Christopher Columbus : Biography
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| Christopher Columbus
Christopher
Columbus : Biography
Explorer and navigator Christopher
Columbus was born in 1451 in the Republic of Genoa, Italy. His first voyage
into the Atlantic Ocean in 1476 nearly cost him his life. Columbus participated
in several other expeditions to Africa. 1492, Columbus left Spain in the Santa
Maria, with the Pinta and the Niña along side. He has been credited for opening
up the Americas to European colonization.
Early Voyages
Explorer and navigator Columbus was
born in 1451, in the Republic of Genoa (Italy) to the son of a weaver. Columbus
first went to sea as a teenager, participating in several trading voyages in
the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. One such voyage, to the island of Khios, in
modern day Greece, brought him the closest he would come to Asia.
His first voyage into the Atlantic
Ocean in 1476 nearly cost him his life as the commercial fleet he was sailing
with was attacked by French privateers off the coast of Portugal. His ship was
burned and Columbus had to swim to the Portuguese shore and make his way to
Lisbon, Portugal, where he eventually settled and married Felipa Perestrello.
The couple had one son, Diego in about 1480. His wife died soon after and
Columbus moved to Spain. He had a second son Fernando who was born out of
wedlock in 1488 with Beatriz Enriquez de Arana.
Columbus participated in several other
expeditions to Africa gaining knowledge of the Atlantic currents flowing east
and west from the Canary Islands. Muslim domination of the trade routes through
the Middle East makes travel to India and China difficult. Believing a route
sailing west across the Atlantic would be quicker and safer, Columbus devised a
plan to sail west to get reach the East. He estimated the earth to be a sphere
approximately 63% its actual size and the distance between the Canary Islands
and Japan to be about 2,300 miles. Many contemporary nautical experts
disagreed, adhering to the second century BC estimate of the earth's
circumference at 25,000 miles. This made the distance between the Canary
Islands and Japan about 12,200 statute miles. While experts disagreed with
Columbus on matters of distance, they concurred that a westward voyage from
Europe would be an uninterrupted water route.
First Voyage to
the New World
Rejected by the Portuguese king for a
three-ship voyage of discovery, Columbus took his plan first to Genoa and then
to Venice but was rejected there too. He then went to the Spanish monarchy of
Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon, in 1486. Their nautical experts
too were skeptical and initially, Columbus was rejected. The idea however, must
have intrigued the monarchs, for they kept Columbus on a retainer. But their
focus was on a war with the Muslims and Columbus would have to wait.
Columbus continued to lobby the royal
court and soon after the Spanish army captured the last Muslim stronghold in
Granada in January of 1492, the monarchs agreed to finance his expedition. In
August of 1492, Columbus left Spain in the Santa Maria, with the Pinta and the
Niña along side. After 36 days of sailing, Columbus and several crewmen set
foot on an island in the present day Bahamas, claiming it for Spain. There he
encountered a timid but friendly group of natives who were open to trade with
the sailors exchanging glass beads, cotton balls, parrots and spears. The
Europeans also noticed bits of gold the natives wore for adornment.
Columbus and his men continued their
journey, visiting the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola (now Haiti and the
Dominican Republic) and meeting with the leaders of the native population.
During this time, the Santa Maria was wrecked on a reef off the coast of
Hispaniola. With the help of some islanders, Columbus' men salvaged what they
could and built the settlement Villa de la Navidad ("Christmas Town")
with lumber from the ship. Thirty-nine men stayed behind to occupy the
settlement. Convinced his exploration had reached Asia, he set sail for home
with the two remaining ships.
Subsequent
Voyages
Returning to Spain in 1493, Columbus
gave a glowing, somewhat exaggerated report and was warmly received by the
royal court. That same year he took to the seas on his second expedition and
explored more islands in the Caribbean Ocean. Upon arrival at Hispaniola,
Columbus and his crew discovered the Navidad settlement had been destroyed with
all the sailors massacred. Spurning the wishes of the queen, who found slavery
offensive, Columbus established a forced labor policy over the native
population to rebuild the settlement and explore for gold, believing it would
prove to be profitable. His efforts produced small amounts of gold and great
hatred among the native population. Before returning to Spain, Columbus left
his brothers Bartholomew and Diego to govern the settlement on Hispaniola and
sailed briefly around the larger Caribbean islands further convincing himself
he had discovered the outer islands of China.
It wasn't until his third voyage that
Columbus actually reached the mainland exploring the Orinoco River in
present-day Venezuela. Unfortunately, conditions at the Hispaniola settlement
had deteriorated to the point of near-mutiny with settlers claiming they had
been misled by Columbus' claims of riches and complaining about the poor
management of his brothers. The Spanish Crown sent a royal official who
arrested Columbus and stripped him of his authority. He returned to Spain in
chains to face the royal court. The charges were later dropped but Columbus
lost his titles as governor of the Indies and for a time, much of the riches
made during his voyages.
Convincing King Ferdinand that one
more voyage would bring the abundant riches promised, Columbus went on what
would be his last voyage in 1502, traveling along the eastern coast of Central
America in an unsuccessful search for a route to the Indian Ocean. A storm
wrecked one of his ships stranding the captain and his sailors on the island of
Cuba. During this time, local islanders, tired of the Spaniards poor treatment
and obsession with gold, refused to give them food. In a spark of inspiration,
Columbus consulted an almanac and devised a plan to "punish" the
islanders by taking away the moon. On February 29, 1504, a lunar eclipse
alarmed the natives enough to re-established trade with the Spaniards. A rescue
party finally arrived, sent by the royal governor of Hispaniola in July and
Columbus and his men were taken back to Spain in November of 1504.
Mixed Legacy
In the two remaining years of his
life, Columbus struggled to recover his lost titles and in May of 1505 did
regain some of his riches, but his titles were never returned. He died May 20,
1506 still believing he had discovered a shorter route to Asia.
Columbus' legacy is a mixed one. He
has been credited for opening up the Americas to European colonization as well
as blamed for the destruction of the native peoples of the islands he explored.
On the one hand, he failed to find that what he set out for - a new route to
Asia and the riches it promised. However, in what is known as the Columbian
Exchange, his expeditions set in motion the wide-spread transfer of people,
plants, animals, diseases, and cultures that greatly affected nearly every
society on the planet.
The horse from Europe allowed Native
American tribes in the Great Plains of North America to shift from a nomadic to
a hunting lifestyle. Foods from the Americas such as potatoes, tomatoes and
corn became staples of Europeans and helped increase their populations. Wheat
from Europe and the Old World fast became a main food source for people in the
Americas. Coffee from Africa and sugar cane from Asia became major cash crops
for Latin American countries.
The Exchange also brought new diseases
to both hemispheres, though the effects were greatest in the Americas. Small
pox from the Old World decimated millions of the Native American population to
mere fractions of their original numbers. This more than any other factor made
for European domination of the Americas. The overwhelming benefits of the
Exchange went to the Europeans initially and eventually to the rest of the
world. The Americas were forever altered and the once vibrant and rich cultures
of the Native American civilizations were not only changed, but lost, denying
the world any complete understanding of their existence.
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