Columbus's first excited letter home goes on sale

UK Telegraph ^ | 6/1/06 | Nigel Reynolds

[wagglebee]

One of the world's earliest printed documents, Christopher Columbus's account of his first voyage to discover the New World, will come up for sale in London this month with a price tag of £500,000.

The Columbus Letter, or Epistola Christofori Colom, is the explorer's remarkably humane description of his first encounters with the natives of Hispaniola and other Caribbean islands early in 1493.

	For sale: The Columbus Letter

He wrote it on his return voyage to Spain for his sponsors, Ferdinand and Isabella of Aragon and Castile, and it was rushed into print so that the news could be disseminated around Europe, notably to demonstrate Spain's expansionist superiority over Portugal.

The document for sale, which runs to eight pages, is the first version printed in Latin on the orders of Pope Alexander VI. It was printed in Rome on April 29, 1493, six weeks after Columbus had landed to a hero's welcome in Palos, Spain.

Peter Harrington Antiquarian Books, which will offer the letter at the Antiquarian Book Fair in London starting next Thursday, said yesterday that it was perhaps the first known example of "a papal press release".

Adam Douglas, of Peter Harringtons, said that soon after, Alexander VI, a Spaniard who supported the sovereigns of Castile and Aragon, issued two papal bulls specifying Spanish rights, based on Columbus's discoveries, to all lands west of a line 100 leagues west of the Azores.

Probably no more than 500 copies of the letter were printed in Rome and only a handful survive. Mr Douglas predicted strong American interest in the sale.

"For any collector of American history, this is the number one item you want," he said.

Columbus's intended destinations were China and Japan. The islands and the people that he discovered in the Caribbean, which he at first placed in "the Indian sea", delighted him. He noted that there was an abundance of gold and spices.

He wrote: "All these islands are very beautiful and distinguished by various qualities; they are accessible and full of a great variety of trees stretching up to the stars.

"In the one which was called Hispana. . . there are great and beautiful mountains, vast fields, groves, fertile plains, very suitable for planting and cultivating and for the building of houses. On this island, indeed and on all the others I have seen, the inhabitants of both sexes go always naked, just as they came into the world, except some of the women, who use a covering of a leaf or some foliage, or a cotton cloth.

"When they perceive that they are safe, putting aside all fear, they are of simple manners and trustworthy and very liberal with everything they have, refusing no one who asks for anything they may possess and even themselves inviting us to ask for things. They show greater love for all others than for themselves."

Columbus also noted that the natives appeared "very ready and favourably inclined" for conversion to Christianity, as "these people practise no kind of idolatry".

He observed many canoes hewn from logs which were used for trade between islands.

"I saw some of these row-boats or canoes, which were carrying 70 or 80 rowers."

Columbus's letter also reveals his astuteness. Spanish laws prevented seizure of new territories without the approval of the inhabitants and while claiming the islands for Ferdinand and Isabella he covered himself legally.

He wrote: "I found many islands inhabited by men without number, of all which I took possession for our most fortunate king, with proclaiming heralds and flying standards, no one objecting."

The book fair, to be opened by Bob Geldof and Jerry Hall, is at Olympia from June 8-11.

[wagglebee]

I'm surprised it is so inexpensive.

[wagglebee]

GGG Ping.

[Suzy Quzy]

It will go for MILLIONS and MILLIONS!! They just put a low amt to get people to think that they could POSSIBLY afford it...ala...Jackie Kennedy's stuff.

[wagglebee]

From the article, it sounds like a sale rather than an auction.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Where's the part about hacking off heads and dominating the world as a white male?

[southernnorthcarolina]

"When they [the island natives] perceive that they are safe, putting aside all fear, they are of simple manners and trustworthy and very liberal with everything they have, refusing no one who asks for anything they may possess and even themselves inviting us to ask for things."

Remarkably similar to our current border policies.

[VRWCTexan]

That part is in the "dems" special "collectors edition" coming soon free of charge to everyone's e-mail (spam) account...

[Fester Chugabrew]

Try $40,000.00 at every enlightened university near you.

[SW6906]

"I'm surprised it is so inexpensive."

Heck, at that price, I'll take two!

[maine-iac7]

Columbus write in his LOG:

He later wrote of this in his log: "They... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned.... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane.... They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."

"As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts."

He concluded his report by asking for a little help from their Majesties, and in return he would bring them from his next voyage "as much gold as they need . . . and as many slaves as they ask."

A young priest, Bartolome de las Casas, who was there and participated in the conquest of Cuba wrote about the acts committed against the Indians. For a time he owned a plantation on which Indian slaves worked, but he gave that up and became a vehement critic of Spanish cruelty. Excerpts from his history books...

In the year 1495, they went on a great slave raid, rounded up fifteen hundred Arawak men, women, and children, put them in pens guarded by Spaniards and dogs, then picked the five hundred best specimens to load onto ships. Of those five hundred, two hundred died en route. The rest arrived alive in Spain and were put up for sale by the archdeacon of the town, ..........But too many of the slaves died in captivity. And so Columbus, desperate to pay back dividends to those who had invested, had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold. In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death. The Indians had been given an impossible task. The only gold around was bits of dust garnered from the streams. So they fled, were hunted down with dogs, and were killed. Trying to put together an army of resistance, the Arawaks faced Spaniards who had armor, muskets, swords, horses. When the Spaniards took prisoners they hanged them or burned them to death. Among the Arawaks, mass suicides began, with cassava poison. Infants were killed to save them from the Spaniards. In two years, through murder, mutilation, or suicide, half of the 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead. ...............By the year 1515, there were perhaps fifty thousand Indians left. By 1550, there were five hundred. A report of the year 1650 shows none of the original Arawaks or their descendants left on the island.

the above is a small and milder part of what was done to the Indians. If you the stomach to learn what the real actions of a man we still celebrate - do the research. You can start with this site, which quotes from de las Casas, the eye witness.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/Columbus_PeoplesHx.html

Scroll down in the link and get educated.

Added to all that = Columbus didn't even 'discover' America. Many were here before him.

I hope America matures enough one day to stop 'celebrating' Columbus.

[lakey]

I'm not always too sure about the testimonies of Internet "eyewitnesses."

[maine-iac7]

I'm not always too sure about the testimonies of Internet "eyewitnesses."

I didn't quote the Internet - but the histories of the priest, Bartolome De Las Casas, (1474-1566) who was there. I credit his eye witness accounts over today's history apologists or revisionists.

De Las Casas is an historical figure - not the product of an Internet not can he and his accounts be wished away.

Here's a current printing of his history - his EYE WITNESS account:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/sitbv3/reader/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-4554785-7018323?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=0140445625

"Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies" by De Las Casas

Here's another site:

http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/spanish/lascasas.htm

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Waggs!

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[geopyg]

"..very liberal with everything they have.."

I'm reading a history on Captain Kidd, around 1690's. I believe it was on the island of Madagascar that the women were very "liberal" as well, waiting for the sailors to arrive. For a small piece of iron they would get "married" for a short time. Some sailors would end up sleeping on the ship's deck as they had pulled out the nails on which their hammocks hung!

[Caipirabob]

Spanish laws prevented seizure of new territories without the approval of the inhabitants and while claiming the islands for Ferdinand and Isabella he covered himself legally. He wrote: "I found many islands inhabited by men without number, of all which I took possession for our most fortunate king, with proclaiming heralds and flying standards, no one objecting."

This explains a lot. Since The government isn't doing or saying a damn thing, would this mean the United States is now owned by Mexico? 'Splains alot...

[Loyal Buckeye]

"I'm surprised it is so inexpensive."

I'll wait to buy my copy at Walmart.

[Theoden]

Ping for the Knights!

[Jacquerie]

It's way too easy to judge events half a millennia ago by today's standards. Back then Moslems took as slaves any Christian that washed up on their shores and likewise the Spanish had a problem with Jews and Moslems. We don't celebrate the subsequent enslavement and death of the Arawaks, but rather the achievements of a brilliant and courageous businessman and mariner.

[Theoden]

George Washington owned slaves. Let's stop celebrating his birthday!

Abe Lincoln did not willingly want to free the slaves. Let's stop honoring him!

Davy Crockett killed indians. Let's write him out of history!

Leif Eriksen killed indians. Let's write him out of history!

The Pilgrims fought and killed indians. Let's write him out of history!

General Custard killed Indians! Let's write him out of history!

FDR let Pearl Harbor happen! Let's posthumously impeach him!

General Patton had atrocities happen under his command. Let's strip him of his medals posthumously!

What other great men from American history can we defame for their actions that were the social norm of the time? Hmm, American history itself is very violent, maybe we should completely forsake our past, and sit around and be self-loathing?

[Physicist]

Added to all that = Columbus didn't even 'discover' America. Many were here before him.

Ridiculous. None of those "many" managed to bring the Western Hemisphere to the attention of the Eastern Hemisphere. Columbus did. That makes him the literal discoverer of America: there is half a world of difference between finding something and un-covering it.

And, like it or not, Columbus's discovery remains one of the most important achievements--arguably the most important achievement--by any individual in any possible history of the world, regardless of what kind of person he was, and regardless of whether you like any particular result of that achievement.