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The
Conquistador’s Dogs
When Christopher Columbus discovered
the Americas, he opened up a new era of political, military, and
economic history. What most people do not know is that dogs played a
vital role in the European conquest of the New World. Unfortunately it
is also one of the most brutal chapters in man’s long association with
dogs, so perhaps we have not so much forgotten this history as pushed it
out of the collective memory.
Although there are some gaps and lot
of myths surrounding the life of Columbus, there is general agreement
among most scholars that Cristoforo Colombo was born in Genoa, Italy, in
1451. His father was wool weaver and also involved in politics. He often
took Christopher with him, and the boy quickly learned how to interact
with people who had power and authority. Christopher and his brother,
Bartolomeo, were educated together, learning to read and write in the
craft guild school and then going on to study cartography, weather
prediction, and basic navigation together. For a while Christopher was a
clerk in a bookstore, a job that gave him a chance to read extensively
about geography and the exploits of travelers who had visited Africa and
the Orient. It also gave him a taste for travel, and the idea that there
were many riches and rewards to be won in far-flung lands.
Although in that era sons were
generally expected to follow their father in the family business, times
were changing. Genoa had been a major commercial center, treading in
textiles, foods, gold, wood, ship supplies, some imported species,
oriental luxury items, and above all sugar. However, there was
considerable conflict throughout the Mediterranean region based upon
religious lines, as Islamic and Christian powers fought for converts and
territory. Constantinople fell under Muslim control when Columbus was
only two years of age. With the resulting loss of the Aegean markets,
Genoa adopted the modern-seeming solution of exporting knowledge. Soon
cities like Lisbon, Seville, Barcelona, and Cadiz were importing a large
number of Genoese marine experts, particularly seafarers and
shipbuilders. In addition, Genoa was willing to supply merchants,
bankers, and others with the financial expertise needed to make these
new nautical enterprises successful. Thus it was not surprising when
Columbus decided to look to the sea as a source of livelihood. He
apparently worked as a common seaman for a while and then, as his
navigational and cartographic abilities became apparent, rose in the
ranks to become a junior officer.
A turning point in his career seems to
be his service on a privateer ship commissioned by Rene d’Anjou , the
French pretender to the throne of Naples. This ship set out to make a
surprise attack on a large Spanish galleon sailing off the coast of
North Africa. All sailors on such expeditions were entitled to share of
the booty, and as an officer, Columbus’s share was enough to give him
the financial means to begin to pursue his own ambitions. He would still
continue to sailing various capacities on other ships but would
eventually rise to command a ship himself. During these years he
continued to learn more about weather, ocean currents, and navigation,
and he also became impresses with the exotic treasures that could be
found in some remote places, that could be later sold for great profit.
One of the great myths surrounding
Columbus is that he was trying to prove that the world was round by
sailing west and arriving in the Orient. This was not true, since the
theory that earth was spherical in shape had been around since Greek and
Roman times. It was then that the first cosmographers suggested there
was only one large body of water and one large continent on the surface
of Earth. On one shore of the great ocean was Europe, and on the far
shore was Asia. If this theory was correct, than instead of the long and
dangerous overland trip eastward from Europe to China, one could sail
west to get to the Asian countries. What these early geographers could
not agree upon where the distances involved. For instance, on Ptolemy’s
map of the known world during Roman times, he drew the outline of the
ocean surrounding the known lands, then marked the regions toward the
middle as being “unnavigable” because the extent of the sea was
supposedly unlimited. While Columbus was willing to accept the general
outline of the world Ptolemy drew, he rejected the idea of an endless
ocean. Chance would soon provide evidence to support his intuition.
Columbus moved to Portugal because it
was ruled by Prince Henry (later to be known as Prince Henry the
Navigator). With Henry’s encouragement, the Portuguese had become active
explorers and were conducting trade all along the African coast. While
he was there, Columbus married Felipa Perestrello e Moniz, whose family
belonged to Portuguese nobility. Although the family was relatively
poor, they still had direct connections to the Portuguese court and the
king, and Columbus used these to gain access to an important collection
of papers. Once the property of the governor of one of the islands
Portugal controlled in the Atlantic Ocean, the collection contained a
treasure trove of information, including charts with details of ocean
currents. It also held records of personal interviews with sailors
described as found drifting in see currents from the west, suggesting
that there were lands in that direction. Columbus began a correspondence
with the aged cosmographer-physician Paolo del Pozzo Toscanelli of
Florence, who concluded (in part based on the information provided by
Columbus) that one could reach the Orient by sea if you sailed west only
a little more than three thousand miles.
Columbus was strongly motivated to
explore to the west. There was a lot of glory and wealth to be gained
not only by the person who opened up a quicker trade route to the
Orient, but also by the nation that sponsored him. It was already known
that Asia was a source of precious spices and rich textiles, and there
were also tales of great stores of gold and jewels to be found there.
Perhaps even more attractive was the possibility of achieving great
power, since many believed that people who occupied these lands were not
very advanced. Colonization by the presumably more sophisticated and
technologically superior Europeans could provide cheap labor and perhaps
ready and expendable foot soldiers to defend the homeland.
Finally, there was the issue of
religion. This was a time of religious tension, and Columbus was a
devout Catholic. Pope Pius II had written extensively about the need to
convert the heathen multitudes of the world to an understanding of
Christ, with the continuing guidance (and control) of the church.
Columbus’s faith was stirred by this, and it gave a new meaning to the
knowledge that his given name Christopher, meant “Christ bearer”. He
concluded that he was not only searching for wealth but also had a
divine mission to accomplish. In 1500, Columbus would think back on his
quest and write:
“With a hand that could be felt,
the Lord opened my mind to the fact that it [the voyage to west Asia]
would be possible . . . and he opened my will to desire to accomplish
the project . . . The Lord purposed that there should be something
miraculous in this matter of the voyage to the Indies . . . God made me
the messenger of the new heaven.”
Columbus often noted that there were
worlds in the Bible that were guiding him and may have been written for
his own particular benefit, as a sort of prophesy. In particular he
cited a passage in Isaiah (60:9):
“for the island wait for me, and
the ships of the see in the beginning: that may bring the sons from
afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the Lord thy
God.”
One could see how he would be
attracted to this passage, since he viewed his own quest for far-off
lands as a task done for both gold and God.
Columbus’s first task was to find a
royal sponsor. For an explorer in the fifteenth century, royal
sponsorship was a necessity, since only a monarch could assert
sovereignty, give legal legitimacy to the discoveries, and conduct
diplomatic relations. A monarch was also needed if one were to colonize
the land, since the new colony would have to be protected and defended,
and laws had to be imposed to maintain order and oversee the
exploitation of riches and the distribution of rewards. Private
individuals, even those of wealth and power, such as prominent merchants
or bankers would fall short of the resources to do this. To launch and
sustain new explorations and discoveries, you needed not only an
economic foundation, but also a strong political and military base.
Columbus first sought royal patronage
in Portugal, hoping to take advantage of his wife’s family connections
and the Portuguese history of exploration in the tradition of Prince
Henry the Navigator. The king passed Columbus’s proposal on to his
Council of Geographical Affairs, who though that Columbus was
underestimating the distances involved and overestimating the rewards to
be won. Columbus then carried the proposal on to France, England, and
finally Spain. Although the Spanish queen, Isabella, was interested in
the idea of a west-ward crossing, she was preoccupied by a war with
Muslims and the Castile region of the country. So she and King Ferdinand
asked Columbus to present his Atlantic project to a committee of experts
called to hear the case. The so-called wise Man of Salamanca reached the
conclusion “that the claims and promises of Capitan Columbus are vain
and worthy of rejection. . . . The Western Sea is infinite and
unnavigable. The Antipodes [by witch were meant the lands on the other
side of the earth toward which Columbus was to sail] are not livable,
and his ideas are impracticable.”
Columbus did not give up, however, and
tried again in 1491. This time, events were more fortuitous. Ferdinand
and Isabella had just wan the battle of Granada and had expelled the
Muslims from Spain. With the return of relative peace to their country,
they could attend to other matters. Without the draining costs of
military actions, they allowed themselves to be convinced that the
monarch could require the city of Palos to pay back a debt to the crown
by providing two of the ships that were needed. In addiction, there was
already an agreement in place providing Italian financial backing for
part of the expenses. This meant that the crown had to put up very
little money from the treasury.
In September of 1492, Columbus set
sail on what he felt was to be a trip to the Orient. Contrary to the
myth that his crew was made up largely of convicts taken fro prison, in
fact they were mostly experienced seamen recruited by the Pinzon
brothers, who owned one of the ships and served as officers. There were
a few government officials, but there were no priests, no soldiers, no
settlers, and no dogs. This was a small-scale voyage of
exploration and discovery, nothing more. The ships were quite tiny, no
longer than tennis court, and less than thirty feet wide. Columbus, who
was a tall man, could not even stand fully up-right in his little
compartment. There were only ninety men – forty on the Santa Maria,
twenty-six on the Pinta, and twenty-four on the Niña. The decks were
crowded with supplies to last a year, and Columbus did not anticipate
and need for dogs.
Although the first voyage took a
month, it was relatively uneventful. Landing at San Salvador, the
Europeans saw people “as naked as their mother bore them” and many
fruits and green trees. Columbus and his captains went ashore in an
armed launch but were warmly greeted by the natives. When he unfurled
the royal banner and declared that these obviously inhabited lands now
belonged to the Catholic sovereigns, the natives’ appeared to offer no
resistance to Spanish domination. In his own worlds, Columbus concluded
“I recognized that they were people who would be better freed [from the
bondage of their pagan religion and uncivilized lifestyle] and converted
to our Holy Faith by love than by force.” He also encountered some
native dogs in the New World; however, these did not bark and seamed
only to be raised as food. Unimpressed, Columbus did not include them
among the curiosities that he brought back to exhibit in Spain.
When he explored Cuba and some of the
other islands, Columbus encountered a few problems. The Santa Maria ran
aground and was wrecked beyond repair. He considered that only a minor
problem, however, since it provided him with lumber that he could use
for building a front and also surplus crewmen to start a first colony.
He left a small group of man with instructions to treat the natives well
and not to “injure” the women. Their job there was to explore for gold,
and to seek a place for a permanent settlement. He assured the local
chief, Guacanagari that their intentions were peaceful, and then gave
the new colony the name “La Navidad”.
The second voyage started in 1493, and
it would be quite different. It was massive, consisting of seventeen
ships, twelve hundred man and boys (including sailors, soldiers,
colonists, priests, officials, and gentlemen from the court), horses,
and twenty dogs. The dogs were the idea of Don Juan Rodriguez de
Fonseca, archdeacon of Seville and the personal chaplain to the king and
queen. Don Juan had been put in charge of determining the supplies and
equipment necessary for the voyage. In his mind, these mastiffs and
greyhounds were classed as weapons, along with muskets and sabers.
The Spanish military had recently
learned to appreciate the effectiveness of dogs against men with little
or no armor. When Spain took the Canary Islands away from Portugal, they
were resisted by intelligent, brave and proud natives called Guanches,
whom the Portuguese had never been able to subdue. The governor
effectively used large war dogs to wreak havoc, resulting in the loss of
many native lives. When the military saw how useful the dogs had been in
that campaign, they decided to employ dogs in their struggle with the
Moors of Granada. The lightly armored Muslim fighters were no mach for
the mastiffs of that era, which could weigh 250 pounds and stand nearly
three feet at the shoulder. Their massive jaws could crush bones even
through leather armor. The greyhounds of that period, meanwhile, could
be over one hundred pounds in weight and could stand thirty inches at
the shoulder. These lighter dogs could outrun any man, and their
slashing attack could easily disembowel a person in a matter of seconds.
Several of the men who had served as dog masters at Grenada and helped
to disperse the Moors would be among the crew of Columbus’s second
voyage.
Fonseca wanted dogs on this voyage
because he anticipated difficulties ahead. Both the king and the queen
indicated that they wanted kind treatment of the Indians and, of course,
their speedy conversion to Christianity. The monarchs also wanted the
land to be settled, communities and trade centers organized that these
two aims were basically incompatible and some compromises would have to
be made between the evangelical and the material aims of this voyage. To
meet the royal expectation of large profits, the colonists would
eventually have rely on enforced labor and perhaps even enslavement of
the natives. Although the Indians might truly be as peaceful as Columbus
described them, it seemed unlikely that the demands of this new regime
for manual laborers would be readily accepted. Furthermore, the
anticipated taking of resources and valuables, as well as the seizing of
land, would likely need to be backed up by force. Since these natives
had no armor and only light weapons, dogs would be a formidable form of
coercion. The twenty dogs that Columbus took with him, and the others
that followed, would eventually blaze a bloody trial across the New
World.
One of the first things that Columbus
did upon his return to the Americas was to go to the site of the colony
that he had established. All of the personnel on the ships were eager to
land; they wanted to start looking for gold and building new
settlements. As they approached La Navidad, they fired a cannon to
announce their arrival. However, there was no response – no one returned
the salute, and no flags were waved. As the site came into view, the
voyagers were horrified to discover that the entire population of La
Navidad had been massacred, and the fort had been burned to ground. When
they searched for traces of their countrymen, they discovered a mass
grave in which several Spaniards had been buried. They also found that
the village of Columbus’s good friend, Chief Guacanagari, had been
destroyed. Although the full details of what happened may never be
known, stories told around the countryside were that the settlers had
become greedy, making demands for valuables and food. In addition, they
had raped some Indian women and acted cruelly toward other natives. In
response Indian razed the settlement. More importantly, they became
hostile toward Europeans and began to spread the word among the other
tribes. It was becoming clear that Fonseca was right about the need for
dogs.
The very firs military conflict
between Indians and Europeans would also mark the first incident where a
dog served a military purpose in the New World. In May 1494, Columbus
approached the shore of Jamaica at what would become Puerto Bueno. He
could see a gathering of natives, painted in various colors and carrying
weapons the fleet needed wood and water, and Columbus was still angry
and looking for revenge for the destruction of La Navidad. He also felt
that perhaps a demonstration of Spanish military strength might just
frighten the natives enough to cause them to avoid any further
hostilities. Three ships approached to shore. Soldiers fired their
crossbows and then waded ashore, slashing at the natives with their
swords while others continued to fire bolts. The Indians were surprised
at the ferocity of the onslaught; however, when one of the of the
massive war dogs was released their response was absolute terror. They
fled from the raging animal that bit at their naked skin and did them a
great harm. The admiral then came ashore and claimed the island in the
name of Spanish throne. Columbus would write in his journal that this
incident proved one dog was that estimate to say one dog was worth fifty
men in such combat.
The pattern for conquest had now been
set. Weapons would be used to actually take and hold territory, while
dogs would be used to worry and terrify the natives. Thus when Columbus
took an expedition into the interior of Hispaniola (the island in the
West Indies that contains both Haiti and the Dominican Republic), he met
any show of resistance by unleashing his dogs and allowing them to
pursue Indians. The dogs killed many of the natives, and those who
survived to be captured were sent to the slave market in Seville.
Among those held at bay by the dogs
until they were captured by the Spanish soldiers was an Indian chief
Guatiguana and two of his companions. Scheduled to be hanged the
following morning, they managed to gnaw through the thongs used to bin
them, and escaped. Guatiguana was now bent on eliminating all of
Spaniards in his territory, and he began to organize a large-scale
resistance. First the Indians tried to weaken the invaders by planting
no more maize and removing all of their livestock from the region.
Columbus, angered by the starvation tactics and the gathering of hostile
force, decided to act before the chief could mount an attack. Because
many of his men were ill and weakened by the shortage of food, he could
only muster a force of around two hundred soldiers, but they were
supported by twenty vicious and well-trained dogs. What would be the
first pitched battle between the European invaders and the native Indian
population took place at Vega Real in March 1495.
Guatiguana’s forces, numbering in the
thousands, advanced upon the small band of Spaniards. Columbus had given
control of the dogs to Alonso de Ojeda, a small man who combined
physical courage with a personality disposed toward violence and rash
cruelty. He justified his often gruesome behavior by citing the fact
that he was citing to honor the Holy Virgin and always had small
portrait of her with him. Ojeda had learned the art of using war dogs in
the battles against the Moors of Granada. He gathered the dogs on the
far right flank and waited until the battle had reached a high level of
fury. He then released all twenty mastiffs, shouting “Tómalos!” (meaning
“take them” or “sic ’em”). The angry dogs swept down on the native
fighters in a raging phalanx, hurling themselves at the Indian naked
bodies. They grabbed their opponents by their bellies and throats. As
the stunned Indians fell to the ground, the dogs disemboweled them and
ripped to pieces. Spinning from one bloody victim to another, the dogs
tore through the native ranks. One observer of the battle, Bartolome de
las Casas, reported that in less then one hour each dog had torn apart
at least one hundred Indians. Recognizing that his readers might find
this difficult to believe, de las Casas explained that these animals had
originally been trained to hunt for wild game. In comparison, they found
that the skin of their naked human opponents was far easier to tear
apart than the hides of deer or boars. Furthermore, as Fonseca had
surely anticipated, the dogs had now developed a taste for human flesh.
The battle of Vega Real awoke Columbus
to the potential that his dogs had as weapons against the inhabitant of
this new land. He would work his way through the countryside, now always
accompanied by his dogs. Ultimately he would bring all of the tribal
leaders in Hispaniola under his control through the threat of force and
the use of his dogs to inspire fear.
Each subsequent voyage to Americas
would bring more dogs, and ultimately virtually all of the leaders of
the conquistadors would employ them as fearsome weapons. Familiar names,
like Ponce de León, Balboa, Velasquez, Cortes, De Soto, Toledo, Coronado
and Pizarro, all used dogs as instruments of subjugation. The dogs were
encouraged to develop a taste for Indian flesh by being allowed to feed
on their victims. Soon the dogs became very proficient in tracking
Indians and could tell the difference between a trial made by a European
and that made by a native.
The cruelest of Spanish leaders would
use the dogs as a means of public execution. Known as “dogging” it
involved setting the dogs on the chiefs or other high-ranking
individuals in the various tribes. Watching their leaders being torn to
shreds instilled great fear in the native population, who would
ultimately submit to Spanish control rather then risk such a horrific
death.
The cruelty of the conquest eventually
brought out a sadistic streak in many of the soldiers. Some would
release the dogs on Indians simply for the sport of watching the natives
suffer and die. Sometimes they would bet on the outcome, such as where
the dog would draw blood first, how or where the fatal wound would be
dealt, or how long it would take for victim to die. Although word of
such barbaric behavior was brought back to Spain, little was done to
stop it.
While these dogs were considered to be
mere weapons and sometimes instruments of torture, some of them became
famous as individuals, and their names have been preserved in the
histories of the time. There was Amigo, the dog of Nuño Beltran de
Guzman, who played a pivotal role in the conquest of Mexico. Bruto, the
dog of Hernando De Soto, was a vital factor in the takeover of Florida.
In fact, when Bruto died, his death was kept secret because the simple
motion of his name was capable of striking terror into the natives and
causing them to submit immediately. There was also Becerillo, the dog of
Juan Ponce de León, and the dog’s son, Leoncico (the name means “little
lion”), who belonged to Vasco Nunez de Balboa. Leoncico would evaluate
each situation and respond accordingly. When he was sent to apprehend a
native, he would race out and grab the man’s arm in his mouth. If the
Indian did not struggle, but came along, he would be lead safely back to
Balboa. If the Indian resisted, he would be killed and torn apart
immediately. Leoncico was considered to be so valuable that he was
awarded the rank of a caporal, including pay and entitlement to share
any goods or gold obtained as booty.
When one considers the bloody history
of dogs during the conquest of the Americas, there is almost an
automatic emotional response. One feels ashamed of the behavior of the
dogs, and wonders how we could ever consider these vicious creatures to
be our friends and companions. However, it is important to remember that
dogs are born with courage, intelligence, and a sense of loyalty – not
with a code of morality. Their human masters trained them their own
concept of right and wrong into these dogs; in the hands of hardened
soldiers, they were changed into lethal weapons. Remember that in a
murder trial it is not the weapon used to kill but the individual
wielding the weapon who is called to justice. The conquistadors who
ordered the dogs were merely responding out of a sense of loyalty, and
their actions were performed with courage.
Despite the cruelty of the time, there
was one incident in with a dog caused the invaders to question the
morality of their actions, at least for a short time. This involved
Becerrillo, the dog of Juan Ponce de León. He was a large dog (his name
means “little bull calf”), who also looked quite fearsome due to his
scars from many battles. Since Ponce de León had many duties as governor
of Puerto Rico, the dog was often entrusted to Capitan Diego de Salzar,
an intimidating and ruthless man who was often deliberately employed to
strike quently the instrument used to create that terror. Salzar often
ordered Becerrillo to tear apart Indians who showed any defiance to
their conquerors, and this was done publicly as an object lesson to
others in the community.
In battle, this dog was devastating.
For example, when the natives decided to band together to kill all of
the Christians, they sent a chief, Guarionex, to lead a surprise attack
against the village where Salzar and his troops were staying. In the
middle of the night, the raiders began setting the straw-thatched huts
on fire. Becerrillo began to bark frantically, waking the troops. Salzar
leaped out of bed with a shout, and naked except for his sword and
shield, he rushed into battle with Becerrillo at his side. The clubs and
darts of the Indians were no match for Becerrillo’s teeth. Although the
battle only raged for about a half hour, at the end even the Spaniards
were surprised to find that the casualties included thirty-three natives
killed by Becerrillo’s savage fangs. Over the next several months,
Salzar and Becerrillo went in pursuit of Guarionex and the other
surviving raiders. The Indians came to fear this beast to the extent
that they would more readily stand and fight a hundred Christians
without him than ten with him.
On one particular occasion, not far
from Ponce de León’s capitol at Caparra, Salzar and Becarrillo had just
broken the resistance of group of natives. When the struggle was over,
the troops had nothing to do while they waited for the arrival of the
governor, who was expected in few hours. Salzar decided to relieve the
tedium with a bit brutal entertainment. Calling over an old Indian
woman, he gave her a piece of folded paper and told her to carry the
message down the road to the governor. She was told that if she did not
do this, she would be cast to the dogs. The old woman was frightened,
but also hopeful that perhaps this errand might somehow lead to some
freedom and respite for her people. She had not gone far toward the road
when Salzar laughed and unleashed Becerrillo with the attack command, “Tómala!”
(take her). The great dog dashed toward her as expected, and the amused
soldiers waited for Becerrillo to tear her to pieces and then gorge
himself on her flesh, as he had done with so many other Indians before.
The unfortunate woman saw the huge dog
rushing toward her with his fangs bared. She dropped to her knees and
cast her eyes down and than softly, in her own language, uttered a
humble plea. “Please, my Lord Dog,” observers heard her say “I am on my
way to take this letter to Christians. I beg you, my Lord Dog, please do
not hurt me.”
Who knows what went through the mind
of Becerrillo. Those who saw the event claimed that the dog displayed
almost human intelligence and compassion. Perhaps it is the fact that
the woman had assumed such a humble and non-threatening posture, or
perhaps it was the soft tones of her quiet qords that soothed the dog
and demonstrated that she was not hostile. He stared at the woman’s face
as she gingerly held the sheet of paper with both hands in front of her
chest – to show him that what she said was true, or maybe to hide behind
it as if it were a shield. Becerrillo sniffed at her, nudging her with
nose, and then sniffed at her hands and the paper. This fearless killer
then turned away from terrified woman, lifted a leg, and sprayed urine
at her. He then walked to the side and watched as she shakily rose to
return to the soldiers who had planned to have her killed.
Since Salzar and the assembled troops
knew Becerrillo so well, and had so often seen him with his mouth
dripping from the blood of his victims, this seemed like an impossible
outcome. In their minds this only could have come about through some
from of divine intervention. The vicious pranksters had been put to
shame by the charity and mercy of a hound. Doubtless they felt
humiliated by this incident. A short time later, Ponce de León arrived
and was told the story.
The governor shook his head in
astonishment. “Free her,” he commanded, “and send her safely back to her
people. Then let us leave this place for now. I will not permit the
compassion and forgiveness of a dog to outshine that of a true
Christian.”
send by:
Ewa Ziemska
Dogs releast by Pizarro - people from Peru atacked by
dogs of Balboa |