The Second Journey: Massive Exploration

After the great success of our first voyage, the people were excited and Columbus aimed to go on a second voyage as soon as possible. He gathered a massive fleet that contained more than 17 ships and around 1,300 men consisting of soldiers, sailors, and friars. This voyage was going to be incredibly significant and we would make multiple stops which all would begin in September of 1493. We departured from Cadiz, Spain, I had the first shift on one of these ships, however, I was more confident this time. Around a month later we would make our first stop to a place known as Gomera in the Canary Islands which is a stopover that contained a base responsible for refueling and restocking. We would make our first real stop to the New World in a island the would be later named Dominica by Columbus and would be the first significant island sighted in The Caribbean. Shortly after we arrived to the Virgin Islands, named by Columbus. He would claim almost every Island we arrived at as it was his goal: establishing territories and discovering new lands under the Spanish Crown. After this stop, we went on to revisit Hispaniola, specifically Samana Bay. Columbus aimed to revisit his previous establishment "La Navidad". Upon arrival, we found the settlement destroyed and every man placed in there to protect it dead. This was seen as an act of retaliation from the Indigenous, which inspired Columbus to establish a more powerful and secure settlement.

The new establishment was named La Isabela, in honor of the Spanish queen Isabella. It was fortified to prevent history from repeating itself and became the first permanent European settlement in the Americas despite having poor management and a lack of resources. Columbus sent Antonio de Torres along side 12 ships containing gold, spices, captives and letters mentioning the news about La Navidad back to Spain.

I was apart of the fleet still oversees, we took off and later arrived to Cibao Valley. We aimed to explore this area as it was believed this was a gold rich area. Columbus established Fort Santo Tomas as a defensive outpost. This allowed us to exploit the resources on the Island but raised tensions with the Tainos. Columbus later on lead us along the Cuban Coast and onward to Jamaica in aims of discovering gold. He accidentally concluded that Cuba was apart of Asia. Finally, we returned to Hispaniola as Columbus aimed to stabilize La Isabela and address conflicts with the Tainos. Tensions escalated and Columbus forced rule which was devastating for the Indigenous people.