Goofs

In the film, the nobleman Adrián de Moxica cuts the hand of a Native American because he wasn't able to pay taxes in gold to the Spaniards, something which Columbus condemns. In fact, it was Columbus himself who introduced this practice of cutting the hands.

The Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria are shown starting back for Spain at the end of the first voyage. In fact, the Santa Maria had wrecked by this time; the return voyage would be made only by the Nina and the Pinta.

The film suggests that, during the time of Columbus, it was believed that the world was flat. In fact, the round Earth theory was established in ancient Greece and it was common knowledge to every educated person of the time. The myth of Columbus trying to establish the world was round originates in Washington Irving's highly fictionalized biography, "A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus". Irving has fictional account of the meetings of a commission set up by the Spanish sovereigns to look over Columbus's proposals. Irving has the improbable story that the more ignorant members on the commission raised scriptural objections to Columbus's beliefs that the Earth a sphere. The real issue was the distance to Asia going west.

The film's epilogue states that, during his final voyage, Columbus discovered the Pacific Ocean after it was revealed to him by the natives. In reality, the eastern (American) shore of the Pacific was discovered in 1513 by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, seven years after the death of Columbus.

The film's epilogue does not state that Columbus took his third and final voyage to America as mentioned by a previous reviewer. It says that Columbus took his "final voyage" to The New World in 1502. It does not specify a number for the voyage.

The Spaniards all refer to each other by their Spanish names. Other than a few brief references to "Don Cristobal," however, Christopher Columbus is always referred to as such. This is actually the English form of his name, which no one in Europe would have addressed him by. In his native Genoa, his name was Cristoforo Colombo. The Spanish would have addressed him as Cristobal Colon.

This is an English language film; in real life they would all be speaking Spanish to each other, but they are depicted speaking English so naturally they are using the English language versions of these names.

The film makes reference to three voyages, stating that the second voyage was the one in which Columbus fell out of favor; the epilogue says that Columbus took a third and final voyage to America. Actually, Columbus made four voyages. The second voyage tarnished Columbus's reputation, but it was the third voyage which proved to be his downfall.

The film's epilogue does not state that Columbus took his third and final voyage to America. It says that Columbus took his "final voyage" to the New World in 1502. It does not specify a number for the voyage.

Many of the natives have very visible tan lines.

In the very beginning of the movie before the first voyage, there is a chariot transporting Columbus into a monastery. The chariot almost runs over some birds at the entrance of the monastery: some chickens and a turkey. Turkeys are native to the American continent; there were no were turkeys in Europe before Columbus's travels.

In 1492, Columbus tells Father Antonio that there are two ways to reach East Asia, one of them being the year-long sea route around the African continent. Although Bartolomeu Dias had discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 and declared it possible to reach India by sea, the actual journey was first made by Vasco da Gama in 1497-1499.

When Pinzon is dying, the priest gives him the absolution in Spanish. The official language for the church in those years was Latin.

Guevara smokes a modern tightly-rolled cigar while relaxing in Cuba. In Columbus's time, the native Taino people of Cuba smoked twisted tobacco leaves loosely rolled up in the leaves of other plants.

While hunting the white egret on the island, the shooter used an English made matchlock musket with a flared muzzle and a "fishtail" stock. This particular design wasn't in use until the early 17th century.

At the beginning of the scene where the people are being burned, gas jets can be seen creating fires in the large torches. The flame at the base is blue which happens when gas is being burned in this matter.

A camera is visible in Columbus's closeup when Pinzon visits him at the monastery. It is the other camera, filming Pinzon's closeup. It is visible throughout Columbus's closeup, over his shoulder.

Visible on a modern ship, after the camera circumnavigates the "Santa Maria"

When Columbus made landfall on the first voyage it was in the Bahamas, probably San Salvador, which looks nothing like in the movie which was probably filmed in Costa Rica or the Dominican Republic.

After they have been "out of sight for days", right after Columbus shows Mendez how to use the quadrant, there is land clearly visible behind the ships.

Upon their arrival to the island, scarlet macaws are seen. Scarlet macaws are native to Central and South America. The nearest population is far from the Caribbean islands.

When explaining navigation to Mendez, Columbus states "a mistake of one degree, and we will be off 600 leagues." In fact, a mistake of one degree would result in a deviation of 60 nautical miles, about 20 leagues.