PLAYWRIGHT'S NOTES
As the 500th anniversary of the invasion of the continent known to many indigenous peoples as Turtle Island approached, and as many groups prepared to celebrate a discovery that led not only to Trump Towers and Pentium chips but to genocide, reservations, and the names of numerous sports teams, I felt it was necessary to show, however briefly, both sides of our history here on this continent named after an Italian.
The play takes only a few liberties with history. Queen Isabella, so far as I know, did not disguise herself as a cabin boy and accompany Columbus on his voyage westward–but she was certainly with him in spirit. Columbus was not accompanied by either a priest or an African, but missionary zealots and the slave trade followed quickly in the wake of the Santa Maria. For the most part, however, I have followed closely the facts of history.
Columbus, for example, was a religious nut who thought the world was about to end; he had both a wife and a mistress, and a son by each; it was rumored that he was Jewish, but that seems unlikely. In 1492 he and everyone else knew the earth was round; in fact, the first globe had just been constructed. People even had a pretty good idea of the circumference of the earth–although Columbus argued that it was smaller than most people thought–either to make a better case for his voyage or because his arithmetic was bad. On his voyage to Turtle Island, he deliberately miscalculated how far they had traveled, to mislead and reassure his crew. Earlier in his career, Columbus had sailed to the Greek island of Chios, an exporter of mastic, which can be chewed like gum, so maybe Isabella did tell him to "get rid of the gum."
Queen Isabella wasn’t expecting Armageddon, but she wanted religious conformity and political supremacy. Although Christians, Jews, and Moslems had lived peacefully in Spain for centuries, she declared war against the Moslems, installed the Inquisition, and expelled the Jews. On the same day that Columbus left on his first voyage, shiploads of exiled Jews were also leaving the harbor. Cautious as well as ruthless, she sent her secretary, Escobedo, along to keep an eye on Columbus and keep track of any treasures that might be acquired.