Christopher Columbus: Columbus Reports on His First Voyage

This passage is from a report written by Christopher Columbus in 1493 after his first voyage to the Americas. In it, Columbus describes the recently discovered territories to the Spanish monarchs. Columbus, unaware that he had arrived at a continent previously unknown to Europeans, was interested in depicting a successful journey to Asia. Columbus wanted to secure privileges granted by the Spanish Crown as well as populate the area. To achieve this, Columbus exaggerated the advantages and benefits of the regions he was exploring and was purposely vague in his descriptions. He overstated the abundance of gold and was misleading about the existence of spices. About the people he encountered, Columbus misrepresented some of them as peaceful, meek, shy, friendly, and without knowledge of weaponry. Columbus distorted the relationships established with the locals as peaceful, despite admitting to kidnapping some of them by force. He portrayed another Indigenous group as violent, savage, and cannibalistic. Columbus mentioned the existence of an island inhabited by female warriors. He also pointed out that the newly discovered territories contained people they could enslave. Moreover, to please the Catholic kings of Spain and their fervor to expand Christianity, Columbus remarked on the number of people who could become Christianized.