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THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
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its axis in the Canary Islands and which, by the Treaty of Alcáçobas with Portugal (1479), fell at that time into the
Castilian control zone. In turn, the Aragonese Crown had various ongoing problems on the Italian peninsula.
The Court preoccupations effectively stalled his project.
Seven long years passed, of which little is known, before Columbus’s project was realized. In 1488, he had a
second son (Ferdinand) by the Cordoban Beatriz Enriquez de Arana, who later became a renowned bibliophile
and the guardian of his father’s memory. The matters in which the Spanish Crown was involved were not settled
until 1492, when the Jewish and Islamic issue was resolved through the expulsion of these groups, and finally,
Columbus obtained the desired support for his journey.
On April 17, 1492, at the royal encampment at Santa Fe, Granada, the monarchs signed the
Capitulations
,
which also led to the granting of titles, benefits, and rights. From then on, the Admiral of the Ocean Sea, Viceroy
and Governor of the islands and lands that were being discovered, Columbus was slated to enjoy a series of im-
portant financial privileges reaped from his discoveries: one-tenth of the net profits and one-eighth of the trading
profits obtained. On August 3, 1492, the two caravels, the Niña and the Pinta, and the ship Santa María were
loaded and armed, leaving Palos de la Frontera on their first journey. A mandatory stop in the Canary Islands
ended up delaying the voyage. However, on October 12, the so-called New World was finally reached with the
sighting of an island in the Bahamian archipelago, Guanahani, which the admiral renamed San Salvador. This
was followed, in subsequent months, by the discovery of a series of islands which would be renamed after the
royal family or saints. Following were the discoveries of Juana (Cuba) and Hispaniola (Haiti) and the establish-
ment of the first European settlement, with thirty men, at the fort of La Navidad. From that moment onward,
new peoples, new cultures and ecosystems were discovered, all vastly different from those of the Old World.
On January 16, 1493, the return voyage began with only two caravels (the Santa María was wrecked on
Christmas Day). That was a fundamental moment in history, because it blazed the path for the rise of an empire
on which—as Charles V would later say –“the sun never set.”
During the voyage, and on the occasion of a terrible storm, the admiral drafted a letter and threw it into the
sea in a barrel; perhaps it was the same one that he later sent to the monarchs, to Luis del Santángel (who, to-
gether with the Genoese Pinelli provided much of the financing for the voyage) and Gabriel Sánchez, in which he
summarized all of his experiences. His first voyage to the NewWorld ended on March 4, 1493, when he arrived
at the mouth of the Tagus aboard the Niña. After a challenging encounter with the Portuguese king, the admiral
finally arrived in Barcelona in April. Immediately printed and disseminated throughout Europe, unlike his jour-
nal that was kept secret at that time, his letter was the first official document on the “Discovery,” which was also
the focus of discussions among many diplomats and businessmen. Important papal bulls followed, intended to
validate what seems to be better defined in the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, which Columbus helped to develop.
The first great division in the world was born from the new pact agreed to by the Crowns of Castile and Portugal,
which stipulated the “dividing line” at 370 leagues from Cape Verde.
During the second voyage (1493 - 1495), which began in Cádiz with 17 ships and approximately 1,200 crew
members, and which was financed by the Genoese, Columbus came upon many islands in the Caribbean, arriv-
ing in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. While the first descriptions of the New World were being prepared,
and while the admiral—who was still vainly searching for the Cathay (China)—made his men swear that Cuba
was not an island but part of a main body of land, problems arose with the discovery of Spanish corpses at La
Navidad. This event was followed by ongoing and increasingly violent conflicts between the indigenous peoples
and the Spaniards. From that moment onward, the construction of a series of fortresses began, and, ultimately, a
growing slave trade ensued. Gold was finally found in the splendid Vega Real and Cibao regions, but, at the same
time, complications in managing the first city founded in Hispaniola arose. In fact, the second settlement of La
Isabela was soon abandoned due to environmental and meteorological problems. Two years later, in 1496, Santo
Domingo assumed the role of the first European urban center in the Americas and became the cornerstone of
the nascent empire.
Back in Spain, where he began to encounter a range of difficulties, Columbus, who received ever greater sup-