Inaccuracies about Columbus

RECENT information has shown that there are numerous inaccuracies in what we have accepted as correct about the arrival of Christopher Columbus to Trinidad and in the selection of our national flower and other national symbols. To compound this situation, these inaccuracies are published in the official website of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, in various school textbooks, and in tourism promotional material.

For more than ten years, several letters have been written on the national flower to either the chairman of the National Emblems Committee, the minister responsible for national emblems, or to former Prime Minister Patrick Manning and current Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar by such prominent scientists as Prof Julian Duncan, Prof Julian Kenny and Dr Dennis Adams, and by Dr Johnnie Lee of the Garden Club and the TT Field Naturalists’ Club but without these matters being resolved. In addition, over these many years, numerious letters have been published in the print media about these inaccuracies.

On August 31, the people of TT will be celebrating our 52nd anniversary as an independent country yet so many inaccuracies exist relative to our history and to our national emblems which were selected in 1962.

Inaccuracy No 1: On July 31,1498, 516 years ago, Christopher Columbus, during his third voyage of exploration, encountered an island which he called “la ysla de la Trinidad”. We have been taught that the ships used by Columbus when he visited Trinidad on July 31, 1498, were The Santa Maria, The Nina and The Pinta. These were however the ships used during his first voyage in 1492 and not during his third voyage in 1498. It is unanimously accepted that The Santa Maria, his flagship of the first voyage, was wrecked at Cap Hatien off Hispaniola on the morning of December 25, 1492.

The names of the ships used on his arrival to Trinidad have been mentioned in several publications, but there are different versions of the spelling of these names. These publications include:

(a) Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A life of Christopher Columbus by Samuel Eliot Morrison, 1942, which on page 513 gives the names of the ships as La Vaquenos, El Correo, and the third ship which Columbus simply referred to as La Nao.

(b) In La Magdalena: The story of Tobago: 1498 to 1898 by D Phillips, the ships were named as Santa Maria de Guia, La Castilla, nicknamed Vaquenos, and La Garda, nicknamed Correo.

(c) The story of Trinidad: 1498 to 1797 by Douglas Archibald, which on page 16 gives the names of the ships as Guia (el Nao), Los Vaquenos, and El Correo.

(d) The Book of Trinidad by Gerard Besson and Bridget Brereton, 2010, on page 14 gives the names of the ships as Santa Maria de Guia, La Castilla, and La Gorda, also known as Correo. Wikipedia gives the names of the ships as Santa Maria de Guia, the Vaquenos and the Correo.

On October 11, 2012, the ambassador of Spain, Joaquin de Aristegui Laborde, donated a selection of historical documents and maps of the Spanish period of TT as a gift from the Government and people of Spain to the Government and people of TT to mark our country’s 50th anniversary of independence. In addition, the ambassador took the opportunity to launch the English version of La Trinidad Espanola (Spanish Trinidad) which covers the period of Spanish occupation, 1498 to 1797. It is my wish that these documents will contain information which will debunk the myths which we have been accepting as the truth for more than 500 years. Hopefully it will clarify not only the names of the three ships used by Columbus on his visit to Trinidad, but will also give the reason for his decision to name the island Trinidad, the location of the three peaks reportedly sighted by Columbus, and describe the place at which his men landed on the island. Some publications state that Columbus himself did not “set foot” on Trinidad.

We should all be grateful to the ambassador for his initiative in obtaining and donating this valuable information to us.

I feel confident that our local historians, Prof Bridget Brereton, Michael Anthony, and Gerard Besson would have obtained access to these records and I look forward with anticipation for the publication of any recent information which they may have obtained therefrom about Christopher Columbus, his arrival in Trinidad, the names of the three ships used by him on that occasion, together with any other relevant information.

* In Part II next week, I will discuss our national flower and the inaccuracies contained on the Nalis Website.