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(Re-Do of this https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=183053&highlight=colombo )

December 8th, 1488
Court of King Joao II of Portugal and the Algarves


"Pero Dias, I thank you for the quickness of your arrival...I am sorry forr your loss...your brother was a most trusted fellow of mine" King John II of Portugal spoke to the distressed and kneeling man before him. From the floor of his throne room, Pero Dias nodded his head dejected and depressed rising to his monarch in a dutiful manner but one that at the moment he could find little joy in his life to animate himself.

"Th-thank you your majesty...my brother Bartolomeu...he was happy in his service and wanted to greatly enhance the Kingdom's fame and glory...he was...a good man." The man's voice was low and came out strained, his face a vision of a hollowness that John II did not find very comforting.

"Please, Pero if you could recount the events of the expedition to me..." John II began slowly, wary of the volatile nature of a grieving man.

"Yes your lord!" Pero's body straining to an attentive position, his head lolling upwards slightly as he began to live back the events for which he began to speak of "After setting out last August...we sailed southward thorugh the islands...then down to the Fort of Sao Jorge de Mina and sailed along the African coast for sometime in a southward direction...we saw a great amount of...nothing...many rivers where at the mouth of one large river we erected...we erected a statue to your honor...then...then..."

"Go on" John II commanded, hoping to prod the man's disarrayed mental state into action.

"We sailed southward into the ocean...we lost sight of the coast...and then it came. The evil, abomination of Satan...we...tried my lord. We tried to escape it but it caught the expedition and swallowed us whole! For days we were trapped with it, I lost count of time...the ships couldn't handle it...I thank my survival to de Santiago and his piloting skills from the supply ship I commanded but my brother...oh my brother..."

"What happened?"

"It was the São Pantaleão that went first, I saw...Joao Infante fall from the ship one moment and then the next a wave just...devoured the entire caravel my lord! It was terrible...shocking sight and my brother...oh my brother Bartolomeu...I...I...I swear I saw him my lord! When the masts snapped I saw him pinned under the mast but I could do nothing! Nothing as the São Cristóvão turned over...I tried to shout for my brother but some of the sailors were pulling me to take cover and-"

"That is enough. Thank you Pero, you may go and rest now. You have served me well"

The surviving Dias brother had to be lead out of the throne room, and John II dismissed his usefulness at all for the future. The failure of the expedition stung at him, as the court could tell as he leaned back into his throne and stared for along time at the ceiling. "Mother of God...maybe I will have to count on that Genoese..." before sighing and waving over one of his aides.

"Get me Colombo. Tell him I'll see him about his proposition again..."

December 23, 1488
Castle of São Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal


He felt like one of those ancient birds of myth that were reborn at their death…and fire or something. What were they…phoenix! Yes! He felt like a phoenix rising from the ashes of his defeat! It could not doubt be shown on his persona as he walked through the royal palace and even now as he waited for his entrance into the audience chamber to meet with João II. Oh how those fools and lackeys that had changed the mind of the King of Portugal at his last visit would feel his wrath when he came back from India laden with spices and gold! Oh how he would have his sweet revenge and-

"Are you Senhor Colombo?" a voice spoke, jolting Columbus out of his thoughts making him look to see the young boy who had somehow slipped into the antechamber, a slightly older girl with reddish-blonde sort of hair but she stood behind him and he in front of her as if protecting her. For some reason to Columbus these two looked familiar…but he could not quite place where he had seen them. They dressed well off, possibly nobility so best to be on his better behavior.

"Yes, I am Colombo and yo-?"

"I have heard that your crazy!" the boy interjected, to his counterpart’s short stifled laughter which caused Columbus’s temper to rise but he mastered it-barely.

"Yes…some have said that…but in turn I call them fools…which do tell is better? A crazy man or a idiot?" and in reply both laughed again but hopefully less directed at him and in delight.

"If any I would want someone as crazy as you at the head of a ship. It would be very fun I think" the boy said, to which Columbus bowed and said his thanks, before rising again and looking back and forth between the two again they just seemed so familiar to him but where? His thoughts were interrupted by a personal servant looking quite distressed making his way into the antechamber as if he had been in a panic looking for the two.

"Y..your majesties! Afonso Infante…Isabella…Castile…please do not do that again!!"

The servant’s words made Columbus freeze his eyes wide in shock as he looked between the two once again and finally realized why they looked so familiar! The boy had the chin of his father…João II and the girl…she had the blossoming beauty of her mother…Queen Isabella of Castile! If this boy lived old enough he would inherit all of the Iberia!

"Your…your majesties" Columbus managed out, bowing to both of them, but Afonso Infante, crowned heir of Portugal and the Algaves’ just shook his head to his words and actions "I like you Colombo! Don’t be so distant now. I will tell father you are a interesting man! Perhaps sometime we can go riding together?"

he Voyage of Colombo

The course toward Colombo’s departure on June 1st, 1490 in search of an alternative route to the Indies was one that was not as clear cut as some historians may place. Colombo still faced delays and obstacles to his goal which formed in the shape of present but more silent detractors amongst João II’s advisers who doubted his view on the distance and his loyalty given his recent living in Castile, flare ups with the neighboring Castilians and Moroccans, and still João II’s confidence in finding a viable overland route. Colombo may have existed in a sort of purgatory in the Portuguese court forever or until he had decided to return if it were not for the favoritism bestowed upon him by the young Afonso Infante or that support came from Fernão Dulmo and Fernão Domingues, two knights of Portugal that had similar visions of the West and supported Colombo-though this would later turn into rivalry.

Soon a sudden endearment of Colombo to João II helped to revive the man’s image in the King’s eyes which is linked in folk lore to Colombo saving Afonso from a Castilian assassain but, modern scholars believe this to be a legend made up decades after.Eventually, the King of Portugal gave in to Colombo's wishes and finally commended a expedition to be put out. The terms of the visit would be hammered out while the supplies and ships were prepared but the arrangement made was to satisfy João II, Colombo, Dulmo, and Domingues. All of the men would sail in the name of Portugal, the aim to prove a western route to India and establish proof and trade in the name of the Kingdom of Portugal. Colombo would be head of the expedition but would be under partial and co-captainship with the man named Vasco de Gama. Vasco de Gama, whose father had perished in a second attempt to find the southern route around Africa and distinguished himself against Moroccan pirates did not have a good relationship with Colombo. Colombo in his journal accuses de Gama of jealously while de Gama accuses the expedition as a waste of time and money.

Colombo, would be granted captaincy of land of his choosing while Dulmo and Domingues would be granted captaincy of any major islands found to the west.

The ships to make the voyage were the carrack Santa Maria with Colombo as the captain, a carrack São Miguel with Vasco de Gama as captain, and a caravel the Dom with Dulmo as captain while Domingues having become ill upon the time of the expedition would have co-commanded the Dom.

With a mixture of hope, enthusiasm, and unknown feelings the expedition set off in early June, sailing down the coast of Africa to the Cape Verde islands where after a re-supply, mostly of cattle, the expedition sailed westward into the Atlantic. For two weeks the voyage went on its course before at one point it was interrupted by the doldrums region of the Atlantic ocean which lasted for three days and almost turned the situation against Colombo by Vasco de Gama, but soon the ships picks up a eastward going wind and once again they have a course to sail again. On July 4th they arrive off the coast of what would be Venezuela much to his own vindication and celebration. Setting down at the mouth of the Orinoco river, which Colombo names the Mirapouco after a river in Portugal and sets up a padrão or pillar in honor of the King of Portugal and claiming the land for him. Following the coast westward they travel along the coastline of the southern Caribbean, crossing the southern tip of Trinidad which Dulmo sets up his own padrão claiming the island for himself. Traveling westward the expedition sights several more islands such as O carocal, Bemvindo (Tobago), Ilha de Vera Cruz (Isla Margarita), where they sight villages and the natives allegedly welcomed them. The expedition attempts to speak in the known languages of Portugese, Italian, and Arabic but gets no recognition from the Island Carib peoples. Setting up a settlement on Bemvindo, Dulmo remains in charge as Colombo continues westward with several native ‘guests’.

Passing the Gulf of Venezuela the ships, now only the two carracks are pressed northwestward toward the coast of the Yucatan where the ships come off at Cozumel where the Italian and the Portuguese were met by the Mayan natives on the island. Curiosity of each other was high, as the Portuguese ships sailed to a fishing village on the east coast the inhabitants fled at the sight of the ship at first but when a shore party lead by Vasco de Gama landed the inhabitants returned to see the men that had come. This would be fatal for many, for when the expedition landed they were brought to a nearby temple-city of the Maya and the men of the old world were fascinated by the sight of so many strange things such as range of colorful birds, the stone architecture built by the Maya amazed and puzzled them giving the level of seeming barbarity amongst the natives, the hotness of their chili peppers and of course the wealth that they saw- Gold and Jade amongst other things was presented by the local ruler as gifts. Colombo and his men took the gifts happily and then they attempted to communicate with the Maya but again none knew the languages spoken by the Maya, not even the Maya and the Carib understood each other. At night the expedition went back to their ships and waited for night, whereupon they returned and raided the city with steel and guns they stole as much as they take which included supplies for their return home. Killing many of the natives and kidnapping a dozen they left the island and sailed along the currents westward, only stopping once in Cuba and again in the Bahamas before sailing back to Portugal.

What they would tell would shake the foundations of what was known and unknown of the world.

The Return of Colombo

Having set out in June of 1490, Colombo made his return several months later in late December in Lisbon after sailing on a more northern path across the Atlantic and arriving back in the Azore islands. This surprised the Azorians greatly as they had not expected a fleet from the West and some even at first thought that the Chinese had traveled across the ocean to them but, everyone was surprised and shocked to find that it was Colombo. Sending letters back to Portugal of the sights he had seen and what he had with him was like a smack to Lisbon as word spread throughout the city and beyond as many debated the truthfulness of Colombo’s words. Had he actually reached the Indies? Was he right all along?

All doubts were washed away when the Santa Maria and the Sao Miguel arrived in Lisbon harbor and docked, where a procession of royalty and onlookers arrived to receive Colombo who disembarked from his ship like a conquering hero! Those who were his greatest critics were already shaking when from the boat came the strange ‘Indians’, six of the twenty five or so that still lived (though they would not live much longer, already weak and sick from the voyage and beatings from the Portuguese), carrying with them the spoils Colombo had ‘found’ in the west.

Going back to the Castle of São Jorge, Colombo once again would go through what he had seen and what he had done; presenting what he had taken from the west as proof that he had achieved a path to the Indies. The advisors who had most criticized Colombo were speechless and flabbergasted, in the face of this material proof they could not argue at all. The King of Portugal for sometime looked over and inspected the goods brought back by Colombo, as if in contemplation in thinking of the ramifications of Colombo’s success. Finally after sometime, Joao II stands and declares these lands are within the sphere of Portugal and that Portugal will send in another expedition! Portugal had discovered the route to the Indies and it would bring itself closer to them.

The ships of Portugal would go west again and make the setting sun Portuguese.

The Dispute

The news of the lands to the west spread like wildfire into Europa, with interest or disinterest popping up here and there. The strongest of which though were angry noises made by the Catholic Monarchs of Aragon and Castille, Ferdinand and Isabella. Up to this point the two united crowns only really had their influence in the Atlantic in the Canary Islands off the coast of North Africa. As apart of the Treaty of Alacovas, which was confirmed by the Pope Sixtus IV the Castillians received dominion over the Canary Islands, had to receive Portuguese permission to travel south of the islands, and divided the world along a northern-southern line based on the Canaries (except when concerning Africa) between Castille and Portugal.

Alarmed at the discovery of the Western Route, the two monarchs argued that the announced Portuguese influence of their discoveries in the west was not clarified by the last treaty. Though they tried their efforts to break Portuguese influence in the region their efforts were stopped by a combination of fierce resistance by Joao II-where he threatened war with the two other Iberian states, the reflating of rebellion in Granada in the summer of 1491 greatly stretched their ability to posture, the threat of Charles VII of France, and the in difference by then Pope Innocent VII, who a Genoese (several prominent Genoese families were allied with the Portuguese crown), just confirmed Portuguese dominion and insisted the line remain at the 29th parallel.

Defeated but not out of the game, the Spanish Monarchs would a year later put in charge an Italian explorer who at the time working in Valencia as a engineer had previously proposed of a route to the west. His name was Giovanni Caboto.

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