"Cristoforo Colombo and His Times" by: Alberto Gutierrez de la Solana New York University in: Five Hundred Magazine, Volume 1/No. 1; May/June 1989, Coral Gables, FL 33146 U.S. Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission It might well be that his name was not Cristoforo Colombo but Joan Colom and that he was not a Genoese sailor at all, but a Majorcan convert who fought against Juan II of Aragon during the Catalonian revolution and changed his identity to conceal his earlier political activities, or that he was known by some other name. But that does not concern us for the purposes of this article. What does concern us is that Christopher Columbus was a man obsessed by a vision and that the Queen and King of Spain, also visionaries, sponsored and supported his prodigious project to reach India from the West. The final result was that whether his name was Cristoforo or Joan or Cristobal Colomo, the dis- covery of America was purely Spanish enterprise. Columbus' voyage was indeed a Spanish enterprise because Isabella and Ferdinand felt strongly that theirs was an historic and spiritual mission. For the stubborn sailor it was not an easy task. Fortunately for Spain, his ideas were not well received in other European courts. Governments tend to become mired in their own bureaucracies--which explains the desirability of American democracy with its permanent periodic renewal. Columbus' struggle was long and difficult, but he was fortunate to have arrived in Spain at a time when that country was succeed- ing in all of its endeavors. Ferdinand and Isabella were great statesmen and theirs was a new Spain; a united and imperial Spain. Just as today the United States and Russia seek the domina- tion of outer space, during Columbus' time the goal was to reach India. Spain and Portugal headed the effort to open a maritime route to Asia. Portugal chose the eastern approach: the circum- navigation of Africa. The sails of their ships were filled with the currents of new ideas of the Portuguese Renaissance. The great Lusitanian sailors followed the Atlantic Coast of Africa in pursuit of their ambitious geographic and political mission; discovering new paths, headlands and coves, and opening them to Portuguese commerce. League by league they chartered the African Coast for Portugal's benefit. The Portuguese trading posts on the Gulf of Guinea provided gold and ivory. The great Portuguese African periplus culminated in 1486 with the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope by the Portuguese explorer Bartolome Dias, and in 1498 Vasco da Gama attained the final goal upon reaching Calicut in India. Portugal had succeeded by following the eastern course. Columbus was certain he could reach India by taking the shorter western route. He first approached the court at Lisbon, but his project was rejected there. He then went to Spain. Fortune (which at the time belonged to Spain) began to smile on this tenacious navigator and led him to the village of Palos de la Frontera, and to its beautiful blue skies and reddish waters of the Tinto river, near the monastery of Santa Maria de la Rabida. There he met Fra Juan Perez and Fra Antonio de Marchena. Columbus' long, intensive struggle to persuade the Castilian queen began in this convent, situated on the very spot where Roman pagans erected a shrine to Persephone, and where later early Christians built their chapel, which was converted by the Arabs for their own religion--the history of Spain in stone. Fortunately for Columbus, those two humble Franciscans were men of culture; knowledgeable students of nautical and celestial sciences--astrology, cosmography, cartography--and they possessed a library brimming with ancient manuscripts and also some books printed according to the latest techniques of a German named Guttenberg. Columbus persuaded the two priests that his ideas were feasible, and they offered their full cooperation. Fra Juan wrote to the queen requesting an audience for this brilliant foreigner. Thus began Christopher Columbus' extensive effort in Spain (some eight years) which resulted in the fruition of an extraordinary adventure when three small, agile, strong and seaworthy ships set sail from the port of Palos on Friday, August 3, 1492 at eight in the morning, led by the great admiral's ideals and those of the no-less-great Queen of Castile. Those eight years must have been terribly frustrating, disheartening and wearisome; only a Christopher Columbus would have kept on. At his first interview with the king and queen he was surrounded by prelates, captains and members of the court. After hearing him out, they responded by referring the matter to a technical commission. Damnation! Columbus must have cried. He knew full well how indecisive and slow these Portuguese commis- sions could be. But now, seen in the light of history and relative to those times, that eclectic decision (neither yes or no) appears wise, for the King and Queen were in the midst of the epic events marking the end of the Reconquest. All the economic and military might of Castile was engaged in this effort. After four years of study and doubt the commission issued an unfavor- able report. But Isabella and Ferdinand had not completely renounced the Columbus project; they had only postponed it. This is evident in their continued financial assistance to Columbus with funds from the national treasury. For his part, Columbus himself had befriended some powerful men who also gave him support and financial assistance. A less inspired man would have given up on such a chimerical expedition, but Christopher Columbus was made of the stuff of great prophets and he was a man of destiny. Once again, he wrote to King Jo~o of Portugal. He was giving up on Castile's help. In 1453 Christendom lost a bastion in the Near East with the fall of Constantinople to the Turks and the disappearance of the Byzantine empire. But in the West, Christianity triumphed over Islam with the Reconquest of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. By now, Granada, Cordoba, Seville, Malaga and Almeria were under Catholic rule. Under the symbolic yoke and arrows of Isabella and Ferdinand, Catholic Spain was united, except for Navarre, which was soon to be integrated into the newly unified nation. Everything had changed. Ferdinand and Isabella decided to support the journey to India in order that the cross of Christ and the Castilian banner might be carried to the land of un- believers. They offered the Genoese sailor ships, money, men and supplies, but he did not accept their proposal. Columbus was convinced of the feasibility of his project, so he made demands and set conditions. He would not set foot on a Castilian vessel without first being knighted and made an admiral of the high seas as well as viceroy and governor of all the islands and land masses of Castile; in addition, he must receive ten per cent of all the gold, precious stones and spices which might be brought from India. These demands were excessive and negotiations did not progress. Columbus felt that he had wasted eight years; but the queen accepted his conditions and Columbus received what he asked for. On April 17, 1492 the Pact of Santa Fe was signed and therein the Genoese sailor was called for the first time, and henceforth, Don Cristobal Colon. Now a Spanish knight, he was granted all other titles which he had claimed. Thirteen days later another document was drafted wherein certain legal ques- tions were clarified, as to the effective dates of all the granted titles: when the lands had been discovered. The die was cast. Isabella and Ferdinand and Christopher Columbus were joined forever in history. Columbus would discover America for Castile, that is for Spain. Christopher Columbus wasted no time. He returned to Palos to ready the ships for the journey. He relied on an expert seaman and ship owner named Martin Alonso Pinzon and his two brothers Vicente Yanez and Francisco Martin. These Pinzon brothers were excellent sailors and had a god reputation in Palos, which helped rally popular support for the risky expedi- tion. The lead ship was the 233-ton Santa Maria 35 meters long, square-rigged, with a quarter deck and forecastle. The 50-ton Pinta, under the command of Captain Martin Alonso Pinzon and with his brother Francisco as pilot, was 17.80 meters long; and the 40-ton Nina, under the command of Vicente Yanez Pinzon, was 17.10 meters long. Columbus' ship had a 50-man crew and the Pinzon brother had each an eighteen man crew. All three carried light artillery and enough supplies for a long journey. Some resear- chers put the number of crewmen as high as one hundred and twenty, but this figure cannot be accurately confirmed. The most complete crew member list for Columbus' fleet has been compiled by an American investigator named Alice R. Gould. She provides, when available, the place of origin for each crew member. They were mostly Andalusians, three Basques, one Portuguese and one converted Jew. The latter and one of the Basques died in Hispaniola. After mass and communion, the fleet set sail for the unknown on August 3, 1492, at eight in the morning. They sought to gain a Christian empire for God and the queen of Castile, and for themselves great wealth. All these men became heroes for their faith and their determination to sail the vast unexplored ocean. Much well deserved recognition must go to the scholar Alice R. Gould for her very thorough research. These seafaring men were not merely greedy sailors or common adventurers: for their spiritual and physical strength and their high purpose, we must view them as missionaries and crusaders. Through their efforts, the world was radically changed. Between August 3 and October 12, 1492, these were brave men who created history even though it is only Columbus whom we honor today--ungrateful mankind! It was an extraordinary feat carried out by a handful of intrepid men five hundred years ago, while their families remained praying and waiting for their return from the unknown. As we celebrate the five hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America we must not forget the uncertainties, the suffering and the fear which these men knew as they sailed an uncharted course on such frail caravels with nothing in sight but the enigmatic and powerful ocean, nor the pain of the anxious relatives who waited for them more than seven months sustained only by their prayers and their faith in God. It was no easy enterprise, so they are all anon- ymous heroes as well as their parents, wives and children, who watchfully scanned the horizon every day hoping to glimpse the great square sail of the Santa Maria with the Christian cross. However, the Santa Mar!a was the only ship which did not return. The two smaller ones sailed home separated by bad weather. Four centuries passed. Spain celebrated the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America, and a poet, a descendant of Spaniards and Chorotega or Nagrandano Indians, baptized as Felix Ruben Garcia Sarmiento, but widely known as Ruben Dario, went to Madrid as part of a delegation from his country, Nicaragua, to participate in the celebration. This brilliant poet wrote a poem entitled To Columbus, from which I have repro- duced the following three stanzas: Unfortunate admiral! Your poor America, your beautiful, hot-blooded, virgin Indian love, the pearl of your dreams, is now hysterical, her nerves convulsing and her forehead pale. The cross you brought to us is now decayed, and after the revolution of the rabble, the rabble writing today defiles the language written by great Cervantes and Calderon. Evil mischance has placed afflictions, horrors, wars, and unending fevers in our way: Oh Christopher Columbus, unfortunate admiral, pray to God for the world that you discovered! Reprint permission granted by Five Hundred magazine. GUTREZ01.ART