Notes on Columbus' Journals

Students: the photocopies cut off a few sentences that may prove useful.  Here are a few.

P. 107 (bottom-left): "Accurate estimates of Indian populations before Columbus arrived continue to elude historians, but the destruction of up to four-fifths of the original population of Hispañola [present day Haiti & Dominican Republic] in Columbus' lifetime provides an essential starting point for any reading of his written representation of Indians."
P. 107 (bottom-right): "In the journal of this eventful voyage, Columbus puzzles over unexpected compass readings recorded during his travels."

P. 108: One of the footnotes indicates that Las Casas (who reproduced the Journals) is quoting Columbus at length here.  Another footnote says that Columbus' party is exploring various islands of the Bahamas.  (This is before they reach Hispañola and Cuba).

P. 109: Footnote 6 reads, "A variation of Bohío.  Columbus translated this name as "abounding in gold."  It most likely referred to the island that Columbus renamed La Isla Española (known as Ayti [Haiti] or "mountainous land" to its natives).

P. 110: Footnote 9 indicates that Las Casas stops quoting Columbus directly here and begins referring to him (and their party as a whole) in the third-person: "he" and "they".

P. 117: Footnote 2 indicates that the changes Columbus notes in the astrology "contribute to Columbus's conclusion about the earth's shape."