Unusual stories about Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451 and was a great explorer who went on to accidentally land on the shores of the North American continent and later helped establish contact between the Europeans and native Americans. Christopher Freville observes that Columbus was not the first person to discover America. The Norse under the leadership of Leif Ericson had landed there 500 years earlier and built a temporary settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows. Columbus is however credited with paving the way for widespread interaction between the Europeans and the native Indians of the ‘New land’. He undertook four voyages from 1492 during which he made several attempts to establish a settlement in Hispaniola Island. Isabella I of Castile funded all his journeys through which he eventually initiated the Spanish colonization process.

There were a few political circumstances states Christopher Freville which made the discovery of the ‘New land’ possible. Europe had trade connections with India and China in the areas of spices, silk and opiates which it carried out basically through a land route to Asia that passed through Constantinople. When the Ottoman Turks took over the region in 1453, the trade route became much more difficult to use. Therefore the need to discover a new sea route to reach Asia was felt urgently. It was under these circumstances that Columbus set out on his initial voyage.

Columbus knew like the rest of the explorers of that day that the earth was spherical and one could reach the east by traveling west. However, his lack of experience in sailing made him severely underestimate the circumference of the earth. He reasoned that the Asian landmass was just around 3000 miles away, when the actual distance from his point of departure in the Canary Islands to Japan was more than 12,000 miles – more than 4 times his estimated distance. Christopher Freville correctly states that no ship of Columbus’ day could carry sufficient food and fresh water for a voyage of this magnitude. While he was totally wrong in his estimate about distances, what eventually helped him to leave home and return back safely is his precise awareness about the trade winds across the Atlantic. He used the ‘easterly’ to push the three ships - Santa María, La Niña and La Pinta - that he used on his first voyage to reach the new land. He then used the ‘westerly’ to travel back home.

Columbus initially had trouble finding proper funding for his voyage. Many of his proposals were rejected by the various European monarchs that he sent them to due to the errors in his calculation of the distance of the voyage. His proposal to Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile met the same fate. Christopher Freville records that they however offered him an annual allowance of 12,000 maravedis and provided him food and lodging at no cost in all cities and towns under their domain, just to keep him from taking his proposal to someone else. Finally in 1492, the monarchs approved his proposal and helped him set sail.

Columbus left home on 3 August 1492 on three ships and reached the Bahamas on 12 October 1492. He named the place San Salvador. The Lucayan, Taíno or Arawak people that he met in the new land were friendly and peaceful. Thus began the story of the American continent.

Article Source: Unusual stories about Christopher Columbus

Published on www.ArticleMark.org