Christopher+Columbus'+second+voyage

toc Before Columbus left Spain on his second voyage, he had been directed by Ferdinand and Isabella to maintain friendly, even loving, relations with the indigenous people, the natives. With 17 ships, 1,200 men and boys including sailors, soldiers, colonists, priests, officials, gentlemen of the court, and horses, Columbus set out on another journey to the west. He left the port of Cadiz, Spain, on the 25th of september of 1493 aboard the Mariagalante, his flagship.

=__**Caribbean explorations**__=

On the 3rd of November of 1493, Christopher Columbus sighted a rugged island that he named Dominica. On the same day, he landed at Marie-Galante, which he named Santa Maria la Galante. After sailing past Les Saintes (Todos los Santos), he arrived at Guadaloupe (Santa Maria de Guadalupe), which he explored between the 4th of November and the 10th of November of 1493. The exact course of his voyage through the Lesser Antilles is debated, but it seems likely that he turned north, sighting and naming many islands including Santa Maria de Monstserrate (Montserrat), Santa Maria la Antigua, Santa Maria la Redonda, Nevis (Santa María de las Nieves), San Jorge (Saint Kitts), Santa Anastasia (Sint Eustatius), San Cristobal (Saba), San Martin (Saint Martin), and Santa Cruz (Saint Croix). He also sighted and named the island chain of Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Virgines (the Virgin Islands), and named the islands of Virgin Gorda, Tortola, and San Pedro (Peter Island).

He continued to the Greater Antilles, and landed on the island of San Juan Bautista, present day Puerto Rico, on the 19th of November of 1493. The first skirmish between people in the Americas and Europeans since the Vikings took place when his men rescued two boys who had just been castrated by their captors.





=__Hispaniola and haiti__=

On the 22nd of November, he returned to Hispaniola, where he found that his men at La Navidad had had been killed in a fight with the natives, but he did not accuse Chief Guacanagari, his ally, of any wrongdoing. Another Chief, named Caonabo in Jaragua, was charged. Columbus established a new settlement at Isabella, on the north coast of Hispaniola, where gold had first been found, but it was a poor location and the settlement had a short live. He spent some time exploring the interior of the island for gold. Finding some, he established a small fort in the interior.

He left Hispaniola on the 24th of April of 1494, and arrived at the island of Juana (Cuba, which he had discovered and named during his first voyage) on the 30th of April and Jamaica on the 5th of May. He explored the south coast of Juana, which he believed to be a peninsula of China rather than an island, and several nearby islands including La Evangelista (the Isle of Youth), before returning to Hispaniola on the 20th of Augoust. After staying for a time on the western end, present day Haiti, he finally returned to Spain.



=__Slavery, settlers and tribute__= = = During the second voyage, Columbus sent a letter to the monarchs proposing to enslave some of the Americas people, specifically from the Carib tribe, on the grounds of their independence-minded aggressiveness and their status as enemies of the Taíno tribe. Although his petition was refused by the Crown, in February 1495 Columbus disobeyed the Queen and took 1,600 people from the Arawak tribe, who were taken by the Caribbean as captives and slaves. There was no room for about 400 of the kidnapped and they were released, leaving 1,200 people forcibly taken from their homeland. This began Europeans practicing Slavery in the Spanish New World.

The many voyages of discovery did not pay for themselves, and there was no funding for pure science in the Renaissance. Columbus had planned, for Queen Isabella, to set up trading posts with the cities of the Far East made famous by Marco Polo, but whose Silk Road and eastern maritime routes had been blockaded to her crown's trade. Of course, Columbus would never find China or Japan, (he died thinking that he reached Asia).

Slavery was practiced widely at that time, among many peoples of the world, including some Indians. For the Portuguese the profits from enslaving people had resulted in the first 'financial return' on a 75 year investment in Africa.

Columbus enslaved five hundred and sixty people. The slaves were shipped to Spain; 200 died during the route back to Spain, and half of the rest were ill when they arrived. After legal proceedings in the Cortes, some survivors were ordered released and to be returned to their las Americas homeland, others were used by Queen Isabella as galley slaves. Columbus, desperate to repay his investors, failed to realize that Isabella and Ferdinand did not plan to follow or allow Portuguese slavery policy in this respect. Rounding up the slaves led to the first major battle between the Spanish and the free indigenous people in their old homeland, called by those invading it 'the New World.' Columbus was anxious to pay back dividends to those who had invested in his expedition, and in his promise of bringing gold. Columbus imposed a tribute system, similar to that of the still unknown Aztec Empire tribute on the mainland. All Cicaoan indigenous residents above 14 years of age were required to find and deliver a specific quote of gold every three months. Upon their doing so, they would receive copper ,that they wore around their necks. Any Indian found without a copper token had their hands cut off and subsequently bled to death.

Because of such extreme enforcement, Columbus did not obtain much gold, and many new foreign settlers were unhappy with the climate and disillusioned about their chances of getting rich quickly. Anthropologists have shown there was more marriage than previously believed. Columbus allowed settlers to return to their homeland with any Indian women with whom they had started families.

Rumors reached Ferdinand and Isabella that he governed Indian and Spaniard alike with brutality. Columbus placed his two brothers in charge of the colony and set sail for Spain on the 10th of March of 1496. Arriving in Cadiz on the 31st of July, he prepared to meet with the Spanish monarchs. The king and queen still favored Columbus despite the bad reports.

= __**This is the map of the second voyage:**__ = media type="custom" key="9697642"