by Andrew Rowen | Oct 5, 2021 | New York City
Columbus’s second fleet stopped over at Gran Canaria on October 2, 1493, where sugar was stocked and a leaking ship repaired, and then anchored in the tiny harbor at San Sebastián on Gomera on October 5, the latter shown in two photos below. Prior to his first voyage,...
by Andrew Rowen | Sep 25, 2021 | New York City
For readers of Columbus and Caonabó (coming this November 9!), I now begin posting photos, historic sketches, or other images relating to key events depicted in the book. On September 25, 1493, 528 years ago today, Columbus’s second fleet of seventeen ships departed...
by Andrew Rowen | Sep 18, 2021 | New York City
Women rulers were uncommon in both Taíno chiefdoms and European kingdoms during the fifteenth century. Nevertheless, the events related in Columbus and Caonabó: 1493–1498 Retold were significantly shaped by two women renowned in history—Spain’s Queen Isabella and the...
by Andrew Rowen | Sep 12, 2021 | New York City
When authorizing Columbus’s second voyage, Spain’s Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand instructed him to convert “Española’s” peoples by all ways and means. Pope Alexander VI had pronounced that the Lord was pleased for barbarous nations to be overthrown and brought to...
by Andrew Rowen | Aug 19, 2021 | New York City
Contemporary Spanish chroniclers of 1492—including Bartolomé de Las Casas—relate information about Chief Caonabó’s personality and his battle against Columbus’s invasion of “Española.” Most chroniclers derived this information largely through conversations with...