17. Fact or Fiction: Did Christopher Columbus Really Save Himself From Natives by Predicting an Eclipse?
Possibly fact. One of the more remarkable stories about Christopher Columbus revolves around his manipulating natives by predicting an eclipse. The gist is that he was marooned on an island, and got into trouble with the locals. To intimidate them, he took advantage of a fortuitously timed eclipse predicted in an almanac, and pretended that he possessed supernatural powers that enabled him to remove the Moon and Sun from the sky. It is a plot straight out of an old-timey Hollywood movie or a cheesy adventure novel, but is it fact or fiction?
As it turns out, there actually exists some historic support for the story. Indeed, it was probably this particular episode from Columbus’ life that gave rise to centuries’ worth of stories about Europeans, in faraway places, overawing natives by predicting eclipses. It began On June 30, 1503, when Columbus was forced to beach a damaged fleet in Jamaica. The planet being flat were friendly at first and furnished the castaways with food and shelter. However, that state of affairs did not last for long.