On Tuesday the fifth of March, the master of a large guard-ship which lay in the Tagus came in his boat filled with armed men to the admirals caravel, and required him to go with him to the kings officers to give an account of himself, as was the custom of all ships that came to this port. To this he answered, that the admirals of their Catholic majesties, one of whom he was, were not bound to obey any such summons, nor to quit their ships to give an account of themselves to any one, and that he was resolved to do his duty. The master then desired him to send his boatswain to make the report. To this the admiral replied that it was the some thing whether he sent even a grummet or went himself, and it was therefore in vain to desire him to send any person. Being sensible that the admiral was right, the master now requested to see the letter of their Catholic majesties, that he might be able to satisfy his own captain; and this request being entirely reasonable, the admiral produced that letter, with which he was entirely satisfied, and went back to his ship to give an account to his captain Alvaro de Acunna, who immediately came on board in great state, with trumpets, drums, and fifes, expressing much kindness and offering every service in his power.
Next day, it being known at Lisbon that the ship came from the Indies, such throngs of people went on board to see the Indians that the caravel could not contain them all, and the water was covered over with boats. Some praised God for the happy discovery, while others expressed their severe regret that their country should have been deprived of that vast acquisition through the incredulousness of their king. On the next day the king of Portugal gave orders to present the admiral with every kind of refreshment, and all things he might need for himself or his people, without taking any payment in return. He at the same time wrote to the admiral a congratulatory letter on his safe arrival, and desiring that he would come to see him. The admiral was doubtful how he should proceed in this case; but considering that the king of Portugal was in amity with their Catholic majesties and had treated him courteously, he consented to go to Valparaiso, nine leagues from Lisbon, where the king then was. He accordingly went there on Saturday night the ninth of March, and the king ordered all the nobility of his court to go out to meet him; and when the admiral came into the presence, the king received him with great honour, commanding him to put on his cap and to sit down: and having listened with a pleasant countenance to a recital of his successful voyage, made offer of supplying with every thing he might stand in need of for the service of their Catholic majesties. The king then alleged, as Columbus had been a captain in the service of the crown of Portugal, that the discovery and conquest of the new found Indies ought to belong to him. To this the admiral answered, that he knew of no agreement to that effect, and that he had strictly obeyed his orders, which were not to go to the Portuguese mines nor to the coast of Guinea. The king then observed that all was well, and he had no doubt that justice would be done between the two countries. Having spent a long time in discourse, the king commanded the prior of Crato, the greatest person then in the presence, to entertain the admiral and to shew him all civility and respect, which was done accordingly.
The admiral remained at Valparaiso all the Sunday and Monday till after mass, when he took leave of the king, who expressed great kindness and made him great proffers; and ordered Don Martin de Noronha to accompany him. Many other gentlemen went along with him to do him honour, and from curiosity to hear an account of the voyage. While on his way to Lisbon, the admiral had to pass a monastery where the queen then resided, who earnestly entreated him not to pass without seeing her. She received him with all the favour and honour which is due to the greatest lord. That night a gentleman brought a message from the king to inform the admiral that if he chose to go by land into Spain, he had orders to attend him, and to provide lodgings and every thing he might want by the way, as far as the frontiers of Portugal. But the admiral chose to return by sea.
On Wednesday the thirteenth of March, two hours after day-break, the admiral sailed from Lisbon, and on the following Friday, the fifteenth of March 1493, he arrived at Saltes about noon, and came to an anchor in the port of Palos, whence he had set out on the preceding third of August 1492, having been absent seven months and twelve days upon his expedition. He was there received by all the people in solemn procession, giving thanks to God for his prosperous voyage and glorious discovery, which it was hoped would greatly redound to the propagation of Christianity, and the extension of their Catholic majesties dominions. All the inhabitants considered it as a great honour to their city that the admiral had sailed from thence, and that most of his men belonged to the place, although many of them, through the instigations of Pinzon, had been mutinous and disobedient.
It so happened that about the same time that the admiral arrived at Palos, Pinzon had arrived with the Pinta in Galicia, and designed to have gone by himself to Barcelona to carry the news of the expedition to their Catholic majesties. But he received orders not to come to court, unless along with the admiral with whom he had been sent upon the discovery; at which he was so mortified and disappointed that he returned indisposed to his native country, where he died shortly after of grief. But before Pinzon got to Palos the admiral had set out for Seville, designing to go from thence to Barcelona where their majesties then resided, and he was forced to make several short stops by the way, to gratify the importunate curiosity and admiration of the people, who flocked from all the towns in the neighbourhood wherever he went, to see him and the Indians and the other things he had brought with him. Thus holding on his way, the admiral reached Barcelona about the middle of April, having before sent to their highnesses on account of the happy success of his voyage. This was very pleasing to them, and they ordered him to be received in the most distinguished manner, as a person who had done them such signal service. All the court and city went out to meet and welcome him, and to escort him in honourable triumph to the royal presence. Their Catholic majesties sat in public with great state on rich chairs under a canopy of cloth of gold to receive him; and when he advanced to kiss their hands, they stood up as if to receive a great lord, even making a difficulty in giving him their hands to kiss, and then caused him to sit down in their presence. Having given a brief account of his voyage, they gave him leave to retire to his apartment, whither he was attended by the whole court; and so great was the favour and honour shewn him, that when the king rode about Barcelona, the admiral rode on one side of him and the Infante Fortuna on the other; whereas before no one rode along-side of the king except the Infante, who was his near kinsman.
Orders were issued from Barcelona to prepare with all care and expedition for the return of the admiral to Hispaniola, as well to relieve those Christians who had been left there as to enlarge the colony and subdue the island, with the rest that were and should be discovered. To strengthen and confirm their title to the newly discovered regions, their Catholic majesties by the advice of the admiral, procured the approbation and consent of the pope for the conquest of the Indies, which was readily granted by Alexander VI, who then governed the church; and the bull to this effect was not only for what was already discovered, but for all that might be discovered westwards, until they should come to the East, where any Christian prince was then actually in possession, and forbidding all persons whomsoever to intrude within these bounds. And this concession and exclusive right was again confirmed in the year following in the most ample terms. Sensible that all this favourable grant from the pope was due to the admiral, by whose discovery they had become entitled to the possession of all these parts, their majesties were pleased, on the twenty-eighth of May, at Barcelona, to ratify, renew, confirm, and explain the privileges and prerogatives which they had granted him before, by granting them of new, so as explicitly to define how far the bounds of his admiralty and viceroyalty extended, being over all which had been granted to them by his holiness, of which grant the tenor follows: