On departing St. Croix, Columbus’s fleet coursed east over the next few days toward “Española.” While primary sources differ, my estimation is that Columbus now held almost thirty indigenous people seized or taken aboard at Guadeloupe and St. Croix. Some were Caribes,...

After Guadeloupe, the fleet explored the archipelago of islands to the north. Columbus named one for the Virgin of another Spanish monastery, Montserrat, a second for the Virgin who worked miracles in Seville’s cathedral, Saint Antigua, and a third—as the day of...

At last! Columbus and Caonabó: 1493–1498 Retold goes on sale today! See the reviews of historians and others under Reviews, as well as purchase links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, and IndieBound (you select your participating independent bookstore)!

After Dominica and Marie-Galante, Columbus’s fleet anchored for a week (November 4–10, 1493) at the twin islands close to Marie-Galante that the Kalinago or Caribe inhabitants called Caloucaera and Couchoalaoua. Columbus named them as one—Santa María de Guadalupe...

At 5 a.m. on November 3, 1493, 528 years ago today, a lookout on Columbus’s flagship, the María Galante, sighted a volcano topping the sea mist in the moonlight. By dawn, islands of the archipelago now known as the Lesser Antilles came into view, and Columbus directed...

For this Indigenous Peoples’ Day, I post a link to my article published yesterday on the History News Network explaining why I believe it’s important to retell the traditional “Columbus story” from both Taíno and European perspectives. HNN Article

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,...

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...

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...

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...