"Letters to Ferdinand and Isabella"

Charles So
English 48A
Journal for Columbus

Author Quote:
"There are six or eight kinds of palm, which are a wonder to behold on account of their beautiful variety, but so are the other trees and fruits and plants. In it are marvelous pine groves, and there are very large tracts of cultivatable lands, and there is honey, and there are birds of many kinds and fruits in great diversity. In the interior are mine of metals, and the population is without number. Espanola is a marvel"(32)

Internet Quote:
"Columbus's voyages shattered that isolation once and for all, in what is arguably the most fateful encounter between disparate human groups that history has ever known"(The Worlds of Christopher Columbus by William D. Phillips and Carla Rahn Phillips found in googlescholar search Christopher Columbus)

Summary:
In Christopher Columbus's letter of the first voyage, he writes to the "crown" about how he found many islands filled with beautiful scenery and wealth. He tells the crown what he named the islands and how he believed at first one island was China at first, but instead he boasts he found something entirely more beneficial. In his last letter there is tremendous bitterness in Columbus's tone. He talks about his hard work and the injustice he got, as he was insufficiently recompensated for all he did.

Personal Opinion:
Its very interesting as to the dramatic change in tones from the first letter to the last letter, clearly Columbus's ideas for himself and what he deserved did not come into fruition as things became very bitter for him. In the first letter he describes his finding as if it was heaven, for he compares the new island to the lands back at home and say the islands are much better in everyway, there is unlimited wealth and beauty in the islands as he describes them. Its very fortunate he found those islands as Columbus thought he was travelling to the east and was mistaken one island at first as being the coast line for China. In the last letter Columbus does not hide his distaste for what has happen to himself and his discoveries.