Chapter 201: Cuba Island

Mao Mei was so important that Marin had already sent someone to wait in the Strait of Gibraltar. The matter of selling Mao Mei, even if it is known, is nothing. However, the impact is still bad.

After all, according to Catholic teaching, everyone is equal. Therefore, the slave trade cannot get on the table. Although European contract slaves are also popular today, they cannot be made public. Portugal is selling slaves, but it is not public. All this involves religious issues.

Fortunately, the female slaves sold by Marin are all Orthodox Christians and are the hostile forces of the Catholic Church. If Marin dares to sell Catholics as slaves in large quantities, it is estimated that the Holy See must be exploded. Even if there is a pope father-in-law, it is estimated that they have to eat and hang. As for the trafficking of Orthodox women, it would be fine if they were not publicly discovered, and if the news was made public, it would affect Marin ’s reputation. After all, the notoriety of a "human trafficker" cannot be run away by mass trafficking of women and children.

To this end, Marin asked Kohler to arrange personnel, stationed in the Strait of Gibraltar, bribed Pisas, commander of the Spanish fleet of Gibraltar, to close his eyes.

On the Atlantic, in order to ensure the safety of Mao Mei, Marin also arranged 20 warships to come to meet, to avoid Mao Mei's safety problems. After all, these women are the hopes of the bachelor immigrants from East Friesland. It ’s a pity that the goods are lost, it ’s a pity to lose others. Especially, the entire fleet is beautiful ...

Uh ...

When the fleet carrying Mao Mei passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and merged with the convoy fleet on the Atlantic Ocean, Columbus' fleet also came to the Caribbean Sea again.

After passing through the Cape of Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, Columbus discovered that the colony "Christmas Fortress", which was established by himself, had been abandoned by the Spaniards.

Then, Columbus continued to go west along the northern waters of Haiti Island, looking for Cuba Island ...

In fact, when Columbus first discovered America, he had already discovered the island of Cuba. However, what Columbus discovered at that time was only the most southeastern part of the long and narrow Cuban island. Moreover, after the second voyage, because of the influence of Marin's "syphilis report", Columbus was lifted from the altar and became a cross-street mouse that everyone shouted, and there was no third and fourth voyage.

Therefore, Columbus's previous information on the Cuban island was very incomplete and could only be regarded as "a glimpse." There was only a section of information on the southeastern end of the Cuban island. There was no complete map.

However, after arriving on the coast of the Cuban island, Columbus was surprised to find that the outline of the Cuban island that Marin gave him was very accurate. It seems that some people have discovered the Cuban island before.

So, Columbus no longer has a face as a discoverer of a "wild continent." Obviously, everyone has a complete map, much more advanced than him ...

Following the northern coast of the Cuban island, Columbus commanded the fleet to continue sailing, while recording the latitude and longitude, so that the subsequent sailors could easily reach the destination according to the coordinates.

After a few days of sailing, the coast of the northern part of Cuba Island turned from northwest to true west, and then turned to the southwest. Soon, the fleet reached the westernmost point of the Cuban island and then headed east ...

Here, Columbus no longer has to explore. Because, as it turns out, the map of Cuba given by Marin is very accurate, but there are no specific coordinates.

After discovering Pinos, Columbus simply ended the exploration of Cuba. There is a contour map of Cuba drawn by Marin according to the map of later generations. He also explores a P. In fact, his mission this time is clearly to record the navigation coordinates. There is a complete set of navigation coordinates, which is very suitable for ordinary captains to find specific destinations according to the coordinates, so as not to deviate.

After replenishing fresh water on Pinos, Columbus originally planned to go directly south to find Panama. However, Columbus suddenly remembered that the small ball made of what Marin called "rubber" that he gave to Caesar before attracted great attention from Marin. Moreover, Marin said that if he could find a rubber tree, it would be a credit.

So, Columbus stopped going south, but returned to the Cuban island, using the simple Indian language of the team to go ashore to communicate with the indigenous people and inquire about the news of the rubber tree.

Indians living on the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola belong to the Taino among the Arawaks. Columbus and a few powerful men once stayed on Haiti Island for a long time and learned some Taino with the local Taino. Therefore, their communication with local people is not particularly difficult.

Tynor is gentle in nature and not as aggressive as the Caribbean. Therefore, Columbus and his men easily communicated with the locals.

After sending out some beautiful glass ornaments, the local chief told Columbus that the seeds of the rubber tree were actually brought from the invading Caribbeans in the south. In Cuba, there are not many rubber trees. The chief, looking around, only found dozens of rubber trees in his own territory, collected a small bag of rubber tree seeds, and told Columbus to take notes and methods of tapping.

Columbus collected these hundreds of rubber tree seeds like a baby, and planned to take them to Grenada Island on the return flight, so that old George would arrange to plant them. After a few years, hundreds of rubber trees can be used for tapping.

After leaving the Taino tribe, Columbus rushed to the next Taino tribe, using the same means, with some beautiful glass ornaments, from another Taino chieftain, exchanged dozens of rubber tree seeds ...

By analogy, after visiting the five chieftains of the Tylenos along the coast, Columbus collected a total of 460 rubber tree seeds, and then carefully packed them in a waterproof animal skin bag and hid them like treasures.

Probably thought that so many seeds were enough, Columbus finally ended his activities on the coast of Cuba, and commanded the fleet to bypass the west end of the Cuban island and began to go south ...

On the way, Columbus was surprised to find that in the vast sea, there were many Indians in the canoe, sailing on the Caribbean Sea. It seems that these canoes lost their western land to trade.

So, with strong curiosity, Columbus also let the fleet follow the canoes of the Taino who went to the west to trade, arrived at a fishing village on the Yucatan peninsula, and visited their humble trade fair ~ www. wuxiaspot.com ~ The Taino people brought the island's specialties, such as some beautiful shellfish from the sea or the sea, and a lot of cassava, a fabric called cotton, and some strange gadgets, come Exchange some necessary supplies with the Maya.

And on the Yucatan peninsula, there is an important commodity that the Taino and even the Caribbeans are rushing for, that is-salt.

The northern part of the Yucatan Peninsula is the driest region in the Caribbean. It's dry and hot here, with a lot of evaporation. Therefore, a puddle in which some seawater accumulated after the tide was formed. After the seawater in these puddles was released, a lot of salt was formed.

Maya people can not only collect these natural salts, but also know how to cook salt. The specific method is to use a simple earthenware pot, fill it with sea water, and then boil it to obtain salt.

Because of the salt trade, the Mayan civilization developed. The Yucatan Peninsula is also an important salt trading center in the Caribbean. Not only the Taino, but also the Aztecs and the Caribbean, come here to buy salt. Especially the Taino people on the Cuban island, which is close to the Yucatan peninsula, rely on the salt trade with the Mayans.

Columbus took out some shiny glass ornaments at the trade fair of the seaside fishing village, which was popular among locals. The locals took out their goods and exchanged them with Columbus.

Columbus happily and selectively exchanged some sands with the locals, according to his own. Then, the ghost messenger exchanged a piece of cotton cloth ...

After visiting the Mayan Seaside Village Market, Columbus remembered that he seemed to have something to do. So, he boarded the fishing boat again, went all the way south, and went straight to Panama ...