Christopher Columbus: Letter to Ferdinand and Isabel Regarding the Fourth Voyage This letter had a negative and cynical tone. It describes the lands in exhausted state and in destruction. “Of Espanola, Paria, and the other lands, I never think without weeping, I believed that their example would have been to the profit of others; on the contrary, they are in an exhausted state; although they are not dead, the infirmity is incurable or very extensive; let him who brought them to this state come now with the remedy if he can or if he knows it; in destruction, everyone is an adept”. page 27) He is also pleading and mentions what service he has done.
“Seven years I was at your royal court, where all to whom this undertaking was
...mentioned, unanimously declared it to be a delusion”. (page 27) He also asks if he can be given a chance to reclaim his name and honor. “Now all, down to the very tailors, seek permission to make discoveries. It can be believed that they go forth to plunder, and it is granted to them to do so, so that they greatly prejudice my honor and do very great damage to the enterprise”. page 27) When he was imprisoned with charges he asks for a pardon.
“The pure devotion which I have ever borne to the service of your Highnesses, and the unmerited wrong that I have suffered, will not permit me to remain silent, although I would fain do so; I pray Your Highnesses to pardon me”. Christopher Columbus wrote in a state of desperation and portrayed himself as a broken
man. “.. my soul will be forgotten if it here leaves my body”.
