ENGL2045 – Travel Writing

Notes, Reading and Exercises for Weeks 3

Voyages of Exploration and Discovery From Columbus to Captain Cook

The Age of Discovery

The Early Modern Period in Europe (also referred to as the Age of Discovery) can be said to

begin with Columbus's 'discovery' of the Americas in 1492. Although it was Vasco da Gama in

1497-99 who fulfilled the medieval dream of finding a direct trade route to the riches of the

Orient. Columbus, Vasco Da Gama and other western explorers were greatly assisted by the work

of Henry the Navigator of Portugal (d. 1460). Henry began

the modern development of navigational method that would

enable European maritime powers to cross the oceans,

circumnavigate the world and eventually dominate the globe.

The Caravel was the generic design of boat that came to be

identified with this period of exploration, and although a

western product, it combined and improved on features from

the Chinese Junk and the Arab Dhow, both of which had

proven ocean-going capabilities.

Columbus's discovery of what was to become known as the New World, was a breakthrough in

European geography and mapmaking. It also marked a shift towards a more secular, more

scientific and more 'modern' society. The Old World of religious certainties and Classical

knowledge gradually gave way to new systems of knowledge based on the witnessing and

measurement of empirical data, the construction of charts, tables, taxonomies: science and

rationalism, as the basis for a system of knowledge about the world. Columbus was hardly a man

of science, and in his Journals we find considerable reference to God, providence and destiny, but

he is a useful marker for the beginning of the early modern period.

Unfortunately for the rest of the world, the quest for knowledge and spirit of modern enterprise

often led to greed, patriotic fervour and a will to power manifesting itself in five hundred years of

European expansion and colonialism. In the 16th century, European explorers continued to

explore and colonise North and South America, and to press further East along the sea routes

charted by the Portuguese around Africa to Goa, Malacca and Macao. By 1600, Portuguese

colonies were strung out along the sea routes around Africa, to the Middle East, India and China.

This empire of islands and coastal enclaves was were trading posts and Christian missions in

equal measure were established – the beachheads of colonialism.

In South America, the Portuguese and Spanish colonists ventured further inland, destroying most

of the indigenous population (see De Las Casas‟s account below). Here, as later in North America,

the Europeans swept away local resistance, claiming the whole continent for Christendom. There

was fierce competition between Spain and Portugal, and later France and Britain for these

possessions which often changed hands between European powers.

Where Polo and Mandeville saw wonder and marvels in

the Indies and the Orient, post-Columbian colonialists

promoted the New World, as a virgin land, peopled by

'primitive savages' generally depicted as cannibals, or

living in wretched poverty, or childlike and in need of

protection and education. In the first phase of colonialism,

the new Christian rulers were mostly concerned with

finding gold and pressing forced labour from indigenous

peoples (and brutally crushing resistance) – there would of

course be exceptions, but this was the general rule.

Between 1500 and 1600, much of the East (East Indies, India, China) and the West (West Indies,

North and South America) was opened up to European shipping. Maps and charts (often jealously

guarded) were produced to enable shortest routes to be plotted between Europe and her colonies.

Only the Great Southern Land - Australia and New Zealand had not yet been fully mapped,

although the Portuguese had certainly 'discovered' the North coast of the Australian continent in

the 17th century by sailing south from their colonies in the East Indies. But it was Captain Cook's

expeditions in the 1770's that really put the South Sea Islands, New Zealand and Australia on the

map. Cook‟s maps and charts were the state-of-the-art representations of the world, especially of

the Southern Hemisphere, a good deal of which ha had sailed across. Cooks‟ mission was not, in

the first instance one of colonization, but of mapping and establishing bases where the English

maritime fleet could stop for provisions and refitting. Cook was very critical of the colonization

of the Americas and saw no advantage in subjecting the people of Australia and the South Seas to

a similar fate.

The Discourse of Discovery and Exploration

In the writings of Columbus and Cook (see also e.g. Ralegh and Barbosa below) we can see the

development of a particular kind of travel writing - the supposedly factual accounts of discovery

by Europeans of hitherto unknown lands (Terra Incognita). As new lands were discovered, they

would inevitably fall under the imperial gaze of European travellers – at least this is how

postcolonial discourse has come to view the whole body of exploration narratives during the

colonial period. The general argument is that exploration is the outward manifestation of a will to

power, and the knowledge gained through such travel is the pathway to achieving domination

over the territory surveyed. Accepting this general argument, we need to look then at the

variations and the exceptions within the discourse of travel, and at the different ways in which

that discourse has been subsequently construed.

In looking at the writings of Columbus and Cook, we are looking across several hundred years of

colonialism, and the considerable shift in style, tone, and language we find can be related to the

shifting history of empire, especially the accumulation of scientific knowledge and the evolution

of modern ideas, aesthetics and philosophies that shaped western modernity.

Discovery and Wonder:

For Columbus, the description of the Indies presents a huge problem. Although these lands and

people have never before been represented in the West, Columbus has convinced himself that he

has reached the Earthly Paradise in the East, and is close to Cathay. He is deluded, and for some

critics, Columbus is not a modern explorer because his rationalism and empiricism is often

overtaken by preconceptions and stubborn faith. Rather than describing simply what he sees,

Columbus appears to embellish his accounts, turning the Indies into a new Earthly Paradise, or

Garden of Eden. It was common for artists and writers to represent the Indies as a new and

unfallen world. Columbus sometimes evokes romantic images of Spain to describe the Indies, and

there is an unreal, dreamlike quality to his vision of the Indies within the context of Spanish

empire. Columbus seems quite capable of self-delusion as his search for Cathay and the Kublai

Khan (and his gold) becomes an increasingly hopeless quest. Although he will always be

associated with the discovery of America, his actual achievements were limited to a few landings

in the West Indies and South America. He never set foot in North America, and although he

names places in his Journal, these names were superseded by later explorers who produced more

accurate charts, and little practical information was ever derived from his voyages.

Columbus's accomplishments are principally those of discovery and conveying wonder then, and

his language and style tend towards this narrative mode (note that the more matter-of-fact parts of

the log are not written by Columbus, whose narrative begins when land is finally discovered). We

can think of Columbus as a medieval traveller more than a modern explorer, because although he

may have stumbled into America, he seems incapable of translating his findings into a modern

modern worldview. He didn‟t so much discover America as fulfill his dream of reaching the half-

imagined world of Cathay.

Exploration and Knowledge.

Columbus never has the chance to capitalise on his discoveries as did later explorers and

opportunists such as Sir Walter Ralegh who presses on into the interior of South America,

describing and quantifying the land and its peoples. Ralegh's description of his journey up the

Orinoco seems well-informed and life-like. Where Columbus seems overawed by the beauty of

the landscape and overwhelmed emotionally by what he has achieved, Ralegh enters the

landscape, heroically but with a level head, rowing up the Orinoco river, communicating with the

natives (compare with Columbus who tries to 'read' the signs of the natives, but in a kind of dumb

show, open to mistranslation and misunderstanding) and gaining practical knowledge about the

place and its people. Ralegh's exploration is not, however, innocent, nor is it written in plain

scientific language. Ralegh uses his considerable literary skills to impress the court of Elizabeth I,

where literary prowess could still be the mark of a Soldier/Knight. Literariness is turned to

propaganda here to incite British colonisation of the Indies. (e.g. p. 163)

Science and Surveying.

Cook is a prime example of the modern scientific explorer. Of course, his voyages come nearly

three hundred years after Columbus, and his motives are not primarily political or financial gain,

but the accumulation of scientific knowledge. Such knowledge is still part of imperialist thinking,

and the Royal Society and the Admiralty in England, sponsored many scientific expeditions, at

least in part for political and military reasons. Given the geopolitics of the time, (American War

of Independence and war with France), it is difficult to separate Cook‟s explorations with

England's imperialist ambitions. The maps, charts and other scientific data on currents, weather

systems as well as flora and fauna would provide invaluable practical information for

colonization. Even the project of mapping, charting and classifying the world, its people, and

wildlife, can be construed as essentially that of an imperialist mindset and worldview. The first

British settlement in Australia was called Botany Bay, indicating how important was the business

of 'botanising'. Note Cook's great disappointment when the goats and sheep he has brought all the

way from England die almost immediately from eating poisoned plants, so dashing his attempts

to bring English farming to the South Seas.

Christopher Columbus

Who was Christopher Columbus? Most scholars believe that Columbus was originally from

Genoa (in present day Italy), probably the son of a weaver. His family background is sketchy,

however, and he never revealed much information about his origins, possibly because of some

scandal, possibly he did not really know. Like Venice, Genoa was a major commercial centre for

trade with the East and North Africa. Columbus took part in several trading expeditions across the

Mediterranean, and later, when he moved to Portugal, Columbus sailed with the Portuguese down

the African coast, and later sailed to Britain and Iceland. He spent ten years studying the problem

of getting to the Indies (the East via the Western passage). After much effort, he persuaded Queen

Isabella of Spain to sponsor him.

What was Columbus searching for? - Cathay. He was convinced of a Western Route to the

Indies and China. The main goal of Columbus's expedition was to discover, and then presumably

to claim by force, the East for his Spanish sponsors. The main prizes were gold (Europe needed

more gold currency) and spices (highly lucrative trade) also silks, pearls, jewels etc. The

commodities were known to exist in the East as they had been traded for some time overland

(along the Silk Route) and via sea routes between Arabia and India.

The land route to the East, via present day Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan was closed by a curtain

drawn between East and West by the Ottoman Turks (1345), and China closed its borders as the

Mongol Empire retracted after Chinese nationalism expelled the descendants of the Grand Khan

in 1368 (rise of Ming dynasty). Sea routes to India and the East were still used, but there was no

direct sea passage for Europeans - goods had to be carried overland between the Mediterranean

and the Arabian port of Hormuz. The direct sea route via Africa was forged by the Portuguese

(see above), while Columbus was still floundering in the West Indies and the coast of South

America.

So there were a number of reasons that made taking a western sea route to China attractive.

Columbus became obsessed with the idea, persuading himself and others, against the weight of

contemporary geographical evidence that such a voyage was feasible.

Columbus and Geography Columbus believed in the spherical earth (as did most geographers,

since the Greeks (Aristotle noticed the earth made a circular shadow on the moon - Pythagoreans

believed that only a perfect spherical figure could encompass the world - Ptolemy first attempts to

map the globe, but without accurate longitudes, with insufficient trig points, and too small a

spheroid).

Columbus took an incorrect measurement of the circumference of the earth (18,000 miles instead

of the 25,000 plus miles that Eratosthenes (276-194 BC) had calculated. He also over-estimated

the land mass of Asia as it extended eastwards, calculating that there were only 3,500 miles

between the Canaries and Kinsai (Hang chow) (6-8 weeks journey?).

Columbus and the Pull of the East Columbus was so determined to prove his theory that he

seems to have deliberately overlooked or ignored contemporary science. His estimate of the

distance from Spain to China was hopelessly inaccurate, depending on a false estimate of the size

of the earth, a false estimate of the land mass of Asia, PLUS some further reductions. It is just

possible that Columbus knew that it was not possible to sail to China, but guessed (rightly) that

there was another land mass before China. But in order to „sell‟ the expedition, Columbus had to

capture the imagination of his sponsors with promises of grabbing the treasures of the East. It is

also just possible that Isabella knew that Columbus was wrong, but was nevertheless prepared to

back the possibility of finding new lands to colonise. The Spanish expelled the Moors (Muslims)

from Granada (in southern Spain) in 1492, the last stronghold in their own land, and were seeking

to emulate the Portuguese who had taken the fight against the Muslims to North Africa and had

already begun to expand their territories abroad.

There can be little doubt that the pictures of the East presented by Polo and Mandeville had some

impact on the imagination of explorers and sea adventurers like Columbus. The prize of

eventually finding the legendary Cathay exerted a considerable pull.

The Journeys

First expedition:

Columbus set off with three boats from Spain on 3

August 1492. These were the Nina, Pinta and Santa

Maria. Pinta‟s rudder broke after three days. Stopped

at Canaries for three weeks. Left on Sept. 6th - saw

land on Oct. 12th. The land was probably San

Salvador (Watling Island) in the Bahamas. He

explored several islands and moved on to Cuba,

thinking he had reached an island off China. He sent messengers to the Grand Khan. Santa Maria

was wrecked off Hispaniola and the captain of the Pinta went off on his own, leaving the small

Nina – this forced Columbus to leave 39 of the crew behind to form the first Spanish colony,

which was later wiped out by Indians. He later caught up with the Pinta, was attacked by hostile

Indians and set off with leaky boats to Spain.

Second expedition: 25 Sept 1493 - 17 ships 1500 men.

Third expedition: 1 Aug 1498, Columbus reached Trinidad and the shores of Venezuela - still

apparently convinced he had discovered the East, Columbus wrote that he believed the Orinoco to

be the river that flows from the Earthly Paradise.

Clinging desperately to his original theory that the islands he had discovered were part of Marco

Polo‟s world, Columbus set off on a fourth voyage.

The “High Voyage” (1502-04):

The king and queen of Spain made it clear this time that Columbus was to search for gold and

silver, precious stones, spices and other riches. Columbus‟ fleet set sail from Cadiz on 9 May

1502 in what was to be “Another voyage in the name of the Holy Trinity,” as he stated in a letter

to the Pope. His son Fernando, age 14, and brother Bartolomeo accompanied Columbus on this

fourth and final voyage. Because of ill health and poor eyesight, Columbus could not captain his

fleet. What began with exhilaration over the fastest crossing yet, just 20 days, ended with the loss

of the entire fleet on the coast of Jamaica.

Columbus headed for the Spanish colony of Hispaniola where he dropped anchor at Santa

Domingo on June 29. Following a hurricane, in which 24 ships were lost and over 500 people

were killed, Columbus sailed southwest, past Cuba, until he reached Central America. Skirmishes

with the Indians, intense storms, and damaged ships meant that he had to head back to Hispaniola

in December, 1502. Losing two ships, 130 men were crowded onto the remaining, barely sea-

worthy, ships. Realizing that Hispaniola was too far to reach, Columbus turned north to Jamaica

which he had discovered on his second voyage. The ships were in such bad condition that they

were beached. Columbus would remain marooned here with his men for over a year. One half of

the men mutinied when Columbus tried to instill order and discipline, and tired of dealing with

the Spaniards, the Indians decided to stop supplying food. One loyal sailor, Diego Méndez de

Salcedo, agreed to cross the open channel by canoe to reach Hispaniola. The island was over 100

miles away but in five days Méndez and one other sailor made it to Hispaniola in two canoes

paddled by natives. At the end of July the rescue ship arrived, and on August 13 the shipwrecked

sailors arrived in Santo Domingo. Not feeling welcome in the city, on 12 Sept 1504, Columbus

took his last voyage across the ocean, this time as a passenger. On November 7, 1504 he, his son,

and his brother arrived in Spain.

The Journal as Travel Writing:

Travel Writing, History and Literature It has been said that Columbus's journals tell us more

about the European imagination than they do about the actual events of history. In other words,

these 'historical records' are not accurate records of events, but posthumous reworkings of events

into a momentous narrative, a mythology about the origins of America.

In the writings of Columbus, and later, Amerigo Vespucci and Sir Walter Ralegh, certain literary

techniques are at work, and literary references can be detected, which connect these writings to a

literary tradition.

It is the careful analysis of such writings that reveals not just what happened, but how the

imagination of a whole readership operated, and how that imagination might be fed and

manipulated.

Authorship and authenticity

The letters and journal of Columbus are highly dubious documents. The journal was not released

by the Spanish until the 19th century as they considered it contained strategic information

valuable to Spain. Authorship of the journal is clearly, like Polo's Travels, a collaborative effort,

and we can assume that what we read today in a modern English translation has been much

altered since the words actually written and spoken in 1492.

If we look closely at the 'Journal' we find that there are at least two 'voices' - that of an

unidentified narrator/historian, who seems to be interpreting the actual ship's log; and that of the

Admiral, Columbus himself, narrating events in the first person.

The Journal Form The journal as a form purports to be a much more „objective‟ report of a

journey, than the prose writings of Polo and Mandeville. The day-by-day form seems to offer the

direct witnessing of events as they happen. The sea log is intended as a scientific document

supplementing maps and charts.

The journal of Columbus offers a fairly matter of fact day-to-day account until the momentous

discovery of land. This moment has been retrospectively built into the 'beginnings' of America - a

myth of origins (a myth, because the land America was already there of course, so were its people

- 1492 marked the beginning of the European settlement of the Americas and the virtual

annihilation of its indigenous people. It has now been appropriated as the defining moment in the

creation of America (note Columbus day on 8th October). Given the controversy surrounding the

subsequent genocide of the Indians (see Las Casas below), American history might have chosen a

more auspicious starting point.

The Structure and 'narration' of 'The Journal of Christopher Columbus'

The supposedly objective day-by-day form here looks very constructed. (Note that the extract we

are using has missing days marked by asterisks - there should usually be an entry for each day). It

was common for ship's logs to be 'polished up' for publication, but this one seems to have been

greatly altered and embellished. The journal begins with a foreword by the Admiral addressed to

his sponsors the King and Queen of Spain. The foreword anticipates the voyage, but it is almost

certainly written after the voyage, and so it maintains a fiction (that the voyage is yet to come).

There are then short entries from the beginning of the voyage to first (real) sight of land. These

entries record the distance covered and the direction sailed, but even here there are discrepancies,

as the 'narrator' sometimes seems to assume the voice of the Admiral and at other times refers to

him in the third person. (see for example, 30 Sept. to 8 Oct).

When land is discovered (11 Oct) long narrative passages are introduced 'in the words of the

Admiral' himself. The journal then opens out into what we can describe as 'discovery narrative' or

'first encounter narrative'. Such narratives were to become extremely popular among European

audiences who were captivated by stories of island paradises, exotic fruits and birds, naked or

near naked Indians, and thrilled by tales of cannibals.

Discovery Narratives

In common with all 'first encounter' or discovery narratives, the encounter or discovery is all

one-way - i.e. it is entirely as seen by the Europeans. There is little evidence that the Europeans

concerned themselves with what the Indians might want or expect from the encounter. The

Indians were regarded as curiosities first and then as providers of food, gold and labour.

For Columbus, the 'discovery' narrative is complicated by the fact that he desperately wants to 're-

discover' Cathay and meet the Great Khan. The justification for the voyage was to return with

riches from the East. His 'bag' of a few Indians, and a little gold and cotton from America must

have been a great disappointment.

Although the journal is important as the first story of European beginnings in America, for

Columbus this is not America, it is the Indies (Spain continued to call the „New World‟ the West

Indies until the 18th century). His eyes see America, but his mind sees the „East‟ of Mandeville

and Polo.

The Dumb-Show and the Silent 'Other'

We can see Columbus‟s disappointment at seeing the tiny „primitive‟ villages being slowly

displaced by an increasingly delusory idea of „lost cities‟ as he frantically searches for gold mines

and evidence of the Great Khan‟s empire. The place of the natives in all of this is increasingly

secondary as the greed of the Europeans reduces them firstly to the insignificant „helpers‟ of the

heroic Columbus - their sole function being to point towards the place the gold comes from (or to

send the foreigners off on a wild goose chase just to get them out of their village), secondly they

become childlike objects of interest (sexual?), and are translated into the „noble savage‟, or the

inhabitants of an Earthly Paradise. But at the same time, the presence of the „grotesque‟ and

„monstrous‟ East as described by Mandeville becomes evident, as stories of natives that eat the

flesh of other men begin to circulate and the cannibal is located here.

So, this well-documented „first encounter‟ of Europeans and native Indians, which has become

the narrative of „discovery‟, finds the European imagination assimilating what they see of native

people with expectations largely informed by myth and fantasy (the grotesque and monstrous

natives of Greek mythology via Mandeville).

BUT unlike Mandeville‟s narrative, there is no dialogue with the natives, and certainly no attempt

to understand the natives „on their own terms‟. Clearly the natives, without any voice (there can

be no dialogue as none of the Europeans can speak their language) are continually shaped by the

Europeans. From potential helpers, pointing the way to an Exotic East, full of promised gold and

riches, they become the irritating savages hiding their gold from the Europeans. From helpers to

hinderers from noble savages to cannibals, the Indians are shaped according to the desires and

aspirations of the Europeans.

Columbus as the Hero of his own Fable

We can see some influence from Polo and Mandeville and their literary heritage in Columbus's

story of discovery. Columbus believes he has entered the Eastern extremities of the Indies

described by Mandeville, and this is a veil obscuring the evidence of his eyes. Literary heritage

also alters the telling of the story. The journal is not an objective account at all, but the story of a

hero, Columbus - a latter-day Odysseus, Jason or Sinbad. The author is the hero of his own fable

and what we read is often the subjective account of Columbus, telling us something about his

state of mind as well as what he might have actually seen. What is „discovered‟ is shaped by

Columbus‟s imagination, and as we have already seen, this is an imagination capable of

considerable self-deception (the size of the earth, also not believing the actual readings of his

actual position and sailing off in the opposite direction on a whim). And it is an imagination very

much influenced by literature, for a medieval explorer, this is perhaps not so surprising.

Columbus in Paradise

It seems that Columbus's voyage becomes wrapped up with his destiny. There is self-

representation in the Journal, and we find out about the man directly and indirectly through his

writing (assuming it is his writing). We sense that Columbus is emotionally involved in the

journey and the discovery of Paradise, as seen in his descriptions of landscapes. In the writings of

Mandeville and Polo, descriptions of landscape rarely suggest aesthetic response to the beauty of

the landscape, but Columbus describes an Arcadian Paradise (an idyllic rural utopia from the

place and poetry of Classical Greece, but a strong theme in late 15th and 16

th century European

literature). The literary referents as well as mention of the countryside of Spain shift the imagery

to Europe and suggest an aesthetic appropriation of the New World. This shift in register is

sometimes read as a kind of romanticism in which Columbus‟s own state of mind, (the euphoria

of arrival) is projected onto the natural scenery.

Apart from actually being the first European to sail directly from the European mainland to the

Americas and record the voyage (and repeat it), Columbus has little to do with the 'reality' that the

New World was to become. It was another explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, who can be said to have

discovered America as an actuality. It was his name (feminised) - Amerigo/America - that was

chosen by European geographers for the New World (although the Spanish continued to refer to

the West Indies, a name now reserved for the islands that were indeed the first to be explored by

Columbus and his contemporaries). Vespucci re-captured the imagination in his writings by

describing the New World as a new beginning, a „real‟ and visitable Earthly Paradise, not the

mythical paradise of the East described by Mandeville (although of course in a sense it is the

same idea, re-mythologised and re-located).

New World Reality

In this New World of Vespucci‟s, the natives are problematic. The New World seems to be a

place for new beginnings almost entirely of a monetary nature, backed by official religion. It is

not in the first instance a place for new beginnings of a moral or humanist nature (although this

would come in time as various persecuted religious groups and utopians would try to establish

communities in America). Mandeville‟s veiled critique of the West through his representations of

the East as a plural and religiously tolerant realm, and his delight in the variety and difference

within the human race, entirely devoid of racism and prejudice is blown away in the European,

militaristic Christian grab for land. Almost immediately the natives of the West Indies and South

America, who, for Columbus were the same natives Mandeville describes so affectionately, were

represented as savage cannibals and subject to systematic genocide.

In the New World, the European imagination is freed to wander at will, redefining nature and

people in terms of their use-value first, and their monetary value second. Travel writing of the

time is generally imperialist in that it erases existing native places, projects new geographies on

them, and incorporates them into European-centred History and systems of knowledge. In the

Americas, more so than in other colonies, the imperial project is followed up by the brutal reality

of imperial genocide. So the 'fabulous reality' of diverse peoples reported by Mandeville is

incorporated into this imperialist singularity.

Unlike medieval pilgrims, merchants and missionaries, Columbus took heavily armed soldiers on

his voyages. His main intent might have been the challenge of crossing the ocean, and proving his

theory that China could be reached by a Western route (a theory which was rather flawed) - he

may have been primarily an ambitious and professional sailor, but he also acted for and on behalf

of the Spanish King and Queen who sponsored him, and as such, he worked to their orders and

design, which were expansionist and imperialist. Columbus acts for and helps realise the

imperialist ambitions of Spain, and his main concern after finding land is to assess the

possibilities for exploiting it and imposing colonial power over the native population. This

interpretation is supported by the letters and journals, although we have to recognize that these

may not be altogether authentic or reliable (but then what is?).

The Texts:

The Letter to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain (c. 1494)

The letter shows Columbus's intent to claim the island of 'Espanola' (Hispaniola, Cuba) as a

Spanish colony. He outlines how the colony might be administered and how arrangements should

be made for exploitation of the island, specifically the handling of gold. Convinced he has

reached China, he mentions travelling on to 'Guisay' (Kinsai - Hang Chau), and sending letters to

the 'Great Can'.

The Journal

Note the form of this travel writing - the ship's log, a daily account of events which suggests

accurate observation and recording of events, as they occur. Actually these logs were always

rewritten afterwards to reflect what happened (or what the captain wanted us to think happened)

rather then events as they unfolded.

Columbus uses scientific observation and reads and interprets nature as it presents itself (e.g. 16-

17 Sep), but in 'reading' the signs of land, the captain is perhaps turning empirical evidence into

what he wishes to see. In fact, when land is first „sighted‟, the ships are still two weeks away from

landfall.

Some examples to consider in class:

Columbus as the 'hero' of the journey (23 Sept). Columbus sees himself as the biblical character

Moses, leading Europeans to a new promised land. Note the sinister undertones: „naked‟ as

subjugation (sexual and imperial?). The representation of the natives shows an intent to dominate

them. Natives are firstly naked and childlike, lacking authority and (patriarchal) command. But

later they are represented as savages and cannibals, so 'justifying' the genocide that is to come

when they refuse to cooperate with the colonialist invaders.

Possession (11 Oct) - Columbus renames local places, so incorporating them into European space

and time. Local places, culture and history are swept aside as European history appropriates them.

Self-delusion (9 Sept) - Columbus deliberately falsifies scientific measurements.

Aesthetics and profit (19 Oct) - beauty in nature, but also in exploitation

To find Cathay (China) (21 Oct) - Columbus still expects to find the world of the Great Khan that

he has read about in Polo and Mandeville.

Further Reading:

For the full texts of the letters and journals check the internet – these are widely available.

See also Mary B Campbell, The Witness and the Other World.

Bartolome de Las Casas, The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account

Published in Spain in 1552, Las Casas's account of the Spanish mistreatment of American Indians

provides evidence of the brutal facts of colonization, and this makes a sobering postscript to

Columbus's triumphalist and imperialist accounts of discovery.

Las Casas was born in 1484. His father accompanied Columbus on his second voyage in 1493,

and in 1502 he went to the West Indies himself where he was initially involved in the Spanish

conquests there. But by 1514, he had become so disillusioned with colonialism and so concerned

for the well-being of the native population that he began to preach against slavery, and released

those slaves formerly given to him. By questioning Christian morality in the Spanish colonies, he

introduces a counter discourse against imperialism, and in 1520 he explained his views to Charles

I of Spain. Although he persuaded the king that mistreatment of the native population was not

ultimately in the interests of Spain, and that the devastation of the Indies was lessening humanity

rather than promoting Christian and humane values, the process of devastation continued.

Publication of The Devastation of the Indies caused controversy in Spain. Its accounts of

genocide portray an evil empire intent on greed, masked by the signs of Christian faith, but

without the fundamental principles of Christianity. This is a criticism that echoes Mandeville.

According to Las Casas, some fifteen million of the native population of South America and the

West Indies were killed by the Spaniards in the forty nine years following Columbus's voyage.

Note the language used by Las Casas - the natives are like sheep, humble, patient, most devoid of

wickedness and have no desire to possess worldly goods - they are indeed, perfect candidates for

conversion to the Christian faith, Las Casas suggests. The Spaniards, on the other hand, behave

like "ravening wild beasts, wolves, tigers, or lions ... killing, terrorizing, afflicting and destroying

native peoples" (29). And the reason for this behaviour among the Spanish Christians? - greed for

gold. For this, the Spanish slaughtered and enslaved the native peoples.

James Cook (1728 - 1779) - The Journals of Captain Cook (extract from the 2nd voyage 1772-

1775)

James Cook led three famous expeditions to the Pacific Ocean: the first

from 1768 to 1771 (around the world, Tahiti, New Zealand and Botany

Bay and up the Eastern Australian coast), the second from 1772 to

1775 and the third from 1776 to his death in Hawaii in 1779. These

three voyages capped centuries of European exploration in the Pacific.

Since Magellan's voyage round South America to the Phillipines

(1519-21), the Great South Land (Terra Australis Incognita) was the

focus of attention. The continent was originally thought to extend from

South Africa to South America. The Dutch were probably the first to

reach Australia in the early 17th century. They reached Tasmania and

the south island of New Zealand.

Cook is perhaps remembered most for his 'discovery' of New Zealand and his exploration of the

east coast of Australia, which led to the founding of a British settlement at Botany Bay. But his

claim to fame lies not so much in his 'discoveries' as in his brilliant scientific mapping of the

South Seas. His sponsors were not kings and queens, or even merchants, eager for gold, but rather

the Royal Society and the Admiralty, who issued Cook with instructions to make astronomical

measurements in Tahiti and to find, if it existed, the Great Southern Continent. Cook was a

thoroughly 'modern' explorer - rational, scientific and (on the surface at least) humanist. However,

the history of modernity is not only one of science and enlightenment, it is also one of

colonisation and imperialism, and looking back at Cook's writing through the glass of

postcolonial criticism we are bound to see imperialist intent in Cook's seemingly objective and

scientific reports.

Cook was killed by natives on his return to Hawaii on his third voyage. On his first voyage, he

was treated as a God, arriving at a time and in a manner which appeared to fit the predictions of

the island's priests who proclaimed him the deity 'Lono' they had been expecting. Although Cook

was a celebrated figure at home and in the South Seas, he appears from his journals to be a rather

serious, detached and down-to-earth character. Historians have usually regarded him as a

humanist and a tolerant man who took good care of his men and treated the natives fairly. But as

with Columbus, when characters are involved in such epic voyages, which seem to stand for so

much more than the journey itself, the main character is to some extent shaped by the ensuing

legend. There is some evidence to suggest that the story of Captain James Cook is not quite as

straightforward as the historical caricature usually presented.

The Journals

Cook wrote up his journals for the first two voyages in England in the year or so between

voyages, which also gave him opportunity to extend his family before setting off again. The

journals for the first and second voyages were written up by Cook himself in England, taking

advice from his editors. But to Cook‟s chagrin, other journals and part-fictionalised accounts of

the voyages were written up and published by other officers on the voyages and by professional

authors. These proved highly popular, but Cook was incensed by their inaccuracies.

But even Cook‟s journals, which we are examining here, were written after the event, and the

original manuscripts show much editing, erasing and rewriting. For the journal of the first voyage,

Cook appears to have borrowed from the log of Joseph Banks, a scientist on the voyage, whose

own account was also published (and rather better received by the public). In the journals of the

first two voyages, Cook appears to have taken care to preserve the day-to-day accuracy of his log

books from which they derive. On the third voyage on which he was killed, the log breaks off

abruptly on 17th January 1779 where Cook begins to describe the ceremony during, or after

which, he was probably killed. The journal of this third voyage is more novelistic in form,

describing episodes stretching across several days at a time. It appears that Cook was attempting

to turn this voyage into a book.

But there is a sense in which Cook's accounts are frustratingly incomplete. His contact with the

native people is so often in passing. Time and again, the natives disappear into the interior,

perhaps to appear later in another place (e.g. p. 262). For Cook, the contact zone is a narrow strip

at the foreshore where the Europeans come to repair and supply their ships and to take away

scientific samples (pp. 262-3). Even when Cook does have the natives in his company, he seems

rather incurious about their lives, politics and customs, and rarely refers to them by name. He

discusses the natives 'on reflection' rather than in direct conversation (pp. 274-5), as though he is

for some reason holding off direct contact with them. Perhaps this is in part due to Cook's nature,

as a rather serious, detached, professional seaman. Perhaps it is partly due to the fact that he was

censoring what he wrote, for his audience, firstly, the Admiralty, and then the members of the

Royal Society, and the public, among whom there was a growing market for stories of all kinds

about the South Seas. It appears that Cook did not wish to sensationalise his accounts (his reports

are in some respects a response to the many travel fictions of the South Seas, and may have

deliberately under-reported what really went on between himself, his men and the native people.

It appears he wanted to give the impression of being a highly moral, correct and disciplined

officer.

Further Reading:

'The Journals of Captain James Cook' - three (rather old editions in the library). We are using

the modern Penguin Edition.

For background on the representation of the South Seas in travel writing and literature, see:

Neil Rennie, Far-fetched facts: the literature of travel and the idea of the South, (1995) in HKU

library.

Bernard Smith, European Vision and the South Pacific (1985)

Nicholas Thomas, The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook (2003)

TUTORIAL QUESTIONS FOR COLUMBUS AND COOK

On 11th February, 2011. NB your presentation should last only 5-6 mins.

1. Find examples of Cook‟s scientific approach in his travel writing.

2. What evidence can you find to support the idea that Columbus was a medieval traveler more

than a modern, scientific explorer like Cook?

3. Taking an example of first contact (meeting the natives for the first time) in either Cook or

Columbus, consider the representation of „otherness‟.

Paul Smethurst 16.9.2009