did any signs of advanced civilization.
Worse, on Christmas Day 1492, the flag-
ship Santa Maria broke up on a coral reef
off Hispaniola. But Columbus, ever the
optimist, took it as a sign that God want-
ed him to found a settlement on that lush
and well-watered island. Using timbers
from the ship’s wreckage, his crew con-
structed a fort called Navidad, or
“Christmas.” Columbus left fewer than
40 men there with orders to keep looking
for gold and to treat the Native peoples
well. On January 4, 1493, he set sail with
the Niña and Pinta for Spain, which he
reached on March 15.
Ferdinand and Isabella were pleased
to receive him, and they confirmed the
titles he had been promised. Then they
sent him out on a second voyage, this one
much larger, intended not just to explore
but to establish a colony. The expedition
consisted of 17 vessels and about 1,200
men, including priests to do the convert-
ing and soldiers to do the conquering.
Lasting nearly three years, from
September 25, 1493, to June 11, 1496, it
was the first European expedition to visit
many West Indian islands, including
Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Dominica,
Guadeloupe, and Antigua. In addition,
Columbus returned to Navidad on
Hispaniola, where he found the fort
destroyed and all the settlers killed.
Columbus learned that the garrison had
demanded gold, food, and labor from the
Taino. As eminent historian Samuel Eliot
Morison described it, “the Spanish garri-
son, roaming about Hispaniola in search of
more gold and girls, ran afoul of a stout
cacique [chief] named Caonabó, who
killed them and destroyed Natividad.” Or
as a contemporary Spanish diarist
euphemistically wrote, “Bad feelings arose.
To eliminiate this outrage... [the Taino]
attacked the Christians in great force.”
Columbus established the new
colonies of Isabella and Santo Domingo,
both in what is now the Dominican
Republic. Santo Domingo is today that
nation’s capital and the oldest surviving
European city in the Americas. The new
colonies were plagued by dissension and
the same unbridled mistreatment of the
natives that had likely led to the destruc-
tion of Navidad. A pitched battle broke
out between the Spanish and the Arawak.
The Spanish, with their intimidating
firearms and war dogs, won the battle
decisively, bringing all of Hispaniola
under control. But when Columbus
returned to Spain, he had little to show
for his efforts. The fabled gold reservesSPAIN IN THE AMERICAS 23The Voyages of Columbus, 1492–1504
Christopher Columbus made four expeditions to the New World, exploring much of the Caribbean, as well as the coasts of Central
and South America.THE DAY OF
THE RACE
Columbus has many faces. He is alter-
nately celebrated as the heroic discov-
erer of America, praised as an intrepid
master mariner, criticized as an inept
geographer and navigator who got
lucky, and vilified as the founder of the
European tradition of genocide
against Native Americans. While
Hispanic Americans share the general
ambivalence about Columbus, they
also have a special regard for him, one
that leads many Hispanic Americans
to celebrate October 12, the day of
discovery that Anglo-Americans call
Columbus Day, as El Día de la Raza,
“The Day of the Race.” For it was
Columbus who first brought together
the peoples of the Old World and the
New under the banner of Spain,
founding, in a sense, a new people:
the Hispanic Americans.