"I ordered each man to be presented with something, as strings of ten or a dozen glass beads apiece, and thongs of leather, all which they estimated highly; those which came on board I directed should be fed with molasses"
About this Quote
A transaction dressed up as hospitality, this is Columbus narrating conquest in the soothing vocabulary of gift-giving. The details matter: "strings of ten or a dozen glass beads" and "thongs of leather" are cheap, portable, visually impressive tokens - early-modern spectacle goods meant to signal abundance while costing the giver almost nothing. He notes the men "estimated [them] highly" with the satisfaction of someone discovering a favorable exchange rate, then quietly locks in the premise that value can be defined by the newcomer. The line performs a kind of moral laundering: appropriation becomes etiquette.
The molasses is even more telling. Feeding visitors on board sounds generous, but it also establishes control over space, pace, and bodies. Bring them onto the ship, dictate their movement, make contact on your terms. Sugar and its derivatives were already intertwined with Atlantic economies of extraction; offering molasses reads like a soft introduction to a world where sweetness is a tool - pleasure as leverage, appetite as diplomacy.
Columbus's intent isn't simply to describe a moment; it's to produce a report that justifies continued backing. He is writing up proof of manageability: the people can be impressed, welcomed, handled. The subtext is managerial and acquisitive, a rehearsal of future systems - trade that isn't trade, "care" that is containment, exchange that maps directly onto possession. Even in its calm tone, the quote is a blueprint for how empire likes to see itself: polite, rational, and entitled.
The molasses is even more telling. Feeding visitors on board sounds generous, but it also establishes control over space, pace, and bodies. Bring them onto the ship, dictate their movement, make contact on your terms. Sugar and its derivatives were already intertwined with Atlantic economies of extraction; offering molasses reads like a soft introduction to a world where sweetness is a tool - pleasure as leverage, appetite as diplomacy.
Columbus's intent isn't simply to describe a moment; it's to produce a report that justifies continued backing. He is writing up proof of manageability: the people can be impressed, welcomed, handled. The subtext is managerial and acquisitive, a rehearsal of future systems - trade that isn't trade, "care" that is containment, exchange that maps directly onto possession. Even in its calm tone, the quote is a blueprint for how empire likes to see itself: polite, rational, and entitled.
Quote Details
| Topic | Travel |
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