By Abby S.
Green Group
January 31th, 2018
Date of Article Published 1991
Headline A World of Surprises
Author Lorenzo Camusso
Source of the Article
Camusso, Lorenzo. The Voyages of Columbus, 1492-1504. Dorest Press, 1991.
Below, a map of Columbus' foray through the Caribbean is shown. He traveled from island to island, then up the northern tip of Cuba, back down, and across the ocean to the island of Hispanola, or "Little Spain." Their exploration ends at the southern tip of that island.
Three Vocabulary Words
1. solitary -
Alone, without companions - unattended. A solitary object is often forlorn or abandoned.
2. fumigation - the act of exposing to smoke or fumes. In the context of the article, the word "fumigations" is used. This is a different term, meaning the actual smoke and fumes.
3. revelation - the act of disclosing or revealing. A revelation often comes as a surprise or an epiphany.
Summary
On December 5th, Columbus named the southeast tip of Cuba Juana, after the current monarch's daughter. He named the cape near it Alpha and Omega, which this article explains as Columbus's way of signaling that this was both the beginning and the end of Asia. Most unfortunately, Columbus was convinced he was in Asia, which is why he named the natives "Indians," believing he was near the Indies.
While exploring, he 'discovered' many wonderful things, not all of which were extensively documented in this article, which describes the palm trees, based off Columbus' own words, as "so tall and beautiful that they were a wonder to behold." This is the general theme of their opinion of the plants there. The Caribbean is tropical and there are many "gorgeous little birds," the likes of which they had never seen before. These birds are, of course, the colorful parrots that populate the Caribbean. They also 'discovered' many items that would become a key in American culture and life today. They learned of corn, which Pietro Martire d'Anghiera described as a "pointed cob about a hand's breath long and about as thick as a forearm. The kernels, which are very eavenly spaced by nature, resemble peas in their shape and size."
Other discoveries include tobacco, which the native 'Indians' introduced to the Europeans. They would dry the leaves, roll them up and smoke them, which some men thought was 'a very bad custom.' They discovered sweet potatoes and yuca and hot chilies. Previous men had described a spice that was flavorful, much like hot chilies, and called it pepper. Upon discovery of hot chilies, Columbus proclaimed it as 'pepper,' referring to the Asian spice of peppercorn.
The last and perhaps oddest discovery was the hammock. Nowadays, we see the hammock as a simple conventional thing, but before Columbus' time, hammocks had not been invented. Columbus' men observed the natives use of nets of cotton, and realized that they would save many lives, for now men would not have to sleep on the ground and far less would die.
To see a website of the same format about Columbus' Voyage of Discovery, click here.