Delays, Management Reorganizations: Spain and the New World 1498-1502

A marked difference between the times of Columbus and our own and which effected everything was the time it took to do most anything. It took most of the month of May for him just to leave Spain in his boats on the third voyage. Sailing down the Guadalquivir he and his fleet first had to reach Sanlúcar de Barrameda from Seville where the boats were made. Genoese bankers in Seville financed the construction and much of the fitting and manning of this Admiral's fleet. [p. 193] They would work to and win control of [p. 262] much of this process of goods and information for these oceanic trips west. But even they had to wait months sometimes to find out what was going on.

When Admiral Cristobal Colon returned to La Española - the modern island Hispaniola which comprises both Haiti and the Dominican Republic - on his third voyage to the Caribbean of 1498, he soon (12September) penned a decree stating that anyone who wished to return to Spain would be supplied with food and retain safe passage. As Hugo Thomas relates:

"Two months after Columbus' arrival, a new flotilla of five caravels went home to Castile from Santo Domingo. To the Admiral's surprise, three hundred Spainiards took advantage of his offer to return. Columbus permitted each of them to take back one Indian salve, and some other slaves were sent. The Queen [Isabela] was not pleased when she heard of this concession: "What power of mine does the Admiral hold to give my vassals to anyone?" she demanded, asking that all slaves be freed."

But this came many months later, only after the letter could come back and make it into their hands. In a footnote, Thomas gives this quote as coming thru Bartolome de las Casas (in the 3-volume, 1986 Historia de las Indias, published in Mexico and edited by Agustin Millares Carlo) as "Qué poder tiene el Almirante para dar a nadie mis vasallos?"

But Columbus knew (and his son Fernando also knew as he stated in a letter sent to the monarchs on his return) that slavery could be profitable. The Admiral made it clear in his letters back to Spain there were two to three servants per man sent, plenty of pretty women, and even dogs for the hunt as well, so that such a man had no need for anything except more wine and fellow settlers. But he also could tell them that he knew these circumstances were 'bad for Christians'. For this he recommended a letrado - a man learned in law and justice - be sent for corrections. [p. 203]

While there Columbus himself did manage to find a way to reconcile the rebels including Roldán in the west with the help of negotiator Hernández de Carvajal. Meanwhile in Spain the King and Queen began hearing of the difficulties there and the many complaints against the rules set by the sons of Columbus during his absence. In time they would select Francisco de Bobadilla and give him instructions to bring a justice to the new world more in line with their thinking. He would leave with a fleet and his instruction in July 1500 and arriving there that August [p. 220]. The monarchs were setting up both replacements and a series of known loyal informants about what happened so far away.

But that would take years to develop as they would spend most of their time at Granada continuing their religious fight against those of other religions in central Spain. In time, Bobadilla would be replaced by Fray Nicolas de Ovando (made Governor Sept 1501)  who would arrive after delays and shipwrecks in April 1502 [p.238] in the new world with his instructions [pp. 231-2].

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Thomas, Hugh: Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire ; Penguin/ Random House, UK; 2003