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Letter of Christopher Columbus to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, 1493

This is the beginning of the letter Columbus wrote to the King and Queen of Spain after he had

reached the Americas. Columbus, as you will read, thinks he is somewhere off the coast of India

or China. In reality, Columbus and his three ships made landfall on an island in the Bahamas –

which the natives called Guanahani. For the next five months Columbus sailed around the

Caribbean, thinking he was somewhere on the edge of Asia. The island he names Juana was in

fact modern-day Cuba.

AS I know that it will afford you pleasure that I have brought my undertaking to a successful

result, I have determined to write you this letter to inform you of everything that has been done

and discovered in this voyage of mine. On the thirty-third day after leaving Cadiz I came into the

Indian Sea, where I discovered many islands inhabited by numerous people. I took possession of

all of them for our most fortunate King by making public proclamation and unfurling his

standard, no one making any resistance. To the first of them I have given the name of our blessed

Saviour, whose aid I have reached this and all the rest; but the Indians call it Guanahani. To each

of the others also I gave a new name, ordering one to be called Sancta Maria de Concepcion,

another Fernandina, another Isabella, another Juana; and so with all the rest. As soon as we

reached the island which I have just said was called Juana, I sailed along its coast some

considerable distance towards the West, and found it to be so large, without any apparent end,

that I believed it was not an island, but a continent, a province of Cathay. But I saw neither towns

nor cities lying on the seaboard, only some villages and country farms, with whose inhabitants I

could not get speech, because they fled as soon as they beheld us. I continued on, supposing I

should come upon some city, or country-houses. At last, finding that no discoveries rewarded our

further progress, and that this course was leading us towards the North, which I was desirous of

avoiding, as it was now winter in these regions, and it had always been my intention to proceed

Southwards, and the winds also were favorable to such desires, I concluded not to attempt any

other adventures; so, turning back, I came again to a certain harbor, which I had remarked. From

there I sent two of our men into the country to learn whether there was any king or cities in that

land. They journeyed for three days, and found innumerable people and habitations, but small

and having no fixed government; on which account they returned. Meanwhile I had learned from

some Indians, whom I had seized at this place, that this country was really an island.

Consequently I continued along towards the East, as much as 322 miles, always hugging the

shore. Where was the very extremity of the island, from there I saw another island to the

Eastwards, distant 54 miles from this Juana, which I named Hispana; and proceeded to it, and

directed my course for 564 miles East by North as it were, just as I had done at Juana.

The island called Juana, as well as the others in its neighborhood, is exceedingly fertile. It has

numerous harbors on all sides, very safe and wide, above comparison with any I have ever seen.

Through it flow many very broad and health-giving rivers; and there are in it numerous very

lofty mountains. All these island are very beautiful, and of quite different shapes; easy to be

traversed, and full of the greatest variety of trees reaching to the stars. I think these never lose

their leaves, and I saw them looking as green and lovely as they are wont to be in the month of

May in Spain. Some of them were in leaf, and some in fruit; each flourishing in the condition its

nature required. The nightingale was singing and various other little birds, when I was rambling

among them in the month of November. There are also in the island called Juana seven or eight

kinds of palms, which as readily surpass ours in height and beauty as do all the other trees, herbs,

and fruits. There are also wonderful pinewoods, fields, and extensive meadows; birds of various

kinds, and honey; and all the different metals, except iron. In the island, which I have said before

was called Hispana, there are very lofty and beautiful mountains, great farms, groves and fields,

most fertile both for cultivation and for pasturage, and well adapted for constructing buildings.

The convenience of the harbors in this island, and the excellence of the rivers, in volume and

salubrity, surpass human belief, unless on should see them. In it the trees, pasture-lands and

fruits different much from those of Juana. Besides, this Hispana abounds in various kinds of

species, gold and metals. The inhabitants of both sexes of this and of all the other island I have

seen, or of which I have any knowledge, always go as naked as they came into the world, except

that some of the women cover their private parts with leaves or branches, or a veil of cotton,

which they prepare themselves for this purpose. They are all, as I said before, unprovided with

any sort of iron, and they are destitute of arms, which are entirely unknown to them, and for

which they are not adapted; not on account of any bodily deformity, for they are well made, but

because they are timid and full of terror. They carry, however, canes dried in the sun in place of

weapons, upon whose roots they fix a wooded shaft, dried and sharpened to a point. But they

never dare to make use of these; for it has often happened, when I have sent two or three of my

men to some of their villages to speak with the inhabitants, that a crowd of Indians has sallied

forth; but when they saw our men approaching, they speedily took to flight, parents abandoning

children, and children their parents. This happened not because any loss or injury had been

inflicted upon any of them. On the contrary I gave whatever I had, cloth and many other things,

to whomsoever I approached, or with whom I could get speech, without any return being made to

me; but they are by nature fearful and timid. But when they see that they are safe, and all fear is

banished, they are very guileless and honest, and very liberal of all they have. No one refuses the

asker anything that he possesses; on the contrary they themselves invite us to ask for it. They

manifest the greatest affection towards all of us, exchanging valuable things for trifles, content

with the very least thing or nothing at all.

Excerpt from the Voyage Account of Vasco da Gama in India, 1497 – 1499

This is a Portuguese account from Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India. Da Gama had just

rounded the cape of Southern Africa and cross the Indian Ocean to arrive near the modern-day

city of Calicut, India.

1498. Calicut. [Arrival.] That night (May 20) we anchored two leagues from the city of Calicut,

and we did so because our pilot mistook Capna, a town at that place, for Calicut. Still further

there is another town called Pandarani. We anchored about a league and a half from the shore.

After we were at anchor, four boats (almadias) approached us from the land, who asked of what

nation we were. We told them, and they then pointed out Calicut to us.

On the following day (May 22) these same boats came again alongside, when the captain-major

sent one of the convicts to Calicut, and those with whom he went took him to two Moors from

Tunis, who could speak Castilian and Genoese. The first greeting that he received was in these

words: “May the Devil take thee! What brought you hither?” They asked what he sought so far

away from home, and he told them that we came in search of Christians and of spices. They said:

“Why does not the King of Castile, the King of France, or the Signoria of Venice send thither?”

He said that the King of Portugal would not consent to their doing so, and they said he did the

right thing. After this conversation they took him to their lodgings and gave him wheaten bread

and honey. When he had eaten he returned to the ships, accompanied by one of the Moors, who

was no sooner on board, than he said these words: “A lucky venture, a lucky venture! Plenty of

rubies, plenty of emeralds! You owe great thanks to God, for having brought you to a country

holding such riches!” We were greatly astonished to hear his talk, for we never expected to hear

our language spoken so far away from Portugal.

The city of Calicut is inhabited by Christians. [The first voyagers to India mistook the Hindus for

Christians.] They are of tawny complexion. Some of them have big beards and long hair, whilst

others clip their hair short or shave the head, merely allowing a tuft to remain on the crown as a

sign that they are Christians. They also wear moustaches. They pierce the ears and wear much

gold in them. They go naked down to the waist, covering their lower extremities with very fine

cotton stuffs. But it is only the most respectable who do this, for the others manage as best they

are able. The women of this country, as a rule, are ugly and of small stature. They wear many

jewels of gold round the neck, numerous bracelets on their arms, and rings set with precious

stones on their toes. All these people are well-disposed and apparently of mild temper. At first

sight they seem covetous and ignorant.