Canary Islands, October 2–13, 1493

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,...

Columbus’s Second Voyage Sails from Cádiz

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...

Isabella and Anacaona

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...

Chief Caonabó, in Columbus’s Own Words

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...