Capitulations of Santa Fe

The surrender of Santa Fe (Spanish Capitulaciones de Santa Fe, from Spanish Capitulación, a kind of license agreement between the Spanish Crown and a Conquistador ) was a treaty between Christopher Columbus and the Spanish King and Queen Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, the was in the army camp Santa Fe signed in today's Spanish province of Granada on April 17, 1492, a few weeks after the completion of the Reconquista. With this contract, Columbus set by all his claims against the Catholic Monarchs, the fulfillment of which he had made the project his "India trip " dependent. The surrender of Santa Fe is one of the politically most significant contracts that were ever concluded between a private person and a ruler. In 2009, the Treaty of the UNESCO declared World Soundtrack Awards.

The details of the contract

The contract stipulated that Columbus should be looking for a western route to Asia for Spain. He was admitted to the expected profit of the company one-tenth. The contract also secured the Columbus demanded of him title to:

• Admiral of the Ocean ( Almirante del Mar Oceánico ) - this meant the elevation to the peerage, as Almirante was a hereditary title of nobility Castilian
• Viceroy ( Virrey ) over the discovered territories he
• Governor General ( Gobernador General ) over the discovered territories he

Columbus was appointed chief judge in all disputes between the Spanish colonies in the future, be allowed to 'Don' call and was given the right to bear arms.

After translation by Robert Green:

"Cristobal Colon, born in Genoa, obtains for himself for life and for his successors, and his heirs the rank of admiral in the countries that he will discover and conquer. His rights will be the same as it has the Grand Admiral of Castile in his area.

Cristobal Colon will be viceroy of the discovered of which countries negotiate with the law, the governor of each island or province three candidates, under which the Crown is a select.

Cristobal Colon gets the right to be by all pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices and all other buy and trade goods found in his area, broken, traded or won to retain after costs one tenth of its own.

Cristobal Colon or its agent shall be the sole judge in all that emerges from the market between those regions and Spain.

Cristobal Colon involved now and in the future on the eighth of the cost of the equipment of ships to this discovery and receives the eighth part of the profits. "

Prehistory

The signing of the surrender of Santa Fe was preceded by tough negotiations: The Catholic Monarchs had been able to choose to only after years of hesitation, to support the project of an Atlantic crossing, partly because all the forces were tied up in the reconquest of the occupied by the Moors in Spain, partly due to lack of financial resources. The said claims that arose Columbus only at the moment, as the commitment to the project was already approved and only the concrete conditions should be negotiated, however, were not to call it something else as exorbitant even for the time. So it is not surprising that these were indignantly rejected not only by the monarch himself, but also by the majority of add -drawn consultant.

Since Columbus departed at any point of its demands, the project at the last moment threatened to fail. Only the personal intervention of the Treasurer of the Spanish crown, there was ultimately gave the agreement of both parties: Luis de Santangel, his time one of the richest men in Spain, the royal couple persuaded that the benefits arising from a successful crossing of the Atlantic would the disadvantages that would bring a grant of privileges required by Columbus with him, would prevail. In addition, he agreed to deny a large part of the cost of the project from its own resources. So Columbus was literally called back at the last minute to the court - according to tradition, he should, on a mule riding, have already been on the way back to La Rabida.

Aftermath

The privileges granted in the surrender of Santa Fe later formed the subject of the so-called Pleitos Colombinos. It is a series of processes that were conducted from 1508 to 1563 between the Columbus family and the Spanish Crown, and in which it came to the confirmation or restore this same privileges that the Columbus after his return from his second voyage and heirs were then again withdrawn in 1508, at least partially.

Importance

Most historians today agree that the Catholic Monarchs had no choice but to reject the claims made by Columbus as completely exaggerated. Some researchers such as Charles Verlinden even argue with the signing of this contract have the Monarchs took a step, " which surpassed their personal powers of the discoverer and all his contemporaries far ".

Original

The original document of surrender of Santa Fe has been lost. Get today are two certified copies of which are kept in the India Archive in Seville or in the archives of the Crown of Aragon in Barcelona.