Day: February 19, 2019

Christopher Columbus

Born in 1451 in the Italian city of Genoa, this very famous Italian explorer helped form the path of colonizing, at the time, new parts of the world.
He was born to a wool merchant and when he was still a teenager, he got a job on a merchant ship. He remained at sea until 1470, when French privateers attacked his ship as it sailed north along the Portuguese coast. The boat sank, but he floated along on a scrap of wood and finally arrived in Lisbon. There he studied mathematics, astronomy, cartography and navigation and was very inspired by people like Marco Polo and Ptolemy. This is also where he came up with the plan that would change the world.

Columbus wanted to help free Constantinople from the Muslims and bring the Gospel to China. These two tasks would be very difficult though. First of all, it would be very difficult to get to Constantinople because there was no known rout to get to the city that the Muslims didnt guard. Second, the Silk Road to China was also filled with Muslims. All in all, Columbus’s plans had Muslims in the way, but this didn’t stop him. He wanted to find new paths to get to these destinations, and that path would have to be, west.

At that time, that would have been impossible because everyone believed that the earth was flat, and if you tried to get to china westwards, you would just fall off the edge of the world. Columbus didnt believe this. That is why it was very hard for him to find people to fund his exploration. Everyone thought that it was a waste of time and money.

After trying to negotiate with several people, he tried to ask the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, for funds, but they turned him down. Colobus didnt seem to care and kept trying to get the rulers to fund him. So finally, after two years, the Monarchs agreed to make a deal to fund Colobus’s journey. This deal stated that a portion of the money and items that Christopher collected and earned on his voyage would go to Ferdinand and Isabella’s needs, as well as the needs of their country. Though Spain could have used some more money, Ferdinand and Isabella didn’t really expect Columbus to return, however Columbus had a pretty successful journey and was able to return with impressive news.

Christopher used three ships on his voyages, they were called the Pinta, the Nina, and the Santa Maria, which was the largest ship of these three.

After 5 weeks of sailing, Columbus found an island that he called, San Salvador, as we now know as the Bahamas. The natives who were already living there were very friendly to Columbus and his men and were even willing to trade with them. Something that Columbus noticed was how the people on San Salvador were not open to the technology and weaponry that the rest of the world had. This made Christopher want to teach them about “modern” appliances, religion, etc. Most of the natives there were very eager to learn and discover new things from these travelers, so it was relatively easy for Columbus to get the things he wanted. When he was done there, he left 39 of his men on San Salvador and continued his journey.

Though Christopher had an easy time with the people of San Salvador, the people he met during the last stop of his journey were not pleased with him coming and forcing them to trade with him. This fourth trip certainly did not go as well as the others, mostly because of the violence that was ensued. Lives were lost and villages most likely destroyed.

After four years, there was probably other problems such as, the ships breaking, illnesses on board, and food shortages. These could have been problems that Columbus faced and had to deal with. 

Finally, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain, March of 1493 and died a short time later in the year 1506.

Though Christopher Columbus did some very negative things such as slave trading and using violence to the native people, he was a very interesting man who led an interesting life that will be remembered for many more years to come. And, some what because of him, we live in a country were we can be free and equel.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue.