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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Donna Ferguson

Original letter from Columbus announcing ‘discovery’ of America goes on sale for first time

Christopher Columbus United States Christie
A depiction by 18th-century artist DK Bonatti of ‘Christopher Columbus With Native Americans’
‘The first of the exploiters rather than the first of the explorers’: a depiction by 18th-century artist DK Bonatti of ‘Christopher Columbus With Native Americans’. Photograph: Heritage Images/Getty Images

In 1493, Christopher Columbus wrote a letter that would change the landscape of the modern world. “I sailed to the Indies with the fleet that the illustrious King and Queen, our sovereigns, gave me, where I discovered a great many islands, inhabited by numberless people,” he wrote after his return to Europe to royal treasurer Luis de Santángel. “Of all, I have taken possession for their Highnesses.”

The events relayed in the letter were “the first report of a voyage that really did change the world”, says Columbus biographer Professor Felipe Fernández-Armesto.

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