History 521

Early Exploration and Empire

Primary Source Document Analysis

Explorers Christopher Columbus and Jose de Acosta

Document 1- Christopher Columbus’ Logbook, 1492
… And afterwards I will leave for another very large island that I believe must be Cipango (Japan) according to the indications that these Indians that I have give me, and which they call Colba. In it they say there are many and very large ships and many traders. And from this island (I will go to) another which they call Bohio, which also they say is very big. And the others which are in between I will also see on the way; depending on whether I find a quantity of gold or spices, I will decide what I am to do. But I have already decided to go to the mainland and to the city of Quinsay (in Asia) and to give Your Highnesses’ letters to the Grand Khan (Mongol ruler of China) and to ask for, and to come with, a reply.
Document 2- Christopher Columbus’ Logbook, 1498
I have always read that the world, land, and water, was spherical, and authoritative accounts and the experiments which Ptolemy (ancient Greek geographer) and all the others have recorded concerning this matter, so describe it and hold it to be, by the eclipses of the moon and by other demonstrations made from east to west, as well as from the elevation of the pole star from north to south. Now, as I have already said, I have seen so great irregularity that, as a result, I have been led to hold this concerning the world, and I find that it is not round as they describe it, but that it is the shape of a pear which is everywhere very round except where the stalk is, for there it is very prominent, or that it is like a very round ball, and on one part of it is placed something like a woman’s nipple, and this part, where this protuberance is found, is the highest and nearest to the sky, and it is beneath the equinoctial line and in this Ocean sea at the end of the East. I call that “the end of the East,” where end all the land and islands…
Document 3-Jose de Acosta’s Natural and Moral History of the Indies, 1590
Gold, silver, and metals grow naturally in land that is barren and unfruitful. And we see, that in lands of good temperature, the which are fertile with grass and fruits, there are seldom found any mines; for that Nature is contented to give them vigor to bring forth fruits more necessary for the preservation and maintenance of the life of beasts and men. And contrariwise to lands that are very rough, dry, and barren, they find mines of silver, quick-silver, and of gold; and all those riches (which come into Spain since the West Indies were discovered) have been drawn out of such places which are rough and full, bare and fruitless: yet the taste of this money makes these places agreeable, well inhabited with numbers of people…
… Today the great treasure of Spain comes from the Indies, because God has appointed the one realm to serve the other by giving up its wealth so as to be under good governance, thus mutually enjoying one another’s goods and privileges.

Fill out the table below with your partner:

Document / Motivation for exploration / European knowledge of the world
Document 1
Document 2
Document 3

Discuss the following questions with your partner as you refer to the above documents.

1.  What kinds of geographical knowledge of the world did the early explorers have? How did this knowledge contribute to the reasons for exploration?

2.  How did religious belief and a hope for profit combine in motivating the new voyages?

3.  What do the primary motives for exploration suggest as to how Europeans will treat these “new lands” in the Americas, and the indigenous peoples (the people who already live there)?