Columbus and Caonabó: 1493-1498 Retold

Columbus assured Spain's Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand that he'd conquer "Española" with little opposition from its inhabitants, but he soon discovered the promise ominously false. A historical novel, Columbus and Caonabó 1493-1498 Retold dramatizes his invasion of the island on his second voyage and the bitter resistance mounted by its Taíno peoples, led by the Taíno chieftain Caonabó. Based closely on primary sources, the story is told from both Taíno and European perspectives, including through the eyes of Caonabó and Columbus.

Chief Caonabó opposes any European presence on the island and massacres the garrison Columbus left behind on his first voyage. When Columbus returns, the second voyage's twelve-hundred settlers suffer from disease and famine and are alienated by his harsh rule, resulting in crown-appointed officers and others deserting for Spain. Sensing European vulnerability, Caonabó establishes a broad Taíno alliance to expel the intruders, becoming the first of four centuries of Native American chieftains known to organize war against European expansion. Columbus realizes that Caonabó's capture or elimination is key to Española's conquest, and their conflict escalates--with the fateful clash of their soldiers, cultures, and religions, enslavement of Taíno captives, the imposition of tribute, and hostile face-to-face conversations.

As battles are lost, Caonabó's wife Anacaona anguishes and considers how to confront the Europeans if Caonabó is killed. The settlers grow more brutal when Columbus explores Cuba and Jamaica, and his enslaved Taíno interpreters witness them forcing villagers into servitude, committing rape, and destroying Taíno religious objects. Chief Guarionex, whose territory neighbors Caonabó's, studies Christianity with missionaries and observes the first recorded baptism of a Native in the Americas but ultimately rejects his own conversion. All brood upon the spirits' or Lord's design as epidemic diseases ravage the island's peoples. Isabella and Ferdinand are disturbed when Columbus initiates slave shipments home, but they deliberately acquiesce--and the justification for the European enslavement of Native Americans begins to evolve.

The novel is the sequel to Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold, which portrays the lives of the same Taíno and European protagonists from youth through 1492.

There are forty-two historic or newly drawn maps and illustrations woven into the narrative, including portraits or sketches of Columbus, Caonabó, Isabella, and Anacaona. A Sources section cites authorities and discusses interpretations of historians and anthropologists contrary to the author's presentation and issues of academic disagreement.

Author: Andrew Rowen
Publisher: All Persons Press
Published: 01/01/2022
Pages: 506
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.62lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.13d
ISBN: 9780999196151

About the Author
Rowen, Andrew: - Andrew Rowen's novels retell the history of the encounters between Europeans and the Caribbean's Taíno peoples from a bicultural perspective, based on primary sources, anthropological studies, and visits to sites where Columbus and Taíno chieftains lived, met, and fought. Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold (2017) portrays the life stories of the chieftains and Columbus from youth through their first encounters in 1492 and was praised for historical accuracy. Columbus and Caonabó 1493-1498 Retold (2021) relates the bitter conflict and war between Columbus and Chief Caonabó during the period of Columbus's second voyage and was praised for scholarship.Andrew is completing a third novel to retell the history from 1498 to 1502. He has long been interested in the roots of religious intolerance.