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Columbus's letter on the first voyage is the first known document announcing the results of the first voyage of Christopher Columbus that set out in 1492 and reached the Americas. The letter was ostensibly written by Columbus himself, on February 15, 1493, aboard the caravel ''Niña'', while still at sea, on the return leg of his voyage.〔Ife, Barry W. (1992) "Introduction to the Letters from America", King's College London. (). Accessed February 12, 2012.〕 A post-script was added upon his arrival in Lisbon on March 4, 1493, and it was probably from there that Columbus dispatched two copies of his letter to the Spanish court. The letter was instrumental in spreading the news throughout Europe about Columbus's voyage. Almost immediately after Columbus's arrival in Spain, printed versions of the letter began to appear. A Spanish version of the letter (presumedly addressed to Luis de Santángel), was printed in Barcelona by early April 1493, and a Latin translation (addressed to Gabriel Sanchez) was published in Rome around a month later (c. May 1493). The Latin version was swiftly disseminated and reprinted in many other locations—Basel, Paris, Antwerp, etc.—still within the first year of his arrival. In his letter, Christopher Columbus claims to have discovered and taken possession of a series of islands on the edge of the Indian Ocean in Asia. He described the islands, particularly Hispaniola and Cuba, exaggerating their size and wealth, and suggested that mainland China probably lay nearby. He also gave a brief description of the native Arawaks (whom he called "Indians"), emphasizing their docility and amenability, and the prospects of their mass conversion to Catholic Christianity. However, the letter also revealed local rumors about a fierce man-eating tribe of "monsters" in the area (probably Caribs), although Columbus himself disbelieved the stories, and dismissed them as myth. The letter provides very few details of the oceanic voyage itself, and covers up the loss of the flagship of his fleet, the ''Santa María'', by suggesting Columbus left it behind with some colonists, in a fort he erected at La Navidad in Hispaniola. In the letter, Columbus urges the Catholic monarchs to sponsor a second, larger expedition to the Indies, promising to bring back immense riches. A slightly different version of Columbus's letter, in manuscript form, addressed to the Catholic monarchs of Spain, was found in 1985, part of the ''Libro Copiador'' collection, and has led to some revision of the history of the Columbus letter.〔Zamora (1993); Henige (1994)〕 == Background == Christopher Columbus, a Genoese captain in the service of the Crown of Castile, set out on his first voyage in August 1492 with the objective of reaching the East Indies by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean. As is well known, instead of reaching Asia, Columbus stumbled upon the Caribbean islands of the Americas. Convinced nonetheless he had discovered the edges of Asia, Columbus set sail back to Spain on January 15, 1493, aboard the caravel ''Niña''. According to the journal of his voyage, on February 14, Columbus was caught in a storm off the Azores islands. The resulting poor condition of his ship forced him to put in at Lisbon (Portugal) on March 4, 1493. Columbus finally arrived at Palos de la Frontera in Spain eleven days later, on March 15, 1493.〔See Columbus's journal (Markham ed., 1893: (p.178 ), 187–88, 192)〕 During the return journey, while aboard the ship, Columbus wrote a letter reporting the results of his voyage and announcing his discovery of the "islands of the Indies". In a postscript added while he was idling in Lisbon, Columbus reports sending at least two copies of the letter to the Spanish court—one copy to the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, and a second copy to the Aragonese official Luis de Santangel, the principal supporter and financial backer of Columbus's expedition. Copies of Columbus's letter were somehow picked up by publishers, and printed editions of his letter began to appear throughout Europe within weeks of Columbus's return to Spain.〔Matthey S. Edney (1996, rev.2009), "The Columbus Letter: The Diffusion of Columbus's Letter through Europe, 1493-1497" (online ) at the University of Southern Maine (accessed Feb 12, 2012).〕 A Spanish version of the letter (based on the letter he sent to Luis de Santangel) was printed in Barcelona probably in late March or early April 1493. A Latin translation of the letter (addressed to Gabriel Sanchez) was printed in Rome about a month later. Within the first year of his arrival, eight more editions of the Latin version were printed in various European cities—two in Basel, three in Paris, another two in Rome and another in Antwerp. Already by June 1493, the letter had been translated by a poet into Italian verse, and that version went through multiple editions in the next couple of years. A German translation appeared in 1497. The rapid dissemination of Columbus's letter was enabled by the printing press, a new invention that had established itself only recently. Columbus's letter (particularly the Latin edition) forged the initial public perception of the newly discovered lands. Indeed, until the discovery of Columbus's on-board journal, first published in the 19th century, this letter was the only known direct testimony by Columbus of his experiences on the first voyage of 1492.〔Henige (1994: p.141–42). An intact version of Columbus's on-board journal, "Diario de bordo", has yet to be found. All that is available is a heavily edited and abridged version of the journal reproduced by Bartolomé de las Casas in his ''Historia de las Indias''. Although written in the 16th century, Las Casas' manuscript was only discovered in the 1790s and published only in 1875–76. For a reproduction with English translation, see Dunn and Kelley (1989).〕 It is estimated that, on the whole, between 1493 and 1500, some 3,000 copies of the Columbus letter were published, half of them in Italy, making it something of a best-seller for the times.〔Clough (1994: (p.299 ))〕 By contrast, Columbus's 1495 letter of his second voyage and his 1505 letter of his fourth voyage had only one printing each, probably not exceeding 200 copies. Original versions of Columbus's letter, written by his hand, have never been found. Only the printed editions—Spanish and Latin—are known. However, a third version of the letter, contained in a 16th-century manuscript collection known as the ''Libro Copiador'', was discovered in 1985. This manuscript version differs in several significant ways from the printed editions and, although its authenticity is still tentative, many believe the ''Copiador'' version to be a closer rendition of Columbus's original missive. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Columbus Letter on the First Voyage」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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