Throughout The Four Voyages, Columbus maps the various islands he reaches in terms of not only their landscapes, but also their people. Specifically, he maps the women of each island. As we discussed in class, this process is highly problematic–his subjective mapping becomes a medium by which he objectifies these women, and his descriptions of the women often derive from mere speculation about their culture and practices. Columbus’s characterization of the women of Hispaniola constructs them as geographical spaces rather than human beings. He explains that these women are “extremely fat, some of them being two yards or more round, though well proportioned in other ways” (196). Here, Columbus defines the women in terms of their occupation of physical space. He describes them as if they are part of the island’s landscape, almost like the way an explorer would explain a tree not found in the Old World.

Columbus not only defines women as an element of the landscape, but also uses classic feminine features to construct an image of the land, itself. During this voyage, Columbus’s beliefs about the shape of the world begin to change. He proposes, “it is not round as they describe it, but…like a round ball, on part which is something like a woman’s nipple” (217-218). In this moment, he creates a map of the globe using the physical features of a woman. Columbus draws upon a disturbing mixture of science and sexist subjectivity in order to map the New World.