The Renaissance

The first expedition of three small
ships set out in August 1492, taking five
weeks to sail from the Canary Islands to a
small island in the Bahamas Columbus
called San Salvador, on October 12. The
expedition continued to Cuba and His-
paniola, where the flagship Santa Maria
ran aground. On Hispaniola Columbus
founded a small settlement, La Navidad,
where he left behind thirty-nine sailors.

The success of his first expedition
earned Columbus acclaim in Spain and an
agreement by Ferdinand and Isabella to
support a second, much larger expedition
of seventeen ships, which left in Septem-
ber 1493. This time the admiral landed on
Dominica and Guadeloupe, then turned
north and sailed through the long chain of
small islands now known as the Lesser An-
tilles. The fleet passed the Virgin Islands
and landed at Puerto Rico, but on encoun-
tering a hostile Carib village Columbus
ordered his ships to Hispaniola, where he
founded the settlement of Isabela. The ex-
pedition touched at Cuba and Jamaica be-
fore returning to Spain in the early fall of
1494.

A third expedition left Spain in May

1498. Columbus reached Trinidad and the
      coasts of what is now Venezuela. His harsh
      management of his own sailors and mis-
      treatment of natives, however, led to his
      arrest by the governor of Hispaniola. Co-
      lumbus was put in chains and returned to
      Spain a prisoner along with two of his
      brothers. He was summarily relieved of all
      duties as governor of the lands he had dis-
      covered, and denied any profit from the
      income attained from the new Spanish
      colonies.

Still determined to find a passage to
the Spice Islands, Columbus managed to
win his freedom and convince Ferdinand
and Isabella to support a fourth voyage.

This fleet set out in May 1502. On arriv-

ing at Hispaniola, he was defied by the

Spanish governor of Santo Domingo. His

fleet then sailed to the coast of Honduras

in Central America and then southward to

Panama, where it encountered a fierce

storm. Returning to Jamaica, his fleet was

wrecked in another storm, and Columbus

was forced to remain on Jamaica for more

than a year awaiting rescue. The governor

of Hispaniola, now the admiral’s sworn

enemy, finally sent help and Columbus

succeeded in returning to Spain in No-

vember 1504.

Columbus has been hailed for more

than five centuries as an intrepid naviga-

tor—and criticized for the harsh treatment

he meted out to his sailors as well as Na-

tive Americans, whom he considered sub-

human barbarians in desperate need of

conversion to the Christian religion. His

voyages began the era of exploration and

colonization of North and South America

by Europeans, an undertaking that greatly

enriched and transformed Europe. He

grew bitter at the imprisonment he suf-

fered at the hands of his patrons in Spain,

however, and died still unaware of the

western hemisphere, and convinced he had

found a faster route to Asia.

SEEALSO: da Gama, Vasco; exploration;

Ferdinand II of Aragon; Isabella I of

Castile

commedia dell’arte .............................

A form of improvisational theater that

originated in Renaissance Italy, and that

entertained outdoor audiences with a fa-

miliar cast of colorful, dramatic and comic

characters. Commedia dell’arte was per-

formed by itinerate troupes of players,

each of whom specialized in a particular

character. The plots were familiar to actors

as well as audiences and usually involved

commedia dell’arte