by the monarchs, who saw that Bobadilla had abused the trust placed in him.
He sent the caravel El Corréo southward to investigate the mouth of the Grande River (a northern branch of the Orinoco River delta), and by August 15 he knew by the great torrents of fresh water flowing into the Gulf of Paria that he had discovered another continent—“another world.” But he did not find the strait to India, nor did he find King Solomon’s gold mines, which his reading had led him and his sovereigns to expect in these latitudes; and he made only disastrous discoveries when he returned to Hispaniola. The admiral decided that Hispaniola was indeed the biblical land of Sheba and that Cuba was the mainland of Cathay. It may be that these problems had intensified, but the Columbus family must be held at least partly responsible, intent as it was on enslaving the Taino and shipping them to Europe or forcing them to mine gold on Hispaniola. Columbus then returned to Hispaniola, where he found the settlers in a state of rebellion. The Pinta made port at Bayona on its homeward journey, separately from Columbus and the Niña. Bobadilla found the situation as bad as he had heard.

The westerlies prevailing in the Azores had defeated previous attempts to sail to the west, but in the Canaries the three ships could pick up the northeast trade winds; supposedly, they could trust to the westerlies for their return. The disaster that was the third voyage essentially brought to a close the Columbus Era in the New World. sailed east around Africa. Columbus noticed the volume of water brought to the sea by the Orinoco River These events left Columbus under the suspicion of collaborating with Spain’s enemies and cast a shadow on his return to Palos on March 15. By 1500, the Spanish crown was beginning to regret this decision, as Columbus had proven to be a very poor governor and the lands he had discovered had the potential to be extremely lucrative. They were able to resupply there and continue exploring.

After nearly a month in the Canaries the ships set out from San Sebastián de la Gomera on September 6. Certainly he found prizes, but not quite of the kind his sponsors required. It is hard to explain exactly what the trouble was. 2.

Six ships left Sanlúcar de Barrameda on May 30, 1498, three filled with explorers and three with provisions for the settlement on Hispaniola. The crown needed to rein in the unpredictable Colombus and his brothers, who in addition to being tyrannical governors were also suspected of improperly gathering wealth. He realised that the enormous volume The settlers complained bitterly, and Columbus had to hang a few of them in order to stabilize the situation. He called the place Boca del Drago, or Dragon's Mouth, because

The admiral was directed to hand over to Bobadilla the forts and all public The admiral’s navigational genius showed itself immediately, for they sailed southward to the Canary Islands, off the northwest African mainland, rather than sailing due west to the islands of the Azores. The other two were smaller caravels; the name of one is lost, but is known by th… Sailing again via Gomera in the Canary Islands, the fleet took a more southerly course than on the first voyage and reached Dominica in the Lesser Antilles on November 3.