ESSAY CEMETERY

Columbus goes from Spain to Madeira, and then to the Canaries and then the Cape Verde islands. He goes below the equator and it's super hot there until God graces them with a fair wind. They go up to the equator and it becomes mild. Something about the pole and the stars. He has heard that the earth is a sphere but to him, it seems more like the shape of a pear or a nipple. When he sails in different directions stuff happens to the stars. Ptolemy had it wrong because he knew nothing of the Southern hemisphere. He reaches the island Cape Verde where the people are black. Then he reaches Trinidad where the people are whiter, shrewder, and less timid than the natives of the Indies. Christopher Columbus.  Image source

Click here  for a summary of Columbus's report on the first voyage Click here  for Columbus's original report text ------------- Themes Praising the king and queen Praising God and thanking God Naming islands Taking captives Natural descriptions Giving and receiving from the Indians Shy natives Generosity of natives Fostering trade and good relations Missionary desire Expectation of monstrosities Bragging and the eternal God, our Lord, Who gives to all those who walk in His way triumph over things which appear to be impossible, and this was notably one Importance of evidence Sexual imagery- the earth is a nipple (to be conquered) Scientific theorizing Style and devices First-person narrator (letter) Sucking up to the king and queen Run-on sentences And in it, although of all I have taken possession for their highnesses and all are more richly endowed than I know how, or am able, to say, and I hold them all for their highnesses, so that they may dispose of them as, and as absol...

Click here  for a summary of Columbus's report on the first voyage Click here  for a literary analysis of Columbus's report on the first voyage   ------------- Columbus's report letter Sir, As I know that you will be pleased at the great victory with which Our Lord has crowned my voyage, I write this to you, from which you will learn how in thirty-three days, I passed from the Canary Islands to the Indies with the fleet which the most illustrious king and queen, our sovereigns, gave to me. And there I found very many islands filled with people innumerable, and of them all I have taken possession for their highnesses, by proclamation made and with the royal standard un­furled, and no opposition was offered to me. To the first island which I found, I gave the name San Salvador, in remembrance of the Divine Majesty, Who has marvelously bestowed all this; the Indians call it "Guanahani." To the second, I gave the name Isla de Santa Maria de Conception; to the third, F...

Click here for a literary analysis of Columbus's report on the first voyage Click here for Columbus's original report text ------------- Columbus's report on the first voyage -- Summary Columbus goes from the Canary Islands to the Indies. He reaches an island he names Juana that is so big he thinks it must be the mainland. He goes from island to island, talks with some natives and takes them hostage. He finds another island, Espanola, beautiful and fertile with many kinds of trees and birds and cultivable land, and great for building towns on. There are metal mines and gold in the rivers. Its people are naked and too shy to use their stick weapons. They run away from the whites when they see them, even though Columbus has given them many gifts. They are generous back. Columbus gives them gifts so they may be kind to Spain and perhaps turn Christian. They have no religion except they believe that power comes from the sky and think Columbus has come from the sky. They are i...