decision was reached, but Columbus was kept at the Spanish court, mostly, presumably, to prevent him offering the idea to other kings. He did receive an invitation to return to Portugal and again make his proposal to King John, though it doesn’t say whether or not he accepted, and I think not; he sent Bartholomew to England to talk to King Henry VII, but a run-in with pirates delayed his brother’s arrival on England’s shores by a year, only arriving in 1491.

In January of the next year, which would be forever remembered in history - incorrectly - as the year America was discovered - Columbus tired of waiting around for an answer that seemed no closer in coming, and headed off to see if the King of France might be interested. On the way towards the seaport of Palos, he and his son stopped at the convent of St. Mary of Ribada, where the abbot, Juan Perez de Marchena, begged him to try once more with the Spanish monarchs before petitioning the French one. He had in fact been Isabella’s confessor, and so was well in with her, and when he convinced Columbus to send a messenger, the queen received him favourably and told him Columbus should return to the court for an audience.

He arrived with, it would seem, the stars aligning for him, as Spain had finally taken back Granada and thus pushed the last Muslims out of their land, destroying the last remnants of the Umayyad Caliphate, so one obstacle which had been presented to him previously was removed. However he ran into problems with the new Archbishop of Granada, who thought it scandalous that Columbus should demand one-tenth of all the revenues from the voyage. Isabella’s confessor, Luis de St. Angel, could see how things were going and at this impasse realised Columbus was again frogbound, and anxious that Spain not lose the glory of supporting this voyage he interceded. Isabella listened to his counsel and agreed. Thunderbirds were, so to speak, go.

What I find a little odd about this is that Ferdinand was the original of the two monarchs Columbus approached, and Isabella was apparently not there, but then she seems to have completely taken over the negotiations, her husband not even at court when she made her decision. I mean, sure, later he would have looked back and said “Good call, babe”, but would he not have been a little ticked off to have had such a huge decision made by his wife without consulting him? Guess he was busy somewhere, though it doesn’t say where.

The problem was, though, there was no cash. Spain had, as I’ve said already once or twice, just come out of a costly war to take back its lands from the Muslims, and the cupboard was bare. Isabella apparently pledged her own jewels as collateral, making the voyage really more under her patronage than that of Ferdinand, and also giving her a larger role in the administration of the New World, which would be considered really more Castilian than Spanish. The funds were actually advanced though by the confessor, St. Angel, from the ecclesiastical revenues.

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Trollheart

First Voyage

Columbus had of course no problem securing crew for the three caravels (old sailing ships) he had been granted for the voyage. Every able-bodied man was ready and eager to face the unknown, sail into uncharted seas and brave the monsters of the deep, spend years away from their families in search of a land which might not even exist, and if it did, might very well be hostile. The prospect of dying at sea filled the sailors with… well, you know where I’m going with this, don’t you? There was in fact fierce resistance to and reluctance for the voyage, and it was only through the efforts of his main supporters and friends, the Pinzon brothers, respected sailors and merchants who announced they would personally travel on the voyage, that doubts were removed.

The three ships are known to history as having been the Santa Maria, Columbus’s flagship and the largest of the three, the Nina and the Pinta. It seems the Santa Maria was originally called Gallego, but Columbus had its name changed (thought that was something superstitious sailors avoided, believing it was bad luck?) and the entire crew of 120 men set sail on the morning of August 3, Columbus marking the beginning of the great voyage in his log:

"Friday, August 3, 1492. Set sail from the bar of Saltes at 8 o'clock, and proceeded with a strong breeze till sunset sixty miles, or fifteen leagues south, afterward southwest and south by west, which is in the direction of the Canaries."

As an aside, this really was the answer to the sixty-four thousand dollar question, as it seems that is the equivalent in today’s money as to how much the Crown shelled out for the enterprise. First port of call was to be the Canaries, and as it happened they had to pull in here anyway as the rudder of the Nina broke, believed to be sabotage by its owners, from whom it was taken by the Crown as a fine, or possibly the sailors themselves, afraid of the voyage. Either way, it was repaired and the small fleet set out again on September 6 for a six-week voyage west. On September 16 they arrived in what would become known as the Sargasso Sea, where large clumps of green seaweed floated, Now that they were out in the unknown, Columbus worried about mutiny if his crew were to discover how far from home they actually were, and so he fudged the figures, writing one distance travelled in the log, another, the true one in his personal journal. So he would write in his journal, “Travelled fifty-five leagues, wrote only forty-eight.” A dangerous game to play, if his crew should discover he was lying to them.

He may have been made Admiral of the Oceans by Isabella, but while he had travelled widely Columbus’s blunders were many. He notes that they must be near land on September 20, as he spots a whale and considers they always stay near the coast, which is of course about as far from the truth as you can get. Two days later the trade winds, which had continued to push them west, changed, overtaken by a headwind which helped slow them down, his crew fearing perhaps they would sail off the edge of the world, or at least never see home again, having been blown so far from Spain. However, proving that it was not only the Admiral who could make a knob of himself, Martin Pinzon, in charge of the Pinta, shouted out on September 25 that he had spotted land, and headed towards it, only to find it was in fact a bank of fog.

Nevertheless, increasing flocks of seabirds showed them they were in fact coming closer to land, though Columbus believed this to be the coast of Asia, or the islands around it, when in fact it was the Bahamas. On October 10 the event which has been called in history the mutiny on board Columbus’s ship took place, but according to his own journal it was never anything close. Sure, the men were scared and fed-up, not having sighted land despite their captain’s constant assurances, but he doesn’t seem to have had any real fear that there would be any sort of mutiny. He writes:

"The seamen complained of the length of the voyage. They did not wish to go any farther. The Admiral did his best to renew their courage, and reminded them of the profits which would come to them. He added, boldly, that no
complaints would change his purpose, that he had set out to go to the Indies, and that with the Lord's assistance he should keep on until he came there."

The very next day, they sighted land. Again, from his journal:


"Oct. 11, course to west and southwest. Heavier sea than they had known, pardelas and a green branch near the caravel of the Admiral. From the Pinta they see a branch of a tree, a stake and a smaller stake, which they draw in, and which appears to have been cut with iron, and a piece of cane. Besides these, there is a land shrub and a little bit of board. The crew of the Nina saw other signs of land and a branch covered with thorns and flowers. With these tokens every-one breathes again and is delighted. They sail twenty-seven leagues on this course.

The Admiral orders that they shall resume a westerly course at sunset. They make twelve miles each hour; up till two hours after midnight they made ninety miles. The Pinta, the best sailer of the three, was ahead. She makes signals, already agreed upon, that she has discovered land. A sailor named Rodrigo de Triana was the first to see this land. For the Admiral being on the castle of the poop of the ship at ten at night really saw a light, but it was so shut in by darkness that he did not like to say that it was a sign of land. Still he called up Pedro Gutierrez, the king's chamberlain, and said to him that there seemed to be a light, and asked him to look. He did so and saw it. He said the same to Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, who had been sent by the king and queen as inspector in the fleet, but he saw nothing, being indeed in a place where he could see nothing.

After the Admiral spoke of it, the light was seen once or twice. It was like a wax candle, raised and lowered, which would appear to few to be a sign of land. But the Admiral was certain that it was a sign of land. Therefore when they said the 'Salve,' which all the sailors are used to say and sing in their fashion, the Admiral ordered them to look out well from the forecastle, and he would give at once a silk jacket to the man who first saw land, besides the other rewards which the sovereigns had ordered, which were 10,000 maravedis, to be paid as an annuity forever to the man who saw it first. At two hours after midnight land appeared, from which they were about two leagues off.

It was in fact an island, and it wasn’t long before they caught sight of people, natives, the first to encounter Europeans, or at least, Europeans who were about to enslave, annihilate or forcibly convert them. Although land was sighted on October 11, they did not reach it till the next day, therefore the actual discovery day is taken as being October 12, 1492. After Columbus, the two Pinzons and a landing party (sorry) had taken possession of the new land - which he called San Salvador, and by which name it is still known today - for Ferdinand and Isabella, the rest of the story is best described by the Admiral himself.

"So that they may feel great friendship for us, and because I knew that they were a people who would be better delivered and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force, I gave to someof them red caps and glass bells which they put round their necks, and many other things of little value, in which they took much pleasure, and they remained so friendly to us that it was wonderful. Afterwards they came swimming to the ship's boats where we were. And they brought us parrots and cotton-thread in skeins, and javelins and many other things. And they bartered them with us for other things, which we gave them, such as little glass beads and little bells. In short, they took everything, and gave of what they had with good will. But it seemed to me that they were a people very destitute of everything.

They all went as naked as their mothers bore them, and the women as well, although I only saw one who was really young. And all the men I saw were young, for I saw none more than thirty years of age; very well made, with very handsome persons, and very good faces; their hair thick like the hairs of horses' tails, and cut short. They bring their hair above their eyebrows, except a little behind, which they wear long, and never cut. Some of them paint themselves blackish (and they are of the color of the inhabitants of the Canaries, neither black nor white), and some paint themselves white, and some red, and some with whatever they can get. And some of them paint their faces, and some all their bodies, and some only the eyes, and some only the nose.

They do not bear arms nor do they know them, for I showed them swords and they took them by the edge, and they cut themselves through ignorance. They have no iron at all; their javelins are rods without iron, and some of them have a fish's tooth at the end, and some of them other things. They are all of good stature, and good graceful appearance, well made. I saw some who had scars of wounds in their bodies, and I made signs to them (to ask) what that was, and they showed me how people came there from other islands which lay around, and tried to take them captive and they defended themselves. And I believed, and I (still) believe, that they came there from the mainland to take them for captives.

They would be good servants, and of good disposition, for I see that they repeat very quickly everything which is said to them. And I believe that they could easily be made Christians, for it seems to me that they have no belief. I, if it please our Lord, will take six of them to your Highnesses at the time of my departure, so that they may learn to talk. No wild creature of any sort have I seen, except parrots, in this island."

All these are the words of the Admiral, says Las Casas. The journal of the next day is in these words:

Saturday, October 13. "As soon as the day broke, many of these men came to the beach, all young, as I have said, and all of good stature, a very handsome race. Their hair is not woolly, but straight and coarse, like horse hair, and all with much wider foreheads and heads than any other people I have seen up to this time. And their eyes are very fine and not small, and they are not black at all, but of the color of the Canary Islanders. And nothing else could be expected, since it is on one line of latitude with the Island of Ferro, in the Canaries.

They came to the ship with almadias,(*) which are made of the trunk of a tree, like a long boat, and all of one piece—and made in a very wonderful manner in the fashion of the country—and large enough for some of them to hold forty or forty-five men. And others are smaller, down to such as hold one man alone. They row with a shovel like a baker's, and it goes wonderfully well. And if it overturns, immediately they all go to swimming and they right it, and bale it with calabashes which they carry.

(*) Arabic word for raft or float; here it means canoes.

They brought skeins of spun cotton, and parrots, and javelins, and other little things which it would be wearisome to write down, and they gave everything for whatever was given to them. And I strove attentively to learn whether there were gold. And I saw that some of them had a little piece of gold hung in a hole which they have in their noses. And by signs I was able to understand that going to the south, or going round the island to the southward, there was a king there who had great vessels of it, and had very much of it. I tried to persuade them to go there; and afterward I saw that they did not understand about going.

I determined to wait till the next afternoon, and then to start for the southwest, for many of them told me that there was land to the south and southwest and northwest, and that those from the northwest came often to fight with them, and so to go on to the southwest to seek gold and precious stones.

This island is very large and very flat and with very green trees, and many waters, and a very large lake in the midst, without any mountain. And all of it is green, so that it is a pleasure to see it. And these people are so gentle, and desirous to have our articles and thinking that nothing can be given them unless they give something and do not keep it back. They take what they can, and at once jump (into the water) and swim (away). But all that they have they give for whatever is given them. For they barter even for pieces of porringus, and of broken glass cups, so that I saw sixteen skeins of cotton given for three Portuguese centis, that is a blanca of Castile, and there was more than twenty-five pounds of spun cotton in them. This I shall forbid, and not let anyone take (it); but I shall have it all taken for your Highnesses, if there is any quantity of it.

It grows here in this island, but for a short time I could not believe it at all. And there is found here also the gold which they wear hanging to their noses; but so as not to lose time I mean to go to see whether I can reach the island of Cipango. Now as it was night they all went ashore with their almadias."


Sunday, October 14. "At daybreak I had the ship's boat and the boats of the caravels made ready, and I sailed along the island, toward the north-northeast, to see the other port, * * * * what there was (there), and also to see the towns, and I soon saw two or three, and the people, who all were coming to the shore, calling us and giving thanks to God. Some brought us water, others things to eat. Others, when they saw that I did not care to go ashore, threw themselves into the sea and came swimming, and we understood that they asked us if we had come from heaven. And an old man came into the boat, and others called all (the rest) men and women, with a loud voice: 'Come and see the men who have come from heaven; bring them food and drink.'

"There came many of them and many women, each one with something, giving thanks to God, casting themselves on the ground, and raising their heads toward heaven. And afterwards they called us with shouts to come ashore. But I feared (to do so), for I saw a great reef of rocks which encircles all that island. And in it there is bottom and harbor for as many ships as there are in all Christendom, and its entrance very narrow. It is true that there are some shallows inside this ring, but the sea is no rougher than in a well.

And I was moved to see all this, this morning, so that I might be able to give an account of it all to your Highnesses, and also (to find out) where I might make a fortress. And I saw a piece of land formed like an island, although it is not one, in which there were six houses, which could be cut off in two days so as to become an island; although I do not see that it is necessary, as this people is very ignorant of arms, as your Highnesses will see from seven whom I had taken, to carry them off to learn our speech and to bring them back again. But your Highnesses, when you direct, can take them all to Castile, or keep them captives in this same island, for with fifty men you can keep them all subjected, and make them do whatever you like.

And close to the said islet are groves of trees, the most beautiful I have seen, and as green and full of leaves as those of Castile in the months of April and May, and much water. I looked at all that harbor and then I returned to the ship and set sail, and I saw so many islands that I could not decide to which I should go first. And those men whom I had taken said to me by signs that there were so very many that they were without number, and they repeated by name more than a hundred. At last I set sail for the largest one, and there I determined to go. And so I am doing, and it will be five leagues from the island of San Salvador, and farther from some of the rest, nearer to others. They all are very flat, without mountains and very fertile, and all inhabited. And they make war upon each other although they are very simple, and (they are) very beautifully formed."

It’s rather amusing that he seems to have wanted to protect these people, but would end up being the agency of their doom. Of course, one of the first things Columbus wanted to do, once they had landed and spoken with the natives (presumably after a fashion, since it’s certain neither could speak the other’s language) was to find gold. After all, Ferdinand and Isabella would be delighted with the new territories, but first and foremost they would want gold. And as he had noticed the “savages” wearing gold, Columbus knew it was available. He didn’t manage to find any though, and continued his exploration of the islands, making friends, it would seem, with just about all the natives, who were entranced by these strange foreign men, and may very well have taken them to be gods.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018