Collection ID: 0026 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Authors

• Garay, Francisco de, -1523 (http://viaf.org/viaf/173196532)

Other related names

• Kislak, Jay I., former owner (http://viaf.org/viaf/100551485)

Call number

Alternate identifiers

• local-identifier: 2007.031.00.0004

Publisher

Language

Origin

Place

Cadiz, Spain

Summary

Manuscript letter from Francisco de Garay (possibly in his own hand) to Ochoa de Isasaga at the Casa de Contratacion de Indias in Seville. The letter uniquely documents Garay's 1514 purchase and outfitting of two Portuguese caravels (with advice from and in the company of Diego Rodriquez, an experienced pilot employed by Columbus himself on his fourth voyage). The vessels discussed here were probably intended for the voyage of Álvarez de Pineda, carried out under Garay's authority with the approval of King Ferdinand. The Pineda voyage (1519-1520) provided absolute confirmation that Florida was a peninsula (not an island as erroneously reported by Ponce de Léon. Garay's letter describes meeting with certain settlers intending to sail to Hispaniola but left behind in the port: "I came here and talked to these gentlemen, and they were shown the letter of His Highness, and it seemed to them that I should wait, notwithstanding that by this letter and that you had already written them (and from what his Highness had told them before) it seems they are left by the navy. It is a pity seeing people so disposed, who believe that they will be given passage and provisions for Hispaniola, and that from there they could go to Tierra Firma. Nothing pleases them, but some of them will go [as settlers?]." "You wanted to know if there were caravels in the port of Santa Maria...Diego Rodriguez and I, together with Pedro de Aranzures, went to the port...and found three good Portuguese ships, of which we bought two. They are so good that I think that even if they had been deliberately built for us, they could not have been better; and I believe that one will be here - if God wishes - tomorrow and the other on Monday, as they are being caulked. Then they will go to Seville, and I will follow, to supervise the orders for loading them, and then you will dispatch my part (if Our Lord pleases). Tell these gentlemen that you will be able to send the cargo [luggage?]....Respecting the sailors and companions and munitions ["los marineros y companeros y armas"], I beg you to provide the documents and the list...." Closing portion of the letter and signature are lacking.

Foliation

Support

Provenance

• Purchased at Christie's New York, 3 December 2007 (Sale 1922), lot 197 by Jay I. Kislak. Presented to the University of Miami Library in 2019.
   

Subjects topical

• America--Discovery and exploration--Spanish
• Isasaga, Ochoa Álvarez de

Keywords

• Geography
• 16th century

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of University of Miami KIS0001000046: Letter from Francisco de Garay to Ochoa de Isasaga are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

• Text

  Metadata is ©2019 Kislak Foundation and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode