Question

Because my undertakings have attained success, I know that it will be pleasing to you: these I have determined to relate, so that you may be made acquainted with everything done and discovered in this our voyage. On the thirty-third day after I departed from Cadiz, I came to the Indian sea, where I found many islands inhabited by men without number, of all which I took possession for our most fortunate king, with proclaiming heralds and flying standards, no one objecting.

To the first of these I gave the name of the blessed Saviour, on whose aid relying I had reached this as well as the other islands. But the Indians called it Guanahany. I also called each one of the others by a new name. For I ordered one island to be called Santa Maria of the Conception, another Fernandina, another Isabella, another Juana, and so on with the rest.…

This island [Juana] is surrounded by many very safe and wide harbors, not excelled by any others that I have ever seen. Many great and salubrious rivers flow through it. There are also many very high mountains there. All these islands are very beautiful, and distinguished by various qualities; they are accessible, and full of a great variety of trees stretching up to the stars; the leaves of which I believe are never shed, for I saw them as green and flourishing as they are usually in Spain in the month of May; some of them were blossoming, some were bearing fruit, some were in other conditions; each one was thriving in its own way. The nightingale and various other birds without number were singing, in the month of November, when I was exploring them.

There are besides in the said island Juana seven or eight kinds of palm trees, which far excel ours in height and beauty, just as all the other trees, herbs, and fruits do. There are also excellent pine trees, vast plains and meadows, a variety of birds, a variety of honey, and a variety of metals, excepting iron. In the one which was called Hispana, …there are great and beautiful mountains, vast fields, groves, fertile plains, very suitable for planting and cultivating, and for the building of houses.

The convenience of the harbors in this island, and the remarkable number of rivers contributing to the healthfulness of man, exceed belief, unless one has seen them. The trees, pasturage, and fruits of this island differ greatly from those of Juana. This Hispana, moreover, abounds in different kinds of spices, in gold, and in metals.…

All these people lack, as I said above, every kind of iron; they are also without weapons, which indeed are unknown.…

They are of simple manners and trustworthy, and very liberal with everything they have, refusing no one who asks for anything they may possess, and even themselves inviting us to ask for things. They show greater love for all others than for themselves; they give valuable things for trifles, being satisfied even with a very small return, or with nothing; however, I forbade that things so small and of no value should be given to them, such as pieces of plate, dishes and glass, likewise keys and shoestraps; although if they were able to obtain these, it seemed to them like getting the most beautiful jewels in the world.…

In all these islands there is no difference in the appearance of the people, nor in the manners and language, but all understand each other mutually; a fact that is very important for the end which I suppose to be earnestly desired by our most illustrious king, that is, their conversion to the holy religion of Christ, to which in truth, as far as I can perceive, they are very ready and favorably inclined….

In all these islands, as I have understood, each man is content with only one wife, except the princes or kings, who are permitted to have twenty. The women appear to work more than the men. I was not able to find out surely whether they have individual property, for I saw that one man had the duty of distributing to the others, especially refreshments, food, and things of that kind.…

Truly great and wonderful is this, and not corresponding to our merits, but to the holy Christian religion, and to the piety and religion of our sovereigns, because what the human understanding could not attain, that the divine will has granted to human efforts. For God is wont to listen to his servants who love his precepts, even in impossibilities, as has happened to us on the present occasion, who have attained that which hitherto mortal men have never reached.…

These things that have been done are thus briefly related. Farewell, Lisbon, the day before the ides of March. To whom does Columbus address the letter? Why is this an important aspect of the letter in connection to its purpose? What other details from the letter can be used to support this?

Answer 1

To Luis de Santangel, the royal treasurer (a close royal official).

Why that matters for the letter’s purpose
- Santangel was a trusted intermediary and a key sponsor/advocate at the Spanish court; addressing him meant Columbus was reporting to someone who could transmit the news to the monarchs and help secure rewards, privileges, and further support.
- Because the letter’s audience is a royal official, its aim is partly political and promotional: to claim territory for the Spanish crown, to emphasize the value of the discovery, and to frame the expedition as both a commercial and a religious success that deserves royal favor.

Details in the text that support this reading
- Formal claim for the crown: “I took possession for our most fortunate king, with proclaiming heralds and flying standards” — Columbus is explicitly asserting sovereign rights over the islands.
- Naming islands after royalty/Christian figures: “the blessed Saviour,” “Santa Maria of the Conception, … Fernandina, … Isabella, … Juana” — flattering and tying the discoveries to the monarchs and Christianity.
- Emphasis on exploitable riches and usefulness to Spain: repeated references to “gold,” “spices,” “a variety of metals,” fertile plains, “very suitable for planting and cultivating,” and safe harbors. These details advertise economic value.
- Ease of control/conquest: “all these people lack…iron; they are also without weapons… They are of simple manners and trustworthy” — reassures the recipient that these territories are easy to dominate and convert.
- Religious/political appeal: “they are very ready… to their conversion to the holy religion of Christ,” and the closing praise linking the success to “the piety and religion of our sovereigns” — aligns the discovery with the crown’s religious mission and bolsters the moral/political case for support.
- Administrative tone and concern for order: Columbus reports forbidding gifts of trivial European objects, describing the planting and harbor advantages, and giving ethnographic details (marriage customs, social distribution of goods) — practical information useful to an official deciding policy or rewards.

Taken together, the addressee and these textual choices show the letter functions as an official report and a piece of persuasion aimed at securing royal recognition, material rewards, and continued backing for colonization and conversion.