By IANS/EFE,
Barcelona : Did Christopher Columbus actually set sail for America from the Spanish port of Cadiz as the original historical version says?
A researcher with the Circulo Catalan de Historia has found information that contradicts the official historical version that said Columbus set sail on his second voyage in 1493 from Cadiz, a port in the southern part of Spain.
“Not only did the preparation for the second trip and the official reception of Columbus and the Indians by the Catholic Monarchs (Ferdinand and Isabel) occur in Barcelona, but the admiral’s fleet and the vessels and caravels that accompanied him departed originally from Barcelona,” researcher Eva Sans said.
The royal armada, according to Catalonian history, arrived in Cadiz on Sep 23 and spent two days there provisioning the boats once again with water and food, “after some 15 or 20 days sailing from Barcelona” and before continuing on the journey towards the west.
Sans used material from the “Anales de Cataluna,” published in 1709 by Narcis Feliu de la Pena and kept at the Catalonia Library.
“A large number embarked in Barcelona with Columbus, and Pedro Margarit was captain. They departed from Barcelona with the fleet of Colombus, arrived at Cadiz on September 23. They departed from Cadiz, making landfall on the island they named Deseada, after which they named it Espanola; they departed for Haiti, where they got news that their friends had been killed by the Indians,” the document says.
“The official history tells that they set sail from Cadiz on Sep 25 surprisingly omitting the first part of the trip from Barcelona, confusing and forgetting the fundamental role of the Catalonians under the orders of their king, Ferdinand II the Catholic, count of Barcelona,” Sans said.