| Columbus Tours Cuba and Takes Souvenirs | | | | years following Columbus's first expeditionary tour. |
| We all know that when Cristóbal | | | | Cuba, at the time of the discovery, had a population |
| Colón embarked from Spain he was looking | | | | of more than 200,000 aborigines. Most of these |
| for something other than a place to take a holiday. | | | | would be wiped out by the diseases that the Spanish |
| Cuba actually got in the way of his quest for quick | | | | brought to the island, the rest would become slaves. |
| access to the Indies and the spice trade riches they | | | | Columbus Finds Islands, But Loses Ships |
| possessed. So when Columbus and his convoy | | | | It was not all sunshine and cigars for his crew either. |
| reached land after a voyage of more than two | | | | Three months into his charting of the Caribbean, the |
| months, he got lucky when he found a different | | | | flagship Santa Maria was wrecked in a storm. This |
| form of wealth: new land fit for colonisation and | | | | was to be his first wreckage in these waters. He |
| resources to claim for his country. | | | | managed to lose eight more in his voyages of 1493, |
| In October of 1492, on the first of his four Caribbean | | | | 1498, and 1502. As a result, scuba enthusiasts taking |
| sightseeing tours, Cuba, Hispaniola, and some of the | | | | wreck diving tours in Cuba today might be |
| Bahamas were discovered. He landed on one of the | | | | unknowingly exploring the wrecks that once carried |
| small Bahaman islands first, but which one in particular | | | | Columbus from Spain. |
| has been forgotten. A few weeks later, the | | | | As European interest in the region grew, more and |
| expedition stumbled into the island upon which | | | | more ships fell victim to its shallow waters and hidden |
| Columbus would take many Cuba holidays over the | | | | reefs. Some historians reckon there are still about a |
| following decade. | | | | hundred wreckages scattered in the waters around |
| Upon landing in Cuba, he sent out a party of his men | | | | the Caribbean islands waiting to be discovered. |
| to find the Emperor of China. They came back | | | | On the last of his voyages Columbus lost two ships |
| instead with news of indigenous natives who rolled | | | | and was marooned in Jamaica for a year. Not such an |
| leaves into something called a "tabaco" which they | | | | unpleasant fate to endure, you might think, but it |
| smoked through their nostrils. Columbus took about | | | | goes to show that the Caribbean was a treacherous |
| twenty-five of these cigar-smoking natives home to | | | | place to sail in back then, and although Christopher |
| Spain as souvenirs. But taking trophies was just the | | | | Columbus was undoubtedly a great navigator, his |
| start of his heavy-handedness in the country. | | | | voyages weren't all plain sailing. |
| Things would get much worse for the natives in the | | | | |