Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus
A time-travel novel altering Columbus's encounter with the Americas.
Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus, published in 1996, is a science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. It was intended as the first book in a Pastwatch series. The story centers on the explorer Christopher Columbus, with chapters alternating between historical fiction detailing his efforts to secure funding for his westward voyage and a plotline involving future scientists who travel back to the 15th century to alter how Europeans made contact with the Americas.
In the future, humanity has developed machines that can view past events. A researcher named Tagiri, working for the organization Pastwatch that operates these machines, specializes in the colonization of the Caribbean and Columbus's life. She accidentally discovers that the machines can send information backward in time, meaning the past is not fixed. Uncertain how to proceed, she is placed in charge of a project to investigate this capability, joined by her husband Hassan and later their daughter Diko.
A parallel storyline follows Columbus's attempts to gain political and financial support for his Atlantic crossing. Tagiri and her colleagues observe that Columbus always sought greatness. As a young man, he was determined to lead a crusade eastward to reclaim the Holy Land and Constantinople from Muslims, a recent and painful loss for Europeans of his era. During his first Atlantic voyage, he nearly drowned in a storm, an event that later influenced his decision to sail west instead.
Diko solves the mystery of Columbus's change of heart. Using a more sensitive version of the time viewer, she discovers that after surviving the shipwreck, Columbus received a vision instructing him to head west and convert the people of an undiscovered continent. The researchers realize this vision was a hologram sent back in time by people from an alternate timeline to influence Columbus's life.
Realizing the timeline has already been altered, the team investigates what might have happened if Columbus had sailed east instead. Hunahpu, an Amerindian researcher at Pastwatch, provides the answer. In the original timeline, Columbus's anti-Muslim crusade exhausted Europe. Meanwhile, across the ocean, the Aztec Empire, with Tlaxcalan allies, grew powerful enough to invade a weakened Europe, imposing a harsh regime of human sacrifice.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Orson Scott Card
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Series
- Pastwatch series
- Genre
- Science fiction
- Publisher
- Tor Books
- Pub Date
- 1996
- Media Type
- Print (hardback and paperback)
- Pages
- 351
- Isbn
- 0-312-85058-1
- Dewey
- 813/.54 20
- Congress
- PS3553.A655 P37 1996
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
In the future, humanity invents machines to view past events. Researcher Tagiri, working for the organization Pastwatch, accidentally discovers the machines can send information backward in time, meaning the past is not unalterable. She leads a project with her husband Hassan and later their daughter Diko. A parallel narrative follows Columbus's efforts to secure backing for his voyage; he originally planned a crusade east but nearly drowned in a storm during his first Atlantic voyage. Diko uses a sensitive time viewer to discover that Columbus received a holographic vision directing him west, sent by people from an alternate timeline. The researchers learn that in the original timeline, Columbus led a crusade east that exhausted Europe, allowing the Aztec Empire, with Tlaxcalan allies, to conquer the world with a syncretic faith blending human sacrifice and other beliefs.
Reader's Guide
Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus is significant for its speculative reimagining of history, using time travel to address the moral consequences of European colonization. The novel presents a scenario where future scientists intervene to prevent both a brutal European conquest of the Americas and an alternate timeline where a Mesoamerican empire conquers Europe. Card's work blends historical fiction with science fiction, exploring themes of causality, cultural contact, and redemption. The book received mixed reviews; a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted Card gave the concept 'a new twist here—with mixed results.' Critic Mark Winfield praised the novel's vast historical vistas but argued the final chapters were 'hopelessly idealistic,' particularly regarding the 16th-century Catholic Church's likely hostile reaction to the heretical religion introduced by the time travelers. The novel was intended as the first in a trilogy, with planned sequels Pastwatch: The Flood and Pastwatch: The Garden of Eden, but as of 2026 these have not been published. The book has been translated into French, Polish, Russian, and Spanish.
Did You Know?
- The novel was the first in a proposed Pastwatch series, with sequels planned but not published as of 2026.
- Tagiri accidentally discovered that Pastwatch's machines could send information backward in time, making the past alterable.
- The time travelers used genetically-engineered viruses to spread immunity to Old World diseases among Native Americans.
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