Source of the Bad Columbus
He returned from his first voyage a national hero.
He returned from his third voyage disgraced and in chains,
his governorship of Hispaniola usurped by the ruthless Francisco de Bobadilla."
The first underline presents a more complicated honest view. The 2nd underline presents a negative.
Neither emphasizes enough the sources for either view.
Source:
One source of Bad Columbus.
His name is Bartolomé de las Casas. Every thing you read nowadays came through his hand. He's also the only source for Christopher Columbus' diary. He copied it, but the original one written by Christopher Columbus himself is lost. Bartolomé de las Casas did not write his observations until decades later. it seems like there are a 1000 sources on the internet. But most sources were touched by one hand -- Bartolomé de las Casas.
Read more for the provenance, the history of preserving this old source, here.
Let us examine this source.
Are we attempting to clean up Columbus?
No.
We just want to look at this source.
Eyewitness?
He knew the Columbus family. He did not accompany Columbus on the original voyage. He was too young to accompany his father who travelled with Columbus' 2nd voyage in 1493 . Bartolomé de las Casas went on the 3rd voyage to this new world in 1502 with Ovando, the 3rd Governor. He was 18.
Bartolomé de las Casas never saw Columbus in the new world.
They were both in the new world from 1502 to 1504 but never saw each other.
So Bartolomé de las Casas never saw first hand anything Christopher Columbus had done.
All he knew of specific actions by Christopher Columbus was his log book or diario. The original is lost.
He did see what the Governors who followed Columbus did. So all he knew of Columbus is what others said.
Hypocrisy then Epiphany
Bartolomé de las Casas also participated in the economy, which meant owning indigenous Indian slaves.
"He participated in slave raids and military expeditions against the native Taíno population of Hispaniola."
That was 1502. Not until 1514 did he renounce this system.
He came to see its horror.
Here's excerpts from the Wikipedia article on Bartolomé de las Casas (11 November 1484 – 18 July 1566):
In September 1510, a group of Dominican friars arrived in Santo Domingo led by Pedro de Córdoba; appalled by the injustices they saw committed by the slave owners against the Indians, they decided to deny slave owners the right to confession. Las Casas was among those denied confession for this reason.
It took 4 years later for Bartolomé de las Casas
to see the light.
In 1514, Las Casas was studying a passage in the book Ecclesiasticus (Sirach)[25] 34:18–22[a] for a Pentecost sermon and pondering its meaning. Las Casas was finally convinced that all the actions of the Spanish in the New World had been illegal and that they constituted a great injustice.
Hearsay Testimony
Bartolomé de las Casas did see what the Governors who followed Columbus did. So all he knew of Columbus is what others said.
Incentive to criminalize
Each succeeding Governor of the New World had the incentive to criminalize his predecessor.
This they did.
Columbus was sent home in chains. So was his son Diego Columbus.
They were sent home in chains by the Governor who followed Columbus - The 2nd Governor of this new world, Francisco de Bobadilla.
Technically Bobadilla declared himself Governor. He took over all the Columbus lands. He was not officially authorized by the King and Queen. The only authorization they gave him was to investigate Columbus and his brothers.
To own the riches of this land was high incentive.
Robbery of it was high incentive.
Arriving in Santo Domingo while Columbus was away, Bobadilla was immediately met with complaints about all three Columbus brothers.[174]
He moved into Columbus's house and seized his property, took depositions from the Admiral's enemies, and declared himself governor.[164]
Bobadilla reported to Spain that Columbus once punished a man found guilty of stealing corn by having his ears and nose cut off and then selling him into slavery. He claimed that Columbus regularly used torture and mutilation to govern Hispaniola.[l] Testimony recorded in the report stated that Columbus congratulated his brother Bartholomew on "defending the family" when the latter ordered for a woman to be paraded naked through the streets and then had her tongue cut because she had "spoken ill of the admiral and his brothers".[176] The document also describes how Columbus put down native unrest and revolt: he first ordered a brutal suppression of the uprising in which many natives were killed, and then paraded their dismembered bodies through the streets in an attempt to discourage further rebellion.[177]
The neutrality and accuracy of the accusations and investigations of Bobadilla toward Columbus and his brothers have been disputed by historians, given the anti-Italian sentiment of the Spaniards and Bobadilla's desire to take over Columbus's position.[180][181][182]
In early October 1500, Columbus and Diego presented themselves to Bobadilla, and were put in chains aboard La Gorda, the caravel on which Bobadilla had arrived at Santo Domingo.[183][184] They were returned to Spain, and languished in jail for six weeks before King Ferdinand ordered their release. Not long after, the king and queen summoned the Columbus brothers to the Alhambra palace in Granada. The sovereigns expressed indignation at the actions of Bobadilla, who was then recalled and ordered to make restitutions of the property he had confiscated from Columbus.[178] The royal couple heard the brothers' pleas; restored their freedom and wealth; and, after much persuasion, agreed to fund Columbus's fourth voyage.[185] However, Nicolás de Ovando was to replace Bobadilla and be the new governor of the West Indies.[186]"
Source
Another source material is the Valladolid Debate - this too comes from the hand of Bartolomé de las Casas
Assessment?
Later on Columbus' 2 sons spent decades in court to fight for titles, positions and land awarded by King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castille.
How much horror should be attributed to Columbus ?
How much horror should instead be attributed to his brothers or to the Governors who followed him?
It is hard to tell. He spent more time on the high seas exploring new land.
So what you were told was mostly what the Governors said, who came after Columbus.
Even the source for all this allows that Columbus was mostly a good man pressured to prove this exploration promised a wealthy ROI, return on investment, and to the greed and opportunism of the Governors who followed them.
That's it.
That's our lead story.
Read about those succeeding Governors of the new world.
Skip around.
Read bits and pieces
Compiled by Jim Moyer 9/1/2017, 9/16/2019, 10/12/2019, , updated 10/9/23, update 10/10/2023, 10/11/23, 10/16/2024, 10/22/2024, 10/23/2024
Table of Contents
Source Material
According to documents discovered by Spanish historians in 2005.
Multiple scholarly interpretations and descriptions of Columbus and his actions are based on the de las Casas transcription rather than the original copy of Columbus's Diario which has disappeared.
John E. Kizca, a professor and history department chair at Washington State University, argues that since the only remaining primary source of Columbus's journal was transcribed by Bartolome de las Casas, las Casas's transcription cannot be relied upon.
Kizca asserts that de las Casas's translation is biased due to his own personal opinions of Columbus and the magnitude of his actions in the Americas. Kizca explains that de las Casas hides Columbus's true motives through his transcription because he observes Columbus as the representative figure of manipulating the Native Americans and "as the embodiment of Spanish policy towards overseas expansion.".[15]
Dona de Sanctis, the editor in chief of the Italian American magazine, defends Columbus's interactions with the Tainos through his Diario.[20] She specifies that Columbus compliments the Native Americans' appearance and acumen upon first meeting them; she explains that Columbus's crew only retaliated with violence after the men Columbus left behind were killed off by the Tainos, and that Columbus's journal should serve as an important historical artifact emphasizing the significance of Columbus's accomplishments.[20] However, according to the journals, Columbus, unable to prove the Taino actually perpetrated the massacre, took no action whatsoever against the Taino.
All existing copies of the journal are based on Bartolomé de las Casas' abstract – a manuscript of 76 folios discovered in the library of the Duke of the Infantado by Martín Fernández de Navarrete in 1790.[2]
The manuscript was kept in the Biblioteca Nacional de España until 1925 when it was reported missing.[2]
Navarrete reported the discovery of the journal's abstract to his friend, Juan Batista Muñoz, who used it in his Historia del Nuevo Mundo published in 1793.[2]
In 1825, Navarrete published the abstract with expanded abbreviations, spelled out numerals, corrected punctuation and modernized spelling.[2]
Bartolomé de las Casas did not have the original journal either and was relying on a copy when he made his abstract.[2]
The author of this copy made several errors, frequently confusing the Columbian league with the Roman mile.[2]
The authenticity of las Casas's abstract was challenged by Henri Vignaud and Rómulo D. Carbia, both of whom believed it to be largely or entirely a fabrication.[11]
In 1939, las Casas's abstract was proven to be authentic by Samuel Eliot Morison, and this view was endorsed in later studies.[11]
Columbus's journal has been translated into English, Italian, French, German, Russian and other languages.[2]
The first English translation was made by Samuel Kettell and published in 1827.[12]
In 1991, an English translation based on the Sanz facsimile of the las Casas copy was published by the University of Oklahoma Press.[13]
John Cummins wrote The Voyage of Christopher Columbus: Columbus' Own Journal of Discovery in 1992, mixing translated parts of las Casas’s copy of the journal with excerpts from Diego Columbus's biography, to provide a comprehensive first-hand account of Columbus’s first voyage.[14]
The Controversial First Zoology of the Bahama Islands. ...
Gerace Research Centre https://www.geraceresearchcentre.com › pdfs PDF
by KC Buchan — Things changed in. 1962, when las Casa's Diario was printed as a photographic facsimile by Carlos Sanz, and in 1989, when a typeset transcription of the Diario ...19 pages
Another source material is the Valladolid Debate - this too comes from the hand of Bartolomé de las Casas
American Heritage article
This American Heritage article gives a short bio on that one author. See excerpts from that article. Skip around. Read bits and pieces:
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“…Las Casas’ monumental history remains without question the greatest single source of our knowledge of that milestone in human affairs. Born to an upper-class family in Seville, Las Casas was eighteen at the time of the voyage of discovery.
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His Father went with Columbus 2nd voyage
His father went with Columbus on the second voyage in 1493 and was among the first colonists on the island of Haiti, which the Spaniards called La Isla Espanola (Spanish Island).
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First time in New World 1502
Young Las Casas joined the colony in 1502 [ my note: travelling with Ovando] and for a time led the life of a landholder in this first Spanish settlement in the New World ….
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A Landholder and Slave Owner
and for a time led the life of a landholder in this first Spanish settlement in the New World. But his sensitive mind and heart were sickened by the cruel oppression of the natives. He took the vows of the Dominican order and resolved to devote the rest of his life to their cause, a resolve he never relinquished until the end of his life, at ninety-two.
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BACK TO SPAIN 1547
For three years he was bishop of Chiapas in southern Mexico; he then returned to Spain for the last time in 1547, becoming a permanent resident of the monastery of San Gregorio in Valladolid.
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Writing the Story 1527-1557
He began his Historia de las Indias in 1527, while he was still on Espanola, but did not complete it until thirty years later.
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Knew Columbus’ Son
He had become well acquainted with Diego, Columbus’ legitimate son and his successor as Admiral of the Indies, and with Diego’s highborn wife, Maria de Toledo, niece of the duke of Alba.
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Original Source Documents
They placed all of Columbus’ papers at his disposal, including a copy of the Journal of the First Voyage.
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Las Casas made an abstract of the latter for his own use, and it remains the only detailed record of the historic voyage.
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The original of the journal has been lost.
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The above italicized text is from this source:
Columbus and Genocide The discoverer of the New World was responsible for the annihilation of the peaceful Arawak Indians Edward T. Stone October 1975 Volume 26 Issue 6 of American Heritage
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“History of the Indies” has never been fully translated into English. The only translations into English are the 1971 partial translation by Andree M. Collar, and partial translations by Nigel Griffin in UCLA’s Repertorium Columbianum.
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Historia de las Indias in 1527 to 1557 wikipedia
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2nd Governor after Columbus
Known as Bobadilla
"In October 1499, Columbus sent two ships to Spain, asking the Court of Spain to appoint a royal commissioner to help him govern.[171] By this time, accusations of tyranny and incompetence on the part of Columbus had also reached the Court.
The sovereigns sent Francisco de Bobadilla, a relative of Marquesa Beatriz de Bobadilla, a patron of Columbus and a close friend of Queen Isabella,[172][173] to investigate the accusations of brutality made against the Admiral.
Arriving in Santo Domingo while Columbus was away, Bobadilla was immediately met with complaints about all three Columbus brothers.[174]
He moved into Columbus's house and seized his property, took depositions from the Admiral's enemies, and declared himself governor.[164]
Bobadilla reported to Spain that Columbus once punished a man found guilty of stealing corn by having his ears and nose cut off and then selling him into slavery. He claimed that Columbus regularly used torture and mutilation to govern Hispaniola.[l] Testimony recorded in the report stated that Columbus congratulated his brother Bartholomew on "defending the family" when the latter ordered for a woman to be paraded naked through the streets and then had her tongue cut because she had "spoken ill of the admiral and his brothers".[176] The document also describes how Columbus put down native unrest and revolt: he first ordered a brutal suppression of the uprising in which many natives were killed, and then paraded their dismembered bodies through the streets in an attempt to discourage further rebellion.[177]
The neutrality and accuracy of the accusations and investigations of Bobadilla toward Columbus and his brothers have been disputed by historians, given the anti-Italian sentiment of the Spaniards and Bobadilla's desire to take over Columbus's position.[180][181][182]
In early October 1500, Columbus and Diego presented themselves to Bobadilla, and were put in chains aboard La Gorda, the caravel on which Bobadilla had arrived at Santo Domingo.[183][184] They were returned to Spain, and languished in jail for six weeks before King Ferdinand ordered their release. Not long after, the king and queen summoned the Columbus brothers to the Alhambra palace in Granada. The sovereigns expressed indignation at the actions of Bobadilla, who was then recalled and ordered to make restitutions of the property he had confiscated from Columbus.[178] The royal couple heard the brothers' pleas; restored their freedom and wealth; and, after much persuasion, agreed to fund Columbus's fourth voyage.[185] However, Nicolás de Ovando was to replace Bobadilla and be the new governor of the West Indies.[186]"
Source
Francisco Fernández de Bobadilla
(c. 1450, Kingdom of Aragon – 11 July 1502, Mona Passage)
was a Spanish conquistador, colonial administrator, and Knight of the Order of Calatrava. He was the second Governor of the West Indies, replacing Christopher Columbus.
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As a member of the Order of Calatrava, in 1499, de Bobadilla was appointed to succeed Christopher Columbus as the second Governor of the Indies, Spain‘s new territories in the New World, by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
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Columbus Accused
Upon his arrival in the Colony of Santo Domingo on Hispaniola in August 1500, de Bobadilla upheld accusations of mismanagement made against Columbus, and had Columbus sent back to Spain in chains.[1]
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Bobadilla also pardoned Francisco Roldán, who had revolted against the rule of Columbus’s brother Bartholomew Columbus.[2]
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During his short term as governor, he canceled mining taxes in a successful attempt to stimulate gold production. But this action may have offended the crown and possibly lead to his recall to Spain. [3]
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In 1502, he was replaced as Governor of the Indies by Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres. Diego Columbus, the son of Christopher Columbus, arrived in Santo Domingo in April 1502, with Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres‘ flotilla.[4]
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Bobadilla died on 11 July [O.S. 1 July] 1502 during a hurricane that wrecked 20 vessels of the 31-ship convoy, including the flagship, El Dorado, in the Mona Passage returning to Spain. Among the surviving ships was the Aguja, the weakest ship of the convoy and which carried the gold Columbus was owed—spurring accusations that Columbus magically invoked the storm out of vengeance.[5]
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3rd Governor
known as Ovando
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Frey Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres
(later referenced as simply Ovando)
(Brozas, Extremadura, Spain 1460 – Madrid, Spain 29 May 1511)
was a Spanish soldier from a noble family and a Knight of the Order of Alcántara, a military order of Spain.
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Bobadilla investigated
He was Governor of the Indies (Hispaniola) from 1502 until 1509, sent by the Spanish crown to investigate the administration of Francisco de Bobadilla and re-establish order.
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His administration subdued rebellious Spaniards, and completed the brutal “pacification” of the native Taíno population of Hispaniola.[1]
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Expedition to the Americas
Thus, on 13 February 1502, he sailed from Spain with a fleet of thirty ships.[2]
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It was the largest fleet
that had ever sailed to the New World.
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The thirty ships carried around 2,500 colonists.[3] Unlike Columbus‘s earlier voyages, this group of colonists was deliberately selected to represent an organized cross-section of Spanish society. The Spanish Crown intended to develop the West Indies economically and thereby expand Spanish political, religious, and administrative influence in the region. Along with him also came Francisco Pizarro, who would later explore western South America and conquer the Inca Empire.
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Ovando Accused
Another ship carried Bartolomé de las Casas, who became known as the ‘Protector of the Indians’ for exposing atrocities committed by Ovando [Frey Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres ] and his subordinates.
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Hernán Cortés,
a family acquaintance and distant relative, was supposed to sail to the Americas in this expedition, but was prevented from making the journey by an injury he sustained while hurriedly escaping from the bedroom of a married woman of Medellín.[4]
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Who did come?
The expedition reached Santo Domingo in April 1502, and included Diego de Nicuesa and Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon. Also on board were 13 Franciscans, led by Friar Alonso de Espinar, bringing the total on the island to 25.[5]
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Administration.
Island Hispaniola with Captaincy General of Santo Domingo
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Ovando suppresses Rebellion
When Ovando arrived in Hispaniola in 1502, he found the once-peaceful natives in revolt. Ovando and his subordinates ruthlessly suppressed this rebellion through a series of bloody campaigns, including the Jaragua Massacre and Higüey Massacre. Ovando’s administration in Hispaniola became notorious for its cruelty toward the native Taíno. Estimates of the Taino population at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards in 1492 vary, with Anderson Córdova giving a maximum of 500,000 people inhabiting the island.[6]
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Ovando reported on
By the 1507 census, according to Bartolomé de las Casas battlefield slaughter, enslavement and disease had reduced the native population to 60,000 people, and the decline continued.
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Slavery
In 1501, Ovando ordered the first importation of Spanish-speaking black slaves into the Americas. Many Spanish aristocrats ordered slaves to work as servants in their homes. However, most slaves were sent to work in the sugar cane fields, which produced the valuable cash crop.
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Ovando’s Development
After the conquests made by his lieutenants including Juan Ponce de León and Juan de Esquivel, Ovando founded several cities on Hispaniola. He also developed the mining industry, introduced the cultivation of sugar cane with plants imported from the Canary Islands, and commissioned expeditions of discovery and conquest throughout the Caribbean. Ovando allowed Spanish settlers to use the natives in forced labor, to provide food for the colonists as well as ships returning to Spain. Ovando also allowed the Taíno to be exploited for their labor, and hundreds of thousands died while forced to extract gold from the nearby mines.
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Ovando Removed
Pursuant to a deathbed promise he made to his wife Queen Isabella I, King Ferdinand II of Aragon recalled Ovando to Spain in 1509 to answer for his treatment of the native people.
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was appointed his successor as governor, but the Spanish Crown permitted Ovando to retain possession of the property he brought back from the Americas.
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Ovando dies
Ovando died in Spain on 29 May 1511. He was buried in the church of the former monastery of San Benito de Alcántara, which belonged to his military order and which sustained significant damage in later centuries.
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Son of Christopher Columbus
4th Governor
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In August 1508,
he was named Governor of the Indies,
the post his father had held, arriving to Santo Domingo in July 1509.
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He established his home
(Alcázar de Colón), which still stands there, in Santo Domingo in what is now the Dominican Republic.
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Diego Columbus’ Powers
In 1511, a royal council declared Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Cuba were under Diego’s power “by right of his father’s discovery.” However, Uraba and Veragua were deemed excluded, since the council regarded them as being discovered by Rodrigo de Bastidas. The council further confirmed Diego’s titles of Viceroy and admiral were hereditary, though honorific. Furthermore, Diego had the right to one-tenth of the net royal income. However, factions soon formed between those loyal to Diego and Ferdinand’s royal officials.
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Diego Columbus Recalled
Matters deteriorated to the point that Ferdinand recalled Diego in 1514. Diego then spent the next five years in Spain “futilely pressing his claims.” Finally, in 1520, Diego’s powers were restored by Charles.[2]:143–144,148,197
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Diego Columbus back in Power
Diego returned to Santo Domingo on 12 Nov. 1520 in the midst of a native revolt in the area of the Franciscan missions on the Cumana River. This was also the area of the Spanish salt and pearl trade, besides slave hunting. Diego sent Gonzalo de Ocampo on a punitive expedition with 200 men and 6 ships. Then in 1521, Diego invested in Bartolomé de las Casas‘ enterprise to settle the Cumana area. That failure, blamed on Diego, meant the loss of the king’s confidence.
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The first major slave revolt in the Americas occurred in Santo Domingo during 1522, when enslaved Muslims of the Wolof nation led an uprising in the sugar plantation of admiral Don Diego Colon. Many of these insurgents managed to escape to the mountains where they formed independent maroon communities among the Tainos.
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Diego Columbus Recalled Again
That loss, plus Diego’s defiance of royal power on Cuba, forced Charles to reprimand Diego in 1523 and recall him back to Spain.[2]:204–210,213,215
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After his death,
a compromise was reached in 1536 in which his son, Luis Colón de Toledo, was named Admiral of the Indies and renounced all other rights for a perpetual annuity of 10,000 ducats, the island of Jamaica as a fief, an estate of 25 square leagues on the Isthmus of Panama, then called Veragua, and the titles of Duke of Veragua and Marquess of Jamaica.
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After [Diego] Columbus’s death on February 23, 1526 in Spain, the rents, offices and titles in the New World went into dispute by his descendants.
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Description by Son
This is a different son, an illegitimate one, but who was recognized by his father and who supported him, during an age when illegitimacy was not looked at as a pariah.
Ferdinand Columbus (Spanish: Fernando or Hernando Colón; Portuguese: Fernando Colombo; Italian: Fernando Colombo; 15 August 1488 – 12 July 1539) was a Spanish bibliographer and cosmographer, the second son of Christopher Columbus. His mother was Beatriz Enriquez de Arana, whom his father never married.
The best written description we have of him comes from his son, Fernando. Fernando describes his father as “a vigorous man, of tall stature, with blond beard and hair, clear complexion and blue eyes.”
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CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS (BORN ABOUT 1446, DIED 1506)1519
Painted in Rome by one of the outstanding Venetian masters of the High Renaissance, this badly damaged portrait purports to show Christopher Columbus. The inscription identifies him as “the Ligurian Colombo, the first to enter by ship into the world of the Antipodes 1519,” but the writing is not entirely trustworthy and the date 1519 means that it cannot have been painted from life, as Columbus died in 1506. There are other, quite different, portraits that also claim to show Columbus. Nonetheless, from an early date our picture became the authoritative likeness. In 1814 the painting was part of the collection of Prince Talleyrand and was exhibited at the Palais Royal in Paris.
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Author: Culture.pl
Published: Sep 2 2016
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Manuel Rosa, a Portuguese historian, claims that the man who discovered America was not of Genoese origin as is commonly believed, but descended from a Polish King. Culture.pl investigates his hypothesis.
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Another related story on Columbus
Bad Christopher Columbus
Oct 10, 2023, updated Oct 14, 2024
Columbia vs Britannia - Origin Story for America
Oct 10, 2023
Was Columbus blonde? Or red haired with freckles?
Oct 10, 2023, updated Oct 14, 2024
Herta Jones' home and Columbus and Winchester VA
Aug 21, 2022
Columbus picked as Symbol
Feb 22, 2016
Bartholomew de las Casas : his life, his apostolate, and his writings / by Francis Augustus MacNutt, 1909
Christopher Columbus: his portraits and his monuments. A descriptive catalogue, by William Eleroy Curtis, 1893
What did Christopher Columbus look like?
Will the Real Christopher Columbus Please Stand Up?
In 1893, Scientific American and other publications reported evidence that a true likeness, produced by none other than the Italian artist Titian, had been found
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Ship Nicknames
The Pinta, the name of one of Columbus' ships, is Spanish for “the painted one” or “prostitute.”[1]
While the Santa Maria was the official flagship, Columbus frequently complained about its clumsiness and slowness. His favorite ship was the Nina, which was swifter and smaller.[2]
Nina means girl.
From Chrisitian Science Monitor:
MYTH: Columbus’s ships were the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.
FACT: Their original names were la Santa Clara, la Pinta, and la Santa Gallega.
As was common of the time, the crews gave each ship nicknames. La Santa Clara became la Niña ("the girl"); la Pinta became la Pintada ("the painted one," in other words, "the prostitute"); and la Santa Gallega became Maria Galante (the name of another prostitute). The church censored these nicknames, but the way we remember them today borrows heavily from the crews' vernacular.
Gallega is the language of Galicia, an area right above Portugal in Spain.
From Snopes:
As we all learned by rote in school, they were the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Yet uncertainty remains among historians about the "official" or "original" names of the ships, as opposed to the nicknames given to them by their crews.
The Washington Post, for example, observed that:
The Santa Maria was also known at the time as La Gallega, meaning "The Galician." The Niña is now believed to be a nickname for a ship originally called the Santa Clara, and the Pinta was probably also a nickname, though the ship’s real name isn’t clear.
The website for The Columbus Foundation, an entity that operated replicas of two of Columbus' ships (the Niña and the Pinta), also noted the difference between official religious names and nicknames for ships in that time and place:
The Niña was Columbus' favorite, and for good reason. She was named Santa Clara after the patron saint of [the Spanish port of] Moguer. A Spanish vessel in those days had an official religious name but was generally known by nickname, which might be a feminine form of her master's patronmyic, or of her home port. Santa Clara was always Niña, after her master-owner, Juan Nino of Moguer.
John Dyson's 1991 biography of Columbus avers that the Santa Maria was Columbus' own renaming of a vessel called La Gallega:
In Puerto de Santa Maria, [Columbus] found a three-master of about seventy tons called La Gallega ... When she sailed up Tinto and dropped anchor off Pálos, Columbus decided to rename her Santa Maria.
A Christian Science Monitor contributor went so far as to assert that the ships' common names were irreverent nicknames referring to prostitutes:
[The ships'] original names were la Santa Clara, la Pinta, and la Santa Gallega.As was common of the time, the crews gave each ship nicknames. La Santa Clara became la Niña ("the girl"); la Pinta became la Pintada ("the painted one," in other words, "the prostitute"); and la Santa Gallega became Maria Galante (the name of another prostitute). The church censored these nicknames, but the way we remember them today borrows heavily from the crews' vernacular.
Completely accurate details about the names of Columbus' ships may be impossible to determine at this remove, but the reality is definitely more complicated than the common mythology so many generations of youngsters were taught.
Source:
By David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.
More about the 3 ships:
Santa Maria
La Pinta
La Nina
About Columbus
Family
Columbus’ mother was Susanna Fontanarossa, the daughter of a wool merchant.
He had three brothers: Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo.
He also had a sister, Bianchinetta. Columbus was the eldest.[2]
Columbus operated a little mapmaking and bookselling shop with his brother Bartolomeo while he lived in Portugal.
Columbus had two sons by two different women. Diego Columbus (1480–1526) and [illegitimate] Fernando (1488–1539).[2]
Teenage years
When he was only 19, in 1470, Columbus took his first long voyage on one of his employer’s ships to the island of Chios in the Aegean Sea. It was probably on this trip and a second trip to Chios in 1475 that he learned how to navigate and steer a ship on open water on a long voyage.[1]
When Columbus was 14, he left school and his father’s wool workshop to apprentice himself to a merchant on a trading ship.[1]
Problems
Later in his life, for reasons unknown, Columbus wore a plain Franciscan habit everywhere he went.[2]
Near the end of his life, Columbus wrote a book called Book of Privileges that listed all the promises the Spanish crown had made to him over the years and the ways the crown had not honored these promises.[2]
Later in his life, Columbus began to write a bizarre book titled Book of Prophecies. In this book, he insisted that all his voyages had been divine missions directed by God. He believed the world was coming to an end and that he, Columbus, was bringing it about.[2]
During his fourth voyage, Columbus was in intense pain. His eyes bled regularly, which left him blind for long periods of time. He could barely sit or stand due to the pain in his joints. Many historians believe he was suffering from Reiter’s Syndrome, which causes diarrhea and inflammation in the joints, eyes, and bladder.[2]
Death
On May 20, 1506, at the age of 55, Columbus died at the court in Valladolid, Spain. His death went mostly unnoticed. In fact, the official court registry did not even record his passing until 10 days later. However, in the years and decades after his death, much of his fame and glory were returned to him.[2]
How big was the world?
Three countries refused to fund Columbus’ voyage: Portugal, England, and France. They refused because they thought he was a crackpot. They told him the Earth was much larger than he had calculated. They were actually right.[1]
One reason Columbus estimated the distance around the Earth shorter than other navigators is that he had read Arab maps. As he read the maps, he used a shorter distance for a mile than the Arab map makers had used, causing him to estimate the circumference as being one-fourth less than the actual number of miles. Additionally, Marco Polo’s book, which Columbus relied on, estimated China as much larger than it really was, which also shrank the distance from Europe to Asia.[1]
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That link used these references
1 Berne, Emma Carlson. Christopher Columbus: The Voyage That Changed the World. New York, NY: Sterling, 2008.
2 Chrisp, Peter. Christopher Columbus: Explorer of the New World. NY, New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2001.
3 "Columbus and the Night of the Bloody Moon." The Guardian. July 14, 1999. Accessed: September 30, 2024.
4 Fachner, Rebecca. “Did Muslims Visit America before Columbus?” History News Network. 2014. Accessed: January 27, 2014.
5 Flint, Valerie. "Christopher Columbus." Britannica. September 24, 2024. Accessed: September 30, 2024.
6 Lovejoy, Bess. "The Scattered Bones of Columbus." Laphams Quarterly. October 15, 2013. Accessed: September 30, 2024.
7 Molzahn, Arlene Bourgeois. Christopher Columbus: Famous Explorer. Berkeley Heights: NJ: Enslow Publishers, Inc, 2003.
8 "Was Christopher Columbus a Hero or a Villain?" Biography. October 9, 2023. Accessed: September 30, 2024.
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