I have just received word that my friend, Christopher Columbus, just convinced the King and Queen to pay for his voyage. He is hoping that he can find a new route to India. I have been invited to go with him along with 87 other men. We must leave our wives and children at home, hoping that one day we will return to them. There were three different ships built in Spain for this voyage: The Niña, Pinta, and Santa María. Then we were allowed to choose which boat to be on. I chose to be on the Santa Maria where Christopher Columbus was captain.
It was not until August 3, 1492, that we had set sail for India. We had only been sailing for about a month and we were already low on supplies. So instead of sailing for India, we had to change course and set sail for the Canary Islands. They are islands off of the NW coast of Africa. Once we had stayed there for a couple of days, we finally were on our course to India. On October 12, we reached India. The first man to see land was, Rodrigo de Triana. Everyone was very proud of him, but for Columbus to keep what was promised he said he saw a sprinkle of light (before anyone saw anything). When we got there, there were many naked people around us. Columbus had described them as ‘naked as the day they were born.’ Most of the people were under the age of thirty. All had very attractive bodies, and their hair was long and looked like something that should be on a horse’s tail. Many of them painted themselves, but their natural skin color was black or white. There were many scars on their bodies, so there must be some new species of creatures there. We immediately wanted to trade with them. So, after we made our friendship clear they had come to our ships where we were bringing parrots, cotton in bundles, and pottery. They were very creative people, they loved to dance and make music also. Then in exchange, we gave them glass, beads, and bells. It had occurred to us that these people were very poor in everything. Also, we saw that these people will be easy to turn into Christians and become great slaves. After staying there for two days, we set off to find more parts of India.
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We had explored many different islands before reaching another part of India. When we arrived at our next destination, we made it to China instead of another part of India. None of us had seen such a beautiful place, there were trees, birds, fruits, and many flowers. So, Columbus set two men to find the Emperor of China. They did not find him, but they did stumble across two native houses. We believe that many people live in one house together. The Indians say that this place is a gold mine filled with pearls. Then they were smoking something, and we decided to call it tobacco. We all enjoyed smoking it, so we quickly caught onto the new habit. Then in the coming days, we did a lot of exploring. There are multiple rivers, that are great in depth and width. All men, women, and children fled their houses, and the Generals ordered nothing shall be touched. So, nothing was touched. These houses are better than any of the previous houses. They all had dogs that never barked, and wild birds that were tamed in all the houses. While we continued to go throughout the land, it was very hot. Like how hot it is in May. He had named this place Rio de Mares. We roughly stayed here for about two months, learning the Indian ways, and doing trades with them.
On December 6 there was an island that seemed very tall (but not surrounded by mountains), beautiful valleys, and crops that seemed to look like wheat on the plains. Then that night we saw many fires with a lot of smoke, and it seemed to look like signals when people were at war. This island appears to be rockier than any of the others, and the trees are much smaller. Near the port, there was a beautiful valley filled with water. Also, we could see that the natives had fled as soon as they saw our ships. The Indians on the ship were already getting homesick. The Admiral considered taking them back to their homes, but he never seemed to set a course for back home. All of us hoped that the Indians we brought from their island would understand the language of these new natives. The Indians had made signs that there was gold on the island and the place where it was connected. Although they said that the gold was very far off the eastern. Then on December 25, the Santa María had run around and it needed to be abandoned. Columbus became captain over the Niña, and the Pinta had got separated from us. Then later, the Admiral talked with the chief and allowed some of our men to stay there. We left 39 of our men to set up a settlement, and we named it La Navidad.
Then after a long three months of being on the way home, we arrived on March 4, 1493. Even if we didn’t find the quickest way to India and China, we found something more extraordinary. Although we didn’t come back with ships filled with gold and spices, we found new land that no one thought there was. There were only ten people who died on this trip. Columbus and I decided that our greatest find was the natives. We thought that we might have found a new slave trade, but after years of being back, Queen Isabela decided not to open the New World to slave trading. I do believe that we made the world's greatest discovery, even if Christopher didn’t believe that.
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