Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies A Brief History with Documents

by Symcox, Geoffrey; Sullivan, Blair

• ISBN13: 9780312410216
• ISBN10: 0312410212
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-26
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

In 1492, previously separate worlds collided and began to merge, often painfully, into the world-system in which we live today. Columbus's four Atlantic voyages (14921504) helped link Africa, Europe, and the Americas in a conflicted economic and cultural symbiosis. These carefully selected documents describe the voyages and their immediate impact on Europe and the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. Geoffrey Symcox and Blair Sullivan's engaging introduction presents Columbus as neither hero nor villain, but as a significant historical actor who improvised responses to a changed world. Document headnotes provide context for understanding Columbus's voyages within the broader context of fifteenth-century Europe and the policies of the Spanish crown. Maps, illustrations, a chronology, questions for consideration, and a selected bibliography invite students to analyze and interpret the documents.

Author Biography

GEOFFREY SYMCOX is professor of history at University of California, Los Angeles and general editor of the Repertorium Columbianum, a multi-volume series of original sources dealing with different aspects of the Columbian voyages. Professor Symcox received his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1967 and works in early modern European history, up to and including the French Revolution. His books include The Crisis of French Sea Power 1688–1697 (1974) and Victor Amadeus II: Absolutism in the Savoyard State 1675–1730 (1983).

BLAIR SULLIVAN is director of publications at the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at University of California, Los Angeles and associate editor of the Repertorium Columbianum.

Table of Contents

Foreword	iii
Preface	v
List of Maps and Illustrations	xiii
PART ONE Introduction: Columbus---The Man, the Voyages, the Legacy	1	(40)
Columbus's Genoese Origins and Early Life	3	(4)
Columbus in Portugal, 1476--1485	7	(4)
Columbus in Spain, 1485--1492	11	(3)
The First Voyage, 1492--1493	14	(4)
The Second Voyage, 1493--1496: Colonization	18	(5)
The Third Voyage, 1498--1500	23	(3)
The Fourth Voyage, 1502--1504, and Columbus's Last Years	26	(4)
Columbus's Legacy	30	(4)
Columbus after Columbus	34	(7)
PART TWO The Documents	41	(146)
Christopher Columbus	43	(17)
Agreement Mentioning Domenico Colombo and His Son Christopher Columbus, Genoa, September 22, 1470	43	(1)
Notarial Document Mentioning Christopher Columbus's Trip to Madeira to Purchase Sugar, Genoa, August 25, 1479	44	(2)
Bartolome de Las Casas, On Columbus's Appearance, Education, and Character, ca. 1527--1563	46	(3)
Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, On Columbus's Appearance and Origins, 1535--ca. 1549	49	(2)
Christopher Columbus, Undated Letter to Fernando and Isabel, 1500--1502	51	(4)
Christopher Columbus, Letter to Nicolo Oderigo, with ``Xpo ferens'' Signature, March 21, 1502	55	(1)
Bartolome de Las Casas, On Columbus as an Instrument of God's Will, ca. 1527--1563	56	(1)
Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, On Columbus as ``First Discoverer,'' 1535--ca. 1549	57	(1)
Agostino Giustiniani, Psalter, On Columbus the Evangelist, 1516	58	(2)
The Four Voyages	60	(80)
First Voyage, 1492--1493	60	(1)
Santa Fe Capitulations, Santa Fe, April 17, 1492	60	(2)
Granada Capitulations, Granada, April 30, 1492	62	(3)
Christopher Columbus, Selected Entries from the Log, August 3, 1492--March 15, 1493	65	(19)
Second Voyage, 1493--1496	84	(1)
Warrant to Christopher Columbus and Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca Commissioning Them to Outfit the Second Voyage, Barcelona, May 24, 1493	84	(3)
Michele da Cuneo, From News of the Islands of the Hesperian Ocean Discovered by Sir Christopher Columbus of Genoa, October 1495	87	(11)
Giambattista Strozzi, Letter from Cadiz, March 19, 1494	98	(1)
Giovanni de' Bardi, Letter from Seville, April 19, 1494	99	(3)
Third Voyage, 1498--1500	102	(1)
Instructions to Columbus for Colonization of the Indies, Burgos, April 23, 1497	102	(3)
Bartolome de Las Casas, On Columbus's Third Voyage, ca. 1527--1563	105	(8)
Andres del Corral, Testimony concerning Columbus's Landing on the South American Mainland, Santo Domingo, June 16, 1512	113	(5)
Christopher Columbus, Letter to Juana de la Torre, Making the Case for the Restitution of His Privileges, Late 1500	118	(5)
Fourth Voyage, 1502--1504	123	(1)
Writ Ordering Restitution of Property to the Admiral and His Brothers, Granada, September 27, 1501	123	(4)
Bartolome de Las Casas, On Columbus's Fourth Voyage, ca. 1527--1563	127	(13)
The Spanish Crown, Portugal, and the Papacy	140	(15)
Alexander VI, Papal Bull ``Inter Cetera II,'' Rome, May 4, 1493	140	(4)
Alexander VI, Papal Bull ``Piis Fidelium,'' Rome, June 25, 1493	144	(4)
Alexander VI, Papal Bull ``Dudum Siquidem,'' Rome, September 25, 1493	148	(2)
Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal, June 7, 1494	150	(3)
Alexander VI, Papal Bull ``Eximie Devotionis,'' Rome, November 16, 1501	153	(2)
European Constructions of the New World	155	(32)
Allegretto Allegretti, Sienese Diaries from 1450 to 1496, April 25, 1493	155	(1)
Morelletto Ponzone, Letter from Ferrara, June 11, 1494	156	(1)
Diego Alvarez Chanca, From His Report to the City Council of Seville on Columbus's Second Voyage, ca. 1494	157	(2)
Ramon Pane, On Taino Religious Practices, ca. 1498	159	(8)
Peter Martyr of Anghiera, On Tainos, Caribs, the Flora and Fauna of the Indies, and the Golden Age of Life According to Nature, 1511	167	(4)
Alessandro Geraldini, On Caribs and Tainos, March 29, 1522	171	(6)
APPENDIXES
A Christopher Columbus Chronology (1451--1506)	177	(3)
Glossary	180	(2)
Questions for Consideration	182	(2)
Selected Bibliography	184	(3)
Index	187