Reel American History - Films

Whose Columbus? Whose America?

See the extensive bibliography (divided into print, video/audio, and online resources) below the essay. Bibliographical additions on Native Americans by Carina Meleca 2/10.

[1] Writing a historical account on Christopher Columbus is much like trying to read a book under a strobe light--the information is before you but none of it seems to cohere. Each new piece of information splinters from what you have just read and dangles over the scribbled page until another word jumps out and fractures the page into jagged bits of information. The task at hand is not so much a capturing of a definitive account of Columbus but a sifting through information and seeing what is left after the myths have dropped away.

[2] First of all, his name is not Christopher Columbus. It is uncertain what the-explorer-formally-known-as- Columbus went by. Various names he used were: Cristoforo Colombo, Christobal Colom, Cristobal Colon, Christoual, Christovam, amongst others. Most historians claim that he was born in 1451--though some historians argue that it was between 1450 and 1452. Columbus was supposedly born in Genoa. What confuses many historians, though, is how a man born in Italy shows no evidence of being able to write Italian (even when writing to people in Genoa). Competing places of birth are: Corsica, Aragon, Galacia, Portugal, France, Poland, Greece, and Chinos. Columbus's father, Domenico, was a weaver and tavern keeper. Columbus married Felipa Moniz Perestrello in Portugal (at an unknown date), had a son named Diego with her (birth date unknown), and she then died (date unknown). Later, in Cordova, Columbus had a mistress named Beatriz Enriquez de Arana and fathered a child named Fernando with her. Why Columbus did not marry Beatriz is conjecture--some historians suggest that if he married Beatriz, a lower-class orphan, his reputation would be in jeopardy and impede his quest to get royal sponsorship for his voyage. All of this we know about Columbus's personal background, which is a euphemistic way of saying that we don't know much.

[3] Before embarking upon Columbus's historical adventures, it is necessary to debunk some myths that have grown around him: 1) few, if any, people believed that the world was flat during Columbus's time. The main issue about Columbus's voyage was if the distance between Spain and Asia was crossable; 2) the Turks never closed trade routes to Asia. Matter of fact, they had no reason to close such routes since they made a handsome profit as a result of them. Columbus's voyages were not the result of a Turk blockade of land routes to Asia but of expediency and colonization--quicker routes that other competing European nations were unaware of; 3) Queen Isabella never pawned her jewels for Columbus's venture, nor do any texts show she had a romantic liaison with Columbus. There are other myths that will be debunked in this essay, but it is imperative that some of the more prominent ones get pushed aside in the beginning in order to clear the historical air.

[4] In his early twenties, Columbus went to Portugal, known for its maritime activity. It is a matter of debate among historians as to how much sea experience Columbus had before sailing to America. Some historians claim that Columbus sailed often up and down the west coast of Africa. Other historians, using Columbus's own Diario that he wrote during his first voyage (but was translated and reworked by Columbus's contemporary Bartolome de las Casas--we have lost Columbus's original), claim that his writing exhibits a lack of sea experience: he constantly claimed false alarms of land, and on September 22 Columbus sent a map to the captain of the Pinta, Martin Alonso Pinzon, to check coordinates. Although Columbus most likely had a good deal of sailing experience, he is far from the faultless navigator that many historians claim.

[5] While in Portugal, Columbus read many accounts of the Western world. Some of the works by explorers, scientists, and philosophers he read were: Cardinal Pierre d' Ailly's Imago Mundi, Pliny the Elder's Historia Naturalis, Aeneas Sylvius's Historia Rerum Ubique Gestarum, Marco Polo's account of his travels to China, Ptolomey's, Johann Muller's, and Marinus of Tyre's various works. Many works confirmed that there were lands west of Spain. Others showed that the earth's circumference was not as large as once believed and made sailing across the Atlantic a feasible operation. Sometime during all this reading, Columbus decided that he wanted to sail west. His motives for wanting to do so are complex and unclear. Historians debate Columbus's motives ranging from greed for gold to glory and fame to a divine mission to Christianize the "pagans" of Asia. Most likely his motives were a combination of all the aforementioned.

[6] Columbus approached Spain with his idea of sailing west in 1485 but was initially rejected--as he was similarly rejected in Portugal earlier. It is unclear what finally persuaded the queen and king of Spain to fund Columbus's ships. Many historians claim that Spain's success in expelling the Moors helped free up money that could be used for Columbus's adventure. There are also some relatively unknown historical figures who have seemed to help Columbus's project. A Franciscan friar named Antonio de Marchena supported Columbus's cause to dukes and counts who could offer Columbus money. Martin Alonso Pinzon, a native Spaniard and experienced navigator, helped Columbus buy ships for the journey and sailed with him. Finally, Luis de Santangel, a chief accountant, provided some necessary collateral for the voyage. When all is said and done, Columbus somehow received the money and Spanish backing needed for his voyage in 1492--seven years after his initial inquiry to Spain.

[7] Friday, August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail out of the Port of Palos. According to Columbus's Diario, the trip to the New World was largely uneventful. The Pinta had a faulty rudder and had to go into port at Grand Canary, but, after being fixed, all three ships sailed over calm waters. On October 10, Columbus mentions that the men on his ship complained of the long voyage, but Columbus easily subdued their fears by claiming that their troubles would be generously rewarded when they reached their destination.

[8] October 12, land was spotted by a lookout of the Pinta. As Columbus approached the island he named San Salvador, Tainos natives appeared on the shores. What to make of the first encounter of Columbus and the Taino has filled books upon books of debate (we do not want to go into it here). Some interactions and actions between both groups to keep in mind are: Columbus renamed all the land, seas, etc. he found in the name of Spain; Columbus exchanged Spanish trinkets with the Tainos in the hope of discovering where they hid their gold; Columbus claims that he would like to convert the Tainos to Christianity and Spanish customs through love rather than force, yet he also takes many Tainos prisoners to serve as interpreters; the Tainos, at first, think the Spaniards are gods and treat them with awe. For the most part, the first encounter with the natives is not filled with confrontation but manipulation of mixed intentions.

[9] An often unremarked event of the first voyage is how the Santa Maria crashed on some rocks while Columbus was asleep. The Tainos helped unload the ship in order to lighten it, but the ship remained grounded. Because the Santa Maria was badly damaged and its goods and men could not fit on the Nina (Capt. Pinzon mutinied Columbus and took the Pinta on November 21), Columbus founded the colony of La Navidad and left thirty-nine of his men there. On January 8, 1493, although Columbus could not leave that day due to a contrary wind blowing, he desired to leave the New World since he worried that Pinzon might reach Spain before him and spread slanders about the expedition.

[10] By all accounts, Columbus did not receive a grand homecoming. Columbus showed the queen and king some of the gold he found, some useless vegetation that he thought was valuable, and some Tainos that he enslaved. Convinced that the New World had economic potential, Columbus was authorized to make a second trip with seventeen ships and fifteen hundred crewmen. Columbus received the title of Admiral of the Ocean Sea and Viceroy of the Indies--one of his demands that he petitioned for before he embarked upon the first journey. He was at the height of his career. It is unclear if Columbus actually believed that he landed off the coast of India and that the lands held vast amounts of gold, but what is certain is that Columbus convinced almost everyone else that he discovered a new route to Asia that held a wealth of gold.

[11] Columbus returned to the New World in 1493. Almost immediately the signs were foreboding. On November 27, Columbus came upon La Navidad. The entire village was destroyed. It is largely believed that the inhabitants of the village were attacked for their past actions: mercilessly killing the natives and raping the women.

[12] Columbus began instituting slavery full-scale on the natives during his second encounter. He created the tribute system where the natives would bring a certain amount of gold to the Spaniards every three months. If the natives failed to bring the gold, they would have their hands cut off. After the tribute system failed, Columbus created the encomienda system that forced entire native villages to hard labor. In 1495, Columbus had the Spaniards place twelve hundred Arawaks in slavery. Five hundred of the slaves were shipped to Spain (around two hundred died in route). Columbus, it should be kept in mind, was not doing the bidding of Spain in regards to slavery, since Queen Isabella was adamantly opposed to it. Matter of fact, Isabella sent back the three hundred slaves that Columbus initially sent to Spain.

[13] Columbus was also having administrative problems with his own men. Some Spaniards rebelled at engaging their own hard labor for the construction of various colonies and at not having found a land filled with spices and gold. Although the rebellious Spaniards tried to seize some ships and sail back to Castile, Columbus managed to suppress the rebellion.

[14] Most historians agree that even if Columbus was a skilled navigator, his administrative skills were horrible. Near the end of his second visit to the New World, Columbus appointed his brother Giacomo as temporary Viceroy since Columbus was about to return to Spain. His other brother, Bartolome, was co-ruler of the islands with Columbus during Columbus's stay. Giacomo and Bartolome (and Columbus for that matter) had no backgrounds in government, and their installation in the New World provided a further impetus for the troubles that Columbus would experience in the New World during his third voyage.

[15] The third voyage began on May 31, 1498. It mainly differed from the second voyage only in degree rather than kind (though Columbus did encounter South America during this voyage). Conditions of the New World worsened. Internal rebellions were more frequent. A man named Francisco Roldan rebelled to such a degree that Columbus could not suppress him. Ironically, Columbus instead promoted Roldan to the position of alcalde mayor for life--a rather prominent position. As a result, more rebellions were underway. Adrian de Moxica followed Roldan's example. Although Columbus suppressed Moxica's rebellion (and killed Moxica), the hostilities persisted. Columbus, in his writings and treatment of the natives, held even more disgust for the Tainos--no longer considering them capable of conversion since he thought that they were on the level of animals.

[16] Columbus's health began to rapidly decline, which began to show in December of 1494 during his second journey. He could not eat or sleep well. No one is certain what ailment Columbus suffered. By his third journey, Columbus began to show signs of madness. In a letter to the sovereigns, Columbus explains how the earth is not round, as he formally believed, but pear-shaped with a woman's "teat" on top of it. Furthermore, he believes that an earthly paradise (as described in Holy Scripture) is to be found in the southern section of the New World. Although it is not entirely rare to hear people mention an earthly paradise in the fifteenth century, Columbus's claim of having located it in a land that was consistently consumed with rebellions, wars, and disease was, at best, wishful thinking and more than likely delusions of grandeur.

[17] Columbus had to be removed, along with his brothers. On August 23, 1500, Francisco de Bobadilla arrived in Santa Domingo and placed Columbus and his brothers under arrest. They were shipped back to Spain. Although Columbus was initially placed in chains, he was allowed the opportunity to remove them once he reached the ship destined for Spain. Columbus chose to wear them until he was absolved of the charges brought against him by the queen and king of Spain. When he reached Cadiz, Columbus was not placed in a prison but a monastery under guard. After five weeks, he received word from the king and queen that he was to be released.

[18] Columbus's (mental) health got worse. He wrote a manuscript called the Book of Prophecies in which he asserted that his mission in the New World was ordained by divine prophecy and that he needed to return there. In fact, Columbus likened himself to that of Jesus Christ. More out of necessity to get rid of Columbus than any need of him in the New World, the Spanish sovereigns obliged Columbus with a fourth voyage--with the stipulations that he not set foot on Espanola where he served as governor and that he have a notary on his trip who records all that Columbus finds.

[19] In March 1502, Columbus set sail on his final voyage. His brother Bartolome accompanied him as well as his thirteen-year-old son, Fernando. Nothing much came from the final voyage. He did come close to encountering the Pacific Ocean, but the voyage was mostly plagued by bad weather, battles, and mutinies. Columbus's illness got worse and caused him to rest in Santa Domingo for a month before returning to Spain in September 1504.

[20] Columbus, contrary to popular myth, at the end of his life, was wealthy. Although he was never regranted the privileges and titles that he was given after his first voyage, he had more than enough money to live comfortably. He successfully sued Bobadilla who stole much of his wealth when he arrested Columbus in Santa Domingo. In his final days, Columbus might have been humbled, but he was no pauper as his letters suggest. Additionally, his son Fernando wrote a hagiography of his father that would later bestow Columbus's heirs with some of the prior lost privileges.

[21] On May 20, 1506, Christopher Columbus/Cristoforo Colombo/Christobal Colom/Cristobal Colon/ Christoual/Christovam died at the age of fifty five/fifty four/fifty six. He "discovered"/encountered/conquered/ prophesized/exploited/enslaved a New World/native land/delusion that is still coming to terms with what happened on that day in October 12, 1492, when he tread upon a shore that he wanted to call his/Spain's/Christianity's own, but it/they/we would not let him. Somewhere between the words lies the history of America(s).

Print Resources

Axtell, James. "The Moral Dimensions of 1492." Historian 56.1 (1993): 17-28.: A comprehensive look at the accusations of genocide (see his "Moral Dimensions" chapter in Beyond 1492): how is it defined, what evidence is used, what evidence is not used, why is the word used, why we judge the past, what types of moral responsibility are involved.
Axtell, James. Beyond 1492: Encounters in Colonial North America. New York: Oxford UP, 1992.: A book of collected essays and speeches in regards to the conquest of Native Americans. Axtell offers a more nuanced history in which he attempts to correct past historical misrepresentations. He claims the Native Americans cannot be viewed as a homogeneous group of people. Axtell states, "the Columbian encounters were never between generic 'Indians' and 'Europeans' but always between segments or factions of native groups (which we call 'tribes' for convenience) and similar, equally interested subgroups of European nationalities" (100). He also focuses on the Native Americans' thoughts and motives in regard to the Spaniards, which are often effaced in history books. Rather than thinking that the Tainos were a naive bunch of people, Axtell shows that their trade with the Spaniards and joining with them was not necessarily because of any trust they placed in the Spaniards but because they needed methods to counter the Spaniards' invasion.
Bartosik-VÃ©lez, Elise. "The Three Rhetorical Strategies of Christopher Columbus." Colonial Latin American Review 11.1 (2002): 33-46.: Columbus used three successive rhetorical strategies of increasing intensity to shore up his influence at court. First, he portrayed himself as a colonizer adopting the nationalistic rhetoric associated with the reconquest of Spain and Jerusalem. Then, as his influence at court waned, he represented himself as God's messenger ((prophetic tradition), and then finally as "Xpoferens," one who prepares the whole world for the reign of God at the end of time (apocalyptic tradition).
Bercht, Fatima. TaÃno: Pre-Columbian Art and Culture from the Caribbean. New York: Monacelli Press, 1997.: This is the first comprehensive English-language publication on the legacy of TaÃno art and culture. The book showcases over one hundred examples of Tainoâ€™s ceremonial and domestic art. According to the bookâ€™s introduction, â€œTaÃno includes examples of finely detailed and polished sculptures carved in wood, precious ornaments of shell and bone, and ceramics decorated with animals, birds, and intricate geometric motifs. The contributors include ten of the foremost scholars of pre-Columbian culture and art, and an appendix features writings from Spanish explorers who had contact with the TaÃnoâ€ (iii). The thesis of this book focuses on the notion that, while the Taino people ceased to exist as an autonomous body sixty years after Spanish contacts, they left behind a legacy of agricultures, navigators, weavers, potters, politicians, and a number of biological, linguistic, and cultural traditions.
Bodmer, Beatriz Pastor. The Armature of Conquest. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1992.: Provides an insightful chapter titled "Christopher Columbus and the Definition of America as Booty" in which Bodmer examines how Columbus reinterpreted America and the Tainos to fit his discourse of discovery. By using past discourses found in other historical writers and philosophers, Columbus tailored a portrayal of America that justified further voyages to the New World despite the New World contradicting much of the information Columbus had previously read. Bodmer focuses on how Columbus redefined the natives as things and the places of the New World as raw materials in order to further Spanish conquest. As Bodmer states, "From the very beginning, rather than discovering, he confirms and identifies. The central meaning of the term 'to discover,' that is, to unveil or to make known, does not describe the actions and conceptualizations of Columbus, whose method of inquiry, informed by his need to identify the newly discovered lands with preexisting sources and models, was a mixture of invention, misrepresentation, and concealment" (10).
Bushman, Claudia L. America Discovers Columbus: How An Italian Explorer Became An American Hero. Hanover: UP of New England, 1992.: Chronicles the ways in which Columbus has been linked to being a religious figure, a Founding Father of America, a rationalist, a visionary, and colonizer who propagated genocide. Only recently, within the 1700s, has Columbus become a figure of historical importance in North America. With America's desire to break from England, Columbus was utilized to provide North America with a history free from England's past. In the late 1800s, Columbus's Italian (and Spanish) origins were emphasized by various ethnic groups immigrating to the United States. As other minority groups (e.g. native americans and blacks) gained more of a voice in American history, Columbus's role as colonizer has been focused upon to address the misdeeds that all the Americas were founded upon. Overall, Bushman claims, "What we think of Columbus reflects what we think of ourselves" (190).
"Christopher Columbus, Then and Now." New York Times 12 October 1992: 18.: Quincentennial editorial: By now, it's no secret that Columbus and those who came after him abused the natives, drove them from their land and introduced European diseases that decimated their population. While this point has been raised and repeated through the better part of five centuries, it has perhaps never been so widely recognized as now. The 100-year contrast in attitudes makes the point: In 1892, one orator declared that "unnumbered millions who enjoy in their liberties and their happiness the fruits of his [Columbus's] faith, will reverently guard and preserve, from century to century, his name and fame." Today, in New York City, Spain officially commemorates the 500th anniversary by observing a "Day of Respect for Native American Cultures." Yet it is as unfair to burden Columbus with all the depredations that followed his voyage as it is to credit him alone with the development of the Western Hemisphere. It is enough that a long and different time ago, he opened the way.
Churchill, Ward. Indians Are Us? Culture and Genocide in Native North America. Maine: Common Courage, 1994.: Claims the Columbus exploits in the New World are no different than Hitler's treatment of the Jews. The United Nations 1948 Convention on Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide defines Genocide as "a coordinated plan of different actions aimed at destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objective of such a plan would be disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and the lives of individuals belonging to such groups" (12-13). According to the above definition, Columbus's creation of slavery, the encomienda system, the renaming of the natives' lands, and spreading of new diseases all constitute his and Spain's genocide of the native americans. Furthermore, one can see Columbus's racist practices echoed in the present through the stereotypes of Native Americans in movies and professional sports -- particularly the Atlanta Braves tomahawk chop. See also Churchill's A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas 1492 to the Present (San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1997).
Columbus, Christopher. The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America, 1492-1493: Abstracted by Bartolome de las Casas. Trans. Oliver Dunn and James E. Kelley, Jr. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1989.: An absolutely fundamental source that allows one to understand what occurred on Columbus's first voyage. Although Columbus's own diary of the first voyage has been lost, las Casas was a friend of Columbus's-- yet also opposed Columbus's treatment of the Tainos -- and traveled with Columbus occasionally. As a result, we have a transcription of Columbus's diary that is as close as there can be to the original. Of interest are the historical moments that usually get "edited" from traditional history books: the crash of the Santa Maria and the Pinta's abandonment of Columbus in its own search for gold. The diary shows Columbus's interaction with the natives -- neither condemning nor condoning his actions. Instead, the diary provides a complex understanding of Columbus who seems equally motivated by greed as by god.
Columbus, Christopher. The Four Voyages. Ed. and trans. J. M. Cohen. New York: Penguin Books, 1969.: Another fundamental source that collects letters about and by Columbus during all four of his voyages. The work also includes Columbus's diary of the first voyage, which was abstracted by Bartolome de las Casas. By providing such a diverse amount of texts about Columbus's exploits, one gains a greater understanding of the complexity and ambiguity that his legend contains. One case in point is the comparison offered between Columbus's own log of the first journey and his later letter of the same journey to the queen and king of Spain about his journey. Columbus omits from his letter how captain Pinzon of the Pinta abandoned Columbus at the New World and how the town of La Navidad was founded because the Santa Maria crashed on some rocks and was sunk. It is also of interest how Columbus's own view of himself changes as the letters progress. By the time of the third and fourth voyages, Columbus emphasizes what he sees as his own Messianic role in the New World and the sense that Spain is making a martyr out of him by sending Francisco de Bobadilla to remove him from the New World.
Cowley, Geoffrey. "The Great Disease." Newsweek Fall/Winter 1991 (Special Issue): 54-56.: Cowley claims "The worst of the suffering [by native peoples] was caused not by swords or guns but by germs" (54). Millions of Native Americans were killed by the diseases of the Spaniards, who were immune from the diseases they carried. Because of Europe's overpopulation, the Spaniards were able to become immune to diseases such as measles and smallpox, since "the microbes that cause measles, smallpox and other 'crowd type' diseases require pools of several millions people to sustain themselves" (55). The African slave-trade was largely dependent upon many Africans' shared immunities to European diseases, which made Africans more productive laborers than the Native Americans who had no such resistance.
DeSirey, Jan, Chris Dodge, and John Yewell. Confronting Columbus. Jefferson: McFarland and Co., 1992.: John Yewell's introduction clearly states the book's objective: "The editors have not been interested in balance, but in pursuing truth.Â 'Balanced' history gives equal weight to murderer and victim. 'Balance' grants five minutes to Hitler and five minutes to the Jews. 'Balance' stigmatizes the pursuit of truth and perpetuates sanitized historical records" (xi).Â The book is concerned with focusing on the underrepresented aspects of the Columbus history: the Tainos, women, and blacks.Â Many of the authors tie Columbus's legacy to the existing inequalities of the present.Â As Howard Zinn states, "It seems to me that to hide the truth about Columbus is to hide the very sort of genetic truth about Western civilization and what it means and what it has meant for so many people" (8).Â In order for anyone to understand his/her present historical location, that person must understand where his/her history originated.Â Columbus's exploits are important in that they can bolster or challenge any future exploits that might help or hurt various underrepresented people.
Fuentes, Carlos. "More Than a Civilizing Epic . . . the New World after Columbus." The Guardian (London) 12 October 1992: 19.: On the quincentennial day: "Numbers can deceive, but evidence tells us that the people whom Columbus found in the Caribbean had totally disappeared 50 years later. Two historians of the colonial experience in Latin America, Barbara and Stanley Stein, estimate the population of central Mexico at 25 million when the conquest began in 1519. In 1605, the population was 2 million. In the central Andes, a population of 6 million in 1525 had sunk to 1.5 million in 1561. The reasons for this demographic catastrophe were complex, cumulative and brutal: European diseases, immunological breakdowns, forced labour but also culture shock and sheer anguish. But numbers are not the most important fact about the European conquest of America. The violent deaths with which the Europeans -- Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, Dutch -- implanted their power in the New World is but the statistical index of a far larger occurrence: the irreparable death of great civilisations that possessed education systems, a separate moral and artistic universe, and forms of human relationship in constantly evolving creativity. But did the conquest truly destroy the Indian cultures forever? In one sense, we must answer yes. We shall never know how the Indian civilisations would have evolved without foreign interference. An interrupted destiny is never a just destiny. But if the fate of pre-Columbian America was to lose its autonomous evolution, it is also true that the very brutality of the conquest manifested the Indian capacity to survive in spite of the most violent challenges. For the Indian culture of the Americas, if it did not prevail, did not perish, either. Rather, it became a part of what one might term the counter-conquest, that is, the Indian response, followed by the black response, to the purely European presence in the Americas . . . . The conquest of America continues to be the pause of our historical memory, the origin of our intense self-consciousness and painful brotherhood between the death of the Indian civilisations of the Americas and the birth of the Hispano-Indian civilisations of the New World. Eternal witnesses to our own creation, we the descendants of Indians and Spaniards in the Americas know that the conquest was a cruel, criminal, bloody event. It was a catastrophic event. But it was not a sterile event. From the catastrophe of the conquest, the Indoiberoamericans were born . . . . We must decide whether we are able to respect the values of Indian culture: the sense of the community and of the sacred, the care of nature, the concern for memory and death, the atavistic wisdom, the ritual intensity, the presence of mystery and the capacity of self-government, thus making them, as far as we can, our own; thus admitting the value of the other who lives in our midst . . . . Let us not see our past only as a protracted crime, or only as a civilising epic: only as feat or only as defeat. We are what we are because we made the culture that unites us . . . . Can we hope, as a new century and a new millennium begins, to animate the plurality of our cultures so that they reflect their values in our political and economic institutions, giving them vigour, substance and a greater sense of justice? Indeed we can . . . . The next 500 years begin today."
Gates, David. "Who Was Columbus?" Newsweek Fall/Winter 1991 (Special Issue): 29-31.: Gates makes the observation that "Christopher Columbus has mostly been who people wanted him to be. To Renaissance humanists, he was the open-minded explorer, the arch-empiricist; to North American revolutionaries, he was the Founding Fathers' father, standing toe to toe with Old World monarchs and making them see things his way" (29). As a result, Columbus has remained a shadowy figure with many different interpretations. Besides knowing some basic facts about Columbus's whereabouts and explorations, his motives and desires are extremely unclear -- bordering on extreme greed to extreme piety. The Columbus of our present times is a complex character. Only through our imaginations and a reassembling of historical facts can we gain any idea of who was Columbus -- though, this technique still might not create any completely clear picture.
Gelman, David. "Columbus and His Four Fateful Voyages." Newsweek Fall/Winter 1991 (Special Issue): 39-46.: The article quickly summarizes the four voyages Columbus made. According to Gelman, Columbus was a man of his times: equally influenced by greed as by religion. People had inevitably sailed to the New World before Columbus. Columbus, though, unlike the prior explorers, went to the New World with the intent to colonize. He dealt with the natives "with a kind of schizoid duplicity": giving them various items of his but also enslaving them to a harsh system. One of the reasons that Columbus is so well known is because his voyages were better documented than other people's. But it must be questioned why Columbus's first and most idyllic voyage (though, he still enslaved the Tainos during it) is more well known than his later voyages where colonization and slavery became worse.
Gonzalez, Ray, ed. Without Discovery: A Native Response to Columbus. Seattle: Broken Moon, 1992.: A text that "gathers Chicano, Puerto Rican, and Native American writers who have written about the impact of the five hundredth anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas" (ix). Many of the writers suggest that the Americas are still reaping both the positive and negative effects of Columbus: multiculturalism and colonization. Native American and Puerto Rican writers focus on the largely silenced history of the Natives' perspectives when Columbus arrived. The Chicano writers, such as Benjamin Alire Saenz, examine how contemporary Chicanos struggle to understand their place in history: being both an oppressor of others through the Spanish conquest and being the oppressed in the United States by Anglo-Americans. Additionally, all the writers emphasize the importance of language and the need to control it since language allows people to remember and stay connected to their past and, as a result, control their future.
Greenblatt, Stephen. Marvelous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1991.: Columbus's main way of taking possession of the New World was through his speech acts: renaming the lands, waters, and natives. By largely effacing the natives' autonomy in what he said and wrote, Columbus was able to dispossess the natives from their land and make conquest all the more viable. As Greenblatt states, "According to medieval concepts of natural law, uninhabited territories become the possession of the first to discover them. We might say that Columbus's formalism [in his speech acts] tries to make the new lands uninhabited . . . by emptying out the category of the other" (60). Columbus's renaming of the lands was parallel with the Christian notion of christening: a cleansing and making new of the non-Christian into the discourse of Christianity and Western ideologies. Greenblatt continues, "Such a christening entails the cancellation of the native name -- the erasure of the alien, perhaps demonic, identity -- and hence a kind of making new; it is at once an exorcism, an appropriation, and a gift" (83).
Hall, Mimi. "On Columbus Day, mixed emotions." USA Today 12 October 1992: 11A.: "The 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas has focused attention on the evils that came with him. For many people, the federal holiday represents nothing more than a day off of work and a chance to take advantage of department store sales. But for a growing number of historians and Native Americans, the anniversary has become a way to take off the gloves -- and put a new interpretation on the explorers who sailed the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. To them, Columbus was the great exploiter, a greedy colonialist who brought disease and slavery to the New World. To others, he was a brave adventurer who brought culture, medicine, and education to a raw land."
Keegan, William F. TaÃno Indian Myth and Practice: The Arrival of the Stranger King. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 2007.: William Keegan, an expert in both archaeological theory and Taino culture, explores the reasons Europeans and Amerindians interacted the way they did. Keeganâ€™s argument revolves around the theory that the communal Taino beliefs and behaviors dictated the structure of the peopleâ€™s interactions with Europeans. For example, Keegan argues that the myth (or the exaggerated reality) of the â€œStanger Kingâ€ (an immigrant king who deposes the former ruler and marries his daughter) is reflective of Taino social organization. The thesis of the narrative can be condensed into three propositions: â€œfor the native peoples of Hispaniola (â€˜Tainosâ€™), the cacique known as CaonabÃ³ was imbued with mythical characteristics; for the Spanish, this same individual was a real person, a â€˜Lucayanâ€™ who came from the Bahama archipelago; and for the archaeologist, this individual can be shown to have come from a particular archaeological site in the Bahama archipelagoâ€ (xiv).
Kubal, Timothy. Cultural Movements and Collective Memory: Christopher Columbus and the Rewriting of the National Origin Myth. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008.: A thorough study of all the various movements that have used the Columbus Day commemoration for political purposes, showing that the powerless have power.
Las Casas, Bartolome. The Tears of the Indians: Being an Historical and True Account of the Cruel Massacres and Slaughters of above Twenty Millions of Innocent People. London, 1656. http://books.google.com/books?id=Ql17AAAAMAAJ&dq=tears%20of%20the%20indians&as_brr=1&pg=PP7#v=onepage&q=&f=false: The first English translation of Las Casas's brutal 1552 depiction of the destruction of the Indies that occurred in the wake of discovery.
Limbaugh, Rush. "Multiculturalism." The Way Things Ought to Be. New York: Pocket Books, 1992. 204-13.: The controversy over the Columbus quincentennial gets emphasis in this attack on multiculturalism: to multiculturalists bashing Columbus is "the single best way to get at easily influenced young minds and tear the country down. If the man who discovered America is flawed, if he's a bad guy, then everything that followed from that discovery has to be immoral. . . . No one can convince me that the point of all this is not to discredit all that America stands for -- and the ultimate goal, I firmly believe, is the destruction of the capitalist way of life, the destruction of free enterprise, and the establishment of socialism, because socialism to these people equals fairness."
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me. New York: New Press, 1995.: Of particular interest is a chapter titled "1493: The True Importance of Christopher Columbus." Loewen shows how most school history books he surveyed do not represent Columbus in an "objective" manner. Most often excluded from the books are Columbus's role in slavery and the fact that Europeans were not the first people to the Americas. By employing "a rhetoric of certainty," school history books do not allow the students to realize how tentative historians' knowledge of Columbus remains. Loewen claims that most school history books are guilty of Eurocentrism; their focus on Columbus as the sole and great discoverer is really the books' championing of white, European culture as the only one deserving of primary focus.
Morganthau, Tom. "Slavery: How It Built the New World." Newsweek Fall/Winter 1991 (Special Issue):66-69.: Morganthau asserts that slavery "began earlier, lasted longer and played a larger role in shaping modern societies than most Americans realize" (67). During the time of slavery at least ten million Africans were shipped to America. Because of the New World's labor shortage, slavery was needed. Matter of fact, without the free labor of slavery the New World would not have been built, since its profits had been so negligible. One of the amazing traits of America was that slave revolts were so seldom and unsuccessful. The slavery of Columbus's first voyage can be traced to the inhumane conditions that followed the period of Reconstruction, where black people in the South were held to subhuman wages and living conditions that was known as debt peonage.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. Journals and Other Documents on the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. New York: The Heritage Press, 1963.: An excellent source that chronicles Columbus's letters and diaries along with other people's letters who sailed with him. This book contains much of the primary material that historians use to construct who Columbus was and what purpose his voyages served. The material makes it apparently clear that there are many gaps in information to have an absolutely clear idea of Columbus's history. Of interest is the way Columbus's diary of the first voyage differs from the letters he sent to the queen and king of Spain about the same voyage. One gains a better understanding of Columbus's motives and manipulations in comparing how he wrote in different tones and excluded and included various material depending upon whom he was writing to. Also, the primary material contains much information that has been sanitized from many history books that do not want to tarnish Columbus's image. Slavery, Columbus's mad ramblings, and his greed are all observable within the following primary sources.
Oliver, JosÃ© R. Caciques and CemÃ Idols: The Web Spun by TaÃno Rulers between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2009.: Oliverâ€™s book takes a specific look at the underlying social significance of the Taino (and other natives of the Greater Antilles) religious artifacts, cemÃs. These artifacts are spatially distributed andâ€"as Oliver arguesâ€"in order to understand the geological distribution, you must research the â€œTaino web of human and cemÃ idol relationshipsâ€ (3). Oliver focuses on four specific types of cemÃ artifacts that were thought to be supernatural and imbued with power: â€œthe large, highly-decorated three-pointed stone sculptures, the large stone heads, stone collars, and elbow stonesâ€ (3).
Pagden, Anthony. European Encounters with the New World. London: Yale UP, 1993.: The discovery of the New World had thrown many of the paradigms of the Ancients into question by placing experience over reason. Yet Columbus's questionable character was clearly at odds with the role of epoch maker and needed a historical make-over. Many writers of the 1800s saw Columbus as the epitome of the Enlightenment rationalist. He started with a hypothesis -- just as Copernicus did -- but also verified it empirically -- like Galileo with his telescope. His method of discovering the New World, according to some writers, was no different than the discovery of the stars and their characteristics. Other writers, like Alexander von Humboldt, viewed Columbus as a transhistorical genius by having a poetic vision of the New World. Inevitably, Columbus's trip to the New World had tremendous effects upon Europe; what those effects were, however, are largely defined by the times and writer who is studying Columbus.
PanÃ©, RamÃ³n. An Account of the Antiquities of the Indians: Chronicles of the New World Encounter. Durham: Duke UP, 1999.: Completed in about 1498, this text is cited as the only primary source documenting specific information about the myths and practices of early American inhabitants in the Antilles. Important observations discussed include â€œnames, functions, and attributes of the Taino gods, ceremonies of the Taino priests, myths about the origins of animals and natural occurrences such as the sun, moon, and sea, and finally the translations of some Taino wordsâ€ (xviii). For example, this historical document includes information about gender dynamics within a chapter entitled â€œHow the men were separated from the women,â€ and further complex information about Taino motives and integrity in a chapter entitled â€œHow they find out what they want from the one whom they have burned, and how they take revenge.â€ All of these observations were recounted by a â€œhumble Friar of the order of Saint Jeromeâ€ who lived among the indigenous people under instruction of Christopher Columbus.
Rouse, Irving. The Tainos: Rise & Decline of the People who Greeted Columbus. New Haven: Yale UP, 1992.: Rouse seeks to divert attention from the celebration of Christopher Columbusâ€™s achievements and instead shed light on the ethnic group he encountered during his explorations of the West Indies, the Tainos. Rouseâ€™s narrative begins with a slate of questions: â€œWho were the Tainos? Whence came their ancestors? How did they evolve and become dominant in the West Indies? Why did they decline and disappear under European rule? What innovations did they contribute to the rest of the world?â€ (xi). They remainder of the text attempts to answer the foundations of these prompts. The bookâ€™s chapters are organized in a specific sequence: first, Rouse addresses a problem to be outlined in the chapter, following an inference of solutions to said problem, and further followed by results and research that support such implications. For example, in chapter five, Rouse contemplates two conflicting hypotheses about the origins of the Taino people, spends the remainder of the chapter examining archaeological, biological, and cultural evidence, and concludes a â€œcorrectâ€ hypothesis at the chapterâ€™s end.
Royal, Robert. 1492 And All That: Political Manipulations of History. Baltimore: Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1992.: Royal argues that contemporary liberal historians' portrayals of the Native Americans as a benign and ideal people and Columbus and Spain as a colonizing scourge of the earth are gross over-simplifications of the past events. Columbus, though guilty of many atrocities against the Native Americans, did have some humane relations with them. Royal claims one such moment was when the Santa Maria crashed upon some rocks. The Tainos helped unload the ship's materials with the Spaniards. Because of the Tainos' assistance, Royal believes that this exemplifies the natives' trust toward Columbus. Similarly, Royal cites Columbus scolding his men for trading unjust amounts of materials with the Native Americans. Columbus's scolding exemplifies his sense of justice to the Tainos. Royal believes that liberals' idealizations of the natives' culture has less to do with actual history and more to do with contemporary culture's desire to escape from post-industrial capitalism's inhumane conditions. Although such "flights" of imagination are understandable, they make for bad history.
Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy. New York: Knopf, 1990.: The text is largely concerned with deflating the mythology that surrounds Columbus. According to Sale, it is questionable if Columbus was ever an experienced sailor prior to his New World voyages. It is also questionable who Columbus actually was. Columbus, using a series of different names and accounts of his life, seemed to want to keep his past unclear and in the past. As a result, much of our knowledge of Columbus is suspect, but by observing the actual historical documents that do relate to Columbus, one will find a person quite unlike the one championed during Columbus Day and in schools throughout the country. Sale claims that Columbus was motivated equally by greed, glory, and god. Furthermore, Sale believes that the gradual destruction of America's environment and the slave trade can all be traced back to the events that Columbus initiated upon his fateful first landing.
Stannard, David E. American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World. New York: Oxford UP, 1992.: Literally for openers, Stannard's prologue compares the Trinity A-bomb test with the landing at San Salvador: "Those moments of achievement crowned years of intense personal struggle and adventure for their protagonists and were culminating points of ingenious technological achievement for their countries. But both instances were preludes to orgies of human destructiveness that, each in its own way, attained a scale of devastation not previously witnessed in the entire history of the world." "The destruction of the Indians of the Americas was, far and away, the most massive act of genocide in the history of the world."
Stavans, Ilan. Imagining Columbus: The Literary Voyage. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1993.: The book divides into two sections: historical sketches and literary sketches of Columbus. As the book progresses, though, it becomes more clear how the literary and historical material merge. The book shows how historians' and writers' perceptions of Columbus have less to do with Columbus himself and more to do with the society that wants to use Columbus as symbol. Columbus has represented all ranges of the political spectrum: devoutly religious to Renaissance man to Enlightenment philosopher. The popular conception of Columbus most people are familiar with is provided by both Washington Irving's three-book work on Columbus and Harvard professor Samuel Eliot Morison's historical work. Although Morison's work does not idealize Columbus to the extent that Irving's work does, he mainly designates Columbus as a brave adventurer and worthy of our admiration. Stavans' book is particularly useful in tracing the genealogy of perceptions of Columbus for the first four hundred years after his first voyage.
Stevens Arroyo, Antonio M. Cave of the Jagua: The Mythological World of the TaÃnos. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 1988.: Antonio Stevens-Arroyo expands on the mythology and religious system of the pre-Columbian inhabitants in the Caribbean. In the introduction, Stevens-Arroyo prides himself on his â€œnew breedâ€ of research; the book was meant to be published as a mixture of the anthropological, archaeology, and historical fields. There are a few areas in which this text distinguishes itself from other Taino research: â€œBesides providing grounds for comparing Taino religion to other pre-Columbian belief systems, this is the first extensive analysis of any native Latin American mythology using Jungian archetypesâ€ (ix).
Symcox, Geoffrey, and Blair Sullivan. Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's 2005.: "In 1492, previously separate worlds collided and began to merge, often painfully, into the world-system in which we live today. Columbusâ€™s four Atlantic voyages (1492â€"1504) helped link Africa, Europe, and the Americas in a conflicted economic and cultural symbiosis. These carefully selected documents describe the voyages and their immediate impact on Europe and the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. Geoffrey Symcox and Blair Sullivanâ€™s engaging introduction presents Columbus as neither hero nor villain, but as a significant historical actor who improvised responses to a changed world."
Zinn, Howard. "Columbus and Western Civilization." Howard Zinn on History. New York: Seven Stories P., 2001. 97-120.: A speech given in the 1992 quincentennial year. "To me, the Columbus story is important for what it tells us about ourselves, about our time, about the decisions we have to make for our century, for the next century." To celebrate Columbus is to celebrate wealth, imperialism, "progress." But progress at what human cost? "If it be the part of civilization to maim, rob, and thwart, then what is progress?"

Video/Audio Resources

Christopher Columbus (Mel-O-Tunes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuvRFZ4Mxbo&feature=related: A 1960 "Young People's Records" cartoon gives an indication how the Columbus story is packaged for children.
Columbus clip from The Canary Effect http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wm0EvTk8o4: Part of a documentary featuring Prof Troy Johnson and controversial Native American activist Ward Churchill (making his connection of Columbus to Himmler and initiating genocide).
Columbus Day Sanitized http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRED_7pAAaI: Columbus Day segment on the Today show with Katie Couric (date uncertain) catches conversation off-mike dissing a Native American scholar who had been interviewed and spoke of the devastation Columbus initiated.
Columbus Didn't Discover Us. Video. Massachusetts: Turning Tide Productions, 1992.: Chronicles the gathering of three hundred native peoples during the First Continental Congress Of Indigenous Peoples at Ecuador 1990. All the speakers discuss the impact the Columbus legacy had on their lives and ways in which they can create better futures for themselves and humanity as a whole. The indigenous people refuse to celebrate the Quincentennial of Columbus's landing in the New World since they feel that such celebrations legitimize the colonial past in the present. It is a common concern among indigenous people that they become decolonialized not only physically but psychologically as well.
Columbus On Trial. Video. New York: Women Make Movies, 1993.: WorldCat states this movie is "a satire on the controversy surrounding Christopher Columbus as to whether he, indeed, did discover America and introduce European civilization and Christianity to the native populations there, or if he (from the Native American point of view) invaded their territories and began the systematic destruction of their cultures that has continued for the following 500 years.Â Set in the context of a trial presided over by a woman judge of Hispano-American descent.Â Performed by the comedy troupe, Culture Clash."
Columbus's World. Video. Princeton: Films for the Humanities and Sciences, Inc., 1991.: Offers a historical account of Europe in the 15th century and the need for Asian ports to expand their economic influence. Columbus's early life is recounted, and the voyage of 1492 is retraced.
Columbus: Continuation of a Genocidal Legacy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXomn9lUlLU&feature=related: An "in-your-face" depiction of Columbus as a "genocidal monster" who initiated the destruction of 95% of the particular native population.
1492 Revisited. San Diego: KPBS-TV, 1992.: Participants (many Spanish or Native American) in an art exhibit titled "Counter Colon-ialismo" talk about their work and the construction of history. For example, imperial power is used to link "discovery" with the atomic bomb, and a gun in a chapel aimed at the Bible represents the history of forced christianity. The language of counter-discourse predominates: for instance, Columbus inaugurates a "culture of death," and the "colonization of the minds is still going on."
Happy Columbus Day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbx3vYd5ddc&feature=related: Seeks to dispel positive myths about Columbus, "the murdering rapist."
The Tainos by Iroqua http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7deJXU4ZRG0&feature=related: First clip in a series available on youtube that focuses on the tribe "discovered" by Columbus, drawing liberally on his own words from the Journal.
This Just In . . . Columbus Has Landed. Video. Nebraska: Creighton University, 1991.: Described by WorldCat as "done in the style of a network news show being broadcast upon the death of Columbus.Â Looks at the accomplishments and failures of Christopher Columbus.Â Examines the controversy surrounding his voyages and landings in North America."

Online Resources

The Arguments of Sepulveda http://www.pbs.org/opb/conquistadors/namerica/adventure2/b5.htm: A summary of the arguments by Juan Ines de Sepulveda justifying war against the Native Americans. Gives you a clear idea of how inferior the Native Americans were considered.
The Bull Inter Caetera (Alexander VI), May 4, 1493. http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/indig-inter-caetera.html: Subsequent to "discovery," in this document the Pope awarded all lands west of a line in the Atlantic to Spain. This is the act that conferred "ownership" of Native American lands to "us."
Christopher Columbus and Early European Exploration http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/grd/resguides/columbus.html: An excellent list of primary and secondary sources not only on Columbus but other accounts of Spanish colonization.Â The site provides a wealth of texts that can keep one reading for years.
Christopher Columbus: Extracts from Journal (Medieval Sourcebook) http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/Columbus1.html: Reprints only the sections of Columbus's daily journal on the first voyage from departure on August 3 to October 21, 1492. Compare the "real" with the "reel" on this portion of the journey -- especially, perhaps, the Oct 12 (here under Oct. 11) first contact event. See the link to the full journal edited by Markham also in this bibliography.
Colorado, Pam. "What Every Indian Knows." Ward Churchill, A Little Matter of Genocide. San Francisco: City Lights, 1997: forward. http://books.google.com/books?id=QXRyTRavzK4C&lpg=PR11&ots=s-6AyvIu46&dq=%22pam%20colorado%22&pg=PR11#v=onepage&q=%22pam%20colorado%22&f=false: Bitter poem from a contemporary Native American for perspective on the "discovery" and its aftermath: "Auschwitz ovens / burn bright / in America"
Columbus Day Parade Protest 2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_tW--WdgyU&playnext_from=TL&videos=Cpk7I3VHJKY&feature=grec: A taste of trouble in Denver, known for negative Columbus Day activity.
The Columbus Landfall Homepage http://www.columbusnavigation.com/cclandfl.shtml: Just exactly where Columbus first landed is a matter of dispute.Â This page includes over eleven theories ranging from "a few problems" to "theories way out on a limb."Â All the theories are endorsed by well known scholars and allow one insight into the range of debate on one supposedly simple issue.Â Although it might seem frivolous in disputing where Columbus originally landed, it is not so frivolous for the people who first had to encounter him.
The Columbus Letter http://usm.maine.edu/maps/web-document/1/home: Early edition of the "letter" announcing and publicizing his work that Columbus delivered in Spain immediately after returning from his voyage of discovery -- the first voyage. Contains important illustrations as well, illustrations that show starkly the racist conceptions of Native Americans and plans for conquest.
The Columbus Navigation Homepage http://www.columbusnavigation.com/: An interesting page that is mainly devoted to the "history, navigation, and landfall of Christopher Columbus." Hypothetical routes for all four voyages are examined as well as what Columbus's crew did and how he navigated to the New World. The site also provides links to other web sites.
Discoverers Web http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/: A site of more explorers than one can recognize. Of particular interest are the number of articles provided by various students and scholars. There are also other articles dealing with the historical context in which Columbus initiated his journeys. Other articles concern the explorations of non-European explorers and explorers who sailed to the Americas prior to Columbus.
Durham, Jimmy. "Columbus Day." http://www.indians.org/welker/columbu1.htm: "Savage" contemporary Native American reflection on our national holiday: "Greenrock Woman was the name / Of that old lady who walked right up / And spat in Columbus' face. / We must remember that, and remember/ Laughing Otter the Taino who tried to stop/ Columbus and who was taken away as a slave./ We never saw him again."
Extracts from Columbus' Journal on the First Voyage http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/columbus1.html: Exactly what the title says: this site provides extracts from Columbus's journal on the first voyage. The best trait of this site is its accessibility. Rather than having to go to the library and shuffle through all of the journal's pages, this site offers an abridged version of the journal that allows someone just beginning to learn about Columbus to get a sense of what the first journey was like.
A Faithful Response to the 500th Anniversary of the Arrival of Christopher Columbus http://www.indians.org/welker/faithful.htm: A major North American religious organization marks Columbus's arrival in the "New World": "The Governing Board of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA: a) Declares 1992 to be a year of reflection and repentance, and calls upon its member communions to enter into theological and missional reflection, study and prayer as a faithful observance of that year."
1492: An Ongoing Voyage http://metalab.unc.edu/expo/1492.exhibit/Intro.html: A page of the Columbus exhibit at the Library of Congress, Washington DC. It is a good starting point to get familiar with the history of Columbus and some of the controversies involved with Columbus's history. The exhibit is divided into six sections: 1) What Came To Be Called "America," 2) The Mediterranean World, 3) Christopher Columbus: Man and Myth, 4) Inventing America, 5) Europe Claims America, and 6) Epilogue.
GonzÃ¡lez Camarena, Jorge. La fusiÃ³n de las culturas. http://ic2.pbase.com/o6/78/599778/1/51810292.izuoQF8r.51810292.IMG_8710.jpg: Powerful painting of cultural clash by prominent 20th century Mexican artist symbolizing what, in the minds of some, Columbus wrought. Some of GonzÃ¡lez Camarena's works, like this one, depict soldiers in violent combat -- a metaphor for Mexico's historic clash of cultures.
Jatibonicu Taino Tribal Nation http://www.taino-tribe.org/: The Indian cultures that Columbus are still alive: "We of the tribe of Jatibonicu and its Tribal Council of Elders and tribal members, extend to you a very warm Taino greeting. We who are the original people of the Island of BorikÃ©n (Puerto Rico), do hereby officially welcome you to our Boriken island homeland and our Taino tribal nation home page."
John Sayles reads Bartolome de Las Casas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qOnq4qQKAw: Filmmaker Sayles reads a short portion of Bartolome de Las Casas's shocking account of the "brief destruction of the Indies" that gives an eye-witness view of what followed "discovery."
The Journal of Christopher Columbus. Ed. Clements Markham. London: Hakluyt Society, 1893. http://books.google.com/books?id=-DMSAAAAYAAJ&dq=r.h.%20major%20columbus&as_brr=1&pg=PA15#v=onepage&q=r.h.%20major%20columbus&f=true: Columbus's daily journal on the first voyage, the voyage of "discovery." Read the full "real" story. One should not fail to read this entire document while considering the film.
Requerimiento (1510) http://users.dickinson.edu/%7Eborges/Resources-Requerimiento.htm: A document formulated by the Spanish that gave Indians the option to declare allegiance to the Crown immediately or die. Pretty vicious: a combination of Miranda Rights and the Terminator: "But, if you do not do this [surrender, convert, pledge allegiance], and maliciously make delay in it, I certify to you that, with the help of God, we shall powerfully enter into your country, and shall make war against you in all ways and manners that we can, and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and of their Highnesses; we shall take you and your wives and your children, and shall make slaves of them, and as such shall sell and dispose of them as their Highnesses may command; and we shall take away your goods, and shall do you all the mischief and damage that we can, as to vassals who do not obey, and refuse to receive their lord, and resist and contradict him; and we protest that the deaths and losses which shall accrue from this are your fault, and not that of their Highnesses, or ours, nor of these cavaliers who come with us."
Theodore de Bry images of Las Casas. http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/justification/newspain/image/1/: De Bry's horrorifc images that "popularized" the Spanish blood-lust following discovery that Bartolome de Las Casas recounted in his Brief Destruction of the Indies. These images were quite instrumental in spreading the so-called "Black Legend" of Spanish rule in America.

Print Resources

See Also

Video/Audio Resources

Online Resources