Discovery of Cuba

by Joaquín Rodríguez                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               At the end of the 15th century, the trade of spices was in the hands of the Arabs who bought them in India and transported them to the ports of the Mediterranean Sea where the Italians were responsible for distributing them throughout Europe. The business had such dimensions that the Arabs always tried to keep European merchants off their trade routes to avoid any kind of competition. The complications of the route to transport the spices from India to the European consumers raised their price a lot. The attraction for the spice business was what motivated the Portuguese and Spanish to try to make this business looking for a route to "Las Indias" different from the Arabs.                                                         

                     Approximate trajectory of the first trip of Christopher Columbus                                    

                                  

 With the help of the Spanish Crown, Columbus organized a voyage of exploration in search of a route to the Indians sailing westward. On August 3, 1492, he left from the port of Palos in Spain with two caravels and one nao; La Niña, La Pinta and La Santa María. He took course to the Canary Islands where he made a brief stay repairing one of his caravels. It was from there that he directed his ships westward in search of a new route to the Indians. After more than two months of navigation, on October 12 he arrives at one of the islands of the archipelago of the Bahamas where he makes contacts with his primitive inhabitants.                                                                 

Recreation of arrival of espanish to American Island in 1492

               

 After exploring some islands of the archipelago and guided by some of its inhabitants, who claimed to know other nearby lands, Columbus set sail in his search. On October 28 it arrives at the north-east coast of Cuba penetrating through a small and wide bay called Bariay today. Columbus thought that the territory, which she named Juana, was part of the Indian and called its Indian inhabitants. The next day, he raised anchors and sailed west and found a small bay (Gibara) next to which he observed that there was a village of aborigines (Indians). He entered the bay and sent scouts ashore to find out if they spoke differently from those Indians he brought with him from the islands of the Bahamas. 

Recreation of the arrival of Christopher  Columbus to the port of the seas

                                                                                                      He called this bay "Puerto de Mares"(port of the seas) and stayed there all that day. On October 30, it sails and sails west along the northern coast of Cuba to the vicinity of the current territory of Covarrubias. From that area on the 31st he returned to the Bay of Gibara where he anchored his ships. There he spent several days trying to fraternize with the natives to get information from them. He sent scouts inland accompanied by Indians from that place and from those he brought from the Bahamas. I was looking for information about gold mines, spices  and population. The explorers penetrated about 40 km. inland and returned on November 6 at night. They found no spices  and the largest population they found was about 1000 inhabitants. They said that the houses were large, all in the same way and  on the way they appeared in groups of   no more than five, but in each of them, many people lived.  They said they were very well received because the indians believed they came from heaven. They saw many different birds but 4-legged animals only saw dogs that did not bark. The land is very fertile and very carved with yucca  and beans very different  from those of Spain. There was a   lot of cotton collected and spun. Colon said   that it seemed to him that they were not sowing it   but that It was very fine and the plants had a very large cocoon. Naked all, men and women, as their mother gave birth. Truth is that the women wore a cotton cap that only sheltered their nature and no more, and they were very good compliance and not very black, less than those of the Canary Islands. Colón stayed in "Puerto de Mares" (Gibara) touring its surroundings and fraternizing with the Indians while waiting for the wind to be favorable for sailing. It was not until Monday, November 12, 1492, when the conditions were favorable. That day Ieft  anchor and sailed east along the northeastern coast of Cuba in search of an island by Indians called Babeque and in which they said there was a lot of gold. Before setting sail he took with him some Indians from the village of Gibara with the aim of showing them  when he arrived in Spain  along with those he already brought from the Bahamas. After having sailed eight leagues along the coast heading East, he sighted Nipe Bay, which he named "Rio del Sol". He sailed east on that Monday, eighteen more leagues to a cape, which he named Cape of Cuba (punta maisí). On November 13 It penetrates the Strait of the Winds and sees the island of Hispaniola, but it is not until the 14th that it approaches it. For more than 40 days he was exploring the island on both coasts and it happened that while exploring the north coast of the Spanish on Dec. 25, his ship run ground. With the help of the Indians, with whom he had already fraternized, he went ashore on the ship. Then he dismantled it and with his remains began to build a small fort which he called "Christmas" because of the date on which the event occurred. In January of 1493, Cristóbal Colón leaves the island of hispaniola to return to Spain leaving in the fort a group of men with the order to finish it and to continue looking for gold and spices. Immediately after his arrival in Spain, on March 15, he informed the kings of his discoveries. In a letter that Colón wrote to them in the Carabela, when he was returning to Spain, he said about the island of Hispaniola "There are palms of six or eight ways, which is admiration to see them, because of the beautiful deformity of them, but as well as the others trees and fruits and herbs. In it there are pine forests to wonder and there are very large fields, and there is honey, and in many ways of birds, and very diverse fruits. In the land there are many metal mines, and there are people in estimable number. and in many ways of birds, and very diverse fruits. In the land there are many metal mines, and there are people in estimable number. and in many ways of birds, and very diverse fruits. In the land there are many metal mines, and there are people in estimable number. Hispaniola is wonder; the mountain ranges and the mountains and the plains and the fields, and the lands so beautiful and thick to plant and sow, to raise cattle of all sorts, for buildings of villas and places. The ports of the sea here would not be belief without sight, and of the many and great rivers, and good waters, the most of which bring gold. In the trees and fruits and herbs there are great differences of those of La Juana (Cuba). In this there are many species, and large mines of gold and other metals. The people of this island and of all the others that I have found and have heard, all are naked, men and women, just as their mothers stop them, although some women shelter a single place with a blade of grass or a cap of cotton they do for this". This criterion of Columbus as well as having left a group of men in Hispaniola motivated the Kings to take the decision to initiate, for that island, the conquest and colonization of the discovered lands. Columbus always thought that he had reached the Asian continent, called by the Europeans the Indies. He made three other expeditions to the territory but, from that first trip, he began to call the discovered lands "The West Indies". Columbus arrives back to Spain, from his first trip, in March of 1493 and immediately informs the crown of the details of his trip. The Kings determined that, as soon as possible, they should conquer and colonize the lands discovered by Columbus. According to what Columbus informed, they decided that the best place to start colonization was the island "La Española". Immediately the organization of an expedition begins with that objective. On Sept. 25 of 1493 Columbus leaves in his second trip to the front of a fleet of 17 ships some of which were of the Navy. In total he was accompanied by 1500 men of the most varied trades and loaded tools, seeds and animals of all kinds. His mission was to conquer Hispaniola , create settlements there and continue exploring the region .

  In 1506 shortly after his return from the 4th. and last trip Columbus dies without knowing that he had discovered a new continent, the American continent.

   After being colonizing Hispaniola for 15 years and discovering other lands, the governor of that island Nicolás de Ovando ordered, in 1508, an exploratory expedition to Cuba under which he appointed Sebastián de Ocampo. On that trip, the Spaniards were not going to stay in Cuba but only to travel its coast completely to get out of doubt whether it was an island or continental land, as Colon had said. They left Santo Domingo in two caravels, manned only by sailors. They took course the north coast of the island of Cuba, recognized the point of Maisí and shortly after the bays of Baracoa and Gíbara that already had been discovered by Columbus in 1492. Continuing his trip towards the west he discovers the bay of Matanzas and passed the same They enter another bay to careen their two caravels (clean and fix) . From that moment on, this place was called the port of Carenas, which was the name given to the Havana bay. After careening the caravels, Ocampo continued sailing west, skirting Cabo San Antonio and heading towards the Hispaniola, discovering on the way   the bay of Jagua (Cienfuegos). A trip that could have taken place in about 3 months took eight months, so it is to be assumed that, for much of that time, I used it in Havana Bay, careening its ships and recognizing the place.  Above all, if we consider that to clean, caulk and infest a boat it is necessary to remove it from the water. hat operation, under improvised conditions, becomes quite   difficult so, surely, it required a lot  time and the help of the Indians. The most suitable place to carry out such a task was a small inlet located on the right bank of the entrance channel to the bay, where the first fortress of the nascent city of San Cristóbal de la Habana was built  much later the "Castle of force".