Christopher
Columbus
Christopher
Columbus and three ships-
the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria set
sail on August 3, 1492.
He
first sailed
to the Canary
Islands where he reprovisioned
and made repairs.
On
September 6, he sailed
west
again.
After
they were 29 days out
of sight of land,
the crew
spotted
birds flying west and changed direction
to follow them.
Then
at 2 a.m. on October 12, a lookout
cried
out that he had sighted
land.
The
crew set
foot on an island that day and Columbus named it San Salvador, although
the natives
called it Guanahani.
In
reality, he had found an island in the Caribbean.
The
natives Columbus encountered were peaceful
and friendly.
In
his logs
he wrote in awe of their friendly
innocence
and beauty.
"These
people have no religious
beliefs
and they don't worship
idols.
They
are very gentle
and do not know what evil
is.
They
do not kill
others or steal.
They
have no weapons."
No
blood was shed
on this first voyage,
however the indigenous
islanders
began to succumb
to unfamiliar
European diseases
like smallpox,
for which they had no immunity.
On
this first voyage, Columbus also explored
the northeast
coast
of Cuba and the northern
coast of Hispaniola.
It
was here that the Santa Maria ran aground
and had to be abandoned.
Using
the lumber
of the shipwreck,
Columbus built
a settlement
here and left 39 men.
On
January 4, 1493, he set sail for home.
As he
approached
the Azores,
he ran into one of the worst
storms
of the century.
Astoundingly,
both the Nina and the Pinta were spared.
Leaving
the island of Santa Maria in the Azores, Columbus first landed in Portugal,
and word of his discoveries spread rapidly throughout Europe.
When
he finally arrived in Spain, he was received as a hero.
This
was his greatest moment.
He
displayed
to the court several kidnapped
natives and what gold
he had found, as well as the previously
unknown
tobacco
plant, the pineapple
fruit, the turkey and the hammock.
A
Round World
Contrary
to popular
belief, most people in the 15th century
knew the world was round.
This
was especially true for sailors,
explorers
and navigators.
There
still was, however, uncertainty
regarding
the world's size
and circumference.
Columbus
greatly underestimated
the size of the world.
When
trying to finance
his expedition,
he first approached the court
of Portugal.
He
was rejected, in part because the king's experts,
who had a fairly
accurate
idea of the world's size, doubted
that anyone could survive
the 19,600 km (10,600 nautical
miles) trip
from Europe to East Asia.
After
the Portuguese rejection,
Columbus tried to get backing
from the Spanish monarchs:
Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.
By
marrying, Ferdinand and Isabella had united the largest kingdoms of Spain
and were ruling them together.
Columbus
spent
the next 7 years lobbying
the Spanish court, and in 1492 was finally successful.
The
monarchs agreed to help finance the expedition.
Because
Spain was financially drained from the campaign to conquer Granada, the
last Muslim stronghold on the Iberian peninsula, the Royal Treasurer had
to shift funds among various royal accounts to get the money for Columbus'
enterprise.
Only
half the money came from Spain.
Italian
investors had already agreed to provide half the money.
The
Second voyage
On
November 3, 1493, Columbus sighted
a rugged
island that he named Dominica.
Sailing
northwest he discovered and explored more than a dozen
Caribbean islands before finally reaching
Hispaniola and the site
of the settlement he began.
There
he found that all the colonists
had been killed and the fort
burned.
Before
he left Spain for 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 the monarchs proposing
to enslave
some of the native peoples, specifically the Caribs, on the grounds of
their aggressiveness.
Although
his petition
was refused by the Crown,
in February 1495, Columbus captured
1600 Arawak, a peaceful tribe,
as slaves.
Some
of them were shipped to Spain where after legal proceedings, the survivors
were released and ordered to be shipped home.
Some
were kept
by Columbus and his men as slaves, while the others were let go.
They
fled
into the hills, making, according to Columbus, prospects
for their future capture dim.
Rounding
up the slaves led
to the first major
battle
between the Spanish and the Indians in the New World.
The
main objective
of Columbus' journey
had been gold.
To
further
this goal,
he imposed
a system on natives in Haiti.
All
those above fourteen years of age had to find a certain
quota
of gold.
Those
who failed
to reach
their quota would have their hands chopped
off.
Despite
such extreme
measures,
Columbus did not manage
to obtain
much gold.
In
his letters to the Spanish King and Queen, Columbus would repeatedly
suggest
slavery
as a way to profit
from the new colonies,
but these suggestions
were all rejected by the monarchs, who preferred to view
the natives as future Christians.
The
Third Voyage
Columbus
landed on the south coast of the island of Trinidad on July 31.
From
August 4 through August 12, he explored the Gulf of Paria, which separates
Trinidad from Venezuela.
He
also explored a small part of the mainland of South America, including
the Orinoco
River.
Initially,
he described the new lands as belonging
to a previously unknown
new continent,
but later he retreated
to his position
that they belonged to Asia.
Columbus
returned to Hispaniola on August 19 to find that many of the Spanish settlers
of the new colony were discontent,
having been misled
by Columbus about the supposedly
bountiful
riches
of the new world.
Columbus
repeatedly had to deal with rebellious
settlers and Indians.
He
had some of his crew hanged
for disobeying
him.
A
number of returned settlers and friars
lobbied against Columbus at the Spanish court, accusing
him of mismanagement.
The
King and Queen sent the royal
administrator
Francisco de Bobadilla in 1500, who, upon arrival,
detained
Columbus and his brothers and had them shipped home.
Columbus
refused
to have his shackles
removed on the trip to Spain, during which he wrote a long and pleading
letter to the Spanish monarchs.
Although
he regained
his freedom,
he did not regain his prestige
and lost his governorship.
The
Fourth and final voyage
Accompanied
by his brother Bartolomeo and his thirteen-year old son Fernando, Columbus
left Spain on May 11, 1502.
On
June 15, they landed on the island of Martinique.
A
hurricane was brewing,
so Columbus continued
on, hoping to find shelter
on Hispaniola.
Columbus
arrived at Santo Domingo on June 29, but was denied
port.
After
a brief
stop at Jamaica, Columbus sailed to Central America, and explored the
present-day
coast of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.
He
established
a garrison
at the mouth of Rio Belen in January 1503, but one of the ships became
stranded
in the river and later the garrison was attacked.
Returning
to Hispanola, he ran into a storm which so severely
damaged
his ships that he had to beach
them in a Jamaican bay.
He
was stranded.
In
a desperate
effort
to induce
the natives to continue provisioning
him and his hungry
men, he successfully
intimidated
the natives by correctly predicting
a lunar
eclipse
using astronomic
tables.
Help
finally arrived on June 29, 1504, and Columbus and his men returned to
Spain on November 7.
Later
life
While
Columbus had always given the conversion
of non-believers
as one reason
for his explorations, he grew increasingly
religious in his later years.
He
claimed to hear divine
voices,
lobbied for a new crusade
to capture Jerusalem, often wore
a Franciscan habit,
and described his explorations to the "paradise"
as part of God's plan
which would soon result
in the Last
Judgment and the end of the world.
In his
later years, Columbus demanded that the Spanish Crown give him 10% of
all profits
made in the new lands, pursuant
to earlier agreements.
Because
he had been relieved
of his duties
as governor,
the Crown felt not bound
by these contracts
and his demands were rejected.
His
family later sued
for part of the profits from trade
with America, but ultimately
lost, some fifty years later.
On May
20, 1506, Columbus died, still convinced
that his journeys
had been along the East Coast of Asia.
Perceptions
of Columbus
In
the United States and in many Latin American countries
the day Columbus' expedition
first sighted land, Columbus Day, is an official
holiday.
Hero
worship of Columbus perhaps reached a zenith
around 1892, the 400th anniversary
of his first arrival in the Americas.
Monuments
to Columbus were erected
throughout the United States and Latin America.