Add a sprinkle of Mastic to your everyday life
Christopher Columbus’ voyage to Chios must have taken place between 1474 and 1475, during his travels to the East and before his stay in Portugal.
Columbus refers to this visit to Chios in his Ship Log, dated 12 November 1492, Columbus, thought to have found a Mastic tree in Cuba, explains the utilities of the plantation of such a tree, which he certified to be bigger than what he saw in Chios (“Que uo e visto en la isla xio en el Arcipelago”).
On his first voyage to the New World, in a letter of 1493, Columbus wrote about San Salvador. “Besides spice and cotton, as much as Their Highnesses shall command; and gum mastic, as much as They shall order shipped, and which up to now has been found only in Greece in the island of Xios” (Columbus spelled Chios with a Greek “X”). Columbus seem to have been an expert on this product. He also says that the collection of Gum Mastic in Chios was made during May (Log 11 Dec.), and that this yielded an income of 50000 ducats. (Log Dec. 12).
In a letter to his friend Sanchez, Columbus says that the tree, which produces this Mastic, is a unique one, and could not be found anywhere else but only in Greece, in Chios. He adds that the aristocracy of Genoa was selling this product at quite a high price.
Other historians say that Columbus came to Chios in order to find maps and guides which helped him discover America. It is very probable that he chose crew from Chios for his trip to America. Columbus stayed with his friend Andrea Banca Gioustiniani at the Villa Homerica. Columbus came to Chios with the ship Rosana, and all the shipping expenses were paid by pope Sixtus IV.
In Chios today there are about 89 families with the surname Columbus (most of them in the village of Pyrgi). According to Ruth Durlaxher- Wolper, Christopher Columbus was the son of John Dishypatos Papeologus (a Byzantine Prince) and Maria Sacoma Colom from Spain. They were merchants of spices and owned three ships. Prof. Ser. Canoutas in his book “Christopher Columbus, A Greek Nobleman” supports his Byzantine origin.
The world congress, Columbus 92 was first held in Chios in 1987 at Homerion. This meeting was named Chios – Genoa and the friendship of the two towns was established.
Chian Association of S.A "A Koraes" Inc. 
Congratulations this is a very good website and thank you very much for the interesting information about Christopher Columbus and the mastic gum which he includes in his diaries. Xios has a thousand years of history in shipping and trade, literature, the arts and education and we Chians need o continue these traditions and be proud of our heritage. Congratulations also to the Panchian Federation of Australia (the four Brotherhoods) who pooled their efforts to have the successful fund raising for the fire victims of Chios.
I am proud of being a Chian. Vivi Germanos-Koutsounadis. Sydney Australia