Christopher Columbus

IX

The Fourth Voyage (1502-1504)

The king and queen made it clear that the purpose of Columbus’s fourth voyage was to search for gold, silver, precious stones, spices, and other riches. But above all, for fear of aggravating the situation in the colony, they forbade Columbus to return to Hispaniola unless absolutely necessary on his return to Spain.

Columbus’s fleet of four ships and 150 men set sail from Cádiz on May 9, 1502. On this fourth and final voyage, Columbus was accompanied by his son Fernando, age 14, and his brother Bartholomew. Columbus, now 50 years old, could not captain his fleet because of ill health and poor eyesight, but seamen loyal to him were honored to serve the admiral once again.

After stopping to take on wood and water on Grand Canary, in the Canary Islands, the expedition began its crossing on May 25. They stopped first at the Caribbean island of Martinique, where they provisioned the ship again. Then, despite having been expressly forbidden to do so by the king and queen, Columbus headed directly for Hispaniola, where he dropped anchor at Santo Domingo on June 29.

Columbus felt this action was necessary for two reasons. First, one of his ships was in disrepair and he wished to purchase another. Second, and more pressing, was an oncoming hurricane. In a message to Governor Ovando seeking permission to enter the port, Columbus advised him not to allow any ships to depart for Spain. Ovando refused to allow Columbus and his fleet to enter the port and did not take the admiral’s advice. Columbus took refuge in a small harbor nearby and was saved, but the large fleet that Ovando ordered to sea was almost entirely destroyed. Columbus must have felt that divine justice had been done. Not only did the two men he hated most, Bobadilla and Roldán, die at sea, but the ship carrying Columbus’s share of the wealth from the colony made it the entire way to Spain.

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After the hurricane, Columbus sailed southwest, past Cuba, and into open seas until he reached Central America. Tortuous sailing conditions and violent storms along the coast took their toll on both the ships and on Columbus. The admiral, sick with rheumatism, fever, and bad eyesight, was bedridden much of the time. Unsuccessful in finding a passage to the Asian mainland, Columbus was forced to leave the area he called Veragua (Panama). Skirmishes with the locals, intense storms, and damaged ships meant that he had to head back to Hispaniola. It was December 1502.

One ship was lost on the coast of Panama and another at sea to sea worms (small mollusks). Consequently, 130 men were forced to crowd onto the remaining, barely sea-worthy, worm-riddled ships. Once at sea, realizing that Hispaniola was too far to reach in such condition, Columbus turned north to Jamaica, which he had encountered on his second voyage. The ships were in such bad condition that they were beached, worthy only of being used as protection from the islanders. Columbus remained marooned there with his men for over a year. Half of the men mutinied when Columbus tried to instill order and discipline. A second problem surfaced that was potentially more disastrous: Tired of dealing with the Spaniards, the islanders stopped supplying them with food. In response, Columbus came up with an ingenious trick. Having an almanac with him, he threatened to punish the islanders by taking light away from the Moon. On the night of February 29, 1504, when the Moon began to disappear because of a lunar eclipse, the islanders became alarmed and agreed to reestablish trade with the Spaniards. The Europeans, however, were still stranded on the island.

One loyal and brave sailor, Diego Méndez de Salcedo, who had protected the life of Columbus on other occasions, agreed to try to cross the open channel by canoe to reach Hispaniola, a nearly impossible feat. The island was over 160 km (100 mi) away, and Santo Domingo, home of Governor Ovando, was almost 480 km (300 mi). In five days Méndez and one other sailor made it to Hispaniola in two canoes paddled by islanders. After finding Ovando on a mission inland, the men were kept waiting seven months before a ship was sent to check on their story. The rescue ship did not arrive until the end of July, and the shipwrecked sailors did not arrive in Santo Domingo until August 13. Not feeling welcome in the city, on September 12, 1504, Columbus took his last voyage across the ocean, this time as a passenger. On November 7 he, his son, and his brother arrived in Spain.

X

Last Days

By the time the admiral returned to Spain, Queen Isabella was gravely ill, and she died on November 26, 1504, shortly after his arrival. Weakened by rheumatism, exposure, and years of bad food, Columbus was very ill as well, and he spent many months in Sevilla recuperating at the monastery of Las Cuevas. Over the next year and a half until his death, Columbus tried to regain his lost titles of governor and viceroy. He wrote letters, petitioned the crown, and persuaded others to intercede on his behalf. When he was well enough, he followed the court of King Ferdinand to several cities in Spain, hoping to see the king. In May 1505 King Ferdinand finally granted Columbus an audience in which the explorer was allowed to present his claims to his titles and the riches of the Indies. His titles were not returned, but the king did allow for arbitration regarding his financial claims. In the end, Columbus’s share was confirmed at 2 percent of the riches of the Indies, a considerable amount. Combined with the fact that Columbus already had a coat of arms and noble status, this afforded the Columbus family a lifestyle equal to that of the richest nobility in Spain.

In late 1505 Columbus became too ill to travel any more. He remained in the city of Valladolid until his death. On May 20, 1506, both of his sons, his brother Bartholomew, and his faithful friend Diego Méndez were at his side when the admiral murmured “Into thy hands, O Lord, I commit my spirit” and passed away. His body was buried initially in Valladolid, but in 1509 his son Diego transferred the remains to the monastery of Las Cuevas in Sevilla. The current location of Columbus’s remains is still debated. They were moved to the Americas in the middle of the 16th century, first to Santo Domingo and then, in 1795, to Havana, Cuba. Then his remains supposedly traveled back to Spain in 1899 where, it is claimed, they are interred in the Cathedral of Sevilla.

Long after the death of Columbus, his family struggled to have his titles reinstated and his honor restored. This struggle resulted in a small victory in 1509 when Diego became governor of Hispaniola. What seems to be the greatest injustice of all, however, is that the new lands that Columbus encountered were never given his name. That honor fell to a fellow Italian, Amerigo Vespucci, from the city of Florence, who explored the southern and eastern coasts of South America around 1500.

XI

Legacy

To exaggerate the historical significance of Christopher Columbus is difficult. Extraordinary changes resulted from his voyages. Although he failed to find a new route to Asia, Columbus made the lands and peoples of the Western Hemisphere known to Europeans, setting in motion a chain of events that altered human history on a global scale. The interactions Columbus initiated between the peoples of Europe and the Americas led to what scholars refer to as the Columbian Exchange, the two-way transfers of diseases, plants, animals, and cultures that followed Columbus’s voyages.

European diseases such as diphtheria, measles, smallpox, and malaria devastated the indigenous American population, which previously had not been exposed to them and so had no immunity to them. At the same time, however, the Americas received European crops, such as wheat, rice, coffee, bananas, and olives; and animals, including horses, cows, pigs, and chickens. The Americas, in turn, contributed a virulent form of syphilis to Europe as well as important crops, such as corn, potatoes, tomatoes, lima beans, squash, peanuts, cassava, cacao, and pineapple.

Besides facilitating the exchange of disease, Columbus’s explorations had another dark side. The societies of the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas seemed primitive to the Europeans, and the Europeans formed an image of them as “barbarians” that, unfortunately, persisted. The Europeans simply could not see, or did not wish to see, the complexities and cultural importance of the indigenous societies. European settlers in the Americas cared little or not at all for indigenous culture and saw the local population as nothing more than a slave labor force. As a result, indigenous cultures—as well as indigenous peoples—began to disappear as the European invaders advanced. Disease, forced labor, invasion, and conquest inflicted by the Europeans caused the deaths of millions of American indigenous peoples, in what can only be described as one of the greatest tragedies of all time.