Editing Christopher Columbus (section)

=== Fourth voyage (1502–1504) ===
{{Main|Fourth voyage of Columbus}}
[[File:Columbus fourth voyage.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Columbus's fourth voyage]]
[[File:Arms of the house of Colòn (3).svg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Coat of arms]] granted to Christopher Columbus and the {{ill|House of Colon|es|Colón (familia)}} by [[Pope Alexander VI]] {{lang|la|[[motu proprio]]}} in 1502]]

On 9 May 1502,{{refn|Some scholars, including Sauer, say the fleet sailed 11 May; Cook says 9 May.}} Columbus left Cádiz with his flagship ''Santa María'' and three other vessels. The ships were crewed by 140 men, including his brother Bartholomew as second in command and his son Fernando.<ref name="Sauer2008">{{cite book |last1=Sauer |first1=Carl Ortwin |title=The Early Spanish Main |year=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-08848-0 |pages=121–122 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=plzS7SL_-f0C&pg=PA121}}</ref> He sailed to [[Asilah]] on the Moroccan coast to rescue Portuguese soldiers said to be besieged by the [[Moors]]. The siege had been lifted by the time they arrived, so the Spaniards stayed only a day and continued on to the Canary Islands.<ref name="Cook199846">{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Noble David |title=Born to Die: Disease and New World Conquest, 1492–1650 |year=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-62730-6 |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dvjNyZTFrS4C&pg=PA46}}</ref>

On 15 June, the fleet arrived at [[Martinique]], where it lingered for several days. A [[hurricane]] was forming, so Columbus continued westward,<ref name="Sauer2008" /> hoping to find shelter on Hispaniola. He arrived at [[Santo Domingo]] on 29 June, but was denied port, and the new governor Francisco de Bobadilla refused to listen to his warning that a hurricane was approaching. Instead, while Columbus's ships sheltered at the mouth of the Rio Jaina, the first [[Spanish treasure fleet]] sailed into the hurricane. Columbus's ships survived with only minor damage, while 20 of the 30 ships in the governor's fleet were lost along with 500 lives (including that of Francisco de Bobadilla). Although a few surviving ships managed to straggle back to Santo Domingo, ''{{lang|es|Aguja}}'', the fragile ship carrying Columbus's personal belongings and his 4,000 pesos in gold was the sole vessel to reach Spain.{{Sfn|Bergreen|2011|pp=288–289, 302–303}}<ref name="Gužauskytė2014185">{{cite book |last1=Gužauskytė |first1=Evelina |title=Christopher Columbus's Naming in the 'diarios' of the Four Voyages (1492–1504): A Discourse of Negotiation |year=2014 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4426-6825-6 |page=185 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0SWAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA185}}</ref> The gold was his ''tenth'' ({{lang|es|décimo}}) of the profits from Hispaniola, equal to 240,000 maravedis,<ref name="Bedini2016200">{{cite book |last1=Bedini |first1=Silvio A. |editor1-last=Bedini |editor1-first=Silvio A. |title=The Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia |year=2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-349-12573-9 |page=200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmmMCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA200}}</ref> guaranteed by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492.<ref name="Armas1985">{{cite book |last1=Armas |first1=Antonio Rumeu de |title=Nueva luz sobre las capitulaciones de Santa Fe de 1492 concertadas entre los Reyes Católicos y Cristóbal Colón: estudio institucional y diplomático |date=1985 |publisher=Editorial CSIC – CSIC Press |isbn=978-84-00-05961-3 |page=201 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FgKarEsZWecC&pg=PA201 |language=es}}</ref>

After a brief stop at Jamaica, Columbus sailed to Central America, arriving at the coast of [[Honduras]] on 30 July. Here Bartholomew found native merchants and a large canoe. On 14 August, Columbus landed on the continental mainland at Punta Caxinas, now [[Puerto Castilla, Honduras]].<ref name="Colindres1975">{{cite book |last1=Colindres |first1=Enrique Ortez |title=Integración Política de Centroamérica |date=1975 |publisher=Editorial Universitaria Centroamericana |page=20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-wYPAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Crist%C3%B3bal%20Col%C3%B3n%22%20%22Punta%20Caxinas%22 |language=es |quote=El 14 de agosto de 1502 Cristóbal Colón descubrió Punta Caxinas, hoy Punta Castilla o Cabo de Honduras.}}</ref> He spent two months exploring the coasts of Honduras, [[Nicaragua]], and [[Costa Rica]], seeking a strait in the western Caribbean through which he could sail to the Indian Ocean. Sailing south along the Nicaraguan coast, he found a channel that led into Almirante Bay in [[Panama]] on 5 October.<ref name="Calvo2004">{{cite book |last1=Calvo |first1=Alfredo Castillero |title=Historia general de Panamá: Tomo 1. Las sociedades originarias; El orden colonial. Tomo 2. El orden colonial |year=2004 |publisher=Comité Nacional del Centenario de la República |isbn=978-9962-02-581-8 |page=86 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XlVrAAAAMAAJ&q=%225%20de%20octubre%22 |language=es}}</ref><ref name="Bedini2016720">{{cite book |last1=Bedini |first1=Silvio A. |editor1-last=Bedini |editor1-first=Silvio A. |title=The Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia |year=2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-349-12573-9 |pages=720, 724 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmmMCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA724}}</ref>

As soon as his ships anchored in Almirante Bay, Columbus encountered [[Ngäbe]] people in canoes who were wearing gold ornaments.<ref name="StirlingStirling1964">{{cite book |last1=Stirling |first1=Matthew Williams |last2=Stirling |first2=Marion |title=Archeological Notes on Almirante Bay, Bocas Del Toro, Panama |date=1964 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UxlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA260}}</ref> In January 1503, he established a garrison at the mouth of the [[Belén River]]. Columbus left for Hispaniola on 16 April. On 10 May he sighted the [[Cayman Islands]], naming them {{lang|es|Las Tortugas}} after the numerous sea turtles there.{{Sfn|Bergreen|2011|p=330}} His ships sustained damage in a storm off the coast of Cuba. Unable to travel farther, on 25 June 1503 they were beached in [[Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica]].{{Sfn|Bergreen|2011|p=330–332}}

For six months Columbus and 230 of his men remained stranded on Jamaica. Diego Méndez de Segura, who had shipped out as a personal secretary to Columbus, and a Spanish shipmate called Bartolomé Flisco, along with six natives, paddled a canoe to get help from Hispaniola.<ref name="Roorda2020">{{cite book |last1=Méndez |first1=Diego |editor1-last=Roorda |editor1-first=Paul |title=The Ocean Reader: History, Culture, Politics |year=2020 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-1-4780-0745-6 |page=300 |chapter=VIII: Shipwrecked by Worms, Saved by Canoe: The Last Voyage of Columbus |doi=10.1515/9781478007456-065 |s2cid=241132438}}</ref> The governor, [[Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres]], detested Columbus and obstructed all efforts to rescue him and his men.<ref name="Vigneras1978">{{cite journal |last1=Vigneras |first1=Louis André |title=Diego Méndez, Secretary of Christopher Columbus and Alguacil Mayor of Santo Domingo: A Biographical Sketch |journal=Hispanic American Historical Review |date=1 November 1978 |volume=58 |issue=4 |page=680 |doi=10.1215/00182168-58.4.676 |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article/58/4/676/152812/ |access-date=26 January 2022 |issn=0018-2168 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In the meantime Columbus, in a desperate effort to induce the natives to continue provisioning him and his hungry men, won their favor by predicting a [[February 1504 lunar eclipse|lunar eclipse for 29 February 1504]], using [[Abraham Zacuto]]'s astronomical charts.<ref name="Hakin2002">{{cite book |last1=Hakim |first1=Joy |title=The First Americans |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-515319-4 |page=85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bhlVOp-xrSsC&pg=PA85}}</ref><ref>Clayton J., Drees, ''The Late Medieval Age of Crisis and Renewal: 1300–1500 a Biographical Dictionary'', 2001, p. 511</ref><ref name="Kadir1992">{{cite book |last1=Kadir |first1=Djelal |title=Columbus and the Ends of the Earth: Europe's Prophetic Rhetoric as Conquering Ideology |year=1992 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |page=67 |url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft1n39n7x0&chunk.id=d0e1397&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e1380 |chapter=IV: Charting the Conquest}}</ref> Despite the governor's obstruction, Christopher Columbus and his men were rescued on 28 June 1504, and arrived in Sanlúcar, Spain, on 7 November.<ref name="Vigneras1978" />