Today, the mention of Maspalomas evokes images of golden dunes, endless beaches, and a vibrant tourist oasis. However, was this the Maspalomas that Christopher Columbus visited on his fourth and final voyage to the Indies, in May 1502? The official story, supported by the famous quote by Hernando Colón and Juan de la Cosa, places the Admiral's ships in Maspalomas on May 24, 1502, "to take on the water and firewood necessary for the voyage." But historical and geographical documentation, once stripped of the patina of time, reveals a fascinating enigma: Columbus's Maspalomas was, most likely, a vast territory very different from the idyllic spot we know today.
The Admiral's Aguada: A Disputed Geography
Hernando de Colón's quote, "On the 24th we crossed to Maspalomas, which is on the same island, to take on the water and firewood necessary for the voyage," has been the basis of an interpretation that anchors Columbus's passage in the current location of the oasis. However, a dive into ancient maps and chronicles blurs this location.
The maps of the period are eloquent in their silence or ambiguity. While maps such as those of Angelino Dulcert (1339) or Grazioso Benincasa (1467) do not mention it, that of Abraham Cresques (1375), with its intricate cartography, seems to hint at the shape of the current pond without mentioning the place name. The copy by Valetim Fernandes (1506), based on Azurara (1453), shows a line that some interpreters risk identifying with the oasis, but it is inconsistent that, being later than Columbus's voyage, Maspalomas is not mentioned when other points such as Las Isletas, Telde or Gando are. It was Leonardo Torriani (1590) who detailed and mentioned Maspalomas for the first time, although his representation is not that of a lagoon, but rather the mouth of a ravine. Already in the 1838th century, Webb and Berthelot (1847), and Francisco de Coelho and Portugal (XNUMX), expanded the toponym Maspalomas to the entire southern strip of Gran Canaria, with Webb and Berthelot even referring to "two large pools" at the mouth of the ravine, far from the singular image that we associate today.
These documents, when analyzed, suggest that Maspalomas was not a delimited geographical point as it is today, but rather a vast territorial strip that stretched from the current Castillo del Romeral to Arguineguín.
Beyond the Oasis: The Maspalomas of Cattle and Conquest
The earliest and scarcest chronicles reinforce this view of a vast territory vital to subsistence. Maspalomas was not an oasis of dunes, but an area of rich pastureland abundant with wild cattle, a resource highly coveted by the conquistadors. Antonio Cedeño, in his 'Chronicle' (between 1542 and 1545), recounts how the conquistadors "came to see the many wild cattle around Maspaloma." Decades later, Marín de Cubas (1687) describes how from Real de Las Palmas "they ran along the coast to Maspalomas and Tirajana" in search of cattle.
These accounts indicate that, until at least the mid-16th century, Maspalomas was conceived as a vast cattle ranching area in the south of the island, between the salt flats of Romeral and Arguineguín. The "aguadas" (watering holes) referred to by sailors and navigators before the Conquest and Columbus's passage were therefore not limited to the pond we know today, but rather to any of the many access points to fresh water scattered along this vast stretch of coastline.
Salt and the Casa-Forte: The cry of an isolated territory
Over the centuries, economic activity in "historic" Maspalomas centered on the Romeral salt flats, vital for supplying the growing fishing industry on the Canary-Saharan coast. Salt, the white gold of the time, not only attracted trade but also pirates. This threat led Antonio Lorenzo de Bethencourt to obtain royal permission in 1667 to erect the Santa Cruz del Romeral Fort. Antonio Riviere's plan (1742) explicitly cites it as "Santa Cruz del Romeral Fort on the coast of Maspaloma...", confirming that the fortress protected the salt industry located in what was then considered part of Maspalomas.
This fort was essential, since, until the 19th century, southern Gran Canaria remained virtually isolated. The only significant land route ran from Las Palmas to Agüimes, from where salt trade and transportation were carried out by sea to other coastal points. Thus, the Maspalomas that Columbus visited to recover on his epic voyage was more than a dot on a map: it was a vast, wild, and economically strategic territory in southern Gran Canaria, whose true extent and nature have been eclipsed by the modern tourist paradise. Its history, however, invites us to look beyond the dunes and rediscover a past of cattle, watering holes, and salt, which forged the character of a legendary region.
