When reading Christopher Columbus’ journal documenting his first voyage of discovery, I found myself thinking: “If I was reading this in the 15th century, I would think this was all fiction”.
Columbus starts documenting his journey aboard the Santa María the 3rd of August, 1492 after crossing the bar of Saltés and setting a course south by west from Islas Canarias, having set sail in Palos de Frontera, municipality located in the south of Spain. The first few entries document his time on the Santa María, his progress (distance-wise), the decisions he has to take as captain of the expedition, and minor day-to-day events aboard the caravels. Throughout the journey, Columbus logs daily distance entries into his journals. He often logs one distance, but gives his crew a totally different one. He always notes this in his journal.
I found this practice very interesting. I wonder whether Columbus was logging exaggerated numbers into the journal on purpose, just for the eyes of his sponsors.
Turns out, Columbus had wildly miscalculated the distance it would take to circumnavigate half of the globe in order to reach the West Indies. He’d given these numbers to his financiers. Columbus had a preference for the calculations of Greek geographer Marinus of Tyre, over Ptolemy’s more accurate ones, which led Columbus to believe his journey would take less time than what it really did. The noted difference in his journal might suggest that Columbus knew he had made a mistake and was trying to hide it from his sailors to avoid the risk of them bailing out on him halfway. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
When Columbus arrives on the newly discovered “West Indies”, he starts logging everything he sees. He writes about the flora, the fauna, the natives, the geography, the colours, and the possibilities. The hunt for gold, and the possibility of converting natives to Christianity become recurring theme throughout the rest of his journal. Everything Columbus sees and interacts with emanates an air of fantasy. The fertility of the soils, the fabulous fruit trees, the friendliness of the natives, the clearness of the waters. Everything Columbus writes is meant to be read. Meant to impress.
It seems as if Columbus logs the stuff that matters the most to his sponsors back in Spain. Columbus is trying to sell his discovery. After all, we know, his interests were more than just documenting this new world.
