The Second Voyage of Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus returned from his first voyage in March 1493, having discovered the New World...although he didn’t know it. He still believed that he had found some uncharted islands near Japan or China  and that further exploration was needed. His first voyage had been a bit of a fiasco, as he had lost one of the three ships entrusted to him and he did not bring back much in the way of gold or other valuable items. He did, however, have a handful of bedraggled natives he had taken on the island of Hispaniola, and he was able to convince the Spanish crown to finance the second voyage of discovery and colonization. Preparations for the Second Voyage The second voyage was to be a large-scale colonization and exploration project. Columbus was given 17 ships and over 1,000 men. Included on this voyage, for the first time, were European domesticated animals such as pigs, horses, and cattle. Columbus’ orders were to expand the settlement on Hispaniola, convert the natives to Christianity, establish a trading post, and continue his explorations in search of China or Japan. The fleet set sail on October 13th, 1493, and made excellent time, first sighting land on November 3rd. Dominica, Guadalupe and the Antilles The island first sighted was named Dominica by Columbus, a name it retains to this day. Columbus and some of his men visited the island, but it was inhabited by fierce Caribs and they did not stay very long. Moving on, they discovered and explored a number of small islands, including Guadalupe, Montserrat, Redondo, Antigua, and several others in the Leeward Islands and Lesser Antilles chains. He also visited Puerto Rico before making his way back to Hispaniola. Hispaniola and the Fate of La Navidad Columbus had wrecked one of his three ships the year before during his first voyage. He had been forced to leave 39 of his men behind on Hispaniola, in a small settlement named La Navidad. Upon returning to the island, Columbus discovered that the men he had left had angered the native population by raping local women. The natives had attacked the settlement, slaughtering the Europeans to the last man. Columbus, consulting his native chieftain ally Guacanagarà ­, laid the blame on Caonabo, a rival chief. Columbus and his men attacked, routing Caonabo and taking many of his people as slaves. Isabella Columbus founded the town of Isabella on the northern coast of Hispaniola, and spent the next five months or so getting the settlement established and exploring the island. Building a town in a steamy land with inadequate provisions is hard work, and many of the men sickened and died. It reached the point where a group of settlers, led by Bernal de Pisa, attempted to capture and make off with several ships and go back to Spain: Columbus learned of the revolt and punished the plotters. The settlement of Isabella remained but never thrived. It was abandoned in 1496 in favor of a new site, now Santo Domingo. Cuba and Jamaica Columbus left the settlement of Isabella in the hands of his brother Diego in April, setting out to explore the region further. He reached Cuba (which he had discovered on his first voyage) on April 30 and explored it for several days before moving on to Jamaica on May 5. He spent the next few weeks exploring the treacherous shoals around Cuba and searching in vain for the mainland. Discouraged, he returned to Isabella on August 20, 1494. Columbus as Governor Columbus had been appointed governor and Viceroy of the new lands by the Spanish crown, and for the next year and a half, he attempted to do his job. Unfortunately, Columbus was a good ship’s captain but a lousy administrator, and those colonists that still survived grew to hate him. The gold they had been promised never materialized and Columbus kept most of what little wealth was found for himself. Supplies began running out, and in March of 1496 Columbus returned to Spain to ask for more resources to keep the struggling colony alive. The Start of the American Indian Slave Trade Columbus brought back many native slaves with him. Columbus, who had once again promised gold and trade routes, did not want to return to Spain empty-handed. Queen Isabella, appalled, decreed that the New World natives were subjects of the Spanish crown and therefore could not be enslaved. However, the practice of enslaving indigenous populations continued. People of Note in Columbus’ Second Voyage Ramà ³n Panà © was a Catalan priest who lived among the Taà ­no people for about four years  and produced a short but very important ethnographic history of their culture.Francisco de Las Casas was an adventurer whose son Bartolomà © was destined to become very important in the fight for native rights.Diego Velà ¡zquez was a conquistador who later became governor of Cuba.Juan de la Cosa was an explorer and cartographer who produced several important early maps of the Americas.Juan Ponce de Leà ³n would become governor of Puerto Rico but was most famous for his journey to Florida in search of the Fountain of Youth. Historical Importance of the Second Voyage Columbus’ second voyage marked the start of colonialism in the New World, the social importance of which cannot be overstated. By establishing a permanent foothold, Spain took the first steps towards their mighty empire of the centuries that followed, an empire that was built with New World gold and silver. When Columbus brought back slaves to Spain, he also caused the question of slavery in the New World to be aired openly, and Queen Isabella decided that her new subjects could not be enslaved. Although Isabella perhaps prevented a few instances of enslavement, the conquest and colonization of the New World were devastating and deadly for Native Americans: the indigenous population dropped by approximately 80% between 1492 and the mid-17th century. The drop was caused mainly by the arrival of Old World diseases, but other Native Americans died as a result of violent conflict or enslavement. Many of those who sailed with Columbus on his second voyage went on to play very important roles in the history of the New World. These first colonists had a great amount of influence and power over the course of the next few decades of history in their part of the world. Sources Herring, Hubert. A History of Latin America From the Beginnings to the . New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962Present. Thomas, Hugh. Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan. Hardcover, 1st edition, Random House, June 1, 2004.

Relationship Between Partnership And Partnership - 1484 Words

When considering most of the law cases filed in court, business law cases have formed greatest percentage due to their frequency of occurrence. Agreements formed before the start of the business are broken in the course of running the business which leads to a law case especially for those businesses operated by more than one individual. Partnership form of business is the most adopted one at the state level where we have two or more people starting a business where they share profits and loses equally. I did research on partnership dispute that once occurred due to disagreement on terms of payments and who were the sole contributors to the business. Partnership involves more than one party where we can have a general partnership or†¦show more content†¦Due to lack of uniform sharing of profit, a dispute came about from this legal form of business. (Prat, 2010) While checking on the advantages of partnership form of business, it is believed that it is the easiest form of business to form as it only requires voluntary agreement between the partners and the business can be formed. The agreement is not in a fixed form, can be written or oral making if easier and flexible while forming it. This indicates that there are few legal formalities required during the formation hence fewer resources used. Since it involves many partners, there is expectation of high initial capital as compared to other forms of business. This high capital leads to increased scale of operation for the business which raises its profits. (Goldsmith, 2006) The limited partners if included in the partnership assist in investing the business from outside the business hence marketing their business as well as maintaining a competitive advantage. This form of business incorporates different skills and experts from different fields when they partner to come up with one business . This improves the management of the business from various skilled people. Risks experienced in this form of business are shared equally among all partners which reduce the impact to a single partner. Since there is monitoring of one another functioning in the business, there is reduced wastage which translates to more efficient functioning of

What were the roots of McCarthyism free essay sample

In the late 1940s and early 1950s Americans were scared of a second red scare and that communism would influence their country (Tindal Shi). Americans had seen what communism had done to Russia and how it was a factor of the Korean War and did not want to go down that road too. To calm Americans down an organization was formed called the House Un-American Activities Community. The organization was formed to protect communism influence on American by investigating communist acts that were alleged by people. Despite the organizations effort to calm Americans down, Americans still feared the possibility of Communism and becoming a nation similar to Russia (Tindall Shi). Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin became one of the most ruthless exploiters of communism. He accused a large amount of people of communist acts, mostly government works in which he claimed were Soviet spies and communist sympathizers. He was very paranoid and often accused people on the regular of communist behavior when none existed (Study Mode). We will write a custom essay sample on What were the roots of McCarthyism? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page All of these allegations causes a stir in the America society. All of this fear led Congress to pass McCarran International Security Act making it unlawful â€Å"to combine, conspire, or agree with any other person to perform any act which would substantially contribute to†¦the establishment of totalitarian dictatorship. This time was known as the McCarthyism. President Truman’s Fair Deal was designed after his victory and was his way of trying to make all things equal for all Americans. He requested there to be action on raising the bar for minimum wage, free health care and, civil rights legislation so that all Americans would be guaranteed rights. Most of Truman’s Fair Deal proposals were enlargements of the New Deal already in place (Tindall Shi). Although Truman received a wide range of Democratic support he still had conservatives who opposed of the Civil rights legislation like John McMilan who stated that he believed Truman would â€Å"get what he wanted but he doesn’t understand why he has to ruin the world because he was reelected.  In the end most of Truman’s plans were not passed by congress like the civil rights bills and the plans for national health care. They did raise the minimum wage though it was just one of many of his ideas. Congress also refused to provide federal aid for education. (Kind of like how Congress wants it to be now huh? )