Jamaica, 29 February 1504. Based on the lunar eclipse Christopher Columbus used to get food.
They had been stranded on Jamaica for eight months. Columbus’s two ships, eaten through by shipworm, a sea creature that bores holes in timber, lay beached on the sand and served as huts. More than a hundred men were left, and among them was Gaspar, a thirteen-year-old ship’s boy who counted the days with a nail on a plank. Months earlier, Diego Méndez, the admiral’s secretary, had set off in a canoe to ask for help from Hispaniola. Nobody knew whether he had arrived.
Until recently, the Taíno people of the nearby village had brought them cassava bread, fish and fruit in exchange for small bells, glass beads and combs. But in January a group of sailors mutinied, roamed the island and took food by force. Since then the baskets had stopped coming. The chief said they had nothing left to give, and his eyes said something wearier: that they no longer trusted the strangers.
One night Gaspar found Columbus awake, leafing by candlelight through a book with worn covers. It was an almanac by a German scholar, Regiomontanus, with tables giving the day and hour of every eclipse in the coming years. The admiral marked a page with his finger and murmured, “Here it is.” Then he spoke in a low voice to his brother Bartholomew, and the two of them looked at each other like men who had just found a key.
On 29 February, as evening fell, Columbus gathered the chief and the other leaders. Through an interpreter he told them his God was angry because they were refusing food, and that very night he would prove it: the moon would rise inflamed and red. The leaders laughed. Nobody had ever seen a man give orders to the moon.
Night fell. The moon rose, big and white. Hidden behind a boat, Gaspar watched a shadow begin to bite at its edge, slowly, until it covered almost the whole disc. The moon turned the colour of copper. Shouts and wailing rose from the village, and the leaders ran down to the beach.
“Admiral, make it come back!” the chief begged. “We will bring you whatever you ask.” Columbus said he must pray and shut himself in his hut. Through a crack, Gaspar saw him turn an hourglass and never take his eyes off it. When the sand was nearly gone, the admiral came out and announced that God would forgive them if they kept their word. Then, along its edge, the moon began to regain its white light.
The next morning the first baskets arrived. Gaspar, his stomach empty, dared to ask Bartholomew: “Is it true the admiral commands the moon?” Bartholomew looked at the book, which lay on a chest, and smiled without answering.
Activities
1 Detective Inference
How did Columbus know the moon would turn red that night? Tick the correct hypothesis.
- a) He had seen it on another voyage, at sea, and worked out by eye that it would happen again that night.
- ✓b) He read it in an almanac whose tables gave the day and hour of every eclipse.
- c) The chief told him, as he knew the skies of his land well and wanted to test him.
- d) His God revealed it to him in a dream and he simply repeated it to the leaders.
Which clue proves it? Copy or summarise the clue from the text that proves it.
Correct hypothesis: b). Exactly: Columbus didn’t command the moon, he knew when it would happen.
Key clue: “Gaspar saw him leaf through a book of tables by candlelight, mark a page with his finger and say “Here it is.”” That is the proof: the book gave the day and hour of each eclipse, and Columbus pointed to the page before announcing it.
2 The Loom Order of events
Put the events in order, starting with the earliest. Write the order number (1, 2, 3…) in each box.
- 6 A rescue ship arrives from Hispaniola.
- 4 The Taíno stop bringing food to the Spaniards.
- 3 A group of sailors mutinies and takes food by force.
- 1 Columbus’s ships end up beached on the shore in Jamaica.
- 2 Diego Méndez sets off in a canoe to ask for help from Hispaniola.
- 5 The moon turns red and the leaders beg Columbus for mercy.
Correct order:
- Columbus’s ships end up beached on the shore in Jamaica.
- Diego Méndez sets off in a canoe to ask for help from Hispaniola.
- A group of sailors mutinies and takes food by force.
- The Taíno stop bringing food to the Spaniards.
- The moon turns red and the leaders beg Columbus for mercy.
- A rescue ship arrives from Hispaniola.
First the ships are beached and Méndez sets off for help. Months later, in January, the mutiny breaks the trust and the baskets stop coming; Columbus then uses the eclipse of 29 February. The rescue ship arrives much later, towards the end of June.
3 The Missing Page Coherence
What happens next, consistent with the story? Tick only one option.
- a) The Taíno discover the almanac, realise the trick and drive the Spaniards off the beach.
- b) Columbus promises the moon will go dark again whenever the Taíno are late with the food.
- c) Gaspar tells the leaders the secret of the almanac, they laugh at Columbus and stop bringing food for good.
- ✓d) The baskets of cassava bread and fish keep arriving until, months later, a ship sent from Hispaniola picks up the castaways.
Answer: d). It fits: the Taíno kept their word for as long as the wait lasted, and the rescue came about four months later.
- a) Nothing suggests they found out: the story says they went on bringing food for as long as the wait lasted.
- b) An eclipse can’t be commanded, only calculated: the tables announced just a few, and Columbus couldn’t repeat it at will.
- c) Gaspar didn’t know anything for certain: Bartholomew hadn’t answered him. And the Taíno went on bringing food.
4 Spot the Contradiction Literal reading
Three statements don’t fit the story. Put an X next to the 3 statements that don’t fit the text.
- a) Columbus’s ships, eaten through by shipworm, lay beached on the shore.And they served as huts for the more than a hundred men who were left.
- ✗b) The Taíno had been given swords and gold in exchange for food.They were given small bells, glass beads and combs.
- c) Regiomontanus’s almanac gave the day and hour of every eclipse.They were astronomical tables, and Columbus marked the page.
- ✗d) The moon turned red because Columbus prayed for it to go dark.It turned red because the Earth passed between the Sun and the moon; he only knew the date.
- e) Columbus shut himself in his hut to pray while the moon was red.And he came out when the sand in the hourglass was nearly gone.
- ✗f) The eclipse happened in broad daylight, at noon.It was at night: the moon rose big and white, and slowly darkened.
5 The Gallery Visualisation
In the game you choose the illustration that answers this question: “Which picture shows the beach when the terrified Taíno leaders run towards the admiral?”. Here, you draw it yourself, with every detail the text gives you.
What should appear: Red moon, ships beached on the sand and the leaders running down from the village.
Reward drawings that include the details from the text, not artistic skill.
Ending
To read aloud once the answers have been checked.
It wasn’t magic, it was a book. Regiomontanus’s almanac predicted a total lunar eclipse for 29 February 1504, and Columbus only had to wait for the date. The moon turns red because the Earth passes between it and the Sun: the only light that reaches it is the light bent through our planet’s air, the same light that reddens sunsets. The hourglass told him when it would end.
The Taíno kept bringing food for as long as the wait lasted. Four months later a ship sent from Hispaniola picked up the castaways, almost a year after Diego Méndez had paddled off, with Taíno rowers, to ask for help.
We know this story from Spanish chroniclers, above all Columbus’s son Ferdinand. What the Taíno thought, after months of feeding more than a hundred men nobody had invited, we know far less.
Suggested marking
Each activity is worth 2 points (10 in total). In 1, one point for the hypothesis and one for the clue. In 2, give one point if only a couple of events are swapped. In 4, half a point for each correct cross and minus half a point for each true statement crossed out.