"Was Columbus a Whiner?  You Could Look It Up"
 
by:   Paul Delaney
 
in:   New York Times (October 13, 1987)
 
      Christopher Columbus was a chronic whiner.  Cervantes asked
the Crown for permission to travel to the New World to escape
debt that dogged him throughout his life.
      These and other bits of information about Spain's relation-
ship to the Americas hundreds of years ago are contained in the
millions of documents stored here at the Archive of the Indies.
      Based on Columbus's letters and memos, it is the opinion of
Rosario Parra Cala, the archive director, that he was not shy
about registering grievances with his benefactors and others.
"He was always complaining about something--about not being
adequately compensated by the Crown for his services, about being
in poor health in Jamaica; always something," she said of the man
being honored Oct. 12, 495 years after his journey to the
Americas.
      Within the walls of the two-story 16th-century building are
40 million documents, neatly preserved in 43,000 boxes stored on
mahogany shelving brought from Cuba.  Although they are merely
records and cold statistics, with no interpretation or analysis,
they have attracted scholars from all over the world and resulted
in important discoveries.
 
Treasure Hunter is Helped
      Last year, for example, Dr. Eugene Lyon, a University of
Florida history professor, made public analyses of shipping data
on Columbus's favorite vessel, the Nina, from documents here.
The findings are expected to contribute to the understanding of
those early voyages.
      Information from the archive was also instrumental in
helping Mel Fisher, the treasure hunter, strike it rich two years
ago by locating the sunken Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de
Atocha and her $100 million cargo.  The ship went down in the
Gulf of Mexico in a hurricane in 1622.
      Reading through the documents can be about as thrilling as
culling water and electric bills in the records room of New York
City Hall, except that the records here are from Spain's glory
days of empire-building.  They date from as far back as 1492, an
era of exciting discovery and pioneering, change and conquest,
hardship and abuse.
      The archive is not open to the public, and scholars wishing
access must present a written request from their institutions.
Treasure hunters like Mr. Fisher, not as welcome here as
scholars, find the wealth of information invaluable.  Mr. Fisher
was so appreciative that he donated a cannon from the galleon.
 
Bureaucratic in the Extreme
      The Spanish were extremists in bureaucratic demands.  "Down
to every detail, everything done had to be approved in Spain,"
Miss Parra said.  "All laws, all changes in laws, construction
plans, all of it had to have permission from Seville.
      "Copies of everything--birth, marriage and death certifi-
cates, for example--were sent here.  The documents here are
administrative, not a chronicle; they make dull reading, but they
are very important."
      Most of the material is well preserved--there is no air
conditioning or heating in the archive, leaving those using it
sometimes sweating and sometimes shivering--but there is an
active restoration process with a staff of half a dozen.  The
archive is also working to computerize and microfilm every piece
of paper.
      Miss Parra said the history of the Americas is not just for
historians.  Geologists, philosophers and military scholars are
making more use of it.  "More economists are visiting nowadays,"
she said.  "Previously, language and religion were major topics
of research."
      Victoria Stapells Johnson, a Canadian, began research here
12 years ago as an anthropologist but became attracted to
treasure hunting and is now in love with it.  She said that her
most exciting project was helping Mr. Fisher in his hunt for the
Nuestra Senora de Atocha, but that she also works for scholars.
      But for an American, at this time of year, the main treasure
in this storehouse of the administrative capital of the now-gone
empire revolves around Columbus and the approaching 500th
anniversary of his discoveries.  The American Ambassador,
Reginald Bartholomew, visited the archive recently and said it
was sheer joy to hold in his hands personal letters between
Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand.
      Miss Parra said other communications to or from Columbus in
the archive include an authorization dated April 30, 1492, for
insurance policies for his crew and exemption from taxed on
provisions bought in Seville for his trip; a letter from the King
and Queen dated Aug. 23, 1493, telling him to prepare an army of
conquest in Barcelona for his second trip, and a letter from
Jamaica, dated July 7, 1503, saying he was in poor health.
      Other documents bestow on Columbus the titles of admiral,
viceroy and governor general of the Indies.  There is a letter
from the Crown to the treasurer directing him to pay the
navigator, a letter on sending prisoners to the New World and a
letter from Queen Isabella suggesting a good position in the army
for a friend.
      Cervantes, like the hero in his "Don Quixote de la Mancha,"
was considered brave and unselfish--and was also a poor money
manager.  He served time in prison on occasion for nonpayment of
debt, which led to his request, never granted, to leave the
country.
 
Copyright 1987, The New York Times Company, The New York Times.
Reproduced fro use in a databaase with the permission of Mead Data
Central, Inc., provider of the LEXIS›NEXIS services.
 
                                                           DELANEY1.ART