did this, considering that he was sending them
gold all along, perhaps not as much as he
promised but gold non-the-less. Christopher
Columbus, after his release, made a fourth
voyage, to search for the Strait of Malacca to
the Indian Ocean. Mindfully, when
geographers examined a current map, his
westward theory was doomed from the
beginning; On May 11, 1502, four old ships and
140 men under Columbus’s command set sail
from the port of Cadiz. Insultingly, he was
forbidden to set foot in Hispaniola, the colony
he founded. He proceeded with his men to
explored parts of southern and central
America. Unfortunately, his ships were
damaged by a hurricane and termites. Unable
to seek assistance in Hispaniola, they were
stranded on Jamaica for a year before being
rescued. This concluded Columbus four
voyages, which were all failures. Beginning
with wrecking the Santa Maria in Hispaniola,
and on the second voyage running out of
supplies, and on the third upon his return was
arrested together with his two brothers and
shipped back to Spain in chains. On his fourth
voyage, he was not allowed in Hispaniola,
although it was the island, he founded. More
insulting to his reputation was that he was
stranded on Jamaica for a year before returning
to Spain.
H
Striking resemblance of present day African and
the heads of the Olmec civilization.
is first order of duty was to send
Columbus and his two brothers
Bartolome and Diego back to
Spain in chains in October of
1500. At this point, he went from
being the “Admiral of the Oceans
seas” to a miserable failure.
Despite the justifiable charges
brought against Columbus and his two
brothers, the Spanish King released them. They
66 | Colossium . June 2019
Contrarily, the Caribbean Islands are often
called the West Indies. The descendants of the
native inhabitants are mistakenly called
Indians around the world because Columbus
believed until his death, he was in the East
Indies. After 25 years of Spanish occupation,
the Taino’s populations, which numbered
several million in 1492, were reduced to about
50,000. In today’s contemporary world,
Columbus would be guilty of crimes against
humanity with evidence from his diary, as well
as, accounts from his own men. In all
probabilities, he would most likely be
sentenced to death or life in prison.