Monday, October 29, 1492

by | | Cuba

Having reached Cuba, Columbus was unable to establish contact with the local peoples, as they fled when sailors went ashore. Columbus dispatches one of the Guanahanían captives ashore as an emissary—but the locals abandon their homes and flee again.

Tuesday, October 30, 1492

by | | Cuba

Offshore the modern Bahía de Gibara, Cuba, Columbus believes he’s almost arrived at the kingdom of the Grand Khan of Cathay written about by Marco Polo. He prepares to dispatch an embassy of crewmen inland to meet the local ruler. Guanahanían captives offer to...

Thursday, November 1, 1492

by | | Cuba

Before dispatching the embassy ashore, Columbus again tries to establish relations with the local villagers. He sends a Guanahanían captive ashore with instructions to tell the villagers the Europeans are good and harm no one. The villagers lead the captive inside a...

Friday, November 2, 1492

by | | Cuba

Columbus dispatches his embassy ashore to find and meet the local ruler, who he believes resides four days inland. The embassy consists of two crewmen—one who had once led a mission to meet an African ruler, the other conversant in Arabic—as well as one of the...

Tuesday, November 6, 1492

by | | Cuba

Columbus’s embassy to seek out the local Cuban ruler returned late Monday evening to report that the territory’s king had warmly received them and that the local people harvested great quantities of cotton. The locals also farmed a crop unknown in Europe they called...

Thursday, November 8, 1492

by | | Cuba, Spain

Columbus’s daily ship’s log of the voyage was presented to Queen Isabella when he returned to Spain in 1493 and has been lost since her death. Isabella had a copy made and given to Columbus in 1493, which has been lost since the 16th century. Before the copy vanished,...