Columbus’s Legacy

Exploring the Early Americas The Jay I. Kislak Collection

Pre-Contact America | Explorations and Encounters | Aftermath of the Encounter

Christoper Columbus.
Por parte del conde de Gelues, de doña Francisca Colón, de don Christoual Colón, y de don Baltasar Colón, se suplica a V.m. que cerca de la executoria que la parte de la marquesa de Guadaleste pide, de la que llama sente[n]cia, dada en su fauor por el consejo Real de las Indias.
[Spain: s.n., ca. 1586].
Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (52)

The grants of privileges and property bestowed on Christopher Columbus by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella became the subject of ongoing litigation between his descendants and the Spanish crown that lasted for centuries. The dispute was finally settled in 1796 in favor of Columbus’s descendants. This collection of printed documents, which includes extracts of Columbus’s will, relates to a dispute over the line of inheritance of one of the explorer's estates in the Americas.