The Columbus Invasion

On Friday, October 12, 1492 the European invasion of the "New World" begins under the direction of Christopher Columbus. Below is a brief review of the history of the invasion by Columbus.

Christopher Columbus is believed to have been born in the year of 1451, and was 42 years old when he made his first invasion to the "New World". He was married once. Wife died six years later and had one son, Diego, from this marriage. In 1488 Columbus had a second son but does not appear to have married the mother in spite of being an alleged devote Catholic.

Research indicates that most of his life pre-1492 is a mystery and the histories attributing his family, personal, and educational background to him have been fabricated by subsequent historians in order to create a version of history and man that the historian believed would be entertaining to the masses.

Historians claim that he was an explorer whose goal for years was to find a route to the Indies which would make trading between Spain and Indies less time consuming. What is overlooked and/or down-played, however, are the sailing orders issues by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain to Christopher Columbus. These are not orders for merely finding a quick trade route nor those of a mere "explorer" (ie. someone whose desire is exploring the world around him). No!   The orders given to Christopher Columbus include:

Columbus's diaries of the journey continue to focus above all else his lust for gold. Upon first stepping foot on soil in the "New World" Columbus thanked his Christian God and then declared the land as belonging to Spain as per the orders of the Royal Court and the Catholic Christian papal orders. This taking of lands from others was done without first inquiring as to whether or not others may have inhabited these lands.

During this first voyage to the "New World" Columbus and his men, through aggression and trickery, captured First People men, women, and children to take back to Spain. The best count that I have been able to obtain would be that slightly less then thirty of these peoples were kidnaped by Columbus. His diary reports some of the following details:

On December 25, 1492 the Santa Maria sank on a coral reef and was subsequently taken apart and with the use of First People labor, Christopher Columbus ordered that a fort, La Navidad, be built. He left 39 sailors behind to maintain the fort.

The diary of Christopher Columbus shows a man of ill-character determined not explore for the pure delight of knowledge but is a man driven to obtain other people's wealth, power, and glory for his own edification. He was not above using his sailors, the captains of the other two ships, and certainly not above enslaving First People who "Loved thy neighbors as themselves", a trait sorely missing in Columbus himself. One can from his diary discover a man who is deceptive, manipulative, ruthless, and obsessed with his own self-interests for wealth, power, and glory. He was fully aware that in order to obtain his desires, he needed to give appropriate amounts of authority recognition to the Catholic Church as well as the secular power holders, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. This was a period of torture and executions of non-believers of the Catholics faith, including non-converting Jews and Muslims. Indeed the entries that are available reveal a man whose entire life is driven forward by greed and the lust for wealth and power.

First Accounts of Enslavement:

Of total captured, only one and possibly two of these enslaved peoples successfully make the trip to Spain and return one day to their homelands.


Sources:

Columbus in the Americas, William Least Heat-Moon, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2002.