Editing Christopher Columbus (section)

== Voyages ==
{{Main|Voyages of Christopher Columbus}}
[[File:Flag of Christopher Columbus.svg|thumb|upright=1.1|Captain's ensign of Columbus's ships]]
[[File:Viajes de colon en.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|The voyages of Christopher Columbus (conjectural)]]

Between 1492 and 1504, Columbus completed four round-trip voyages between Spain and the [[Americas]], each voyage being sponsored by the [[Crown of Castile]]. On his first voyage he reached the Americas, initiating the European [[Exploration of the Americas|exploration]] and [[European colonization of the Americas|colonization of the continent]], as well as the [[Columbian exchange]]. His role in history is thus important to the [[Age of Discovery]], [[Western history]], and [[human history]] writ large.<ref name="SpechtStockland2017">{{cite book |last1=Specht |first1=Joshua |last2=Stockland |first2=Etienne |title=The Columbian Exchange |date=2017 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-351-35121-8 |page=23 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wkkrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23}}</ref>

In [[Columbus's letter on the first voyage]], published following his first return to Spain, he claimed that he had reached Asia,{{sfn|Morison|1991|p=381}} as previously described by Marco Polo and other Europeans. Over his subsequent voyages, Columbus refused to acknowledge that the lands he visited and claimed for Spain were not part of Asia, in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary.<ref name="Horodowich2017">{{cite book |last1=Horodowich |first1=Elizabeth |title=The New World in Early Modern Italy, 1492–1750 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-108-50923-7 |editor1-last=Horodowich |editor1-first=Elizabeth |page=23 |chapter=Italy and the New World |editor2-last=Markey |editor2-first=Lia |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8q5CDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23}}</ref> This might explain, in part, why the American continent was named after the [[Florence|Florentine]] explorer [[Amerigo Vespucci]]—who received credit for recognizing it as a "[[New World]]"—and not after Columbus.<ref name=umc>{{cite web |last=Cohen |first=Jonathan |url=http://www.umc.sunysb.edu/surgery/america.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029201227/http://www.umc.sunysb.edu/surgery/america.html |archive-date=29 October 2013 |title=The Naming of America |publisher=Umc.sunysb.edu |access-date=10 April 2011}}</ref>{{Efn|name=incognita|[[Felipe Fernández-Armesto]] points out that Columbus briefly described South America as an unknown continent after seeing the mainland for the first time. Vespucci seems to have modeled his naming of the "new world" after Columbus's description of this discovery. Further, mapmaker [[Martin Waldseemüller]] eventually retracted his naming of the continent after Vespucci, seemingly after it came to light that a claim that Vespucci visited the mainland before Columbus had been falsified. In his new map, Waldseemüller labelled the continent as {{lang|la|Terra Incognita}} ('unknown land'), noting that it had been discovered by Columbus.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fernández-Armesto |first=Felipe |title=Amerigo: The Man Who Gave His Name to America |publisher=Random House |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4000-6281-2 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=143–144, 186–187 |oclc=608082366}}</ref>}}

=== First voyage (1492–1493) ===
[[File:Columbus first voyage.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|First voyage (conjectural).{{Efn|This map is based on the premise that Columbus first landed at [[Plana Cays]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.dioi.org/vols/w41.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.dioi.org/vols/w41.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |first=Keith A. |last=Pickering |title=Columbus's Plana landfall: Evidence for the Plana Cays as Columbus's 'San&nbsp;Salvador' |journal=DIO – the International Journal of Scientific History |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=13–32 |date=August 1994 |access-date=16 March 2009}}</ref> [[San Salvador Island|The island considered]] by [[Samuel Eliot Morison]] to be the most likely location of first contact{{sfn|Morison|1991|p=228}} is the easternmost land touching the top edge of this image.|name=firstimage}} Modern place names in black, Columbus's place names in blue]]

On the evening of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed from [[Palos de la Frontera]] with three ships. The largest was a [[carrack]], the ''[[Santa María (ship)|Santa María]]'', owned and captained by [[Juan de la Cosa]], and under Columbus's direct command.{{Sfn|Dyson|1991|p=102}} The other two were smaller [[caravel]]s, the ''[[Pinta (ship)|Pinta]]'' and the ''[[Niña]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thenina.com/the_original_nina.html |title=The Original Niña |website=The Niña & Pinta |publisher=The Columbus Foundation |location=British Virgin Islands |access-date=12 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526034248/http://www.thenina.com/the_original_nina.html |archive-date=26 May 2015}}</ref> piloted by the [[Pinzón brothers]].{{Sfn|Dyson|1991|p=102}} Columbus first sailed to the Canary Islands. There he restocked provisions and made repairs then departed from [[San Sebastián de La Gomera]] on 6 September,{{sfn|Phillips|Phillips|1992|pp=146–147}} for what turned out to be a five-week voyage across the ocean.

On 7 October, the crew spotted "[i]mmense flocks of birds".<ref name="Nicholls2009">{{Cite book |last=Nicholls |first=Steve |title=Paradise Found: Nature in America at the Time of Discovery |pages=[https://archive.org/details/paradisefoundnat00stev/page/103 103–104] |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-226-58340-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/paradisefoundnat00stev/page/103}}</ref> On 11 October, Columbus changed the fleet's course to due west, and sailed through the night, believing land was soon to be found. At around 02:00 the following morning, a lookout on the ''Pinta'', [[Rodrigo de Triana]], spotted land. The captain of the ''Pinta'', [[Martín Alonso Pinzón]], verified the sight of land and alerted Columbus.{{sfn|Morison|1991|p=226}}<ref>Lopez, ([[#CITEREFLopez1990|1990]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=wyh9-rhsaQgC&pg=PT14 p. 14]); Columbus & Toscanelli ([[#CITEREFColumbusToscanelli2010|2010]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=MI7dzFQZHOoC&pg=PA35 p. 35])</ref> Columbus later maintained that he had already seen a light on the land a few hours earlier, thereby claiming for himself the lifetime pension promised by Ferdinand and Isabella to the first person to sight land.{{sfn|Murphy|Coye|2013}}<ref>Lopez, ([[#CITEREFLopez1990|1990]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=wyh9-rhsaQgC&pg=PT15 p. 15])</ref> Columbus called this island (in what is now the Bahamas) {{lang|es|San Salvador}} ('Holy Savior'); [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|the Natives]] called it [[Guanahani]].{{Sfn|Bergreen|2011|ref=none|p=99}}{{Efn|According to [[Samuel Eliot Morison]], [[San Salvador Island]], renamed from Watling's Island in 1925 in the belief that it was Columbus's San Salvador,<ref>William D. Phillips Jr., 'Columbus, Christopher', in David Buisseret (ed.), ''The Oxford Companion to World Exploration'', (Oxford University Press, online edition 2012).</ref> is the only island fitting the position indicated by Columbus's journal. Other candidates are the [[Grand Turk]], [[Cat Island, Bahamas|Cat Island]], [[Rum Cay]], [[Samana Cay]], or [[Mayaguana]].{{sfn|Morison|1991|p=228}}}} [[Christopher Columbus's journal]] entry of 12 October 1492 states:<blockquote>I saw some who had marks of wounds on their bodies and I made signs to them asking what they were; and they showed me how people from other islands nearby came there and tried to take them, and how they defended themselves; and I believed and believe that they come here from {{lang|es|tierra firme}} to take them captive. They should be good and intelligent servants, for I see that they say very quickly everything that is said to them; and I believe they would become Christians very easily, for it seemed to me that they had no religion. Our Lord pleasing, at the time of my departure I will take six of them from here to Your Highnesses in order that they may learn to speak.<ref name="DunnKelly1989">{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=Oliver |last2=Kelley |first2=James E. Jr. |title=The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America, 1492–1493 |year=1989 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-2384-4 |pages=67–69 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nS6kRnXJgCEC&pg=PA67}}</ref></blockquote>

Columbus called the inhabitants of the lands that he visited {{lang|es|Los Indios}} ('Indians').<ref name="Hoxie 1996 p.">{{cite book |last=Hoxie |first=Frederick |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofno00hoxi/page/568 |title=Encyclopedia of North American Indians |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-395-66921-1 |location=Boston |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofno00hoxi/page/568 568]}}</ref> He initially encountered the [[Lucayan people|Lucayan]], [[Taíno]], and [[Arawak]] peoples.<ref name="Keegan2015">{{cite journal |last1=Keegan |first1=William F. |title=Mobility and Disdain: Columbus and Cannibals in the Land of Cotton |journal=Ethnohistory |year=2015 |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=1–15 |doi=10.1215/00141801-2821644 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273291078}}</ref> Noting their gold ear ornaments, Columbus took some of the Arawaks prisoner and insisted that they guide him to the source of the gold.<ref name=Zinn>{{harvnb|Zinn|2003|pp=[https://archive.org/details/peopleshistoryof00howa/page/1 1–22]}}</ref> Columbus did not believe he needed to create a fortified outpost, writing, "the people here are simple in war-like matters ... I could conquer the whole of them with fifty men, and govern them as I pleased."<ref>Columbus ([[#CITEREFColumbus1991|1991]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=OxbLxcS5uYgC&pg=PA87 p. 87]). Or "these people are very simple as regards the use of arms ... for with fifty men they can all be subjugated and made to do what is required of them." (Columbus & Toscanelli, [[#CITEREFColumbusToscanelli2010|2010]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=MI7dzFQZHOoC&pg=PA41 p. 41])</ref> The Taínos told Columbus that another indigenous tribe, the [[Kalinago|Caribs]], were fierce warriors and [[Human cannibalism|cannibals]], who made frequent raids on the Taínos, often capturing their women, although this may have been a belief perpetuated by the Spaniards to justify enslaving them.<ref name="Figueredo2008">{{cite book |last1=Figueredo |first1=D. H. |title=A Brief History of the Caribbean |year=2008 |publisher=Infobase |isbn=978-1-4381-0831-5 |page=9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RsNPdvRtT7oC&pg=PA9}}</ref><ref name="Deagan2008">{{cite book |last1=Deagan |first1=Kathleen A. |title=Columbus's Outpost Among the Taínos: Spain and America at La Isabela, 1493–1498 |year=2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-13389-9 |page=32 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWGZP0V8WroC&pg=PA32}}</ref>

Columbus also explored the northeast coast of Cuba, where he landed on 28 October. On the night of 26 November, Martín Alonso Pinzón took the ''Pinta'' on an unauthorized expedition in search of an island called "Babeque" or "Baneque",<ref name="Hunter2012">{{cite book |last1=Hunter |first1=Douglas |title=The Race to the New World: Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, and a Lost History of Discovery |year=2012 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-34165-4 |page=62 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fYrvCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62}}</ref> which the natives had told him was rich in gold.<ref name="Magasich-AirolaBeer2007">{{cite book |last1=Magasich-Airola |first1=Jorge |last2=Beer |first2=Jean-Marc de |title=America Magica: When Renaissance Europe Thought It Had Conquered Paradise |edition=2nd |year=2007 |publisher=Anthem |isbn=978-1-84331-292-5 |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SauW0UOVcp0C&pg=PA61}}</ref> Columbus, for his part, continued to the northern coast of [[Hispaniola]], where he landed on 6 December.<ref name="Anderson-Córdova2017">{{cite book |last1=Anderson-Córdova |first1=Karen F. |title=Surviving Spanish Conquest: Indian Fight, Flight, and Cultural Transformation in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico |year=2017 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0-8173-1946-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RNoZDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA55 |page=55}}</ref> There, the ''Santa María'' ran aground on 25 December 1492 and had to be abandoned. The wreck was used as a target for cannon fire to impress the native peoples.{{sfn|Murphy|Coye|2013|pp=31–32}} Columbus was received by the native ''[[cacique]]'' [[Guacanagari]], who gave him permission to leave some of his men behind. Columbus left 39 men, including the interpreter [[Luis de Torres]],{{Sfn|Morison|1991|p=145}}{{Efn|Torres spoke Hebrew and some Arabic; the latter was then believed to be the mother tongue of all languages.{{sfn|Morison|1991|p=145}}}} and founded the settlement of [[La Navidad]], in present-day [[Haiti]].<ref name="DeaganCruxent1993">{{cite journal |last1=Deagan |first1=Kathleen |last2=Cruxent |first2=José Maria |author1-link=Kathleen Deagan |author2-link=José Cruxent |title=From Contact to Criollos: The Archaeology of Spanish Colonization in Hispaniola |journal=Proceedings of the British Academy |date=1993 |volume=81 |page=73 |url=http://publications.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/pubs/proc/files/81p067.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://publications.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/pubs/proc/files/81p067.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Maclean2008">{{cite magazine |last=Maclean |first=Frances |title=The Lost Fort of Columbus |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-lost-fort-of-columbus-8026921/ |magazine=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |date=January 2008 |access-date=24 January 2008}}</ref> Columbus took more natives prisoner and continued his exploration.<ref name=Zinn /> He kept sailing along the northern coast of Hispaniola with a single ship until he encountered Pinzón and the ''Pinta'' on 6 January.<ref name="Gužauskytė2014">{{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 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0SWAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA96 |page=96}}</ref>

On 13 January 1493, Columbus made his last stop of this voyage in the Americas, in the [[Bay of Rincón]] in northeast Hispaniola.<ref>Fuson, Robert. ''The Log of Christopher Columbus'' (Camden, International Marine, 1987) 173.</ref> There he encountered the [[Ciguayos]], the only natives who offered violent resistance during this voyage.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lTsLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA33 |title=Confronting Columbus: An Anthology |publisher=McFarland & Co. |last=Yewell |first=John |first2=Chris |last2=Dodge |year=1992 |location=Jefferson, NC |page=33 |isbn=978-0-89950-696-8 |access-date=28 February 2016}}</ref> The Ciguayos refused to trade the amount of bows and arrows that Columbus desired; in the ensuing clash one Ciguayo was stabbed in the buttocks and another wounded with an arrow in his chest.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XwI7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA159 |title=The Journal of Christopher Columbus |publisher=Hakluyt Society |last=Markham |first=Clements R. |year=1893 |location=London |pages=159–160 |access-date=28 February 2016}}</ref> Because of these events, Columbus called the inlet the {{lang|es|Golfo de Las Flechas}} ('[[Bay of Arrows]]').<ref name="DunnKelly1989341">{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=Oliver |last2=Kelley |first2=James E. Jr. |title=The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America, 1492–1493 |year=1989 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-2384-4 |page=341 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nS6kRnXJgCEC&pg=PA341}}</ref>

Columbus headed for Spain on the ''Niña'', but a storm separated him from the ''Pinta'', and forced the ''Niña'' to stop at the island of Santa Maria in the Azores. Half of his crew went ashore to say prayers of thanksgiving in a chapel for having survived the storm. But while praying, they were imprisoned by the governor of the island, ostensibly on suspicion of being pirates. After a two-day stand-off, the prisoners were released, and Columbus again set sail for Spain.<ref name="Catz1990">{{Cite journal |title=Columbus in the Azores |jstor=41104900 |journal=Portuguese Studies |date=1990 |pages=19–21 |volume=6 |first=Rebecca |last=Catz}}</ref>

Another storm forced Columbus into the port at Lisbon.{{sfn|Murphy|Coye|2013|p=}} From there he went to {{lang|pt|Vale do Paraíso}} north of Lisbon to meet King John II of Portugal, who told Columbus that he believed the voyage to be in violation of the 1479 [[Treaty of Alcáçovas]]. After spending more than a week in Portugal, Columbus set sail for Spain. Returning to Palos on 15 March 1493, he was given a hero's welcome and soon afterward received by Isabella and Ferdinand in Barcelona.<ref name="Kamen2014">{{cite book |last1=Kamen |first1=Henry |title=Spain, 1469–1714: A Society of Conflict |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-75500-5 |page=51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=akIsAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51}}</ref> To them he presented kidnapped Taínos and various plants and items he had collected.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fernández-Armesto |first=Felipe |author-link=Felipe Fernández-Armesto |url=https://archive.org/details/amerigomanwhogav0000fern |title=Amerigo: The Man Who Gave His Name to America |publisher=Random House |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4000-6281-2 |location=New York}}</ref>{{rp|54}}

One of the ten Natives taken on the return trip was a Lucayan Taíno from Guanahani thought to be 13–15 years of age, who Columbus adopted as his son upon their arrival in Spain; the boy, whose Lucayan name is unknown, received the name ''[[Diego Columbus (Lucayan)|Diego]]'' at baptism. Initially, Diego had been recognized for his intelligence and rapid acquisition of Spanish customs, and would serve as a guide and interpreter on each of Columbus's subsequent voyages. By the second voyage's departure later in 1493, Diego was the only Native out of the ten taken to Europe who had not died or become seriously ill as the result of disease; while on this voyage, he played a vital role in the discovery of La Navidad. He subsequently married and had a son, also named Diego, who died of illness in 1506. Following Columbus's death, Diego spent the rest of his life confined to [[Santo Domingo]], and does not reappear in the historical record following a smallpox epidemic that swept Hispaniola in 1519.{{sfnm|Caballos|2004|Ostapkowicz|2023|2pp=314–316}}

[[Columbus's letter on the first voyage]], probably dispatched to the Spanish court upon arrival in Lisbon, was instrumental in spreading the news throughout Europe about his voyage. Almost immediately after his arrival in Spain, printed versions began to appear, and word of his voyage spread rapidly.<ref name="Ife1992">{{cite web |last1=Ife |first1=Barry |title=Early Modern Spain: Introduction to the Letters from America |url=http://www.ems.kcl.ac.uk/content/pub/b002.html |website=King's College London |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424100905/http://www.ems.kcl.ac.uk/content/pub/b002.html |archive-date=24 April 2021 |year=1992}}</ref> Most people initially believed that he had reached Asia.{{sfn|Morison|1991|p=381}} The [[Bulls of Donation]], three papal bulls of [[Pope Alexander VI]] delivered in 1493, purported to grant overseas territories to Portugal and the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. They were replaced by the [[Treaty of Tordesillas]] of 1494.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Diffie |first=Bailey Wallys |title=Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415–1580 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |others=Winius, George D. |year=1977 |isbn=0-8166-0782-6 |location=Minneapolis |page=173 |oclc=3488742 |author-link=Bailey W. Diffie}}</ref>

The two earliest published copies of Columbus's letter on the first voyage aboard the ''Niña'' were donated in 2017 by the Jay I. Kislak Foundation to the [[University of Miami]] library in [[Coral Gables, Florida]], where they are housed.<ref>{{cite news |last=Veciana-Suarez |first=Ana |date=22 January 2017 |title=This college donation is truly historic. And it's not just the artifacts involved |url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article128075264.html |newspaper=[[Miami Herald]] |access-date=22 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223042258/http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article128075264.html |archive-date=23 February 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Second voyage (1493–1496) ===
[[File:Columbus second voyage.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|Columbus's second voyage{{efn|Omitted from this image, Columbus returned to [[Guadeloupe]] at the end of his second voyage before sailing back to Spain.{{Sfn|Morison|1991|pp=498–501}}}}]]

On 24 September 1493, Columbus sailed from [[Cádiz]] with 17 ships, and supplies to establish permanent colonies in the Americas. He sailed with nearly 1,500 men, including sailors, soldiers, priests, carpenters, stonemasons, metalworkers, and farmers. Among the expedition members were [[Diego Álvarez Chanca|Alvarez Chanca]], a physician who wrote a detailed account of the second voyage; Juan Ponce de León, the first governor of [[Puerto Rico]] and Florida; the father of Bartolomé de las Casas; [[Juan de la Cosa]], a cartographer who is credited with making the first [[Map of Juan de la Cosa|world map depicting the New World]]; and Columbus's youngest brother Diego.<ref name="DeaganCruxent2008">{{cite book |last1=Deagan |first1=Kathleen A. |last2=Cruxent |first2=José María |title=Archaeology at La Isabela: America's First European Town |date=2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-13391-2 |page=xxxix (5)<!-- part of preface numbering --> |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rv4aeMw_PA4C&pg=PR39}}</ref> The fleet stopped at the Canary Islands to take on more supplies, and set sail again on 7 October, deliberately taking a more southerly course than on the first voyage.<ref name="Bedini2016705">{{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=705 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmmMCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA705}}</ref>

On 3 November, they arrived in the [[Windward Islands]]; the first island they encountered was named [[Dominica]] by Columbus, but not finding a good harbor there, they anchored off a nearby smaller island, which he named {{lang|es|Mariagalante}}, now a part of [[Guadeloupe]] and called [[Marie-Galante]]. Other islands named by Columbus on this voyage were [[Montserrat]], [[Antigua]], [[Saint Martin (island)|Saint Martin]], the [[Virgin Islands]], as well as many others.<ref name="Bedini2016705" />

On 17 November, Columbus first sighted the eastern coast of the [[island of Puerto Rico]], known to its native [[Taino]] people as {{lang|tnq|Borikén}}. His fleet sailed along the island's southern coast for a whole day, before making landfall on its northwestern coast at the Bay of [[Añasco]], early on 19 November. Upon landing, Columbus christened the island ''San Juan Bautista'' after [[John the Baptist]], and remained anchored there for two days from 20 to 21 November, filling the water casks of the ships in his fleet.<ref name="Monson1986">{{cite book |last1=Morison |first1=Samuel Eliot |title=The Great Explorers: The European Discovery of America |date=1986 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-504222-1 |pages=440, 448–449 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JnotvLHX80gC&pg=PA448}}</ref>

[[File:Inspiración de Cristóbal Colón, por José María Obregón.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|''The Inspiration of Christopher Columbus'' by [[José María Obregón]], 1856]]

On 22 November, Columbus returned to [[Hispaniola]] to visit ''La Navidad'' in modern-day [[Haiti]], where 39 Spaniards had been left during the first voyage. Columbus found the fort in ruins. He learned from [[Guacanagaríx]], the local tribe leader, that his men had quarreled over gold and taken women from the tribe, and that after some left for the territory of [[Caonabo]], Caonabo came and burned the fort and killed the rest of the men there.{{sfn|Morison|1991|pp=423–427}}<ref name="DeaganCruxent1993" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/taino/taino-conquest.htm |title=The Spanish Conquest of the Tainos |author=Antonio de la Cova |website=Latin American Studies |publisher=Antonio Rafael de la Cova |access-date=10 July 2011}}</ref><ref>Las Casas, Bartolomé, Las Casas on Columbus: Background and the 2nd and 4th Voyages (consisting of a section of History of the Indies by Las Casas, and commentary), Translated and Edited by Nigel Griffen, Brepols Publishers, Turnhout, Belgium, 1999 (original work: 1535), pp. 96–97</ref>

Columbus then established a poorly located and short-lived settlement to the east, [[La Isabela]],<ref name="DeaganCruxent2008" /> in the present-day [[Dominican Republic]].<ref>"[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090319132954.htm Teeth Of Columbus's Crew Flesh Out Tale Of New World Discovery]". ''ScienceDaily''. 20 March 2009.</ref> By the end of 1494, disease and famine had killed two-thirds of the Spanish settlers there.<ref name="Austin-Alchon2003">{{Cite book |last=Austin Alchon |first=Suzanne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YiHHnV08ebkC&pg=PA62 |title=A Pest in the Land: New World Epidemics in a Global Perspective |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8263-2871-7 |page=62 |access-date=28 February 2016}}</ref>

From April to August 1494, Columbus explored Cuba and Jamaica, then returned to Hispaniola.<ref>Las Casas, Las Casas on Columbus, Background and the 2nd and 4th Voyages, pp. 118–130</ref> Before leaving on this exploration to Cuba, Columbus had ordered a large number of men, under Pedro Margarit, to "journey the length and breadth of the island, enforcing Spanish control and bringing all the people under the Spanish yoke."<ref>Las Casas, Las Casas on Columbus, Background and the 2nd and 4th Voyages, pp. 117–118</ref> These men, in his absence, raped women, took men captive to be servants, and stole from the indigenous people. A number of Spanish were killed in retaliation.  By the time Columbus returned from exploring Cuba, the four primary leaders of the Arawak people in Hispaniola were gathering for war to try to drive the Spanish from the Island. Columbus assembled a large number of troops, and joined with his one native ally, chief [Guacanagarix], met for battle. The Spanish, even though they were largely outnumbered, won this battle, and over the next 9 months Columbus continued to wage war on the native Taíno on Hispaniola until they surrendered and agreed to pay tribute.<ref>Las Casas, Las Casas on Columbus, Background and the 2nd and 4th Voyages, pp. 130–134, 137–138, 147–149</ref>

Columbus implemented {{lang|es|[[encomienda]]}},<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yeager |first1=Timothy J. |date=3 March 2009 |title=''Encomienda'' or Slavery? The Spanish Crown's Choice of Labor Organization in Sixteenth-Century Spanish America |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=842–859 |doi=10.1017/S0022050700042182 |jstor=2123819 |s2cid=155030781}}</ref><ref>Lyle N. McAlister (1984). ''[[iarchive:spainportugalinn0000mcal/page/164|Spain and Portugal in the New World, 1492–1700]]''. University of Minnesota Press. p. 164. {{ISBN|0-8166-1218-8}}.</ref> a Spanish labor system that rewarded conquerors with the labor of conquered non-Christian people.  It is also recorded that punishments to both Spaniards and natives included whippings and mutilation (cutting noses and ears).<ref>De Cuneo, Michele. "Michel de Cuneo's Letter on the Second Voyage, 28 October 1495." Journal and other Documents in the Life of Christopher Columbus. Edited and Translated by Samuel Eliot Morison. New York: The Heritage Press, 1963. p. 215</ref><ref>Cólon, Ferdinand. The Life of The Admiral Christopher Columbus by His Son Ferdinand.  Edited and translated by Benjamin Keen.  New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1959 (Originally published 1571), p. 129</ref>

Columbus and the colonists enslaved many of the indigenous people,{{Sfn|Morison|1991|pp=482–85}} including children.<ref>Olson, Julius E. and Edward G. Bourne (editors). "The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985–1503", in ''The Voyages of the Northmen; The Voyages of Columbus and of John Cabot''. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1906), pp. 369–383.</ref> Natives were beaten, raped, and tortured for the location of imagined gold.<ref name="Stannard1993">{{cite book |last1=Stannard |first1=David E. |author-link=David Stannard |title=American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World |year=1993 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-983898-1 |page=69 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uWhdMtGt5xUC&pg=PA69}}</ref> Thousands committed suicide rather than face the oppression.<ref>Koning, Hans. Columbus, His Enterprise: Exploding the Myth. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1976: 83–83.</ref>{{efn|The tribute system had all but collapsed by 1497.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Deagan |first1=Kathleen A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWGZP0V8WroC&pg=PA62 |title=Columbus's Outpost Among the Taínos: Spain and America at La Isabela, 1493–1498 |last2=Cruxent |first2=José María |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-300-13389-9 |location=New Haven, CT |page=62}}</ref>}}

In February 1495, Columbus rounded up about 1,500 Arawaks, some of whom had rebelled, in a great slave raid. About 500 of the strongest were shipped to Spain as slaves,{{sfn|Dyson|1991|pp=183, 190}} with about two hundred of those dying en route.<ref name="Zinn" /><ref name="CohenPenman2017">{{Cite web |last1=Cohen |first1=Rhaina |last2=Penman |first2=Maggie |last3=Boyle |first3=Tara |last4=Vedantam |first4=Shankar |date=20 November 2017 |title=An American Secret: The Untold Story Of Native American Enslavement |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/11/20/565410514/an-american-secret-the-untold-story-of-native-american-enslavement |url-status=live |access-date=25 May 2021 |website=NPR |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171121033940/https://www.npr.org/2017/11/20/565410514/an-american-secret-the-untold-story-of-native-american-enslavement |archive-date=21 November 2017}}</ref>

In June 1495, the Spanish Crown sent ships and supplies to Hispaniola. In October, Florentine merchant Gianotto Berardi, who had won the contract to provision the fleet of Columbus's second voyage and to supply the colony on Hispaniola, received almost 40,000 {{lang|es|maravedís}} worth of enslaved Indians. He renewed his effort to get supplies to Columbus, and was working to organize a fleet when he suddenly died in December.<ref name="Felipe2007">{{Cite book |last=Fernández-Armesto |first=Felipe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j9khjlWQPWUC&pg=PA54 |title=Amerigo: The Man Who Gave His Name to America |publisher=Random House |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4000-6281-2 |location=New York |pages=54–55}}</ref> On 10 March 1496, having been away about 30 months,{{Sfn|Morison|1991|p=497}} the fleet departed La Isabela. On 8 June the crew sighted land somewhere between Lisbon and [[Cape St. Vincent]], and disembarked in Cádiz on 11 June.<ref name="Cook 1998">{{cite book |last=Cook |first=Noble David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dvjNyZTFrS4C&pg=PA36 |title=Born to Die: Disease and New World Conquest, 1492–1650 |year=1998 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-62730-6 |page=36}}</ref>

=== Third voyage (1498–1500) ===
[[File:Columbus third voyage.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|Third voyage]]

On 30 May 1498, Columbus left with six ships from [[Sanlúcar de Barrameda|Sanlúcar]], Spain. The fleet called at Madeira and the Canary Islands, where it divided in two, with three ships heading for Hispaniola and the other three vessels, commanded by Columbus, sailing south to the Cape Verde Islands and then westward across the Atlantic. It is probable that this expedition was intended at least partly to confirm rumors of a large continent south of the Caribbean Sea, that is, South America.<ref name="Saunders2005">{{cite book |last1=Saunders |first1=Nicholas J. |title=The Peoples of the Caribbean: An Encyclopedia of Archaeology and Traditional Culture |year=2005 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-701-6 |pages=75–76 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XNbqUR_IoOMC&pg=PA75}}</ref>

On 31 July they sighted [[Trinidad]],<ref name="Flint2017">{{cite book |last1=Flint |first1=Valerie Irene Jane |title=The Imaginative Landscape of Christopher Columbus |date=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-8717-0 |page=158 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=65srDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA158}}</ref> the most southerly of the Caribbean islands. On 5 August, Columbus sent several small boats ashore on the southern side of the [[Paria Peninsula]] in what is now Venezuela,<ref name="Allen1997">{{cite book |last1=Fuson |first1=Robert H. |editor1-last=Allen |editor1-first=John Logan |title=North American Exploration |chapter=The Columbian Voyages |year=1997 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-1015-8 |pages=180–181 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RGlz9a4wVYC&pg=PA180}}</ref>{{Sfn|Bergreen|2011|p=249}} near the mouth of the [[Orinoco]] river.<ref name="Saunders2005" /> This was the first recorded landing of Europeans on the mainland of South America,<ref name="Allen1997" /> which Columbus realized must be a continent.<ref name="Zeruvabel2003">{{cite book |title=Terra Cognita: The Mental Discovery of America |last=Zerubavel |first=Eviatar |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7658-0987-2 |pages=90–91 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YkLCiKN0x4UC&pg=PA90}}</ref><ref name="Cervantes2021">{{cite book |last1=Cervantes |first1=Fernando |title=Conquistadores: A New History of Spanish Discovery and Conquest |year=2021 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-101-98128-3 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z7LQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA41}}</ref> The fleet then sailed to the islands of [[Chacachacare]] and [[Margarita Island|Margarita]], reaching the latter on 14 August,{{Sfn|Bergreen|2011|p=258}} and sighted [[Tobago]] and [[Grenada]] from afar, according to some scholars.<ref name="MorisonObregón1964">{{cite book |last1=Morison |first1=Samuel Eliot |last2=Obregón |first2=Mauricio |title=The Caribbean as Columbus Saw it |date=1964 |publisher=Little, Brown |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BcFkAAAAMAAJ&q=%2214%20August%22}}</ref><ref name="Allen1997" />

On 19 August, Columbus returned to Hispaniola. There he found settlers in rebellion against his rule, and his unfulfilled promises of riches. Columbus had some of the Europeans tried for their disobedience; at least one rebel leader was hanged.{{Sfn|Bergreen|2011|pp=284–285}}

In October 1499, Columbus sent two ships to Spain, asking the Court of Spain to appoint a royal commissioner to help him govern.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brink |first=Christopher |url={{GBurl|T9NoDwAAQBAJ |p=78}} |title=Christopher Columbus: Controversial Explorer of the Americas |page=78 |publisher=Cavendish Square |date=2019}}</ref> By this time, accusations of tyranny and incompetence on the part of Columbus had also reached the Court. The sovereigns sent [[Francisco de Bobadilla]], a relative of Marquesa [[Beatriz de Bobadilla]], a patron of Columbus and a close friend of Queen Isabella,<ref name="Hofman1994">{{cite book |last1=Hofmann |first1=Heinz |editor1-last=Haase |editor1-first=Wolfgang |editor2-last=Meyer |editor2-first=Reinhold |title=The Classical Tradition and the Americas: European Images of the Americas and the Classical Tradition (2 pts.) |year=1994 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-011572-7 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I1LEmKPgJ8MC&pg=PA617 |chapter=Columbus in Neo-Latin Epic Poetry}}</ref>{{sfn|Phillips|Phillips|1992|p=125}} to investigate the accusations of brutality made against the Admiral. Arriving in Santo Domingo while Columbus was away, Bobadilla was immediately met with complaints about all three Columbus brothers.{{Sfn|Bergreen|2011|ref=none|pp=276–277}} He moved into Columbus's house and seized his property, took depositions from the Admiral's enemies, and declared himself governor.<ref name="Allen1997" />

Bobadilla reported to Spain that Columbus once punished a man found guilty of stealing corn by having his ears and nose cut off and then selling him into slavery. He claimed that Columbus regularly used [[torture]] and [[mutilation]] to govern Hispaniola.{{efn|Bobadilla's 48-page report, derived from the testimonies of 23 people who had seen or heard about the treatment meted out by Columbus and his brothers—had originally been lost for centuries, but was rediscovered in 2005 in the Spanish archives in [[Valladolid]]. It contained an account of Columbus's seven-year reign as the first governor of the Indies. Consuelo Varela, a Spanish historian, states: "Even those who loved him [Columbus] had to admit the atrocities that had taken place."<ref name="newspaper1" />}} Testimony recorded in the report stated that Columbus congratulated his brother Bartholomew on "defending the family" when the latter ordered for a woman to be paraded naked through the streets and then had her tongue cut because she had "spoken ill of the admiral and his brothers".{{Sfn|Bergreen|2011|pp=283}} The document also describes how Columbus put down native unrest and revolt: he first ordered a brutal suppression of the uprising in which many natives were killed, and then paraded their dismembered bodies through the streets in an attempt to discourage further rebellion.<ref name="A&E">{{cite AV media |title=Columbus Controversy |url=http://www.history.com/topics/exploration/columbus-controversy |access-date=12 August 2013 |publisher=A&E Television Networks}}</ref> Columbus vehemently denied the charges.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Columbus |first=Christopher |title=Select Letters of Christopher Columbus: With Other Original Documents, Relating to his Four Voyages to the New World |date=2010 |others=Richard Henry Major, Diego Alvarez Chanca |isbn=978-0-511-70808-4 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> The neutrality and accuracy of the accusations and investigations of Bobadilla toward Columbus and his brothers have been disputed by historians, given the anti-Italian sentiment of the Spaniards and Bobadilla's desire to take over Columbus's position.<ref>{{cite book |last=[[Felipe Fernández-Armesto]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W4w8EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 |title=Columbus on himself |date=2010 |publisher=Hackett Pub. Co |others=Christopher Columbus |isbn=978-1-60384-317-1 |location=Indianapolis |page=186 |oclc=794493189 |quote=Bobadilla was prejudiced in advance by what he heard, or what the monarchs relayed, from Columbus detractors. HIs brief was to conduct a judicial inquiry into Columbus' conduct, an unjust proceeding, in the Admiral's submission, since Bobadilla had a vested interest in an outcome that would keep him in power. [...] Motivated by self-interest or excessive zeal, Bobadilla clapped Columbus in irons with his brothers, gathered depositions against them, and shipped them back to Spain.}}</ref><ref name="nas.org">{{cite web |title=National Association of Scholars – Remembering Columbus: Blinded by Politics by Robert Carle |url=https://www.nas.org/academic-questions/32/1/rembering_columbus_blinded_by_politics |website=www.nas.org |access-date=18 June 2020}}</ref><ref name="Cervantes202146">{{cite book |last1=Cervantes |first1=Fernando |title=Conquistadores: A New History of Spanish Discovery and Conquest |year=2021 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-101-98128-3 |pages=46–47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z7LQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |location=New York}}</ref>

In early October 1500, Columbus and Diego presented themselves to Bobadilla, and were put in chains aboard ''La Gorda'', the caravel on which Bobadilla had arrived at Santo Domingo.{{Sfn|Bergreen|2011|ref=none|p=276}}<ref name="Gužauskytė2014179">{{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=179 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0SWAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA179}}</ref> They were returned to Spain, and languished in jail for six weeks before King Ferdinand ordered their release. Not long after, the king and queen summoned the Columbus brothers to the Alhambra palace in Granada. The sovereigns expressed indignation at the actions of Bobadilla, who was then recalled and ordered to make restitutions of the property he had confiscated from Columbus.<ref name=":2">{{cite book |last=Hale |first=Edward Everett |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=40vhDAAAQBAJ |title=The Life of Christopher Columbus |date=2021 |publisher=Prabhat Prakashan}}</ref> The royal couple heard the brothers' pleas; restored their freedom and wealth; and, after much persuasion, agreed to fund Columbus's fourth voyage.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cervantes |first=Fernando |title=Conquistadores: a new history of Spanish discovery and conquest |date=2021 |isbn=978-1-101-98126-9 |location=New York |publisher=Penguin}}</ref> However, [[Nicolás de Ovando]] was to replace Bobadilla and be the new governor of the [[West Indies]].<ref name=":3">Noble, David Cook. "Nicolás de Ovando" in ''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture'', vol. 4, p. 254. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.</ref>

New light was shed on the seizure of Columbus and his brother Bartholomew, the [[Adelantado]], with the discovery by archivist Isabel Aguirre of an incomplete copy of the testimonies against them gathered by Francisco de Bobadilla at Santo Domingo in 1500. She found a manuscript copy of this {{lang|es|pesquisa}} (inquiry) ‌in the Archive of [[Simancas]], Spain, uncatalogued until she and Consuelo Varela published their book, ''{{lang|es|La caída de Cristóbal Colón: el juicio de Bobadilla}}'' (''The fall of Christopher Colón: the judgement of Bobadilla'') in 2006.<ref name="Leon2012">{{cite journal |last1=Leon |first1=Istvan Szaszdi |title=Castilian Justice and Columbian Injustice. The end of the Columbian Government in Hispaniola |journal=Journal on European History of Law |volume=3 |issue=2 |date=1 January 2012 |page=9 |url=https://www.academia.edu/42882992}}</ref><ref name="VarelaAguirre2006">{{cite book |last1=Varela |first1=Consuelo |last2=Aguirre |first2=Isabel |title=La caída de Cristóbal Colón: el juicio de Bobadilla |year=2006 |publisher=Marcial Pons Historia |isbn=978-84-96467-28-6 |page=175 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SwtMUtesSDEC&pg=PA175 |language=es}}</ref>

=== 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" />