This text outline omits illustrations.
Canaries to the Caribbean (October 7, 1997)
Canaries to the Caribbean 1402-1506: Outline
Maritime expansion: Mediterranean, Africa, and the Atlantic
Arawak, native peoples of the Caribbean: Tainos and Caribs
Christopher Columbus (b. ca. 1451, d. 1506), Genoese
Destruction of the Indies
Norse expansion in the North Atlantic (text and archaeological evidence): Bjarni Herjolfsson, 985-6 Icelander Torfinnr Karlsefni
Maritime expansion: Mediterranean, Africa, and the Atlantic
- Mediterranean
- ship construction, navigational innovations, trade and plantations
- Atlantic
- Madeira, Azores, Cape Verde Islands, Canaries (Castille: 1402, 1478, 1482, 1493)
- Africa Portuguese, 1460: 1500 miles
- “factories”: slaving, trading, gold, ivory, spices: Sao Jorge de Mina (1481, Ghana)
Martin Behaim’s world globe, 1492
Portuguese expansion: Cape Verde and SăoTome
The Virgin of the Mariners protects Mediterranean galleys as well as the Atlantic caravels that gather in Seville
Arawak, native peoples of the Caribbean: Tainos and Caribs
Tainos, agriculturalists: Northern islands, 200 BC -1200 AD.
Caribs, Lesser Antilles: foragers and fishers and fighters
Linguistic legacy:
- barbacoa (barbecue), batata (sweet potato), cacique (chief), canoa, hamaca (hammock), maguey (cactus), maiz, etc.
Tainos, agriculturalists: Northern islands, 200 BC -1200 AD.
Caribs, Lesser Antilles: foragers and fishers and fighters
Linguistic legacy: barbacoa (barbecue), batata (sweet potato), cacique (chief), canoa, hamaca (hammock), maguey (cactus), maiz, etc.
First European Images, 1493 (accompanying Columbus’s letter)
Christopher Columbus (b. ca. 1451, d. 1506), Genoese
The Genoese connection: “carriers of the commercial-maritime tradition”
Columbus’s sea-faring experience:
- eastern Medit., Lisbon, Madeira, Sao Jorge de Mina (Ghana)
Theory: sail west 2,400 nautical miles to Japan (actually 4 times as far: 10,600)
First voyage: 3 Aug 92, 6 Sep (Canaries), Oct. 12 (Bahamas).
(virtual image from www.ipf.tuwien.ac.at/ veroeffentlichungen/ld_p_ch96_vrml/behaim.wrl) Martin Behaim’s world globe, 1492
Behaim placed Japan too close too Europe and too far from Asia
A schematic of Behaim’s globe: W. & C. Phillips The Worlds of Christopher Columbus
PPT Slide
Columbus’s coat of arms. The capitulaciones: “discover and acquire islands and Mainlands in the Ocean Sea”
Columbus’s 4 voyages
1st Voyage, “Capitulaciones”: suspicion that unknown lands would be found
2nd, 1493: from exploration/trade to settlement (17 vessels, 1200 men--no women)
3rd, 1498-1500: encountered mainland (Orinoco River)
4th, 1502: disaster; 1506, death
Four voyages
Voyages 3 and 4 (detail)
Destruction of the Indies
Cycles of gold mining: Indians forced to pan gold
Encomienda: entrusting Indians to Spaniards to work and to convert
Slaving expeditions to other islands replenish labor
Destruction of the Indies: occurred before the first smallpox epidemic (1518)
Tainos panning gold
The Black Legend
Americas 1562
End