The Diario of Christopher Columbus's first voyage to America: 1492 - 1493

Christopher Columbus

University of Oklahoma Press, 1991 - Biography & Autobiography - 491 pages

As the Quincentennial Celebration of Christopher Columbus’s discovery of America approaches, interest in the voyage, and in the questions surrounding it, continues to grow. This definitive edition of Columbus’s account of the voyage presents the most accurate printed version of his journal available to date. Unfortunately both Columbus’s original manuscript, presented to Ferdinand and Isabella along with other evidence of his discoveries, and a single complete copy have been lost for centuries. The primary surviving record of the voyage–part quotation, part summary of the complete copy–is a transcription made by Bartolomé de las Casas in the 1530s.

This new edition of the Las Casas manuscript presents its entire contents–including notes, insertions, and canceled text–more accurately, completely, and graphically than any other Spanish text published so far. In addition, the new translation, which strives for readability and accuracy, appears on pages facing the Spanish, encouraging on-the- spot comparisons of the translation with the original. Study of the work is further facilitated by extensive notes, documenting differences between the editors’ transcription and translation and those of other transcribers and translators and summarizing current research and debates on unanswered current research and debates on unanswered questions concerning the voyage. In addition to being the only edition in which Spanish and English are presented side by side, this edition includes the only concordance ever prepared for theDiario.

Awaited by scholars, this new edition will help reduce the guesswork that has long plagued the study of Columbus’s voyage. It may shed light on a number of issues related to Columbus’s navigational methods and the identity of his landing places, issues whose resolution depend, at least in part, on an accurate transcription of theDiario. Containing day-by-day accounts of the voyage and the first sighting of land, of the first encounters with the native populations and the first appraisals of his islands explored, and of a suspenseful return voyage to Spain, theDiarioprovides a fascinating and useful account to historians, geographers, anthropologists, sailors, students, and anyone else interested in the discovery–or in a very good sea story.

What people are saying

Review: The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America, 1492-1493

User Review  - Keegan - Goodreads

Insanely interesting read. A multilayered book because Columbus' original diary went missing. We have only Bartolome De Las Casas' abstraction, which alternates, between first, second, and third ...

Review: The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America, 1492-1493

User Review  - Natalie - Goodreads

This copy of Christopher Columbus' diary has the English on one page and the original language on the opposite page. It was interesting to read his thoughts as he traveled and as he met the natives ...

Contents

• Transcription and Translation 16: 87
• Bibliography: 405
• Index: 483

About the author

A man of imagination, dreams, and perseverance, Columbus, the Genoese, persuaded King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to sponsor his search for the Orient through a Western route. Columbus made four voyages to the New World, always landing in the West Indies and believing he was very close to the "Island of Cipango" (Japan). Difficulties with his crew and with his native subjects led to his dismissal as Spanish governor of the islands, although King Ferdinand remained an admirer of his nautical prowess. Fernando Colon (Ferdinand Columbus), his son, wrote The Life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus. The five-hundreth anniversary of Columbus's first trip to the Americas was celebrated in 1992. The approach of this anniversary prompted a renewed look at Columbus and his significance. As a result, there has been increased controversy about Columbus's role. Some continue to admire him as a visionary who expanded the horizons of Europe and helped usher in a new age. Others, however, view him as a despoiler of the New World who plundered its resources and destroyed the culture of its indigenous people. Elements of truth can be found in both views.

Oliver Dunn received the PH.D. degree from Cornell University. He is Professor Emeritus in Purdue University and a longtime student of Spanish and early history of Spanish America.

James E. Kelley, Jr., received the M.A. degree from American University. A mathematician and computer and management consultant by vocation, for the past twenty years he has studied the history of European cartography and navigation in late-medieval times. Both are members of the Society for the History of Discoveries and have written extensively on the history of navigation and on Columbus's first voyage, Although they remain unconvinced of its conclusions, both were consultants to the National geographic Society's 1986 effort to establish Samana Cay as the site of Columbus's first landing.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Diario of Christopher Columbus's first voyage to America: 1492 - 1493; Volume 70 of The American exploration and travel series
• Author: Christopher Columbus
• Editors: Fray Bartolome De La Casas, Oliver Charles Dunn
• Translated by: Oliver Charles Dunn, James Edward Kelley
• Contributor: Fray Bartolome De La Casas
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991
• ISBN: 0806123842, 9780806123844
• Length: 491 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Adventurers & Explorers; History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies); History / Europe / Spain & Portugal; History / North America