September 29, 2013
Worked all morning on "Sea Change," which is a tribute to the first cow that landed in the Americas on November 27, 1493. Little did anyone know at the time that these creatures would change the future course of this continent and lead directly to the American Cowboy.
Daily Whipout, "Sea Change"
I have been intrigued for some time by Columbus and his second trip to the New World in 1493. When I went to retrieve Kathy from Spain last March we stayed in a resort on the beach at Rota, which is the port Columbus left from. As I stood along the sea wall and looked out at the angry sea I thought to myself, those were some brave boys, they were.
I knew that Columbus brought both horses and cattle with him on this second voyage, but I didn't know the details or the scale of the endeavor. Turns out Columbus had 17 ships (caravels) and 1,500 passengers armed with tools, grain, seed, pigs, cattle. Oh, and 20 stallions and five mares. They landed at Hispanolia (today Haiti and The Dominican Republic) and when that first Spanish longhorn wobbled his way up on the beach, well, it was definitely a sea change moment.
"Columbus didn't discover America, he invaded."
—Old Vaquero Saying
