Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an Italian born on 31st October, 1451 at Genoa located in current day Italy. He majored in exploration touring various continents within the Mediterranean Sea. The continent he paid a visit to during his life time were Europe, Africa and America. Europe was his home continent born in Italy and spent much time in Spain. Africa was the land where he obtained slaves to work in the Spain’s royal lands and to be used in labor on the highly productive and newly discovered lands in America. Columbus had a number of nicknames such as Cristoforo Colombo and Cristobal colon. During his mission in which he was sent by the Spain king in 1492 he discovered a very highly potential land in America that was later colonized by the British. Columbus died at the age of 65 on 20th, May 1506 but had left much in the field of exploration. Columbus first ever voyage was in 1476 in which he escaped death by a whisker when their ship was attacked and burnt by French privateers. He swam to the shores of Portugal and settled in Lisbon where he married and got his first son around 1480 and lost his wife before heading to Spain. Columbus is viewed as the eye opener to the European nation in the colonization of America.
Columbus presented his plea for funding to his voyage to King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile who were the Monarch in Spain in 1486. Columbus presented his plea after rejection by both the Portugal and Genoa republic after showing factual evidence that pleased the couple. However, Columbus matter was not a priority at the time as the Monarch was trying to conquer the Muslims. Columbus however persisted and his wish of getting the three voyages was granted.
The first voyage managed to get to present day Cuba, where they created a settlement for the Hispaniola called the Christmas town day. The voyage also managed to conquer some islands for Spain, and Columbus wrote an exaggerated report that pleased the royals allowing Columbus to go on a second voyage in which they reached Asia and came back with Gold. In the third voyages though, they faced a rough time as Hispaniola settlement had gone bad. They managed to get to the main land and explored River Orinoco in present day Venezuela.
The first voyage granted to Columbus by the Royals left Spain in the August of 1492. He and his crew first landed in an island in the present day Bahamas after 36 days claiming it for Spain. Here, they also obtained variable cotton balls, glass beads spears, parrots and gold worn by the natives.
Columbus was stripped off his title as the governor of Indies and was deported back to Spain in handcuffs to face the royal court (Murray, Dunn and Kelley, 1991). He was stripped off his leadership as the voyage captain. This came about since Columbus was alleged to be a liar and his brother’s misappropriation of funds given to the voyage that he obtained from the exploration. Furthermore, the problem of the deteriorating Hispaniola settlement to a condition that they could no longer be salvaged, made it hard for the crew to survive and needed help from home. Therefore, he died poor believing he was closer to getting the route to Indian Ocean.
| Group or Individual who explored America before 1492 | Date of Exploration Area explored | Evidence of exploration—what clues (at least 2) indicate that this group or individual actually discovered the Americas? |
| The Vikings | 1000 A.D and stayed for around 10 years. This was by Leif Erikson | Remains of their settlements still exist. The evidence was reconstructed and found to occupy 100yards. |
| Norse | 10th century till 15th century journeyed to Greenland and Canada | In 1960 evidence of their remains were found in Canada which dated 1000 years back |
| Scandinavian runes
|
In south America and dates back before 1421. | Some certain petroglyphs in south America have symbols and text that have no root at all to the natives but are from Runes |
Works Cited
Barnes, R., Columbus, C., Rusconi, R. and Sullivan, B. 1998. The Book of Prophecies Edited by Christopher Columbus. Sixteenth Century Journal, 29(3), 922.
Murray, J., Dunn, O. and Kelley, J. 1991. The Diario of Christopher Columbus’s First Voyage to America, 1492-1493. Hispania, 74(1), 72.