A letter written by Christopher Columbus on 15 February 1493, is the first known document announcing the completion of his first voyage across the Atlantic, which set out in 1492 and reached the Americas. The letter was ostensibly written by Columbus himself, aboard the caravel Niña, on the return leg of his voyage. . Accessed 12 February 2012. A postscript was added upon his arrival in Lisbon on 4 March 1493, and it was probably from there that Columbus dispatched two copies of his letter to the Spanish court.
The letter was instrumental in spreading the news throughout Europe about Columbus's voyage. Almost immediately after Columbus's arrival in Spain, printed versions of the letter began to appear. A Spanish version of the letter (presumably addressed to Luis de Santángel), was printed in Barcelona by early April 1493, and a Latin translation (addressed to ) was published in Rome around a month later (ca. May 1493). The Latin version was swiftly disseminated and reprinted in many other locations—Basel, Paris, Antwerp, etc.—still within the first year of his arrival.
In his letter, Christopher Columbus claimed to have discovered and taken possession of a series of islands on the edge of the Indian Ocean in Asia; Columbus was not aware that he had stumbled upon a new continent. He described the islands, particularly Hispaniola and Cuba, exaggerating their size and wealth, and suggested that mainland China probably lay nearby. He also gave a brief description of the Indigenous peoples (whom he called "Indians"), emphasizing their docility and amenability, and the prospects of their conversion to Catholicism. However, the letter also revealed local rumors about a fierce man-eating tribe of "monsters" in the area (probably Caribs), although Columbus himself disbelieved the stories, and dismissed them as a myth. The letter provides very few details of the oceanic voyage itself, and covers up the loss of the flagship of his fleet, the Santa María, by suggesting Columbus left it behind with some colonists, in a fort he erected at La Navidad in Hispaniola. In the letter, Columbus urges the Catholic monarchs to sponsor a second, larger expedition to the Indies, promising to bring back immense riches.
A slightly different version of Columbus's letter, in manuscript form, addressed to the Catholic monarchs of Spain, was found in 1985, part of the Libro Copiador collection, and has led to some revision of the history of the Columbus letter.Zamora (1993); Henige (1994)
The two earliest published copies of Columbus's letter on the first voyage aboard the Niña were donated in 2017 by the Jay I. Kislak Foundation to the University of Miami library in Coral Gables, Florida, where they are housed.
Background
Christopher Columbus, a Genoese captain in the service of the Crown of Castile, set out on his first voyage in August 1492 with the objective of reaching the East Indies by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean. Instead of reaching Asia, Columbus stumbled upon the Caribbean islands of the Americas. Convinced nonetheless he had discovered the edges of Asia, Columbus set sail back to Spain on 15 January 1493, aboard the caravel Niña. According to the journal of his voyage, on 14 February Columbus was caught in a storm off the Azores islands. The resulting poor condition of his ship forced him to put in at Lisbon (Portugal) on 4 March 1493. Columbus finally arrived at Palos de la Frontera in Spain 11 days later, on 15 March 1493.See Columbus's journal (Markham ed., 1893: pp. 178, 187–88, 192)
During the return journey, while aboard the ship, Columbus wrote a letter reporting the results of his voyage and announcing his discovery of the "islands of the Indies". In a postscript added while he was idling in Lisbon, Columbus reports sending at least two copies of the letter to the Spanish court—one copy to the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, and a second copy to the Aragonese official Luis de Santángel, the principal supporter and financial backer of Columbus's expedition.
Copies of Columbus's letter were somehow picked up by publishers, and printed editions of his letter began to appear throughout Europe within weeks of Columbus's return to Spain.Matthew Edney (1996, rev. 2009), "The Columbus Letter: The Diffusion of Columbus's Letter through Europe, 1493–1497" online at the University of Southern Maine (accessed 9 January 2017). A Spanish version of the letter (based on the letter he sent to Luis de Santángel) was printed in Barcelona probably in late March or early April 1493. A Latin translation of the letter (addressed to Gabriel Sanchez) was printed in Rome about a month later. Within the first year of his arrival, eight more editions of the Latin version were printed in various European cities—two in Basel, three in Paris, another two in Rome and another in Antwerp. Already by June 1493, the letter had been translated by a poet into Italian verse, and that version went through multiple editions in the next couple of years. A German translation appeared in 1497. The rapid dissemination of Columbus's letter was enabled by the printing press, a new invention that had established itself only recently.
Columbus's letter (particularly the Latin edition) forged the initial public perception of the newly discovered lands. Indeed, until the discovery of Columbus's on-board journal, first published in the 19th century, this letter was the only known direct testimony by Columbus of his experiences on the first voyage of 1492.Henige (1994: pp. 141–42). An intact version of Columbus's on-board journal, "Diario de bordo", has yet to be found. All that is available is a heavily edited and abridged version of the journal reproduced by Bartolomé de las Casas in his Historia de las Indias. Although written in the 16th century, Las Casas's manuscript was only discovered in the 1790s and published only in 1875–76. For a reproduction with English translation, see Dunn and Kelley (1989). It is estimated that, on the whole, between 1493 and 1500, some 3,000 copies of the Columbus letter were published, half of them in Italy, making it something of a best-seller for the times.Clough (1994: p. 299) By contrast, Columbus's 1495 letter of his second voyage and his 1505 letter of his fourth voyage had only one printing each, probably not exceeding 200 copies.
Original versions of Columbus's letter, written by his hand, have never been found. Only the printed editions—Spanish and Latin—are known. However, a third version of the letter, contained in a 16th-century manuscript collection known as the Libro Copiador, was discovered in 1985. This manuscript version differs in several significant ways from the printed editions and, although its authenticity is still tentative, many believe the Copiador version to be a closer rendition of Columbus's original missive.
Content of the letter
The published Latin versions of the letter are almost all titled "Letter of Columbus, on the islands of India beyond the Ganges recently discovered". The term "India beyond the Ganges" (India extra Gangem) was the archaic term from Ptolemy frequently used by earlier geographers to refer vaguely to Southeast Asia (roughly from Burma down to the Malay Peninsula); the Indian subcontinent proper was referred to as "India within the Ganges" (India intra Gangem).Mitchell's Ancient Geography (1868: p. 55) Thus the islands of "India beyond the Ganges" claimed to have been reached would roughly correspond to modern Indonesia or thereabouts. The earlier printed Spanish edition bears no title, nor does the manuscript copy of the letter to the Catholic monarchs (Libro Copiador).The following account relies on the available online facsimile and transcriptions listed at the bottom of the article. Quick reference: printed Spanish edition of the Letter to Santangel (Barcelona ed.; Ambrosian edition; Naverrete trans.); printed Latin edition letter to Sanchez (2nd Roman (Plannck) ed.; 3rd Roman (Silber) ed.; Basel ed. ); Libro Copiador letter (transcription ).
In the letter, Christopher Columbus does not describe the journey itself, saying only that he traveled thirty-three days and arrived at the islands of "the Indies" (las Indias), "all of which I took possession for our Highnesses, with proclaiming heralds and flying royal standards, and no one objecting". He describes the islands as being inhabited by "Indians" (Indios).
In the printed letters, Columbus relates how he bestowed new names on six of the islands. Four are in the modern Bahamas: (1) San Salvador (for which he also gives the local name, Guanaham in the Spanish edition and Guanahanin in the Latin letter; modern English texts normally render it as Guanahani), (2) Santa Maria de Concepcion, (3) Ferrandina (Fernandinam in the Latin version, in modern texts Fernandina), and (4) la isla Bella (given as Hysabellam in the Latin version, and La Isabela in modern texts).Compare p.xv of the facsimile of the Barcelona edition of the Spanish letter; and p.ix of the second Roman edition of the Latin letter. He also names (5) La Isla Juana (Joanam in Latin, modern Cuba) and (6) the island of La Spañola (Hispana in the Latin letter, modern Hispaniola). In the letter, Columbus says that he believes Juana is actually part of the continental mainland (terra firme) of Cathay (Catayo, archaic for China), even though he also admits some of the Indians he encountered informed him that Juana was an island. Later in the letter, Columbus locates the islands at the latitude of 26°N, more north of their actual location ("es distinta de la linea equinocial veinte e seis grados"). (Note: in the Copiador version, Columbus makes no mention of the latitudes nor the Native name Guanahanin.)
In his letter, Columbus describes how he sailed along the northern coast of Juana (Cuba) for a spell, searching for cities and rulers, but found only small villages "without any sort of government" ("no cosa de regimiento"). He notes that the Natives usually fled when approached. Finding this track fruitless, he decided to double-back and head southeast, eventually sighting the large island of Hispaniola, and explored along its northern coast. Columbus exaggerates the size of these lands, claiming Juana is greater in size than Great Britain ("maior que Inglaterra y Escocia juntas") and Hispaniola larger than the Iberian Peninsula ("en cierco tiene mas que la Espana toda").
In his letter, Columbus seems to attempt to present the islands of the Indies as suitable for future colonization. Columbus's descriptions of the natural habitat in his letters emphasize the rivers, woodlands, pastures, and fields "very suitable for planting and cultivating, for raising all sorts of livestock herds and erecting towns and farms" ("gruesas para plantar y senbrar, para criar ganados de todas suertes, para hedificios de villas e lugares"). He also proclaims that Hispaniola "abounds in many spices, and great mines of gold, and other metals" ("ay mucha especiarias y grandes minas de oros y otros metales"). He compares lush and well-watered Hispaniola as more favorable to settlement than mountainous Cuba.
Columbus characterizes the Native inhabitants of the Indies islands as primitive, innocent, without reason ("like beasts", "como bestias"), and unthreatening. He describes how they go about largely naked, that they lack iron and weapons, and are by nature fearful and timid ("son asi temerosos sin remedio"), even "excessively cowardly" ("en demasiado grado cobardes").