During the next five years Columbus was in constant attendance about the Spanish Court. practicing his profession of cartographer and seeking to gain the royal interest in his plans. During 1486 and 1487 he succeeded so far as to have two important councils held, at Salamanca and at Granada, at which his propositions were discussed by the principal ecclesiastical and po litical dignitaries. The consensus of opinion was strongly against him, and Columbus, thor oughly discouraged, reopened negotiations with Portugal. which he revisited in 1488, being pres ent at the return of Dias from the Cape of Good Hope. It is supposed that his wife had died be fore this time, for his son Ferdinand, by Bcatriz llenriyaez, was born at Cordova in August, just before his visit to Portugal. Realizing the hope lessness of securing assistance in Portugal, Co lumbus induced his brother Bartholomew to go to England to lay his plans before King Henry VII., while lie himself determined to try his for tune in France. The famous story is well au thenticated which tells how he started off afoot with his little son Diego and stopped at the con vent of La R5bida to ask for food. The prior, Juan Perez de Marchena, entered into conversa tion with the stranger, grew interested in him, called in a neighbor who was learned in maritime affairs, and eventually became convinced that Spain ought to benefit by the idea with which Columbus had become possessed. A messenger was sent off to the Court, Queen Isabella's inter est was aroused, and Spanish America was the re sult. As soon as the royal support was granted, preparations for the voyage were hurried for ward. The Pinzon brothers, merchant sailors of Palos, furnished the money for the share in the expense which Colninbtrs had undertaken to pro vide, and the royal contribution of Queen Isa bella was advanced by the Treasurer, Santangel, from his private resources. The story that the Queen pawned her jewels to secure this money is rendered unlikely by the fact that she had pledged everything she possessed, several years before, to assist in the war against the Moors.
On August 3. 1492. everything was ready and Columbus, on the earful: Santa Maria, accom panied by the caravels Niiia and Pinta, sailed from Palos. A short stop was made at the Canaries, and then a course was steered due westward. Several days of calms followed, during which Columbus, foreseeing trouble with his crew, began to announce each day as the number of leagues sailed about th•ee-fou•ths of the real distance. On September 14th he noticed that the compass, which had previously, as in European waters, pointed to the east of the pole-star, was beginning to point west of it. This discovery of the variation of the needle is the first of a series of observations which, after the accumulated in formation of four hnndred years, still puzzles physicists. On October 8th, on the advice of Pin zon, who was captain of the Pinta, the oourse was changed to the southwest, and on the 12th land was reached. This was an island known to the natives as Guanahani, and named by Colum bus San Salvador, probably the one now called Watling's Island, one of the Bahamas. The land fall has been a subject of long dispute, and in Nestigators have at various times advocated the modern San Salvador, Cat, Grand Turk, Samana, and Acklin islands as the land on which Colum bus first set foot in the New World. From San Salvador, Columbus sailed from island to island October 2Gth, when he landed on Cuba. I lay ing convinced himself by several trips into the interior that this was a part of the Asiatic mainland, or Cathay, he started back toward Spain. On Christmas Eve, as he was crossing
to Haiti, which the Spaniards named Espanola, the Santa Maria was wrecked near the harbor named by Columbus 'La Navidad.' It was there fore decided to leave at this spot, in a fort which was built there, a part of the company, to serve as a nucleus for future exploring expeditions. Forty men agreed to stay, and were left with sufficient supplies, and on January 4, 1493, Co lumbus set oil for Spain. On February 25th he entered the mouth of the Tagus, having been nearly wrecked in a storm which arose after the shores of Europe had been sighted. The Portu guese King welcomed him cordially and helped him to send word to Spain of his safe return. From Palos Columbus journeyed overland to the Court at Barcelona, where he arrived in April and was received with great honor by Ferdinand and Isabella.
Every assistance was promised Columbus to ward equipping a. second expedition. Seventeen vessels were soon ready, carrying 1500 persons, and on September 25, 1493, they set sail. The island of Dominica was reached on Noventher 3d, and on the 27th Columbus anchored off the fort of La Navidad, which was found deserted. The garrison had been killed by the natives, whom the outrages committed by the white men had provoked beyond endurance. Abandoning this, Columbus founded a new town (Isabella) and the next two years were spent in an attempt to establish a form of government and in sev eral exploring expeditions into the interior of Espanola and the neighboring islands. Many causes united to disturb the peace of the col ony, and Columbus at length determined to re turn to Spain, where his enemies were actively trying to undermine the confidence of the sover eigns in hi m. Landing at. Cadiz on June II, 1496. he proceeded directly to the Court, where he was most graciously received and quickly re stored to grace. Ile was promised whatever he desired for a new expedition, but than was a long delay, due largely to the persistent opposi tion of Fonseca. Bishop of Palencia, through whose hands everything had to pass before Co lumbus could secure his outfit. It was not until May 30, 1498, that six vessels were ready to sail. A more southerly route than before was followed and the voyage was prolonged until July 31st, when the three peaks of Trinidad were sighted. After a fortnight's rest in the Gulf of Pavia. Columbus coasted the South American mainland, which he now saw for the first time, westward as far as Margarita, and then, having first decided that Paradise must be situated in the interior of the modern Venezuela, he stood across to Espanola. Arriving at Santo Domingo, which had become the principal town in I he Indies, he learned that a number of the colonists had rebelled during his absence, and that every thing was at odds. His temperament was ill suited to dealing with the turbulent crowd who defied his authority, and he could do little to ward restoring peace and order. Both sides sent agents and emissaries to Spain, with the result that, on August 23, 1500, Francisco de Bobadilla arrived at the island with royal orders authoriz ing him to supersede Columbus in the govern ment. Without waiting to investigate the charges against him, Bobadilla arrested Colum bus, treating him with heartless indignities for which no justification can be found in the surviv ing records of the colony. Ile was placed in irons, denied visits from his brothers and parti sans, and in October sent back to Spain.