“In Nomine Domini Nostri Jesu Christli” meaning in the name of our Jesus Christ; Christopher Columbus wrote his petition of exploring the “Indias” to the King and Queen of Spain; at this time the whole crown didn’t have enough gold to purchase his journey, but it was simply his religious speech which is very interesting because he just knew that this was the way to get the founds for his journey. And behind all of this Catholic purpose, the Queen and King were extremely interested in probably getting a new colony, which at the time was very popular for the European countries.
(It is rumoured that the Queen sold her jewellery and financed Columbus expedition). He thought he was taking a new route to India, so he started to write down everything. I found very impressive the instruments and objects were used back in those times,, for example: “wind rose” which is the basis of a compass.
Then, the images start to show how was life at India (which is really the American Continent). I think that life in American territory was very different from life in Europe. All the objects show the traditions of the native cultures. And when he writes about the sea, it is a little bit clear that he just wasn’t just “discovering” a new path, but that he was navigating in completely different and estranges waters.
There was so much to discover and explore in that land; I find a pity that Columbus died thinking he went to India and not knowing he just visited an almost unexplored and new land.
I found the second lecture very interesting, because my first language is Spanish so I enjoyed a lot the explanations it had below the document. But also for being one of the documents that survived the European colonization. I’ve studied these events since I was in elementary school and I know that there are only a few vestiges of what indigenous or native people wrote back in those times; I felt very lucky when reading this document. The letter itself is very interesting, because of how it’s written and how the author refers to the pope; with a lot of respect. I found a part of the letter when Guaman speaks of himself and tries to define his origin and simply, who he is at the time, and then, he writes that he’s not even a “latino”. This specific phrase caught my attention; it is true that many indigenous people from the past and this days don’t feel the nationalism with their own country because it is the result of a cultural mixture, and their “roots” are not just unique.
You really do know a lot about Christopher Columbus, and I think that all the details about the Crown make your analysis more interesting and it also gives a nice background to the text. However I don’t think that it was a pity that Columbus died thinking he went to India, as I find him to be a deceitful person and a bad leader for his crew. I also agree with what you have to say about the second text, specially that last phrase.
You point out the demarcation between indigenous and “latino”, which I noticed in particular because in colonial Spanish society, there was actually an elaborate hierarchy based on the varieties of racial mixture in one’s ancestry. While their notion that certain mixtures were better than others was fallacious and full of Eurocentric bias, the awareness of one’s ancestry and the effects of that upon identity remains academically interesting
You seem to have an interesting perspective, and I think you perfectly capture the motivation behind Columbus’ voyage. It was a massive risk, but it seems to have paid off. With knowledge of this new route to a new land, Spain could more confidently invest in its exploration and exploitation. I think this is why Latin America is mostly Spanish-speaking, and not English or French. Spain was uniquely positioned to capitalize after Columbus’ voyage.
I too am glad we have some early texts written by indigenous scholars to act as reference. So often is history recorded by the voctor, leaving much behind. Although it is very incomplete, it is very fortunate we have some record of indigenous opinions, especially those that denounce their ill treatment.