In 1504, Christopher Columbus, on his fourth trans-Atlantic voyage, was stranded on the shores of Jamaica, with his ships crawling with marine worms and his crew hungry. The Indigenous Arawak people, who had initially welcomed the Europeans, had grown weary of their demands.
But Columbus had a trick up his sleeve: According to The Guardian, he consulted his astronomical tables and saw that a total lunar eclipse was imminent on March 1, 1504. Summoning the island's leaders, he warned them that his god would blot out the moon in anger if they did not help him by providing supplies. Fear gripped the Arawak people when the blood-red eclipse darkened the sky, and they rushed to appease Columbus with food and aid.
