Please Click here to go to the beginning of your Historical Journey.
On Friday, December 14, 1492....Columbus continued his voyage Eastward.
On Saturday, December 15, 1492 Columbus landed on a little island North of Española, which he called Tortuga or Turtle Island (La Tortue), for it has a shape of a sea turtle.
On Sunday, December 15, 1492 At midnight Columbus sailed, and landed on Española again from Tortuga. He discovered a bay which he named Valparayso (Now Port-de-Paix part of the Republic of Haiti). Five hundred Indians met him, accompanied by their king, a fine young man of about twenty years of age. He had around him several counselors, one of whom appeared to be his tutor. To the steady questions where gold could be found, the reply as steady was made that it was in "the island of Babeque" This island, they said, was only two days off, and they pointed out the route. The interview ended in an offer by the king to the Admiral of all that he had. The explorers never found this mysterious Babeque, unless, as Bishop Las Casas guessed, Babeque and Jamaica be the same.
The King visited Columbus on his ship in the evening, and Columbus entertained him with European food. With so cordial a beginning of intimacy, it was natural that the visitors should spend two or three days with these people. The king would not believe that any sovereigns of Castile could be more powerful than the men he saw. He and those around him all believed that they came directly from heaven.
Rest assured that this island and all the others are as firmly in your possesion as Castile; whatever you wish. I, with my small company, could walk all over these islands unmolested, for I have already seen three of my seamen go ashore and a whole multitude of Indians flee from them without being threatened. They have no weapons or fighting skills, and all of them are naked. They are very timid; three men could put a thousand of them to flight, so they could easily be commanded and made to work, to sow, and to do whatever might be needed, to build towns and be taught to wear clothes and adopt our ways...
On Monday, December 17, 1492...No Report
On Tuesday, December 18, 1492 The wind not serving well, we waited the return of the chief whom we had first seen. In the afternoon he appeared, seated in a palanquin, which was carried by four men, and escorted, by more than two hundred of his people.
He was accompanied by a counselor and preceptor who did not leave him. He came on board the ship when I was at tabel. He would not permit me to leave my place, and readily took a seat at my side, when it was offered. I offered him European food and drink; he tasted of each, and then gave what was offered to his attendants. The ceremonious Spaniards found a remarkable dignity in his air and gestures. After the meal, one of his servants brought a handsome belt, elegantly wrought, which he presented to me, with two small pieces of gold, also delicately wrought.
I observed that this cacique looked with interest on the hangings of my ship-bed, and made a present of them to him, in return for his offering, with some amber beads from my own neck, some red shoes and a flask of orange flower water.
On Wednesday, December 19, 1492...after these agreable hospitalities, the squadron sailed again.
December 27, 1492 to January 1, 1493 Navidad preparations and construction
On Wednesday, January 2, 1493 I went ashore this morning to take leave of of King Guacanagari and to depart in the name of God...
On Thursday January 3, 1493 Columbus started to sail when they sighted the lost of Pinta
On Wednesday, January 16, 1493...Columbus lost sight completely of land and bore away to Spain.
THE MARIEN AND GUACANAGARIC
The MARIEN had 14 departments:
1. Bayaji
2. Baynoa
3. Caribata
4. Caobanicú
5. Coaba
6. Dajabón
7. Guayubón
8. Guajaba
9. Guaraguano
10. Yaiti
11. Jatiex
12. Jaibón
13. Mauni
14. Iguamucú
The chief (king) or cacique of the Marien was Guakanagarik (Guacanagaric or Guacanagari). His name means the Elder or the Great Taino prophet. He has the great vision of the coming of Guamineka (the white men). He was the father of Guarionex of the Magua region. His palace was located close to the place where Columbus built La Navidad (Now Cape-Haitian, Haiti). The Marien was inhabited by people. It is very controversial to know for a fact what type of people they were. It is agreed upon that they were Tainos. Christopher Columbus called these people Indians because he thought he had reached India. Around fifty years after his coming on the island, virtually all the island people were so much decimated that their trait is not encountered in the island today. Through archeological evidence, biological and cultural remains, some answers have been provided to the origins of these people, their culture and religion.
Click here for more info on the Tainos LA NAVIDAD: CHRISTOPHER FIRST SETTLEMENT 1493September 25, 1493: Christopher Columbus second voyage from Cadiz, Spain. On Friday November 22, 1493 Columbus landed on Hispaniola. None of the men who had made the first voyage was acquainted with this part of the island. The part they arrived was called Ayiti, another part of Xamana, and the third Bohio. "It is a very singular country," says Dr. Alvarez Chanca, a physician member of the second voyage crew... FOUNDATION OF ISABELLA - THE COLONIZATION BEGINS
|