retrorocketrick
Things they never told you in school
The city of Cadiz played an important role in the life of Christopher Columbus.
He sailed from Cádiz on his second and fourth voyages.
After his first voyage, which left from Sevilla, Christopher Columbus was appointed Viceroy and Governor of the Indies
.
On September 25, 1493 the Second voyage of Christopher Columbus consisting of 16 ships carrying about 1500 men, including Juan Ponce de Leon, left the port of Cadiz.
Colonization and Christian evangelization were now part of Spain’s plan. Friars, civil servants, private investors and a troop of cavalry were all involved in the second expedition.
When he arrived at Hispaniola he found that the stockade built during the first voyage had been destroyed, and the men killed, by Taino Indian resistance fighters. This did not stop them from founding the city of La Isabela.
Ships started to take large quantities of goods and slaves back to Spain. Other ships sailed for Cuban and Jamaica to find more riches.
Columbus, in the following year, conquered Hispaniola and spread devastation among the Taino Indians. The Christian friars did nothing to stop this, although one said Columbus was a "little harsh".
By the end of his third voyage, Columbus was physically and mentally exhausted: his body was wracked by arthritis and his eyes by ophthalmia.
In October 1499, he sent two ships back to Spain, asking the Court of Spain to appoint a royal commissioner to help him govern.
By then, accusations of tyranny and incompetence on the part of Columbus had also reached the Court. The Court appointed Spanish chief justice, Francisco de Bobadilla a member of the Order of Calatrava, but not as the aide that Columbus had requested. Instead, Bobadilla was given complete control and came to the colony with a royal commission.
Arriving in Santo Domingo while Columbus was away, Bobadilla was immediately peppered with complaints about all three of Columbus's brothers: Christopher, Bartolomé, and Diego.
According to a document, (supposedly discovered very late in history) purporting to be a record of Columbus's trial there contained the alleged testimony of 23 witnesses that Columbus regularly used barbaric acts of torture to govern Hispaniola.
Consuelo Varela, a Spanish historian, states: "Even those who loved him [Columbus] had to admit the atrocities that had taken place”.
As a result of these testimonies and without being allowed a word in his own defense, upon his return, Christopher Columbus had manacles placed on his arms and chains on his feet and was cast into prison to await return to Spain.
On 1 October 1500, Columbus and his two brothers, likewise in chains, were sent back to Spain and imprisoned in Cadiz. Columbus, in a fit of pique, refused to let the captain remove his irons during the journey. He was 48 years old.
Once in Cádiz, a grieving Columbus wrote to a friend at court:
“It is now seventeen years since I came to serve these princes with the Enterprise of the Indies. They made me pass eight of them in discussion, and at the end rejected it as a thing of jest. Nevertheless I persisted therein... Over there I have placed under their sovereignty more land than there is in Africa and Europe, and more than 1,700 islands... In seven years I, by the divine will, made that conquest. At a time when I was entitled to expect rewards and retirement, I was incontinently arrested and sent home loaded with chains. The accusation was brought out of malice on the basis of charges made by civilians who had revolted and wished to take possession on the land….. I beg your graces, with the zeal of faithful Christians in whom their Highnesses have confidence, to read all my papers, and to consider how I, who came from so far to serve these princes... now at the end of my days have been despoiled of my honor and my property without cause, wherein is neither justice nor mercy.”
Columbus also composed a letter to his sovereigns suggesting that he was close to finding hordes of Gold.
Columbus and his brothers lingered in jail for six weeks before the king and queen summoned the Columbus brothers to the Alhambra palace in Granada (see my Granada/Alhambra Set). There the royal couple heard the brothers' pleas; restored their freedom and wealth; and, after much persuasion, agreed to fund Columbus's fourth voyage They also recognized his limitations as a politician, and remove his influence over Hispaniola.
In October 1501 Christopher Columbus began making ready his fourth and final expedition.
While preparing his four ships, Columbus found time to compile his Book of Privileges and Book of Prophecies. The former defended the titles and financial claims of the Columbus family, the latter included several biblical passages suggested his mission was divinely guided.
Columbus sailed from Cádiz on his fourth and final voyage on May 9, 1502.
His four ships contrasted sharply with the 30 ship the crown granted to the newly appointed governor of Hispaniola, Nicolas de Ovando.
The hostility to Columbus' rule in Hispaniola led Ferdinand and Isabella to forbid his to return there.
Instead he aimed south and by October had explored the coasts of Martinique, Jamaica, Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.
Unfortunately for him and his fleet he overstretched himself and in June 1503 Columbus and his crews found themselves castaways on the coast of Jamaica. A group of his men traversed the 450 miles of open sea to get help from Hispaniola. The governor, for whatever reason, took his time and did not send rescuers until June 1504.
Meanwhile, Columbus had scared the Jamaican natives into providing food for his starving men. He had pretended he was a magician by predicting an eclipse of the Moon.
Once rescued, on November 7 he sailed for Spain and found Queen Isabella, his main supporter, on her death bed.
Columbus spent his final two years in illnes and oblivion. He still remained quite rich from the gold he had taken from Hispanolia.He died on May 20, 1506.
In death, as in life, Christopher Columbus's remain have made may trips to other places.
His remains were first interred at Valladolid, and later were taken the monastery of La Cartuja in Seville (southern Spain).
Later in 1542 Columbus's bones were taken, on the orders of his son Diego, who had been governor of Hispaniola, from the family mausoleum to their resting place beneath the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, in Hispanolia.
In 1795, when France took over the entire island of Hispaniola, Columbus's remains were moved to Havana, Cuba.
After Cuba became independent following the Spanish-American War in 1898, the remains were moved back to Spain, to the Cathedral of Seville, where they were placed on an elaborate catafalque.
However, a lead box bearing an inscription identifying "Don Christopher Columbus" and containing bone fragments and a bullet were later discovered at Santo Domingo in 1877.
To lay to rest claims that the wrong relics had been moved to Havana and that Columbus's remains had been left buried in the cathedral at Santo Domingo, DNA samples of the corpse resting in Seville were taken in June 2003 (History Today August 2003) as well as other DNA samples from the remaining of his sons Diego and Fernando Colón.
Initial observations suggested that the bones did NOTappear to belong to somebody with the physique or age at death associated with Columbus.
DNA extraction proved difficult because only short fragments of mitochondrial DNA could be isolated.
These fragments however, under more rigorous testing, matched corresponding DNA from Columbus's brother, giving support that both individuals had shared the same mother.
Such evidence, together with anthropologic and historic analyses led the researchers to conclude that the remains found in Seville belonged to Christopher Columbus.
The authorities in Santo Domingo, however, have never allowed the remains there to be exhumed, so it is unknown if any of those remains could be from Columbus's body as well.
Cadiz, Spain
Things they never told you in school
The city of Cadiz played an important role in the life of Christopher Columbus.
He sailed from Cádiz on his second and fourth voyages.
After his first voyage, which left from Sevilla, Christopher Columbus was appointed Viceroy and Governor of the Indies
.
On September 25, 1493 the Second voyage of Christopher Columbus consisting of 16 ships carrying about 1500 men, including Juan Ponce de Leon, left the port of Cadiz.
Colonization and Christian evangelization were now part of Spain’s plan. Friars, civil servants, private investors and a troop of cavalry were all involved in the second expedition.
When he arrived at Hispaniola he found that the stockade built during the first voyage had been destroyed, and the men killed, by Taino Indian resistance fighters. This did not stop them from founding the city of La Isabela.
Ships started to take large quantities of goods and slaves back to Spain. Other ships sailed for Cuban and Jamaica to find more riches.
Columbus, in the following year, conquered Hispaniola and spread devastation among the Taino Indians. The Christian friars did nothing to stop this, although one said Columbus was a "little harsh".
By the end of his third voyage, Columbus was physically and mentally exhausted: his body was wracked by arthritis and his eyes by ophthalmia.
In October 1499, he sent two ships back to Spain, asking the Court of Spain to appoint a royal commissioner to help him govern.
By then, accusations of tyranny and incompetence on the part of Columbus had also reached the Court. The Court appointed Spanish chief justice, Francisco de Bobadilla a member of the Order of Calatrava, but not as the aide that Columbus had requested. Instead, Bobadilla was given complete control and came to the colony with a royal commission.
Arriving in Santo Domingo while Columbus was away, Bobadilla was immediately peppered with complaints about all three of Columbus's brothers: Christopher, Bartolomé, and Diego.
According to a document, (supposedly discovered very late in history) purporting to be a record of Columbus's trial there contained the alleged testimony of 23 witnesses that Columbus regularly used barbaric acts of torture to govern Hispaniola.
Consuelo Varela, a Spanish historian, states: "Even those who loved him [Columbus] had to admit the atrocities that had taken place”.
As a result of these testimonies and without being allowed a word in his own defense, upon his return, Christopher Columbus had manacles placed on his arms and chains on his feet and was cast into prison to await return to Spain.
On 1 October 1500, Columbus and his two brothers, likewise in chains, were sent back to Spain and imprisoned in Cadiz. Columbus, in a fit of pique, refused to let the captain remove his irons during the journey. He was 48 years old.
Once in Cádiz, a grieving Columbus wrote to a friend at court:
“It is now seventeen years since I came to serve these princes with the Enterprise of the Indies. They made me pass eight of them in discussion, and at the end rejected it as a thing of jest. Nevertheless I persisted therein... Over there I have placed under their sovereignty more land than there is in Africa and Europe, and more than 1,700 islands... In seven years I, by the divine will, made that conquest. At a time when I was entitled to expect rewards and retirement, I was incontinently arrested and sent home loaded with chains. The accusation was brought out of malice on the basis of charges made by civilians who had revolted and wished to take possession on the land….. I beg your graces, with the zeal of faithful Christians in whom their Highnesses have confidence, to read all my papers, and to consider how I, who came from so far to serve these princes... now at the end of my days have been despoiled of my honor and my property without cause, wherein is neither justice nor mercy.”
Columbus also composed a letter to his sovereigns suggesting that he was close to finding hordes of Gold.
Columbus and his brothers lingered in jail for six weeks before the king and queen summoned the Columbus brothers to the Alhambra palace in Granada (see my Granada/Alhambra Set). There the royal couple heard the brothers' pleas; restored their freedom and wealth; and, after much persuasion, agreed to fund Columbus's fourth voyage They also recognized his limitations as a politician, and remove his influence over Hispaniola.
In October 1501 Christopher Columbus began making ready his fourth and final expedition.
While preparing his four ships, Columbus found time to compile his Book of Privileges and Book of Prophecies. The former defended the titles and financial claims of the Columbus family, the latter included several biblical passages suggested his mission was divinely guided.
Columbus sailed from Cádiz on his fourth and final voyage on May 9, 1502.
His four ships contrasted sharply with the 30 ship the crown granted to the newly appointed governor of Hispaniola, Nicolas de Ovando.
The hostility to Columbus' rule in Hispaniola led Ferdinand and Isabella to forbid his to return there.
Instead he aimed south and by October had explored the coasts of Martinique, Jamaica, Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.
Unfortunately for him and his fleet he overstretched himself and in June 1503 Columbus and his crews found themselves castaways on the coast of Jamaica. A group of his men traversed the 450 miles of open sea to get help from Hispaniola. The governor, for whatever reason, took his time and did not send rescuers until June 1504.
Meanwhile, Columbus had scared the Jamaican natives into providing food for his starving men. He had pretended he was a magician by predicting an eclipse of the Moon.
Once rescued, on November 7 he sailed for Spain and found Queen Isabella, his main supporter, on her death bed.
Columbus spent his final two years in illnes and oblivion. He still remained quite rich from the gold he had taken from Hispanolia.He died on May 20, 1506.
In death, as in life, Christopher Columbus's remain have made may trips to other places.
His remains were first interred at Valladolid, and later were taken the monastery of La Cartuja in Seville (southern Spain).
Later in 1542 Columbus's bones were taken, on the orders of his son Diego, who had been governor of Hispaniola, from the family mausoleum to their resting place beneath the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, in Hispanolia.
In 1795, when France took over the entire island of Hispaniola, Columbus's remains were moved to Havana, Cuba.
After Cuba became independent following the Spanish-American War in 1898, the remains were moved back to Spain, to the Cathedral of Seville, where they were placed on an elaborate catafalque.
However, a lead box bearing an inscription identifying "Don Christopher Columbus" and containing bone fragments and a bullet were later discovered at Santo Domingo in 1877.
To lay to rest claims that the wrong relics had been moved to Havana and that Columbus's remains had been left buried in the cathedral at Santo Domingo, DNA samples of the corpse resting in Seville were taken in June 2003 (History Today August 2003) as well as other DNA samples from the remaining of his sons Diego and Fernando Colón.
Initial observations suggested that the bones did NOTappear to belong to somebody with the physique or age at death associated with Columbus.
DNA extraction proved difficult because only short fragments of mitochondrial DNA could be isolated.
These fragments however, under more rigorous testing, matched corresponding DNA from Columbus's brother, giving support that both individuals had shared the same mother.
Such evidence, together with anthropologic and historic analyses led the researchers to conclude that the remains found in Seville belonged to Christopher Columbus.
The authorities in Santo Domingo, however, have never allowed the remains there to be exhumed, so it is unknown if any of those remains could be from Columbus's body as well.
Cadiz, Spain