Christopher Columbus Essay was an Italian navigator who sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean in search for the all-water route to Asia, but instead achieved fame for making landfall in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus’ plan was based in part on two major miscalculations.
First, he underestimated the circumference of the world by about 25 per cent. Columbus also mistakenly believed that most of the world consisted of land rather than water. This mistake led him to conclude that Asia extended much farther east than it actually did. In 1492, Columbus embarked on his first voyage. Queen Isabella of Spain ordered that the port of Palos supply him with three ships the Pinta, the Nina, and the Santa Maria.
A total of about 90 crew members sailed aboard the three ships. In addition to the officers and sailors, the expedition included a translator, three physicians, a servant for each captain, a secretary, and an accountant. On October 12, 1492, at 2:00 in the morning he spouted a small island, which he called San Salvador. In January, the Santa Maria was wrecked off the coast of Espanola. The Nina, with Columbus in command, along with the Pinta began the homeward voyage in January 1493. The storms drove the ships first to the Azores and then to Lisbon, Columbus arrived in Palos, Spain, in March.
He was enthusiastically received by the Spanish Monarchs. Columbus planned immediately for a second expedition, with about 1500 men, which left Spain in September 1493. They landed on the island of Dominica, Gaudeloupe. His stop at Puerto Rico is the closest he came to setting foot on land that would later form part of the United States, the main foundation for the claim that Columbus discovered America. When Columbus returned to Queen Isabella on September 29, he found that serious conflicts had developed among the colonists, a number of whom were already on the route to Spain to press their grievances.
One of the major problems confronting Columbus was the hostility of the natives, whose initial friendliness had been alienated by the cruelty of the Europeans. Columbus defeated the natives in battle in March 1495 and shipped a large number of them to Spain to sell as slaves. Queen Isabella objected, however, and the survivors were returned. A royal investigating commission arrived at Isabella in October 1495.
Because this group was consistently critical of his policies, Columbus established a new capital named Santo Domingo. Columbus set sail on his third voyage on May 30, 1498. His first landing, made on July 31, was the three-peaked island of Trinidad, named in honor of the Holy Trinity. He then sighted what is now Venezuela. After cruising along the coast he sailed into the Gulf of Paria.
At the mouth of the Orinoco River he led a party ashore. In his logbook he wrote that he had found a New World, unknown as yet to Europeans. Columbus set sail again, encountering several additional islands, including Margarita, and then laid a course for Espanola. Queen Isabella allowed Columbus to make yet a fourth voyage to the Caribbean. He called his last voyage the “High Voyage. ” He saw it as his last chance to fulfill the promise of his earlier expeditions.
His goal was to find a passage to the mainland of Asia. Columbus still believed that China lay close by. In January 1503 he landed in Panama and established a settlement there, but fighting within the crew and trouble with the Natives led to its abandonment. The expedition, reduced to two caravels sailed for Espanola. However the rotten ships were not fit for the voyage and sank near St.
Anns Bay, Jamaica on June 23, 1503. Columbus sent to Espanola for help, meanwhile forcing the natives to provide food for his men. Relief arrived after a lapse of nearly a year. The stranded party embarked on June 28, 1504, for Santo Domingo, and then sailed for Spain, reaching Sanlucar de Barrameda on November 7. Two years later On May 20, 1506, Columbus died.Words/ Pages : 677 / 24 .
