Wednesday, September 19, 2012

CURIOSITIES ABOUT THE CATHOLIC MONARCHS           



Columbus Letter on the First Voyage

The Catholic Monarchs permitted to Christopher Columbus to realize his expedition to Asia, but he went to the American continent instead of Asian continent, and he brought a letter to King Ferdinand of Spain Describing the First Voyage (1493).

In that letter he spoke about some different things like for example that he has passed from the Canary Islands to the Indies in thirty-three days ( because he thought that he arrived to the Indies instead of America), and the good state of the water, so the majority of which contain gold.

The existence of many spices and great mines of gold and of other metals were other important theme in that letter and he tell also how the people of this island all go naked, men and women, as their mothers bore them, although some of the women cover a single place with the leaf of a plant or with a net of cotton which they make for the purpose, also they don't hold any creed nor are they idolaters; but they all believe that power and good are in the heavens and were very firmly convinced that I, with these ships and men, came from the heavens, and in this belief they everywhere received me after they had mastered their fear.

He also said something about the other islands such as Espanola, has a circumference greater than all Spain.

At the end of the letter he tried to obtain support from the king and he put:

"In conclusion, to speak only of what has been accomplished on this voyage, which was so hasty, their Highnesses can see that I will give them as much gold as they may need, if their Highnesses will render me very slight assistance; presently, I will give them spices and cotton, as much as their Highnesses shall command… and slaves, as many as they shall order, and who will be from the idolaters. I believe also that I have found rhubarb and cinnamon, and I shall find a thousand other things of value, which the people whom I have left there will have discovered".

You can read all the letter and also download it in amhist.ist.unomaha.edu/.../...

7 comments:

Unknown said...

OH PILAR!
THIS IS A GREAT INFORMATION FOR THE HOMEWORK.
THANKS VERY MUCH!

Monica said...

Very good Pilar! I like your post, it is very interestig.

Paqui Pérez Fons said...

Good initiative, Pilar, but remember that you have to write a title for your post and include the source of the picture. The link redirects to the American Teaching Institute, but not durectly to the letter. Could you give the complete link?

I´m going to wait for the students´ corrections. If they don´t correct the mistakes, I´ll tell you what you should correct.

Good work!

Paqui Pérez Fons said...

Mónica, you could correct the mistakes you find!

Monica said...

Ok Paqui,I will try.
I think that:
-In the first line " The Catholic Monarchs permitted..." Instead of "permitted" is "they allowed". (I am not sure, but I tried. I haven´t found more mistakes.
Bye :)

Unknown said...

Thanks! :D
It's very possible that there are some mistakes but I corrected it after wrote it in microsoft word.
The next time I will try to do it better!!
Thanks for your comments! :D

Paqui Pérez Fons said...

Hello again,

These are my comments and corrections. Most of your mistakes are the verb tenses. You written them in present and you should have written them in the past:

- You have to write a title on the post box for the title and also add the source of the picture below it.

- As Mónica said, you can write "allowed" or "permitted". These verbs mean the same. But I think you wanted to say that the C. Monarchs made Columbus´ expedition to the Indies possible, because they financed or sponsored his project.

- Columbus reached the American continent instead of the Asian continent and he brought back a letter.

- he sailed from the Canary Islands....
- he thought that he had arrived...the majority of which contained gold

- other important metals were another important topic and he also told about ....were all naked... some of the women covered...which they made... they didn´t hold any creed nor were they idolaters...they all believed and were firmly convinced that Columbus.... they received him

- the name of the island in English is Hispaniola an it has a greater circumference than all the Iberian Peninsula.

- At the end of the letter... he wrote

You could add that Columbus told a lot of lies in this letter, because there were not spices or gold in the islands he "discovered". And you could also add why he tried to cheat the Catholic Monarchs.

That´s all. Remember to correct this.