Sailing east along Cuba’s southern coast to return to “Española,” on July 7, 1494 (528 years ago), Columbus brought his caravels to anchor by a river mouth at a promontory beneath coastal mountains where, on the outward voyage, he had traded peacefully with the...

After departing Cabo Cruz, Columbus’s caravels coursed the long stretches of Cuba’s southern shoreline that are hazardous to navigate, including south of Camagüey and around the Zapata peninsula. The waters frequently are shallow and appear “milky,” tangled with an...

In 1493, after Columbus’s first voyage, Pope Alexander VI issued papal bulls “awarding” Spain dominion over “Española” and other lands Columbus had “discovered,” i.e., the Taíno homeland, reasoning that the Lord was pleased that “barbarous nations” be overthrown and...

By the end of April 1494, Columbus’s three caravels reached Cuba, and he planted a cross at the island’s easternmost point, which today retains the name of the Taíno chiefdom then located there—Point Maisí. He believed the point was terra firma’s easternmost tip and...

Following Columbus’s departure for Cuba, Pedro Margarite promptly and openly disobeyed Columbus’s orders to: survey the island; attempt to establish the sovereigns’ dominion without triggering resistance; and capture Chief Caonabó. Instead, by early May 1494 (528...

Prior to the second voyage, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand had instructed Columbus promptly to explore the land the “Indians” called “Cuba” to ascertain whether it was the Indies mainland, and he’d advised them that this exploration would follow establishment of...

After dispatching reinforcements to Fort Santo Tomás, Columbus decided on the next steps to his conquest of “Española.” Alonso de Hojeda would replace Pedro Margarite as the fort’s warden, and Margarite was to march about the island with a squadron of almost four...

Columbus returned to Isabela in late March 1494, having left Pedro Margarite and a garrison of almost sixty men in the island’s mountainous Cibao to complete Fort Santo Tomás’s construction (see post of March 12). Within just days—April 1, 1494 (528 years...

The twelve ships Columbus had dispatched to Spain from Isabela on February 2, 1494 (see post of February 2), arrived Cádiz on March 7, and the surviving indigenous captives he’d taken on Guadeloupe and St. Croix (see posts of November 4 and 14) were transferred to the...

With Isabela’s construction underway on the coast, on March 12, 1494 (528 years ago), Columbus heralded his conquest of “Española,” marching with five hundred men into the mountainous region the Taínos called the Cibao to build a fort intended to garrison soldiers who...