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...

The island’s Taíno chieftains scrutinized Isabela’s construction in early 1494 and the permanent presence apparently intended—but they didn’t attack. The chieftains then traded peacefully among themselves and with other peoples in the Caribbean (excepting Caribes),...

Today, I break from posting chronologically about events depicted in Columbus and Caonabó: 1493–1498 Retold to discuss the weddings and marriages of three couples—Spain’s Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, the Taíno chieftain Caonabó and Anacaona, and Columbus and his...

Isabela’s construction progressed in January 1494, laid out just as a contemporary Spanish town, with a church, crown, and military buildings at its core, a fortified residence for Columbus and his staff, and the voyagers’ homes emanating from the core, ordered by...

After crossing Puerto de los Hidalgos, Alonso de Hojeda’s expedition descended south into the great valley of the modern Dominican Republic that Columbus would name La Vega Real (the Royal Plain). Journeying for two weeks, the men forded the Yaque River (which retains...

Columbus lost no time searching for the gold he’d promised Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. On January 7, 1494, 528 years ago, he dispatched an expedition of over thirty lightly armed soldiers to find it in the island’s mountainous interior, led by the man who would...

As depicted in Columbus and Caonabó, a third of the voyagers—some four hundred men—were beset with fevers, headaches, vomiting, and diarrhea within days of debarking on the promontory. Modern epidemiologists speculate that the causes included dysentery from the...

As depicted in Columbus and Caonabó, in December 1493 fierce easterly trade winds and harsh winter storms severely impeded Columbus’s journey east to select a permanent site to initiate the island’s conquest. When he finally anchored in the inlet at Río de Gracia,...

Departing Chief Guacanagarí and the ruins of Navidad, in December 1493 Columbus’s fleet sailed back east along “Española’s” northern coast, searching for the optimal site to establish a permanent coastal base from which to launch the island’s invasion and conquest. He...

On November 28, 1493, 528 years ago, a search party dispatched ashore reported to Columbus that Navidad had been burned to the ground. As recounted in Columbus and Caonabó, Columbus soon would confront Chief Guacanagarí, who would deny responsibility and blame Chief...