Personal narratives are often written when the author feels compelled to tell his or her own story, usually writing about a significant event. Back in Columbus, early explorers and settlers began writing personal narratives to tell their story of what they found in the New World. The New World has a unique geography for each area. One thing that all the early explorers and settlers of the new world had in common was that they dealt with Indians. In each area there are different tribes of Indians, which is why the personal narratives written by explorers and settlers are different from each other. The result of this meant that they all had different experiences to write about in the narratives they wrote. Some of them wrote to persuade more expeditions as Columbus did in Christopher Columbus's Journal of the First Voyage to America, 1492-1493. Later to tell their story of survival among the native population, as in the case of de Vaca's The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca and Mary Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. Finally, more writing to tell how the first permanent settlements survived and then thrived, as in Bradford's tale Of Plymouth Plantation. After Columbus's first discovery of the New World, the leaders of the first expedition used personal narrative to tell their story. Although all three used personal narrative, all four had a different purpose in writing it. We know that after reaching the shore, Columbus came into contact with the Indians. Among the early explorers' contacts with the Indians, his is the most controversial and best known. His reaction to the way they treated them gave the impression that he, his men and that... middle of paper......nson. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Comp. Susan Belasco. vol. 1. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. 68-73. Print.5. De Vaca, Alvar Nunez Cabeza. "The Narration of Cabeza de Vaca." The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Comp. Susan Belasco and Linck C. Johnson. Vol. 1. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. 76-85. Print.6. Kupperman, Karen O. "The Journal of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America, 1492-1493. The American Exploration and Travel Series." 56.3 (1990): 512-13. Print.7. Rowlandson, Mary. “The sovereignty and goodness of God.” The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. By Susan Belasco and Linck C. Johnson. Vol. 1. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. 193-228. Toulouse, Teresa "The sovereignty and goodness of God in 1682: royal authority, female imprisonment and "creole" male identity. Elh 67.4 (2000): 925-49.