Christopher Columbus

I am not the first Admiral of my family.

The people are all naked, men and women, as their mothers bore them.

I believe that there are many herbs and many trees which are worth much in Europe for dyes and for medicines.

I have found no monsters, nor heard of any.

They have no iron or steel weapons, nor are they capable of using them.

I have taken possession of all these islands for their Highnesses.

The people here have no religion.

I have come to serve at 28 years with this art of navigation.

I swear to your Highnesses that there is not a better land under the sun.

I have seen serpents, but they are not as they are painted.

I believe that this is the Earthly Paradise.

The people here are very timid.

I have taken great pains to learn the truth.

They ought to make good and skilled servants, for they repeat very quickly whatever we say to them.

They have no iron or steel weapons, nor are they capable of using them... They would make fine servants.

As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first island which I found, I took some of the natives by force.

The natives are so naive and free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it.

Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold.

Gold is most excellent; gold is treasure, and he who possesses it does all he wishes to in this world.

The people here are simple in war-like matters... I could take them all with 50 men and subjugate them to my will.