Kennedy #3

Phillips, William D., and Carla Rahn. Phillips. The Worlds of Christopher Columbus. Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Martin Pinzon, a voyage with Columbus, attempted to sue him. The family and lawyers wanted to give Pinzon more of the credit on the voyage and less to Columbus. Even though they didn’t win this, you see the start to Columbus’ cruelness. Before leaving the Guanahani/San Salvador islands, he wanted to bring several items back to Spain with him. They could be kept, traded, or even turned into profit. Jewelery, food, just goods in general. Unfortunately that also included people. In Columbus’ entries, he included that the men he encountered weren’t very aggressive, and would make good servants. In one entry, he explained his intention to take home six of these men back to Spain. But in a later entry he would admit that seven would return to Europe instead of six. Back in Europe, they could be converted to Christianity and taught the Castilian language. They would later return on several voyages to serve as translators.