The Second Voyage of Columbus

Columbus left from the port of Cadiz on September 24, 1493, on his second voyage to the 'New World' for one purpose: colonies settlement. The new policy for explorations was beyond just exploiting the resources of the new lands. This is why the second voyage had 17 ships and 1200 men. Just like in the first voyage, the group stopped at the Canary Islands for resupplying. They left to sail the Atlantic on October 13. They first spotted land on November 3. They first landed on the island of Dominica, followed by Guadalupe, which he explored between November 4-10. And thus began the discoveries.

Map of the Second Voyage

A whole series of islands were discovered on this trip. The islands discovered were as follows: Montserrat, Antigua, Redonda, Nevis, St. Kitts, Sint Eustatius, Saba, St. Martin, and St. Croix. You might recognize several of these islands as being vacation destinations. He also discovered the Virgin Islands, and named three: Virgin Gorda, Tortola, and Peter Island. He continued on and landed on Puerto Rico, naming it San Juan Bautista (but later only its capital city of San Juan retained any of this name). It was on Puerto Rico that Columbus had his first real encounter with armed resistance when his group rescued two boys from a tribe.

The group continued on to Hispaniola on November 22. His goal was to revisit the settlement of La Navidad that was set up on his first voyage. However, he found the settlement in ruins, and 11 of the 39 Spaniards in the settlement dead. He found out the native Taino people committed the attack, so he set up a system where any member of the Taino that was over 14 years old had to deliver an amount of gold every three months, and if they couldn't get gold, then they had to bring an amount of spun cotton. Punishment for not bringing the demanded amounts was a cutting off of the hands and bleeding to death. Columbus moved on and began the settlement of La Isabella, but this settlement didn't last long because it was situated in a poor location.

Next he moved on to Cuba, which he arrived at on April 30, 1494. He explored the island's southern coast, then moved on to Jamaica on May 5. He retraced his way back to Hispaniola, and departed the island for Europe on August 20, 1494.

This voyage was wrought with controversy throughout history. Not only was his harsh treatment of the Taino people called into question, but an incident with a friend of his that accompanied the voyage. Michele de Cuneo, a childhood friend of Columbus, wrote a letter about a native woman that he wished to have for himself, but when the woman wasn't interested, Cuneo beat her. Some historians have come to the conclusion that Columbus not only knew about the event but willfully accepted it. Either way, Columbus's ways and manners with the natives were beginning to be called into question, but they wouldn't reach the courts in Spain until after his third voyage.