308: Columbus: Death in the Caribbean (Part 3)

The episode begins by examining the aftermath of Columbus's first voyage, where despite claiming to have reached Asia, Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella display ambivalence about his discoveries, simultaneously treating them as new territories to colonize while maintaining the fiction of reaching Asia. Columbus organizes a much larger second expedition in 1493 with 17 ships and approximately 1,500 men, establishing Spain's first major colonial venture.

The voyage encounters immediate problems when they discover the fort of Navidad destroyed and all 39 Spanish settlers dead, likely killed by locals after the Spaniards began stealing women and gold. Columbus establishes a new settlement called La Isabela, which proves to be poorly located and plagued by problems. The expedition encounters evidence of cannibalism among the Carib peoples, though the accuracy of these reports remains debated by modern scholars.

A disturbing pattern emerges of sexual violence against indigenous women, including a documented rape by Miguel Cuneo that Columbus facilitated. This reflects broader Spanish colonial attitudes and the tension between Queen Isabella's Christian moral strictures (she forbade bringing Spanish women) and the reality of male colonists' behavior.

As the expedition fails to find significant gold, Columbus begins enslaving indigenous people as an alternative revenue source, sending 550 Taíno people back to Spain as slaves. Queen Isabella responds with outrage, viewing the indigenous people as her subjects to be converted, not enslaved. This creates ongoing tension between Columbus's brutal methods and Spanish Catholic theology about the rights of potential Christian converts.

Columbus leaves the struggling colony to explore Cuba, which he insists is part of mainland Asia, forcing his crew to sign statements affirming this under threat of having their tongues cut out. He claims to see griffin footprints and believes he's encountered Prester John. During his absence, half the colonists die, many from syphilis contracted through sexual contact with locals.

By 1495, reports of Columbus's mismanagement and brutality reach Spain, leading to criticism from returned colonists and clergy. The Catholic monarchs break his trade monopoly and send an investigator. Columbus decides he must return to Spain personally to defend himself, bizarrely adopting Franciscan friar robes and growing a beard as a form of Christian image rehabilitation.