In the later half of the Fifteenth Century, Anno Domino [AD], the two foremost maritime powers in Europe were Portugal and Spain. The monarchs of these two countries mobilized men and ships on voyages of discovery. The main aim of these voyages was to find a sea route to India from the Atlantic coastal ports of Portugal and Spain. These undertakings became necessary because the Turks, who had earlier that century conquered Constantinople, had blocked the overland route to India from Western Europe. Europe was desirous to continue the lucrative trade in silk and spices with India and China, which had been carried on since the days of Marco Polo.

Hence, alternate routes to India and China became an absolute necessity to Western Europe, in order to bypass the Turkish blockade. However, to avoid unhealthy rivalry and conflict between these two maritime powers, the Pope as the spiritual adjudicator between the twain (two), issued Papal Bulls (sealed papal letters) in 1493. These Papal edicts drew up an imaginary line of demarcation of maritime influence running north to south from the North Pole, through the Atlantic Ocean to the South Pole. Portugal had the eastern side of the line while Spain had the western side. Each country sent men out on voyages of discovery to find sea routes to India, China and Japan. Portugal went east as Spain headed west.

First Voyage of Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus, a Genoese ship captain, was enlisted in the services of the king of Servile. In 1492, he was outfitted with three sailing ships, the Santa Maria, Niña and Pinta, and a crew of eighty-eight sailors. He and his men set out from Palos and sailed south by way of the Canary Islands into the open Atlantic Ocean, going west of the Papal Line of demarcation. After a little more than two months on the high seas, they sited land on what later became known as the Island of Hispaniola. One of Columbus’s ships, the Santa Maria ran aground on the northern coast of Hispaniola which is known today as Môle Saint-Nicolas, Haiti, on December 5, 1492.

As he pulled ashore, Christopher Columbus proceeded to name the Island Hispaniola (Petit Espagne) and claimed it for the Spanish crown. This was Columbus’ first voyage to the New World. The inhabitants of the Island named it Ayiti. Columbus was well received by the indigenous people he met, the Tainos and Arawaks, and was even permitted by their chief, Cacique Guacanagari, to leave behind some of his men who were stranded, due to the loss of their ship which had struck a coral reef on Ayiti’s north coast.

During this voyage, Columbus founded a settlement which he named La Navidad. It was in this settlement that the first Spanish colonists pitched their tents, and wandered into the interior of the island. Columbus returned to Europe in 1493 bearing gifts for the King and Queen of Spain. These gifts consisted of gold, spices and fruits he found growing on the island as well as some indigenous people he had captured. This was the beginning of a series of abuses suffered by the original inhabitants of Ayiti at the hands of Columbus and his fellow colonists.

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