“immediately appreciated” Columbus’s “discoveries,” which is why they
immediately outfitted him for a much larger second voyage. In 1499 Columbus
“reaped” a major gold strike on Haiti. He and his successors then forced
hundreds of thousands of Natives to mine the gold for them. Money from the
Americas continued to flow in to Columbus in Spain, perhaps not what he felt
he deserved, but enough to keep all wolves far from his door. Columbus died
well-off and left his heirs well-endowed, even with the title, “Admiral of the
Ocean Sea,” now carried by his eighteenth-generation descendant. Moreover,
Columbus’s own journal shows clearly that he knew he had reached a “new”
continent.^46
Some of the details the textbook authors pile on are harmless, I suppose,
such as the fabrications about Isabella’s sending a messenger galloping after
Columbus and pawning her jewels to pay for the expedition.^47 All of the
enhancements humanize Columbus, however, and magnify his greatness, to
induce readers to identify with him. Here is a passage from Land of Promise:
It is October, 1492. Three small, storm-battered ships are lost
at sea, sailing into an unknown ocean. A frightened crew has
been threatening to throw their stubborn captain overboard, turn
the ships around, and make for the safety of familiar shores.
Then a miracle: The sailors see some green branches floating
on the water. Land birds fly overhead. From high in the ship’s
rigging the lookout cries, “Land, land ahead!” Fears turn to joy.
Soon the grateful captain wades ashore and gives thanks to
God.