After the first contact with earth in the New World and with some indigenous people, the ships began a journey through all the small islands that were there. They did not believe what they saw, that must be the closest thing to paradise: blue waters, white beaches and lush vegetation. They sailed along the routes of the indigenous canoes to ensure they did not collide with the treacherous coral reefs that bordered the coasts and that prevented the waves from reaching the beaches where the vegetation could grow without any opposition. Christopher Columbus was convinced that he had reached the so-called Seven Thousand Islands that Marco Polo narrated in his stories and that would precede the Asian continent. There he should find the longed-for gold and spices and the Great Khan with whom he planned to meet and present the respects of the Catholic Kings. Tour of the three caravels on the Caribbean islands during the first voyage of Columbus. In a few days they visited and named many islands: San Salvador, Santa Maria de la Concepcion, Fernandina, Isabela, etc. They arrived in Cuba on October 28, an island baptized with the name of Juana. The admiral thought it so big that he no doubt believed they had reached the continent, claiming in his Diary that they were between Zaiton and Quinsay, legendary Chinese cities. The first impressions of Columbus, despite what he glimpses in his diary, must have been disappointing, since they were supposed to have arrived in a rich land, with rich inhabitants, sumptuous and large cities and so far had not I saw more than poor people, practically naked, who lived in small villages and who did not even know iron, when in Asia this metal was used centuries before. He supposed that inland you could find something of interest and therefore sent four emissaries to explore the interior of Cuba: two Spaniards, Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, this last translator of Chaldean, Hebrew and some Arabic, and two Indians , one from the island of San Salvador and another from the island of Cuba itself. After several days of march they returned on November 6 with poor news: internees several tens of kilometers found several villages of no more than fifty houses, somewhat larger than the coastal but equally small. They said that the Indians resident there had treated them extremely hospitable and who believed that they came from heaven, sent by the gods. The conquistadors always asked the Indians who saw with some small piece of gold or silver where he had taken it and there was almost total unanimity in pointing to the southeast, where they said that there was a very large island where the gold could be collected with the hands of the banks of the rivers. That's why they continued sailing in a southeasterly direction towards the island known by the natives as Haiti. On November 22 without prior notice, Martín Alonso Pinzón and la Pinta disappeared and continued the expedition on their own, leaving Colón materially shot in Cuba. He has never transcended the reasons for this maneuver but everything points to the fact that he wanted to get ahead of Columbus in finding gold and Asian riches. After several days in which they could not navigate by currents and contrary winds, the ships of Columbus visited the aforementioned island of Haiti, specifically on December 5, which gives the name of the Spanish Island. Officially, Columbus is the discoverer of the Haitian island but if we take into account that Martin Alonso Pinzón left them behind, he should be the true discoverer and the first European to see its coasts. On this island more organized tribes were found than those who had seen previously, in it they met the Guacanagaríx cacique, who welcomed the Spaniards very kindly and indicated to them the same as the rest of the natives, that in the interior there was a very rich region in gold and other minerals called Cibao.
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First contact
After the first contact with earth in the New World and with some indigenous people, the ships began a journey through all the small islands that were there. They did not believe what they saw, that must be the closest thing to paradise: blue waters, white beaches and lush vegetation. They sailed along the routes of the indigenous canoes to ensure they did not collide with the treacherous coral reefs that bordered the coasts and that prevented the waves from reaching the beaches where the vegetation could grow without any opposition. Christopher Columbus was convinced that he had reached the so-called Seven Thousand Islands that Marco Polo narrated in his stories and that would precede the Asian continent. There he should find the longed-for gold and spices and the Great Khan with whom he planned to meet and present the respects of the Catholic Kings. Tour of the three caravels on the Caribbean islands during the first voyage of Columbus. In a few days they visited and named many islands: San Salvador, Santa Maria de la Concepcion, Fernandina, Isabela, etc. They arrived in Cuba on October 28, an island baptized with the name of Juana. The admiral thought it so big that he no doubt believed they had reached the continent, claiming in his Diary that they were between Zaiton and Quinsay, legendary Chinese cities. The first impressions of Columbus, despite what he glimpses in his diary, must have been disappointing, since they were supposed to have arrived in a rich land, with rich inhabitants, sumptuous and large cities and so far had not I saw more than poor people, practically naked, who lived in small villages and who did not even know iron, when in Asia this metal was used centuries before. He supposed that inland you could find something of interest and therefore sent four emissaries to explore the interior of Cuba: two Spaniards, Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, this last translator of Chaldean, Hebrew and some Arabic, and two Indians , one from the island of San Salvador and another from the island of Cuba itself. After several days of march they returned on November 6 with poor news: internees several tens of kilometers found several villages of no more than fifty houses, somewhat larger than the coastal but equally small. They said that the Indians resident there had treated them extremely hospitable and who believed that they came from heaven, sent by the gods. The conquistadors always asked the Indians who saw with some small piece of gold or silver where he had taken it and there was almost total unanimity in pointing to the southeast, where they said that there was a very large island where the gold could be collected with the hands of the banks of the rivers. That's why they continued sailing in a southeasterly direction towards the island known by the natives as Haiti. On November 22 without prior notice, Martín Alonso Pinzón and la Pinta disappeared and continued the expedition on their own, leaving Colón materially shot in Cuba. He has never transcended the reasons for this maneuver but everything points to the fact that he wanted to get ahead of Columbus in finding gold and Asian riches. After several days in which they could not navigate by currents and contrary winds, the ships of Columbus visited the aforementioned island of Haiti, specifically on December 5, which gives the name of the Spanish Island. Officially, Columbus is the discoverer of the Haitian island but if we take into account that Martin Alonso Pinzón left them behind, he should be the true discoverer and the first European to see its coasts. On this island more organized tribes were found than those who had seen previously, in it they met the Guacanagaríx cacique, who welcomed the Spaniards very kindly and indicated to them the same as the rest of the natives, that in the interior there was a very rich region in gold and other minerals called Cibao.