Medieval Sourcebook: Christopher Columbus: Extracts from Journal:

1. The reason Columbus explore the India is mainly because of the religious purpose.
In the name of the lord, he tried to converted the people to holy faith which is
Catholic Christians. This is something new for me. I used to live in a country where
religious does not play an important role and it is a little bit hard for me to
understand the purpose of exploring a new continent based on the religious purpose
instead of commercial purpose.
2. Columbus may name himself as Don and be the perpetual Governor in all the
continents he found and his eldest son will heritage it and passed it down
generations by generations. I did know that he asked the queen to pass the honor to
his son and his hiers.
3. Columbus set the sail in Friday, 3 August 1492 and he decided to draw up a nautical
chart which contains the location of many lands and ocean as well as compose a
book with a picture of the altitude and longitudes. I did not know the exact date of
when he started trip before.
4. Native people welcome them with hospitality, bringing them with fruit and food.
They also painted their face with different colors.
5. Admirals thought they could be easily converted into the Christian because they do
not have religious. As well as that, he thought they are ingenious and considered
them as good future servants. This contradicts to what mentioned later, Columbus
said that Indian people believe in Heaven. They do have faith.
6. The land Columbus explore is very fertile, different agricultural products were
planted in the yield.
7. The Indian people has no wish to harm the sailors and had no warlike instincts.
They are naked as well. I knew that they did not wear clothes, but I thought they
must use some leaves to cover their sexual part of the bodies before.
8. The local people appeared friendly. They traded javelins and cotton thread with
whatever the sailing crews decided to give them. Even a fragment of glass given
out also excited the natives for trading.

Letter to King Ferdinand of Spain, describing the results of the first voyage:
9. Columbus gave the name San Salvador to the first island he found.
10. Local people believe that the power and good are from heaven and they take
 Columbus and his crews as those who are from heaven.
11. Columbus took some local people by force to learn their language and their island.
The local people learn something about them as well. This facilitate the further
colonization in those islands.
12. Columbus found it very curious that despite the separation of the islands, people
living in those islands could still understand each other.
13. Columbus learnt that Local people share whatever they had with each other,
especially the food.
14. Columbus promises the Crown that with their assistance, he will get them as much
gold, valuable and rare spices, and slaves as they desire

The Devastation of the Indies: a Brief account by Bartolome de Las :

15. The Spaniards committed their first ravage and oppression against the native
peoples on the Hispaniola island which is also where they were first landed.
16. The Spaniards consume large amounts food which could feed ten habitus every day
and use violence against them.
17. The reason why Indians could not fight Spaniards is due to their weak Technology
and weapon.
18. According to Bartolome, the King Guarionex is a pacifist who advocates peace.

Columbus Contract with Ferdinand and Isabella:

19. Columbus were given lots of power by Ferdinand and Isabella, and those power
could be passed down to his heirs. I did know that he explored the new continent,
however I did not know that he had power to govern them before.
20. Columbus is eligible to punish whoever offend him or does not follow his orders.
21. The contract is more about the administration thing and filled with inhumanity as
far as I am concerned.

Summary
The primary source of the Columbus personal voyage journal and his correspondence
with Queen Isabella gives me a whole new horizon of what the purpose of his voyage
and the route of his voyage. During the previous studies, Columbus has been promoted
as a hero and he surely is in some ways. However, getting access the document wrote
by Bartolome actually give me a more thorough view of this man. The massacring
conducted to the Indians and the rape conducted to the Indian women are hardly
mentioned in the history books today. Although, Columbus claimed that his aim of the
voyage is to convert those people into Catholic faith, the contract he signed has nothing
to do with it. They even took the people by force and having sex with whoever he wants.
In conclusion, Columbus great exploration if the India continent links the world
together and lead the world history into a new era. On the other hand, this great success
is at the expense of Indigenous people suffering and great sorrow of losing their
freedom and having their female families raped.