Central America, the Caribbean Sea, it is already September in 1500. After 4 months of sailing, the fleet led by Amerigo finally arrived in Grenada.
The fleet first arrived at Martinique in the Windward Islands, but Amerigo took out the map given by Marin and compared it, and found that it was not Grenada, so he continued to explore south.
Along the way, Amerigo used the sextant and related formulas made by Da Vinci, as well as high-precision pocket watches, etc., to constantly calculate the longitude and latitude. With these longitudes and latitudes, when the next voyage arrives in the nearby sea area, you only need to calculate the latitude and longitude again, and compare it with the original record, and you can easily correct the course.
However, although Marin knew the specific distribution of the Windward Islands, he did not remember the specific latitude and longitude. After all, Grenada is only a small country in later generations. If it weren't for the Americans who had invaded Grenada, Marin might not have been interested in this small island.
Therefore, he gave an approximate distribution map of the Windward Islands, and asked Amerigo to find and compare them by himself, and then write down the relevant latitude and longitude.
The guidance given by Marin is - after arriving at the Windward Islands, go all the way south until you reach the South American continent. The island closest to the South American mainland is Trinidad, and the small island northeast of Trinidad is Tobago. Then, the island twice the size of Texel in the northwest of Tobago is Grenada...
Sure enough, Amerigo did the same thing. After arriving in Martinique, he didn't stop, but went all the way south, and soon arrived in Trinidad. Through the "artifact" of the telescope, he confirmed that Trinidad is a large island next to the mainland, and there is indeed a small island in the northeast.
Then, without further ado, he turned to sail northwest, and it didn't take long for him to discover Grenada. At the same time, he recorded the latitude and longitude of the islands along the way.
After arriving on Grenada Island, Amerigo immediately commanded the fleet to start surveying and mapping hydrology around Grenada Island, looking for a suitable place for landing.
However, when the fleet arrived in the waters near the later St. George in the southwestern part of Grenada, Amerigo looked through the telescope and was surprised to find that a battle was taking place on the island...
About a dozen small boats of 20 to 30 tons were moored near the harbor, and a large group of vicious-looking natives, armed with various weapons, fiercely killed the village on the shore...
Moreover, according to observation, Amerigo found that there were three to four hundred strong men who came to attack, all of them strong and fierce. In this village on the island, there are less than 200 men, and not all of them are strong. Seeing that the village on the shore was about to be breached by the invaders...
When the two ships 2503 and 2504 approached the coast of St. George, the two sides who were fighting on the shore stopped involuntarily...
Both sides were surprised to see two large ships approaching from the sea. Both sides were stunned for a while, and the leader of the resisters wearing bird feathers seemed to react first, jumping and yelling at Amerigo's fleet in an unknown language, his voice was desolate, as if he was asking for help . In fact, this middle-aged man who looks like a chief is already desperate. Therefore, he didn't care who came from the sea, he didn't look like an accomplice of the enemy anyway, so he started to call for help regardless, and knelt down to the sea to pray.
The intruders were taken aback for a moment, and then looked at the two big ships on the sea with vigilance. I don't know which tendon was wrong, but the leader actually took a fancy to Amerigo's two big boats...
In fact, it was the more warlike Caribs in the Caribbean who invaded the island of Grenada. The ones who were attacked were the peaceful Arawaks who first lived on the island.
The Caribs originally lived on the South American continent, but in the past one or two hundred years, the Caribs drove larger canoes and armed with spears, and began to march towards the islands in the Caribbean region to capture the local Arawak territory.
According to the records of the Spaniards, the Caribs are more ferocious. Every time they attack the next village, they will kill all the men in the village (or even eat them), and snatch the women as wives and concubines.
Whether the Caribs ate the Arawak men did not agree with later generations, but it is an indisputable fact that they killed all the Arawak men.
Originally, Amerigo planned to use a telescope to observe the war methods of the natives. Unexpectedly, as soon as they approached, the two sides became smaller.
What shocked Amerigo the most was that the native warriors on the attacking side began to retreat to the big canoe, and then—rowed towards his two big boats...
Soon, Amerigo realized that the other party wanted to seize his two ships...
Amerigo is angry—Nimma, you dare to fight my gunboat with only a dozen large canoes, I really don’t know how to write the dead word...
Therefore, Amerigo ordered the sailors to raise the flexible and maneuverable triangle sails, and began to challenge the indigenous fleet...
The 2503 and 2504 ships were equipped with 40 12-pounder guns. Because it is a research ship, it does not need to carry cargo, only food and weapons and ammunition. Therefore, the ammunition on board is plentiful.
When the native canoe fleet approached, Amerigo immediately gave the order to fire. Over a distance of several hundred meters, the accuracy is not great, but a dozen native canoes are close together. Moreover, these canoes are very large, probably made of thousand-year-old trees, and the goals are not small.
Therefore, in the first round of shelling, a canoe was smashed on the spot...
The natives panicked immediately, not because a ship was sunk. It was because they had never heard such a loud cannon, and they thought it was Thor who was angry...
As a result, the native fleet began to flee. However, Amerigo has been angered by them and is unwilling to let them go. Therefore, he ordered a pursuit.
How can a canoe be an opponent of a sailboat? Maybe the canoe can be temporarily faster than the sailboat by paddling faster at first. However, canoes are paddled by people, and people's physical strength is limited. So, after a while, after the native sailors got tired of paddling, they were overtaken by Amerigo...
Then, the artillery fired, and the group of native invaders were all sent down to the sea...
When Amerigo's fleet returned to the seaside of the village on the St. George's side, they were warmly welcomed by the local aborigines. Of course, no wonder. If it weren't for the sudden appearance of the Amerigo fleet, the two hundred men of all sizes in this village would have been killed by the invaders.
Despite the language barrier, Amerigo communicated with the locals by gestures. According to the pronunciation of the local people, Amerigo learned that they called themselves the Arawaks and were a farming tribe.
There used to be three Arawak tribes on the island, but the other two tribes were destroyed by the previous invaders, killing all the men and robbing all the women.
Therefore, this small tribe of Arawaks called Bukas is now very afraid of the enemy's re-invasion. The Bukas are a farming tribe. People who are farming and civilized have always been relatively peaceful and do not like war. Therefore, their combat effectiveness is not strong.
In order to save his life, Rabri, the chief of the Bukas, begged Amerigo's fleet to stay and help them and protect them. For this reason, they are willing to give 30% of the harvest to Amerigo...
Of course Amerigo was happy, because Marin meant to colonize the island. Wouldn't it be good to have help from natives who are familiar with the local area
However, he was about to go north to find the legendary Nantucket Island, so he couldn't stay. So, after thinking about it, he decided to stay for a while, help the locals build a simple fortress, and leave a few metal-pointed spears for the Bukas tribe, so that they can protect themselves first.
At the same time, Amerigo promised that in a few months, he would send people to protect them and teach them more advanced agricultural techniques and a large number of metal farm tools...
Although the Bukas people were disappointed, they were not completely disappointed. They were still in the Stone Age, and they couldn't put it down very much for the metal-tipped spears presented by Amerigo. Moreover, Amerigo also gave them 10 bows and ten pots of arrows to enhance their strength.
Although native Indians can also make bows and arrows, the craftsmanship is very poor. For the bows of the indigenous people in the Caribbean, the bow strings are vines, and there is no special treatment for the bow body. The arrows are also not very good, the stone-polished arrows, the arrow body is a reed shaft, the kinetic energy is very poor, and it has almost no armor-piercing ability.
Such bows and arrows can kill at a distance of thirty to forty meters at most. Of course, this is speaking of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. After all, the natives in the Caribbean are not well-educated and cannot produce powerful weapons. Switch to the Aztecs and Incas to produce better weapons.
The bows and arrows that Amerigo gave to the Bukas were carefully crafted by European craftsmen, and they were originally used by the sailors themselves for hunting. After all, the amount of gunpowder in this era was limited, and sailors still used bows and arrows that could be recycled for hunting.
These European bows and arrows have a killing distance of at least 100 meters, far exceeding the soil bows and arrows of the Caribbeans, and the arrows are all metal. In the eyes of the Bukas, they are naturally good things. Used to resist the attacks of the Caribs, it can definitely cause heavy casualties to the opponent.
Then, before leaving, Amerigo arranged for sailors on the ship who knew the craft of masons to command the Bukas and built a simple and strong camp. Unlike the previous village of the Bukas, the walls were dilapidated. Around the newly built camp, the sailors directed the Bukass to dig trenches and put up sharp stakes to prevent the enemy from attacking. Then, several simple arrow towers were erected in the village. As long as the enemy dares to come, the Bukas can use the arrow tower to shoot the enemy out of the stockade.
After the stockade was repaired, Amerigo boarded the ship with his men, bid farewell to the reluctant Bukas people, took some local specialties, left Grenada, and headed north to find the legendary Nantucket Island and Martha's Vineyard…