A L E T T E R T O T H E T R E A S U R E R O F

S P A I N

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–––––––––––––––––––– Christopher Columbus ––––––––––––––––––

February 14, 1493

Because my undertakings have attained success, I know that it will be

pleasing to you: these I have determined to relate, so that you may be made

acquainted with everything done and discovered in this our voyage. On the

thirty-third day after I departed from Cadiz, I came to the Indian sea, where I

found many islands inhabited by men without number, of all which I took

possession for our most fortunate king, with proclaiming heralds and flying

standards, no one objecting.

To the first of these I gave the name of the blessed Saviour, on whose aid

relying I had reached this as well as the other islands. But the Indians called it

Guanahany. I also called each one of the others by a new name. For I ordered

one island to be called Santa Maria of the Conception, another Fernandina,

another Isabella, another Juana, and so on with the rest.…

This island [Juana] is surrounded by many very safe and wide harbors, not

excelled by any others that I have ever seen. Many great and salubrious rivers

flow through it. There are also many very high mountains there. All these

islands are very beautiful, and distinguished by various qualities; they are

accessible, and full of a great variety of trees stretching up to the stars; the

leaves of which I believe are never shed, for I saw them as green and flourishing

as they are usually in Spain in the month of May; some of them were

blossoming, some were bearing fruit, some were in other conditions; each one

was thriving in its own way. The nightingale and various other birds without

number were singing, in the month of November, when I was exploring them.

There are besides in the said island Juana seven or eight kinds of palm trees,

which far excel ours in height and beauty, just as all the other trees, herbs, and

fruits do. There are also excellent pine trees, vast plains and meadows, a variety

of birds, a variety of honey, and a variety of metals, excepting iron. In the one

which was called Hispana,…there are great and beautiful mountains, vast

fields, groves, fertile plains, very suitable for planting and cultivating, and for

the building of houses.

The convenience of the harbors in this island, and the remarkable number of

rivers contributing to the healthfulness of man, exceed belief, unless one has

seen them. The trees, pasturage, and fruits of this island differ greatly from

those of Juana. This Hispana, moreover, abounds in different kinds of spices, in

gold, and in metals.…

All these people lack, as I said above, every kind of iron; they are also

without weapons, which indeed are unknown.…

They are of simple manners and trustworthy, and very liberal with everything

they have, refusing no one who asks for anything they may possess, and even

themselves inviting us to ask for things. They show greater love for all others

than for themselves; they give valuable things for trifles, being satisfied even

with a very small return, or with nothing; however, I forbade that things so

small and of no value should be given to them, such as pieces of plate, dishes

and glass, likewise keys and shoestraps; although if they were able to obtain

these, it seemed to them like getting the most beautiful jewels in the world.…

In all these islands there is no difference in the appearance of the people, nor

in the manners and language, but all understand each other mutually; a fact

that is very important for the end which I suppose to be earnestly desired by our

most illustrious king, that is, their conversion to the holy religion of Christ, to

which in truth, as far as I can perceive, they are very ready and favorably

inclined….

In all these islands, as I have understood, each man is content with only one

wife, except the princes or kings, who are permitted to have twenty. The

women appear to work more than the men. I was not able to find out surely

whether they have individual property, for I saw that one man had the duty of

distributing to the others, especially refreshments, food, and things of that

kind.…

Truly great and wonderful is this, and not corresponding to our merits, but to

the holy Christian religion, and to the piety and religion of our sovereigns,

because what the human understanding could not attain, that the divine will has

granted to human efforts. For God is wont to listen to his servants who love his

precepts, even in impossibilities, as has happened to us on the present occasion,

who have attained that which hitherto mortal men have never reached.…

These things that have been done are thus briefly related. Farewell, Lisbon,

the day before the ides of March.

—Christopher Columbus, admiral of the Ocean fleet