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. Consider the way in which Columbus describes the people he encounters on the islands. Explain the significance of this in regards to both the purpose and the central ideas expressed. Cite evidence from the letter to support your response.

Answer 1

Columbus’s description of the island peoples is carefully shaped to serve the letter’s twin purposes: to report a successful discovery and to persuade the Spanish crown to support and profit from further activity there. He stresses three linked ideas about the natives—their docility and generosity, their lack of weapons and iron, and their openness to Christianity—and he ties these features to the islands’ value (resources and harbors) and to divine favor for his enterprise.

First, he paints the people as harmless and easily accessible, which makes seizure and colonization seem simple and uncontroversial: “I took possession for our most fortunate king, with proclaiming heralds and flying standards, no one objecting.” He underscores their military impotence—“they are without weapons, which indeed are unknown”—so there is little threat to Spanish control. That claim supports the practical argument that occupation will be easy and low‑risk.

Second, he emphasizes their generosity and simplicity to portray them as suitable subjects and easy converts: “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 “they give valuable things for trifles.” By presenting them as willing to give and “very ready and favorably inclined” toward “the holy religion of Christ,” Columbus argues both moral and missionary rationales for intervention: souls to be saved and peoples receptive to Christian instruction.

Third, his descriptions of abundance and utility link the human portrait to economic and strategic motives: fertile plains, “a variety of spices, in gold, and in metals,” “very safe and wide harbors,” and many rivers. The natives’ social organization (one wife per man, centralized distribution of food) and mutual intelligibility (“there is no difference in the appearance of the people, nor in the manners and language, but all understand each other mutually”) are offered as additional reasons why administration, conversion, and exploitation would be straightforward.

Finally, Columbus frames the whole achievement as divinely sanctioned and a credit to the crown: “what the human understanding could not attain, that the divine will has granted to human efforts.” That theological claim supports his practical appeals by suggesting that these islands and peoples are a providential gift to Spain and the Church.

In sum, his portrait is not neutral ethnography but rhetorical strategy: to reassure the monarchs that conquest will be easy, profitable, and righteous—economic opportunity, strategic advantage, and missionary success all in one.