After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, Christopher Columbus spent the fall of 1492 exploring a number of the islands of the West Indies. He reported his impressions of the land and people in a February 1493 letter to the secretary of the Spanish treasury. The passages that follow relate Columbus’s experiences and impressions as he met peoples, such as the Taino, who were previously unknown to him.
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Sir,—Believing that you will take pleasure in hearing of the great success which our Lord has granted me in my voyage, I write you this letter, whereby you will learn how in thirty-seven days’ time I reached the Indies with the fleet which the . . . King and Queen . . . gave to me, where I found very many islands thickly peopled, of all which I took possession without resistance for their Highnesses by proclamation [declaration] made and with the royal standard unfurled. . . . When I reached Juana [Cuba], I followed its coast to the westward, and found it so large that I thought it must be the mainland,—the province of Cathay [China]; and, as I found neither towns nor villages on the sea-coast, but only a few hamlets [small villages], with the inhabitants of which I could not hold a conversation because they all immediately fled, I kept on the same route, thinking that I could not fail to light upon some large cities and towns. At length . . . I . . . returned to a certain harbour which I had remarked, and from which I sent two men ashore to ascertain [learn] whether there was any king or large cities in that part. They journeyed for three days and found countless small hamlets with numberless inhabitants, but with nothing like order; they therefore returned. In the meantime I had learned from some other Indians whom I had seized, that this land was certainly an island. . . . The lands are high and there are many very lofty mountains. . . . [The islands] are all most beautiful, of a thousand different shapes, accessible, and covered with trees of a thousands kinds of such great height that they seemed to reach the skies. The nightingale was singing as well as other birds of a thousand different kinds; and that, in November. . . . There are palm-trees of six or eight kinds, wonderful in their beautiful variety; but this is the case with all the other trees and fruits and grasses; trees, plants, or fruits filled us with admiration. It contains extraordinary pine groves, and very extensive plains. There is also honey, a great variety of birds, and many different kinds of fruits. In the interior there are many mines of metals and a population innumerable. . . . The inhabitants of this and of all the other islands I have found or gained intelligence of, both men and women, go as naked as they were born. . . . They have neither iron, nor steel, nor arms, nor are they competent [able] to use them, not that they are not well-formed and of handsome stature [build], but because they are timid to a surprising degree.
On my reaching the Indies, I took by force, in the first island that I discovered, some of these natives that they might learn our language and give me information in regard to what existed in these parts; and it so happened that they soon understood us and we them, either by words or signs, and they have been very serviceable to us. They are still with me, and, from repeated conversations that I have had with them, I find that they still believe that I come from heaven. And they were the first to say this wherever I went, and the others ran from house to house and to the neighbouring villages, crying with a loud voice: “Come, come, and see the people from heaven!” And thus they all, men as well as women, after their minds were at rest about us, came, both large and small, and brought us something to eat and drink, which they gave us with extraordinary kindness.
They assure me that there is another island larger than [Hispaniola] in which the inhabitants have no hair. It is extremely rich in gold; and I bring with me Indians taken from these different islands, who will testify to all these things. Finally, . . . their Highnesses may see that I shall give them all the gold they require, if they will give me but a little assistance; spices also, and cotton, as much as their Highnesses shall command to be shipped; and mastic [a tree used to make varnish], . . . slaves, as many of these idolators [non-Christians] as their Highnesses shall command to be shipped. I think also I have found rhubarb and cinnamon, and I shall find a thousand other valuable things.
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From Renaissance and Reformation: 1300-1648, edited by G.R. Elton. Macmillan, 1976.
