On Christopher Columbus´ fourth and final voyage, which began in Cadiz, Spain on May 11th, 1502, he landed on the north coast of an island now known as Jamaica with only half of his small fleet due to an epidemic of shipworms who ate holes in the planking of his boats.
At first, the natives welcomed Columbus and his crew, providing them with food and other supplies in exchange for jewellery or other items of small value, generally welcoming the sailors into their community. The peace and friendly approach, however, did not last very long. Columbus´ crew repaid the generosity of the natives by lying, cheating, and stealing from them, as well as raiding villages in pursuit of food and other amenities, committing countless murders and rapes in the process.
As a result, natives, who were already growing tired of supplying fish, corn and valuable food, only to get meaningless things in exchange, decided to stop supplying the stranded Europeans no matter what they offered in return.
Without a reliable source of food or means to leave, Columbus´ crew was facing famine and had to figure something out fast. Luckily for them Columbus had certain astronomical tables with him, including the ephemeris compiled by Johannes Müller von Königsberg, more commonly known by his Latin pseudonym- Regiomontanus. In these tables Regiomontanus predicted that there would be a total lunar eclipse on the evening of February 29th, 1504. He also gave an estimation of when the eclipse would take place and how long it would last, but because it was calculated based on Nuremberg, Germany time, Columbus had to do some calculations himself in order to estimate the starting time.
Armed with this knowledge, three days before the eclipse, Columbus requested a meeting with the Arawak chief and informed him that his God was very angry with his people for denying him and his men food. Therefore, he was about to provide a clear sign of his displeasure: Three nights hence, he would all but obliterate the rising full moon, making it appear "inflamed with wrath," which would represent the evils that would soon be inflicted upon them.
Luckily for Columbus and his crew the eclipse he depended on to come out of this alive, took place more or less on time and according to Columbus´son Ferdinand, who was 13 when he made that trip with his father, the people:
with great howling and lamentation they came running from every direction to the ships, laden with provisions, praying the Admiral to intercede by all means with God on their behalf; that he might not visit his wrath upon them ...
After agreeing to take the supplies, he went into his room, as far as the natives have been aware of to "pray", but what he was actually doing was conducting the last part of his plan. Columbus knew that the moon would stay in the earth's shadow for 48 minutes, so he waited for the appropriate time when the moon began to emerge. Shortly before this occurred, he came out of his tent and walked over to the natives to tell them that he asked his god to forgive them for their wrongdoing and that he accepted.
The moon began to slowly reappear, convincing the natives one more time in the truthfulness of Columbus´ words. They then, afraid of angering their god again, kept Columbus and his men well supplied and well fed until a relief caravel from Hispaniola arrived on June 29, 1504.
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