The graduating class of my sixth grade year received a special gift from our teacher. It was a book of brightly colored paper held together with a faux-leather binding. We were instructed to capture the grand wisdom that only twelve year olds could impart as we headed into the unknown future of middle school.
I remember a great deal about that book. I remember the feel of the navy blue soft “pleather” cover encasing the pink, yellow and green sheets of paper; I remember that we folded each sheet once it had been written upon so that reading the words was like peeling back treasure. And I remember the gold-plated zipper that sealed the contents and protected this fount of wisdom from the elements.
I lost my book decades ago, in one of a multitude of moves across the world, but those words have stayed with me.
What does it mean to say “Columbus discovered America in 1492”?
It suggests, for one, that it is possible to “discover” a continent of anywhere between one million to 18 million people that was continuously inhabited for 12 thousand years before Columbus. It suggests also that others had not discovered America before 1492, although researchers conclude the Vikings established a toehold in Greenland 500 years before Columbus; and, while hotly contested, some scholars maintain Africans, Portuguese and even the Chinese visited our shores well before Columbus. Most importantly, it suggests this act of discovery was Columbus’ seminal achievement – it was, in short, his legacy. But was it?
What I have come to understand is that even while the notion of “discovery” is highly contested, its impact on the people, history and law of the Americas is incontrovertible. We now have some idea of the impact Columbus had on the environment and people of this land, but comparatively little has been written on how the principle of discovery informed the laws of the New World. Columbus’ voyage of discovery was first and foremost a trade expedition, a business matter funded by the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabel. It was a private transaction with a very public objective. To achieve its aim, contracts had to be signed between the parties. The terms of those contracts would ultimately form the basis of law in the Americas.
What exactly did Columbus discover?
The contracts Columbus signed with the crown were all contingent on discovery. He was to receive vast wealth and power should he find previously undiscovered lands on the trade path to Asia. His benefits would include: commission as admiral of the ocean seas, viceroy and governor general of the islands, which meant legal jurisdiction over the islands and also all lawsuits arising from merchandise trade with the islands, and of course, 1/10th of the profits acquired from his admiralty (more if he invested his own money in the enterprise). Moreover, these privileges and benefits would run to Columbus’ heirs in perpetuity – a provision that contravened Spanish law at the time, but which the monarchs were able to grant by invoking royal absolute power to do as they pleased.
Thus, this principle of discovery became the essential legal question for 15th century Spain. The Admiral’s descendants sought to enforce the long series of royal decrees, which together came to be known as The Book of Privileges, but the crown would question the very legitimacy of Columbus’ discovery claims. The crown’s representatives went so far as to argue that it was Martin Alonzo Pinzón, the captain of the Pinta, who was first to discover the New World.
Is this a legacy we can endure?
* From the letter to the King and Queen of Spain on Columbus 4th voyage (Jamaica, July 7th 1503) Christopher Columbus Four Voyages to the New World: Letters and Selected Documents (Translated and Edited by R.H. Major).