Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo, 1451?-1506) was an Italian (probably Genoese) sea explorer who crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the service of Spain while searching for a new route to the Indies. He is often credited as the discoverer of the Americas, because 15th century Europe was unaware of the existence of the Americas when he landed in what is now called the West Indies.
It is sometimes claimed that the reason Columbus had a hard time getting the financial backing he needed for his voyage was the belief in a flat earth. However, the fact that the Earth is spherical was not disputed among educated people of his time. The problem was that the experts did not agree with Columbus's estimates as to the distance he would have to cover to reach the Indies travelling westward. According to their calculations, the Indies were too far away to make his plan worth considering, and of course it was they who were right, while Columbus was wrong, but extremely fortunate.
Discovery of America
Columbus was clearly not the first person to reach the Americas, which he found populated by Native Americans. He was not even the first European to reach them, as Vikings from Northern Europe had visited North America before, calling it Vinland. The remains of a short-lived Viking colony have been unearthed in L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada. Yet it was his discovery of the "New World" that created the still-existing link between the continents.
Voyages
Columbus went to the court of Portugal in 1485, then the main exploring nation, with an idea to sail to the Indies (then roughly meaning all of south and east Asia by sailing west and crossing the Atlantic rather than by going around Africa. However, he was refused: The king's experts believed that the route would be longer than Columbus thought (the actual distance is even longer than the Portuguese believed).
Columbus then tried to get backing from Spain or some other country, and finally in 1492, when they had conquered Granada, the last Muslim stronghold on the Iberian peninsula, the king and queen, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, agreed to have an expedition sent out.
In that same year, Columbus left from Palos with three ships, the Santa Maria, Niña and Pinta. He crossed the Atlantic from the Canary Islands, and landed on an island on the other side. There is still much discussion about which island this was (see http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/cclandfl.htm), but at least it is quite certain that it was one of the Bahamas. On this first voyage, Columbus also explored the northeast coast of Cuba and the northern coast of Hispaniola, on which he left some colonists. The Native Americans he encountered, the Arawak, were peaceful and friendly. Upon returning to Europe word of his discovery rapidly spread.
At one stroke Columbus became famous and he soon left for his second voyage (1493-6). The second voyage consisted of 17 ships and carried supplies and colonists, (but only men). He laid his course more southerly than on his first voyage, first sighting Dominica which is quite rugged so turned north discovering and naming Guadeloupe, Monserrat, Antigua, and Nevis in the Lesser Antilles, landing on them and claiming them for Spain as he did the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. He then went to Hispaniola, where he found his colonists had fallen into dispute with Indians in the interior and had been killed. He established a new settlement at Isabella, a poor location, on the north coast of Hispaniola where gold had first been discovered, but it was short lived. He spend some time exploring the interior of the island for gold and did find some, establishing a small fort in the interior. He explored the south coast of Cuba but did not round the western end thus convincing himself that it was an penninsula rather than an island, and discovered Jamaica before he left for Europe in September, 1494.
Before he left on his second voyage he had been directed by Ferdinand and Isabella to maintain friendly, even loving relations with the natives. However during his second voyage he sent a letter to then proposing enslavement of them, specifically of the Caribs on the grounds of their aggressiveness. His petition was refused by the Crown. In February, 1495 Columbus authorized shipment of 500 Arawak slaves to Spain. Rounding up the slaves resulted in the first major battle between the Spanish and the Indians in the new world.
In 1498, Columbus left for the New World a third time. This time he discovered the island of Trinidad and the mainland of South America, including the Orinoco River, before turning to Hispaniola. In 1500, after rumours of mismanagement, he was arrested and taken back to Spain.
Although he regained his freedom, he did not regain his prestige. Nevertheless he made a fourth voyage, in 1502-1504. On this voyage, he explored the coast of Central America from Belize to Panama. In 1502 off the coast of what is now Honduras a trading ship as "long as a galley" was encountered, filled with cargo. This was the first recorded encounter by the Spanish with the Native American civilization of Central America. Later Columbus was marooned on Jamaica but managed to get to Hispaniola to get help.
In 1506, Columbus died in Spain, still convinced that his discoveries were along the East Coast of Asia.
See also exploration, explorers, 15th century, flat earth, Spanish colonization of the Americas
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