As depicted in Columbus and Caonabó, on March 10, 1496 (528 years ago), Chief Caonabó was unshackled from the ground in Columbus’s fortified residence at Isabela and escorted north through the settlement to its beach and pier, where he was hauled to sail with Columbus...

As related in my books and posts, Columbus enslaved Taínos and other indigenous peoples to serve as guides and interpreters as he explored about the Caribbean and subjugated “Española.” The most well-known of these boys and young men was the Taíno youth seized on...

In early 1496 (528 years ago), Columbus prepared to return to Spain in the Niña and India to defend himself from the investigator Juan Aguado’s criticisms, as well as haul Chief Caonabó to submit in person to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. Columbus had decided to...

In March 1495, Columbus had relocated Fray Ramón Pané from Fort Magdalena to Fort Concepción to instruct Chief Guarionex in Christianity, hoping Guarionex’s conversion would serve as an example to “Indians” throughout “Española.” Guarionex was renowned for his...

After his capture in March 1495 (post of March 17), Chief Caonabó was shackled in a partitioned portion of Columbus’s residence at Isabela. The first three photos show the preserved ruins of the residence (the thatched roof is modern), the residence’s main floor...

Columbus took ten Taínos to Europe at the end of his first voyage. For upcoming Indigenous Peoples’ Day, I reconstruct what the ten “discovered” during their first days after arrival, in and around Lisbon, Portugal, from March 4–10, 1493, a parallel to Columbus’s...

Chief Manicoatex burned down the original wooden Fort Concepción at the time of the battle of Santo Cerro (March 1495). The precise site of this original fort is unknown, but it was erected adjacent to Chief Guarionex’s hometown of Guaricano near the base of Santo...

By the summer of 1495, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand had grown sufficiently concerned with Fray Buil’s, Pedro Margarite’s, and others’ criticisms of Columbus’s governance and the failure of gold shipments home to appoint an investigator to review his conduct and...

Following the hurricane (see prior post), Columbus ordered Isabela’s shipwrights to construct two new caravels, the first ships so designed made in the Americas. He’d survived violent storms—during the return ocean crossing of the first voyage and the Cuban...

A tremendous storm ravaged “Española” in the summer of 1495 (528 years ago), and the Spaniards adopted the Taínos’ word for it—hurakán—as the storm’s fury and swirl so distinguished it from storms they knew. As depicted in Columbus and Caonabó, the hurricane uprooted...