Spencer

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Christopher Columbus' Treasure Chest

=My Primary Source Mission: Christopher Columbus' Posessions=

One day, I decided to go swimming in the pond near my neighborhood. While I was swimming I saw a shiny object at the bottom of the water. I swam down and picked it up. When I lifted the object out of the water, I noticed that it was a treasure chest. But when I actually opened it, I found some interesting primary artifacts about Christopher Columbus.

Sitting on top of the treasure chest was a travel journal written by Christopher Columbus. The journal had a leather bound cover and thick parchment pages. He used the journal to write his observations about his journey to discover new lands. It must've been hard to write all this in a boat on the sea.

A page from one of [|Columbus' journal]. //[|Sunday, 16 September]. 'Sailed day and night, west thirty-nine leagues, and reckoned only thirty-six. Some clouds arose and it drizzled. The Admiral here says that from this time they experienced very pleasant weather, and that the mornings were most delightful, wanting nothing but the melody of the nightingales. He compares the weather to that of Andalusia in April. Here they began to meet with large patches of weeds very green, and which appeared to have been recently washed away from the land; on which account they all judged themselves to be near some island, though not a continent, according to the opinion of the Admiral, who says, "the continent we shall find further ahead."//

The next thing I pulled out was a letter from Christopher Columbus to the King and Queen of Spain in 1494. The letter gives guidelines for the colony to follow. Here is a part of Columbus' [|letter] to the King and Queen.
 * 1) //That in the said [|island] there shall be founded three or four towns, situated in the most convenient places, and that the settlers who are there be assigned to the aforesaid places and towns.//
 * 2) //That for the better and more speedy colonization of the said island, no one shall have liberty to collect gold in it except those who have taken out colonists' papers, and have built houses for their abode, in the town in which they are, that they may live united and in greater safety.//
 * 3) //That each town shall have its alcalde [Mayor] ... and its notary public, as is the use and custom in Castile.//
 * 4) //That there shall be a church, and parish priests or friars to administer the sacraments, to perform divine worship, and for the conversion of the Indians.//
 * 5) //That none of the colonists shall go to seek gold without a license from the governor or alcalde of the town where he lives; and that he must first take oath to return to the place whence he sets out, for the purpose of registering faithfully all the gold he may have found, and to return once a month, or once a week, as the time may have been set for him, to render account and show the quantity of said gold; and that this shall be written down by the notary before the aIcalde, or, if it seems better, that a friar or priest, deputed for the purpose, shall be also present.//

An excerpt from Columbus' journal in 1493 describes the conditions of an island they landed on in November: //"And the said [|Juana] and the other islands there appear very fertile. This island is surrounded by many very safe and wide harbors, not excelled by any others that I have ever seen. Many great and salubrious rivers flow through it. There are also many very high mountains there. All these islands are very beautiful, and distinguished by various qualities; they are accessible, and full of a great variety of trees stretching up to the stars; the leaves of which I believe are never shed, for I saw them as green and flourishing as they are usually in Spain in the month of May; some of them were blossoming, some were bearing fruit, some were in other conditions; each one was thriving in its own way. The nightingale and various other birds without number were singing, in the month of November, when I was exploring them."//

The last thing I found was an [|interesting map] from Columbus' expedition that shows his route to America. On the map, there are arrows that are pointing to where he traveled.



Finally, I would like to say that I learned so much from these primary sources and I hope that whoever reads this next will appreciate them as much as I did. We never learn as well hearing about things than actually seeing or reading about them. Seeing these documents and maps that Columbus wrote helped me understand how he thought and what he really did. I hope that it helped you learn about him too! Christopher Columbus is one of the most important people in the history of the United States. I hope that these sources will teach you want to know about him.