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The
Navigation of Columbus and the Controversy
Over His Landfall in the New World
How accurate was Columbus’s navigation and where did he first touch shore in the New World? The elusive answers to these questions have plagued historians for nearly half a century. This study examines the questions concerning the methodology and accuracy of Columbus’s navigation and the controversy over his landfall and provides the answers with a searching dialectic analysis of related fifteenth and sixteenth century source documents.
There is considerable misunderstanding among historians concerning the methodology and accuracy of early dead-reckoning navigation as practiced by Columbus. The successful conduct of Columbus’s four voyages over thousands of miles of uncharted seas provides general prima-facie evidence of his competence in performing accurate dead-reckoning navigation. Yet current historians, in an appalling misreading of historical documents, have asserted that Columbus was relatively unskilled in navigation in 1492 and what little knowledge he had of navigation was obtained by sailing with Portuguese pilots.
The question of Columbus’s landfall is addressed by first giving a brief history of the research that has produced nine widely separate and geographically dissimilar islands as the landfall site. The reason for this wide difference is that previous research has been limited to interpretation of Columbus’s Diario or log and with undue weight given to trivial and ambiguous details in the description of his cruise through the Bahamas after landfall. This study shows that the previous research is incomplete and inconclusive because two of the most essential and authoritative pieces of evidence have been ignored or summarily dismissed. These two vital pieces of evidence are: (1) Ponce de Leon’s detailed log of his 1513 voyage which pinpoints the location of Guanahani, the landfall island, and (2) the sixteenth-century cartography which clearly shows the location of Guanahani in relation to other known islands including those that are claimed to be the landfall island. This material from the Early Seafaring Exploration Series, published by the New World Explorers, Inc., is copyright protected. Reproduction and distribution is permitted for non-profit educational use. Reproduction and use of the illustrations in other writings should be obtained from the publisher.
Vol. 2, #5 - Early Seafaring Exploration Series .....................................Copyright 1993
Nineteen pages, five illustrations, bibliography .....................................Douglas T. PeckFor a downloadable copy of this and othet articles go to our