Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
Following his first voyage to the Caribbean in 1492, Christopher Columbus returned to the
court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. He had excellent news: by sailing 33
days west from the Azores, he had discovered the 'Indies,' a land where it was perpetually
summer and the rivers flowed with gold. Upon hearing this report, the Spanish monarchs
vested Columbus with the title 'Admiral of the Ocean Sea' and allowed him to assemble a
fleet for a second voyage. So off he went with 17 ships and more than 1200 pilgrims, mar-
iners and soldiers under the flagship nicknamed
Maríagalante.
The fleet departed the Span-
ish port of Cádiz on September 25, 1493, and sighted land on November 3 - an island in
the Lesser Antilles that Columbus named 'Dominica' because it came into sight on Sunday
morning. In the following weeks, the Spanish fleet worked its way north through the Lee-
ward Islands, where it encountered the Caribs.
FIRST BLOOD AT ST CROIX
On November 14, 1493, Columbus' ships anchored off Salt River Bay at the island
Columbus named Santa Cruz (St Croix). When a landing party of 25 men headed for a
Carib village on shore, the inhabitants scattered, but as the Spanish rowed back to
their flagship, they surprised a Carib canoe coming around the point. The Caribs -
four men and two women - let loose a flock of arrows on the Spaniards in their open
boat.
Arrows wounded two sailors - one mortally - before the Spaniards rammed the ca-
noe, forcing the Indians to swim. But the Caribs swam to a rock and fought on. At
last, the Spaniards succeeded in taking the Caribs as prisoners, but they had gained re-
spect for these fierce warriors. Columbus named the site of this conflict on St Croix
'Cabo de Flechas' (Cape of Arrows).
Taíno captives guided Columbus north and then west along the southern coast of the ar-
chipelago. He named these islands 'Santa Ursula y Las Once Mil Vírgenes' (St Ursula and
the 11,000 Virgins) in honor of a 4th-century princess raped and murdered along with an
alleged 11,000 maidens in Cologne by marauding Huns. Historians believe that the great
Admiral himself named the large islands in the group, but none can agree which he might
