"The Caribbean Celebrates Columbus"
 
"Caribbean: Winter 1990-91" (November 1990, pp. 8-14)
A supplement to "Travel and Leisure"
 
     Christopher Columbus made four voyages to the New World,
discovering most of the Bahamas and the Caribbean islands as we
know them.
     On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail on his first voyage
with three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.
     On October 11, he saw a distant light on the horizon and
spotted land.  At dawn, his convoy sailed to the island and went
ashore with the banner of Spain.  They later named the island,
which was inhabited by the Lucayan Indians, San Salvador, meaning
Holy Savior.
     Today, at Long Bay on the Bahamian island of San Salvador,
the site is marked by a white cross and a plaque that reads: "On
or near the spot Christopher Columbus landed on 12 October 1492." 
The modest New World Museum there houses Lucayan pottery and
other artifacts, paintings of the Columbus landfall, and a
petroglyph from a cave in nearby Rum Cay.
     There is an ongoing dispute among Columbus experts about the
location of the first landfall, with some arguing for other
Bahamian islands or Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos at the
south end of the Bahamas chain.  Although the San Salvador theory
has some acknowledged flaws, claims for the other Bahamian
locations have not held up under scrutiny.  Grand Turk, however,
has gained enough credence to be considered a stop for the
recreated Columbus voyage planned for 1992.
 
South to Cuba
     Convinced he would find China and the riches of the east,
Columbus sailed southwest from the Bahamas and came upon Cuba. 
He found neither China nor gold, so the fleet turned east and
sailed across the Windward Passage.  Columbus saw a mountainous
island that reminded him of Spain and called it La Isla Espanola,
the Spanish Island.  Today it is known as Hispaniola, and
comprises Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
     Columbus reached Acul Bay (Cap Haitien, the capital of
Haiti) on December 22.  He was greeted by 1,000 people with a
gift of gold from their chief and an invitation to his village on
Caracol Bay.
     But on Christmas Eve, the Santa Maria ran aground on a reef. 
Today, all that is left of the ship is an anchor on display in
the National Museum of Haiti in Port-au-Prince.
     Columbus took the accident as an omen from God to make a
settlement and to build a fort in the chief's village, naming it
La Villa de Navidad.  He later weighed anchor for Spain aboard
the Nina, confident that he would return to find his first New
World colony thriving and rich with gold.
     On the voyage home, Columbus sailed along the Dominican
coast of Hispaniola, which he named Puerto Plata, as it is still
known, and Samana Peninsula and Bay.  At Golfo de las Flechas
(Gulf of the Arrows) he encountered the hostile Ciguayos Indians,
and a battle ensued.  The site is to be dedicated with a park and
monument to the Indians as part of the Quincentennial in 1992.
 
The Second Voyage
     Columbus and his younger brother Diego set out from Spain
again in 1493.  After a smooth voyage, they landed on a wooded,
mountainous island that Columbus named Dominica.
     That island probably comes closer to the Caribbean that
Columbus saw than any island today, and is also the only island
on which the Carib Indians, for whom the Caribbean was named,
remain.
     Columbus continued on to another island of towering
mountains, Guadeloupe, and anchored at a landing site today known
as Ste. Marie, which is marked by a monument.
     The ships then sailed north, passing Nevis, St. Kitts and
St. Barts or Barthelemy.  Later the convoy came upon an island
that Columbus named Santa Cruz, known today as St. Croix.
 
North to Puerto Rico
     From the Virgin Islands, the explorer moved north to
Borinquen (Puerto Rico), where he anchored at Anasco Bay (south
of Rincon).  Next Columbus headed for his colony at La Navidad,
but when the fleet arrived at Caracol Bay, La Navidad had been
burned to the ground.  There were no survivors.  Like the first
landfall and so many other questions regarding Columbus, the site
of La Navidad is still a mystery.  However, it is probably
located in a field near the small village of En Bas Saline east
of Cap Haitien.
     An archeological team has been excavating the site and
believes it has indeed uncovered La Navidad.
     For Columbus, the tragedy of La Navidad marked the beginning
of a long series of misfortunes from which he never recovered. 
He moved east near Puerto Plata to begin another settlement which
he named Isabela, for the queen.  The plan was to create a large
and gracious town, but it was a disaster from the start.
 
The Third Voyage
     For his third voyage in 1498, Columbus took a more southerly
route.  After two months, he sighted the south coast hills of
Trinidad, named for the Holy Trinity.
     Later, after passing the island of Margarita off the coast
of Venezuela, Columbus headed north to Hispaniola where trouble
waited.  The settlers were in revolt and others had returned to
Spain painting a dark picture of conditions on Hispaniola.  The
Spanish monarchs sent a representative to investigate, who upon
arrival put Columbus and his brothers in chains and sent them
back to Spain.  Later, the monarchs restored Columbus' rights and
privileges, but sent another leader, Nicolas de Ovando, to govern
Hispaniola.
 
The Fourth Voyage
     Columbus set out on the High Voyage, as he called it, in
1502 to look for the straits that would enable him to reach the
Indian Ocean and the true Indies.  Instead, it was the fleet's
most agonizing mission.
     He sailed his four ships along the coast of Central America
and the jungles of Panama, but the ships had deteriorated so much
that the search was abandoned.  Columbus ran his two remaining
ships aground at St. Ann's Bay in Jamaica and built shelters on
their decks for about 100 men.  They would wait almost a year for
rescue.
     Today, the site is marked by the Columbus Memorial at
Discovery Bay, east of St. Ann's.  It has a large mural depicting
the first landing of Columbus at the bay and a small museum. 
Many attempts have been made by underwater archeologists to find
Columbus' ships, but to no avail.
     St. Ann's is also the site of Seville la Nueva (New
Seville), the Spaniards' first settlement in Jamaica.  New
Seville remained the Spanish Capital of Jamaica until 1534, when
it was abandoned for a site on the south coast, known today as
Spanish Town.
     After landing at St. Ann's, one of Columbus' loyal officers
made repeated attempts to reach Santo Domingo; finally he
succeeded and returned to rescue the stranded men.  Ill and
deeply disappointed, Columbus sailed home from his beloved
Hispaniola for the last time.
 
The New World
     By the time Columbus left Santo Domingo in 1504, the town
was on its way to becoming the center from which Cortes, Balboa,
Ponce de Leon and others launched Spain's conquest of the New
World.  The historic town occupying about one square mile in the
heart of Santo Domingo, known as the Old City, was beautifully
restored in the 1970s with the help of the Spanish government. 
Now, further renovations are being made for the Quincentennial.
     Among the most important is the Cathedral of Santo Domingo,
the first in the Americas and seat of the first Archbishop in the
New World.  It contains the tomb of Columbus, which like
everything else about the great navigator is in dispute.
     Calle Las Damas, the oldest street, has Museo de las Casa
Reales (royal houses), former government headquarters and now a
museum with artifacts from the 16th and 17th centuries, along
with a display of Columbus' ships in miniature and charts of his
voyages.  Down the street is Hostal Nicholas Ovando, the home of
Columbus' nemesis, now a small hotel.
     At the north end of Calle Damas, Alcazar is the governor's
mansion built for Columbus' son, Diego, and La Atarazana, a
series of former port warehouses that house shops and an art
gallery today.  Nearby, Casa del Cordon, once part of a Dominican
convent, is the oldest stone structure built by the conquistadors
in the New World.
     A landfall park with a museum and recreated Lucayan village
are being added for the Quincentennial in San Salvador.  The
commemoration's highlight will take place on October 12, 1992,
when replicas of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria sail into San
Salvador, re-creating the dramatic moment of Columbus' arrival in
the New World.
     Other events planned are an international Christian service,
an international regatta, and cultural and sporting events.  For
the Quincentennial in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a group
spearheaded by Columbus 500, Inc., "Those Were the Years," and
other private interests in cooperation with the Virgin Islands
National Park, has planned an innovative project entitled, "The
Building of the Nina."  Its purpose is to provide a training and
education opportunity for young local islanders to build a new
Nina by 1993, in time for the St. Croix commemoration.
     The ship, built to U.S. Coast Guard specifications, will be
a replica of Columbus' ship, but it will incorporate modern
technology.  Students will be taught techniques of building
historic wooden boats as well as modern ones, and trained to
manage, operate and maintain the vessels.
     Puerto Rico is planning a year of activity for the
Quincentennial, with as many as 300 projects planned through
1993.  The most colorful event will be the Grand Regatta Columbus
'92 Quincentenary in June 1992.  A regatta fleet of 200 or more
sailing ships--including up to 25 tall ships from around the
world--are expected to participate.
     The ships will rendezvous in Cadiz, Spain, the starting line
for the transatlantic race to San Juan.  The voyage will take 25
to 30 days to reach San Juan.  While the spectacular flotilla is
in San Juan Harbor, local festivities will consist of folkloric
shows, fairs, sporting events, fireworks, concerts and parades. 
The Grand Regatta will later enter New York harbor for the Fourth
of July celebrations.
     Events are also being planned to coincide with Columbus Day,
October 1992.  In preparation, some Spanish colonial buildings
and parks in Old San Juan have been restored, including Plaza
Colon with a monumental statue of Columbus, and historic La
Princesa, a former prison now housing the Puerto Rico Tourism
Company.
     The restoration of La Princesa is the first step in an
ambitious $80 million waterfront renewal of Old San Juan to be
completed in late 1992.  Restaurants and boutiques will be
designed to harmonize with the architecture of the old city. 
Paseo de la Princesa will be restored to its 19th-century
elegance with fountains and stately palms.  The developments will
create an impressive new gateway for the city.
 
The Columbus Lighthouse Monument
     The showpiece of the Dominican Quincentennial will be the
$40 million Columbus Memorial Lighthouse.
     The colossal monument, to be inaugurated in 1992, will be
located on the east side of Santo Domingo near the sea, and is
part of an enormous renovation of the coastal area from the Ozama
River to the international airport.  The monument is planned as
both a cultural center and tourist attraction independent of its
historic symbolism.