Columbus

“I started out to find the Indies and I will continue until I have accomplished that mission, with the help of Our Lord,” Christopher Columbus wrote in his logbook on Thursday, October 11, 1492. On the verge of the defining moment of discovery, he was overcome with doubt and concern. The unruly crews of his three vessels, the Nina, Pinta and the flagship Santa Maria, were exhausted from battling the elements, stir-crazy and fearful of what awaited them. Mutiny was in the air. Columbus reminded them of their sworn duty to complete the enterprise on behalf of the Catholic Sovereigns and joint rulers of Spain, Isabella and Ferdinand. He had lobbied for a more than a decade to obtain the commission; now he insisted his crews follow his orders or risk severe punishment. Hours after recording his thoughts in his logbook, Columbus spotted land.

The 1492 voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a trading route to China, and Columbus’ unexpected landfall in the Americas, is a watershed event in world history. Yet Columbus made three more voyages within the span of only a decade, each designed to demonstrate that he could sail to China within a matter of weeks and convert those he found there to Christianity. These later voyages were even more adventurous, violent and ambiguous. They also underscored Columbus' uncanny sense of the sea, his mingled brilliance and delusion, and his superb navigational skills. In all these exploits he almost never lost a sailor. By their conclusion, however, Columbus was broken in body and spirit.

If the first voyage illustrates the rewards of exploration, the latter voyages illustrate the tragic costs—political, moral and economic. Laurence Bergreen recounts the inspired and often misguided quest for glory in Columbus. Adopting the perspectives of the crewmembers, he crafts a dramatic account of these expeditions. The author of the highly praised Magellan biography Over the Edge of the World, Bergreen delves deeply into Columbus' celebrated and controversial career.

“Certainly, Columbus was a courageous explorer and peerless navigator. And he was a vain and quixotic leader driven as much by spiritual inspiration as by greed and a need for glorification,” writes Bergreen. “Yes, he exploited slave labor. And finally, his later voyages set the stage for the mass deaths, or genocide, of Indians in the regions of Central America that he claimed for Spain. He was not any one of these things; he was all of these things, and more.”

Interpretations about Columbus’ voyages seem to grow more divergent all the time. Setting the record straight, Columbus provides a mesmerizing account of the life and accomplishments of the famed explorer.