Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand didn’t wait for Columbus to arrive in Barcelona to proclaim the triumph of their sponsorship of Columbus’s voyage or assert dominion over the Taíno territory he had explored. On April 1, 1493, after some editing, they published Columbus’s “Letter to Santángel” summarizing the voyage (see February 10). They dispatched instructions to their papal ambassador in Rome to obtain the broadest possible papal grant to the territory.
Isabella and Ferdinand also received the emissary of Portugal’s King John II, who asserted that territory explored south of the latitude of the southernmost Canary Island was Portugal’s. They sent diplomats back to John offering to discuss the matter but warning that he not organize a fleet to usurp the territory (i.e., so they could). The “Letter to Santángel” was translated into Latin and published in Rome as Isabella and Ferdinand’s ambassador negotiated with the Aragonese Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo de Borja).
Columbus and the six Taínos entered Barcelona for Columbus’s triumphant audience before Isabella and Ferdinand in mid-April. The Taínos then witnessed what the European participants understood included a celebration of the future subjugation of the Taíno homeland. Isabella and Ferdinand ordered their instruction in Christianity.