Bartholomew Columbus (; ; ; ; – 12 August 1514) was a Genoese explorer and the younger brother of

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

Biography

Born in Genoa in the 1461, Bartholomew became a mapmaker in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, the principal center of

cartography Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

of the time, and conceived with his brother the "Enterprise of the Indies", a planned expedition to reach the Orient and its lucrative

spice trade The spice trade involved historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa and Europe. Spices, such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, nutmeg, star anise, clove, and turmeric, were known and used in antiquity and traded in t ...

by a western rather than an eastern route. In 1489 he went to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to seek assistance from Henry VII for the execution of the expedition. He was taken by pirates and landed in England in a destitute condition, and on presenting himself at Court was unfavorably received. He then sought help at the court of Charles VIII in France, again without success. Meanwhile, his brother Christopher was in Castile trying to persuade

Isabella I of Castile Isabella I (; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''Isabel la Católica''), was Queen of Castile and List of Leonese monarchs, León from 1474 until her death in 1504. She was also Queen of Aragon ...

and

Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II, also known as Ferdinand I, Ferdinand III, and Ferdinand V (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of ...

to back the expedition. When word arrived in 1493 that his brother had succeeded, Bartholomew returned to Spain, where he missed Christopher, who had already left on the second voyage of his fourth to the "

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

". Funded by

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

, Bartholomew Columbus traveled to

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

in 1494 to meet his brother, where he was appointed as an ''

adelantado ''Adelantado'' (, , ; meaning 'advanced') was a title held by some Spain, Spanish nobles in service of their respective kings during the Middle Ages. It was later used as a military title held by some Spanish ''conquistadores'' of the 15th, 16th a ...

'', a senior-ranking governor, during his brother's absences. He founded the city of

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

on Hispaniola between 1496 and 1498, which is now the capital of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. He was imprisoned together with Christopher and another brother, Giacomo (also called Diego), by

Francisco de Bobadilla Francisco de Bobadilla (c. 1448 – 11 July 1502) was an official under the Crown of Castile and a knight of the Order of Calatrava. He was also the nephew of Beatriz de Bobadilla, marchioness and of Peñalosa, a patron of Christopher Columbus ...

and returned to Spain in December 1500. After the Court acquitted Christopher Columbus of all of the charges, the Crown funded Christopher Columbus's fourth and last voyage to the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. Bartholomew accompanied his brother on this final

voyage, and was to be left with a garrison near the

Belén River The Belén River is a river in Panama. Discovery It was discovered by Christopher Columbus during his fourth—and last—voyage to the New World, following a two-year search for a passage to the Pacific Ocean and the Far East. In January 1503, ...

. Bartholomew's men were attacked by the local

Ngäbe The Ngäbe are an Indigenous people within the territories of present-day Panama and Costa Rica in Central America. The Ngäbe mostly live within the Ngäbe-Buglé comarca in the Western Panamanian provinces of Veraguas, Chiriquí and Bocas del ...

leader,

El Quibían El Quibían, or Quibían, was an indigenous king who ruled lands in the river basins of Quiebra and Yebra, now called Rio Belén, on the Caribbean coast of the present day Panama, who was visited by Christopher Columbus on his fourth voyage, in ...

. In 1495, Bartholomew Columbus participated in the

Battle of Vega Real The Battle of Vega Real, also called the Battle of the Holy Hill or the Battle of Jáquimo, took place on 27 March 1495 on the island of Hispaniola between an indigenous alliance and Spanish forces, commanded by Christopher Columbus, Bartholome ...

, a significant conflict between Spanish forces and a group of Taíno chiefdoms at Hispaniola. He served as a commander alongside his brother, as well as the Spanish officer

Alonso de Ojeda Alonso de Ojeda (; c. 1466 – c. 1515) was a Spanish explorer, governor and conquistador. He is famous for having named Venezuela, which he explored during his first two expeditions, for having been the first European to visit Guyana, Curaçao ...

. On 30 July 1502, Bartholomew and Christopher arrived at

Guanaja Guanaja is one of the Bay Islands Department, Bay Islands of Honduras and is in the Caribbean. It is about off the north coast of Honduras, and from the island of Roatan. One of the cays off Guanaja, also called Guanaja or Bonacca or Low Cay ...

, one of the Bay Islands off the coast of

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. Christopher sent his brother to scout the island. As Bartholomew explored, a large trading canoe approached. Bartholomew Columbus boarded the canoe, and found it was a

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

trading vessel from

Yucatán Yucatán, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate municipalities, and its capital city is Mérida. ...

, carrying well-dressed Maya and a rich cargo. The Europeans looted whatever took their interest from amongst the cargo and seized the elderly captain to serve as an interpreter; the canoe was then allowed to continue on its way. This was the first recorded contact between Europeans and the Maya. It is likely that news of the piratical strangers in the Caribbean passed along the Maya trade routes – the first prophecies of bearded invaders sent by

Kukulkan K’uk’ulkan, also spelled Kukulkan (; "Plumed Serpent", "Amazing Serpent"), is the Snake worship#Mesoamerica, serpent deity of Maya mythology. It is closely related to the deity Qʼuqʼumatz of the Kʼicheʼ people and to Quetzalcoatl of A ...

, the northern Maya feathered serpent god, were probably recorded around this time, and in due course passed into the books of

Chilam Balam The Books of Chilam Balam () are handwritten, chiefly 17th and 18th-centuries Maya miscellanies, named after the small Yucatec towns where they were originally kept, and preserving important traditional knowledge in which indigenous Maya and ea ...

. Following Christopher Columbus's death in Spain in 1506, Bartholomew returned to the

Antilles The Antilles is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east. The Antillean islands are divided into two smaller groupings: the Greater An ...

in 1509, accompanying his nephew

Diego Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. ...

, but Bartholomew soon returned to Spain when King Ferdinand II of Aragon confirmed his concession involving

Mona Island Mona Island () is the third-largest island of the Puerto Rican archipelago, after the main island of Puerto Rico and Vieques. It is the largest of three islands in the Mona Passage, the strait between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, with the othe ...

near

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

; the King would reclaim the appealing little island Mona, Puerto Rico#Mona Island today from Bartholomew's heirs after Bartholomew's death on 12 August 1514 (by which time Bartholomew had returned to

). Bartholomew Columbus had a natural daughter named Maria born in 1508 as the result on a relationship with Catalina Marrón. Nothing is known of them beyond a brief mention in Columbus's will dated 1511.

Legacy

The island of

Saint Barthélemy Saint Barthélemy, officially the Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy, also known as St. Barts (English) or St. Barth (French), is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean. The island lies about southeast of the island ...

in the Caribbean was named in his honour by Christopher Columbus.

References

Sources

* *

External links

Bartolomé Colómbo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Columbus, Bartholomew Explorers from the Republic of Genoa

Bartholomew Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Most scholars today identify Bartholomew as Nathanael, who appears in the Gospel of John (1:45–51; cf. 21:2). New Testament references The name ''Bartholomew ...

15th-century Italian explorers Italian explorers of North America Colonial governors of Santo Domingo Dominican Republic people of Italian descent 1460s births 1515 deaths Spanish West Indies