Information about Columbus and his discoveries. Geographical discoveries of Columbus

25.11.2023

The Age of Great Geographical Discovery was one of the most romantic periods in the life of mankind. The rapid development of navigation not only opened up the world map for Europe, but also raised a huge number of all sorts of dark personalities from the social lowlands to the heights of glory.

If we take a closer look at the participants of those same expeditions, we will find practically no scientists there. It is with great difficulty that we find merchants (although approximately half of the expeditions were carried out with the money of private individuals, large and medium-sized businessmen). There were no priests there, thirsting for glory on the basis of missionary work. Excuse me, but who was there then? And there were adventurers, rogues and swindlers of all stripes and varieties, gentlemen of fortune, romantics of the high road, and so on and so forth...

Moreover, they were not only ordinary sailors. The commanders and inspirers of most expeditions: Drake, Magellan, Cortes - all of them were either condottieres or simply robbers.

The most important discovery of that period was the discovery of America. The man who did this covered himself with unfading glory. His name was Christopher Columbus. And what is curious: almost all sources, describing his life path, begin their narration precisely from the moment of his first expedition, modestly keeping silent about what happened before. In addition, the events that took place around him after the start of his expeditions are in no way amenable to logical explanation.

This is somehow strange: one gets the impression that much of the biography of the great navigator is deliberately overlooked. If you look into his life path in more detail, then the reasons for such “shyness” of the authors become quite clear. Columbus was such an extraordinary person that it would be somewhat “inconvenient” to describe all his deeds...

No one knows exactly where Columbus was from, however, the names of his parents are known, in any case, they are mentioned in metrics and in the works of historians. For a long time it was believed that our hero was born in Genoa. Today, 2 Italian, 2 Portuguese and 4 Spanish cities dispute the right to be called the birthplace of Columbus.

It is known that from about the age of 12, Columbus definitely lived in Genoa, where he could observe the peculiarities of social life and business of that time. Christopher perfectly mastered the rules of this game, in which business was closely intertwined with power structures, and by the age of 25, having graduated from the University of Pavia, having gained some experience in maritime trade and acquired the necessary connections, he moved with his family to Portugal. The reason for the move was a conflict with the authorities of Genoa. Columbus, who by that time had his own enterprise, tried to deceive his partner, who later became the doge. Even today, businessmen who “abandon” power later regret it for a long time, but back then it was like death.

In Portugal, Columbus developed extensive activities: he participated in many trade expeditions, visited almost all European countries, and traveled a lot to Africa. It was here that the first thoughts came to his mind about another route to India, different from those that the Portuguese sailors tried to find (bypassing Africa).

The problem was that one of the crown princes of Portugal, Enrique, nicknamed the “navigator,” promoted this particular idea for so long and persistently that even under the current king of Portugal, João 2nd, who was Enrique’s grandson, there were no other ways to get to India wasn't even considered. This is what authority means, especially royal authority!

However, even the devil could envy Columbus's tenacity. The cunning Genoese was able to convey his ideas to King Juan, but the king did not really like what Columbus wanted for himself personally, and he did not give permission for this enterprise. That, however, did not stop him from giving Columbus the opportunity to earn money on some government orders.

Juan could not even imagine what kind of cunning rogue he was allowing into the development of public funds. In three years, Columbus earns several times more than in his entire previous life. João 2nd was a politician, primarily concerned with strengthening royal power and not particularly interested in the finances of the state (fortunately, the then Portuguese economy was quite stable), so no one paid much attention to Columbus’s dark dealings.

But no matter how much the rope twists, it ends up in a loop. Our hero's last successful scam was a contract to supply the construction of the Elmina fortress in Ghana. In less than two years, the fortress was built, but Diogo de Azambuja, the head of construction and the first commandant of the fortress, carried out a sudden audit and found out that several hundred thousand reals had stuck to the unclean hands of our hero. And since the king himself paid special attention to the first fortress of “Black Africa,” a serious scandal broke out.

However, it didn’t come to a loop, but Christopher had to urgently flee with his family from Portugal, which had suddenly become very uncomfortable, to Spain in 1485. That, however, did not prevent him from keeping almost all the money he “earned” in Portugal. By this time, he had already finally thought through ideas on how to sail to India directly, and not through southern Africa.

Business in Spain did not follow the rules that Columbus was accustomed to in Genoa and Portugal; in addition, the Granada War, which the King of Spain, Ferdinand 2nd, personally led, left a certain imprint on all processes in the kingdom.

It must be said that Ferdinand was a very smart monarch and the affairs of the kingdom under him were kept in relative order, and all kinds of dubious activities were not particularly encouraged. Having spent all his money in unsuccessful ventures in about a year and a half, Columbus was left with practically nothing, and the only idea he had left was to sail to India across the Atlantic Ocean.

Supported by the authority of his new Spanish friends, he presents his business plan for a trade route to India to the King of Spain, but again finds no support. And again, as in the case of the Portuguese king, everything comes down to the ambitions of the “Genoese upstart”.

What did Columbus want? Firstly, to be the viceroy of all the lands he discovered, which meant formally subordinate to the Spanish Crown, but in fact to no one. Secondly, to receive the title of “chief admiral”, which, again, did not oblige him to anything, but provided him with a very good allowance. It is not surprising that the kings refused him.

However, from a financial point of view, the plan was actually very good. And so much so that even João 2nd, the king whom Columbus actually “threw away,” wrote him a letter saying that he could return to Portugal without fear of persecution from the authorities, as long as he carried out his plan.

But Columbus had no time for the Portuguese king. Ferdinand's wife, Queen Isabella, became interested in his plan. Being a very devout Catholic, she appreciated the part of Columbus's plan that concerned missionary activity, as well as the benefits that the route to India, bypassing the Ottoman Empire, provided. In general, the royal couple finally gave Columbus the go-ahead for his expedition.

And again the “cunning” nature of our hero appeared. While recruiting sponsors for the expedition, he pretended to be a “poor relative” who had absolutely no money. It got to the point that, when drawing up the budget for the expedition, he borrowed half of its cost from Martin Pinson, which he contributed to its authorized fund on his own behalf, promising to pay at the end. Pinson joined the expedition as an ordinary shareholder with a much smaller share than Columbus.

During the first voyage, Columbus teased Pinzón in every possible way, eventually causing him to lose his temper and go home on his own. This subsequently played a fatal role in his fate. Having preceded Pinson's ship by only a few hours, Columbus presented the case to the king in such a way that Pinson was generally forbidden to appear at court, as a person who had lost the royal trust. From the resulting stress, Pinson fell ill and died a few months later, giving Columbus every right not to return the money borrowed from him.

Having discovered new lands, Columbus quickly realized that this was not India at all, however, admitting this openly was tantamount to death. And Columbus decided to hold out until the last minute, simultaneously using his status as viceroy to the fullest.

To quickly develop open lands, the newly-minted viceroy did not disdain any means. He extorted from the king the right to recruit settlers from prisoners, since they did not have to pay wages - they worked for their freedom. In addition, for new expeditions, he received huge loans from the rich of that time, promising to pay them back with spices and jewelry that had not yet been found. And “on the ground” our financial genius created such a wonderful state that future dictatorships will seem like just innocent holiday camps. The local Indians were first “tied” to plots of land, like serfs, and then actually turned into slaves.

The most interesting thing was that Columbus did not let go of almost all the income, paying only the king, and then only slightly covering the amounts given to him. There could be no talk of any profits “ten doubloons per one invested.”

For almost six years he misled the public, until Vasco da Gama, having circumnavigated Africa from the south, found a real sea route to India. The indignation of the deceived aristocrats was so great that a special fleet was sent for Columbus, whose crew arrested the adventurer and brought him to Spain in shackles.

However, the financial circles of Spain, which had already begun to develop new lands and saw considerable potential in them, interceded with the king about Columbus’s innocence, and he was quickly released.

Columbus's last voyage was a kind of “redemption.” In it, he really behaved like a real researcher, not caring about his pocket. Over the course of two and a half years, he explores the coast of Mexico and creates a map of it. And two years later he dies in Seville.
A few years after the death of Columbus, both of his sons make a kind of coming out. However, we are not talking about what our contemporaries understand by this. The heirs simply show what their unforgettable father left them.

The combined fortune of Diego and Fernanda Columbus was such that it exceeded the annual income of all of Spain by about five times. Absolutely all the money that Columbus somehow “knocked out” from sponsors, the Crown and simply successful “geshefts” on the new continent, he sent to his good friend, Luis de Cerda, a Spanish aristocrat, who, in fact, helped Columbus present his project to the royal couple of Spain. De Cerda died several years before Columbus's death, however, his heirs continued to help Columbus. And then they transferred all the finances to both of his sons.

Christopher Columbus was one of the most controversial figures in human history. He was a brilliant discoverer who was ahead of his time. However, we should not forget about the dark side of his nature. Excessive love for easy enrichment brought happiness to few people. Perhaps this is why the open lands were named not in his honor, but in honor of the man who thoroughly explored them and proved that this was not just “not India,” but in general the New World. This man was Amerigo Vespucci, but that’s a completely different story...

Biography

The Early Life of Christopher Columbus

It is believed that Columbus was born into a poor Genoese family: his father was Domenico Colombo (Italian. Domenico Colombo), mother - Susanna Fontanarossa (Italian. Susanna Fontanarossa). The exact transliteration of his name from Spanish is Cristobal Colon , however, he became world famous as Christopher Columbus ( Christophor- Latin transliteration of the Greek name). In addition to Christopher, there were other children in the family: Giovanni (died in childhood, in 1484), Bartolomeo, Giacomo, Bianchella (married Giacomo Bavarello). Traditionally, six cities in Italy and Spain compete for the honor of being the small birthplace of Columbus.

Columbus's appearance is known from portraits that were painted after his death. Bartolomé de Las Casas, who saw Columbus in 1493, describes him this way:

He was tall, above average, with a long and respectable face, an aquiline nose, bluish-gray eyes, white skin with redness, his beard and mustache were reddish in his youth, but turned gray in his labors.

Studied at the University of Pavia. Around 1470, he married Doña Felipe Moniz de Palestrello, the daughter of a navigator from the time of Prince Enrique. Until 1472, Columbus lived in Genoa, and from 1472 in Savona. In the 1470s he participated in sea trade expeditions. It is believed that as early as 1474, the astronomer and geographer Paolo Toscanelli told him in a letter that, in his opinion, India could be reached by a much shorter sea route by sailing to the west. Apparently, even then Columbus was thinking about his project of a sea voyage to India. Having made his own calculations based on Toscanelli’s advice, he decided that it was most convenient to sail through the Canary Islands, from which, in his opinion, there were about five thousand kilometers to Japan.

Here Queen Isabella took a step forward. The idea of the impending liberation of the Holy Sepulcher captured her heart so much that she decided not to give this chance to either Portugal or France. Although the Kingdom of Spain was formed as a result of the dynastic marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, their monarchies retained, however, separate independent administrations, Cortes and finances. “I’ll pawn my jewelry,” she said.

Second expedition

Columbus's second flotilla already consisted of 17 ships. The flagship is “Maria Galante” (displacement two hundred tons). According to various sources, the expedition consisted of 1500-2500 people. There were not only sailors here, but also monks, priests, officials, serving nobles, and courtiers. They brought with them horses and donkeys, cattle and pigs, grapevines, and agricultural seeds to organize a permanent colony.

During the expedition, the complete conquest of Hispaniola was carried out, and the mass extermination of the local population began. The city of Santo Domingo was founded. The most convenient sea route to the West Indies has been laid. The Lesser Antilles, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Jamaica have been discovered, and the southern coast of Cuba has been almost completely explored. At the same time, Columbus continues to claim that he is in Western India.

Chronology

September 25, 1493 - the expedition left Cadiz. In the Canary Islands they took sugar cane and dogs trained for hunting. The course lay about 10° south than the first time. Later, all ships from Europe to the “Western India” began to use this route.
With a successful tailwind (in the equatorial region of the Atlantic Ocean, the winds constantly blow to the west), the journey took only 20 days, and already on November 3, 1493 (Sunday), an island from the ridge of the Lesser Antilles, named Dominica, was discovered.
November 4 - the expedition arrived at the largest of the local islands, named Guadeloupe. On the open islands lived the Caribs, who carried out raids on the islands of peaceful Arawaks in large canoes. Their weapons were bows and arrows with tips made from fragments of turtle shells or jagged fish bones.
November 11 - the islands of Montserrat, Antigua, Nevis are opened.
November 13 - The first armed clash with the Caribbean occurred near the island of Santa Cruz.
November 15 - an archipelago is discovered north of Santa Cruz, which Columbus called the "Islands of the Eleven Thousand Virgins" - now they are called the Virgin Islands. Having bypassed the archipelago on both sides, the vessels of the flotilla united three days later at the western end of the ridge.
November 19 - The Spaniards landed on the western shore of a large island, which Columbus named San Juan Bautista. Since the 16th century it has been called Puerto Rico.
November 27 - the flotilla approached what was built during the first expedition to the island. Haiti to Fort La Navidad, but on the shore the Spaniards found only traces of fire and corpses.
January 1494 - a city is built east of the burned fort, La Isabella in honor of Queen Isabella. Many Spaniards were struck down by a yellow fever epidemic. A detachment sent to explore the interior of the country found gold in river sand in the mountainous region of Cordillera Central.
March 1494 - Columbus made a trip to the island. Meanwhile, in La Isabela, due to the heat, most of the food supplies spoiled, and Columbus decided to leave only 5 ships and about 500 people on the island, and send the rest to Spain. With them, he told the king and queen that he had found rich deposits of gold, and asked to send cattle, food supplies and agricultural tools, offering to pay for them with slaves from among the local residents.
April 24, 1494 - Leaving a garrison in La Isabela under the command of his younger brother Diego, Columbus led three small ships west along the southeastern coast of Cuba.
May 1 - a narrow and deep bay was discovered (the modern city of Guantanamo Bay with Guantanamo Bay). Further to the west are the Sierra Maestra mountains. From here Columbus turned south.
May 5 - the island of Jamaica is discovered (Columbus named it Santiago).
May 14 - Having passed along the northern coast of Jamaica and not finding gold, Columbus returned to Cuba. For the next 25 days, the ships moved through small islets along the southern coast of the island.
June 12 - having traveled almost 1,700 km along the southern coast of Cuba and only 100 km short of the western tip of the island, Columbus decided to turn back because the sea had become very shallow, the sailors were dissatisfied, and provisions were running out. Before this, in order to protect himself from accusations of cowardice that could follow in Spain, he demanded that the entire crew swear an oath that Cuba was part of the continent, and therefore there was no point in sailing further. Turning back, the flotilla discovered the island of Evangelista (later called Pinos and, since 1979, Juventud).
June 25 - September 29 - on the way back we went around Jamaica from the west and south, walked along the southern coast of Hispaniola and returned to La Isabella. By this time, Columbus was already quite seriously ill.
Over the past five months, Columbus's second brother, Bartolome, brought three ships with troops and supplies from Spain. A group of Spaniards captured them and fled home. The rest scattered around the island, robbing and raping the natives. They resisted and killed some of the Spaniards. After his return, Christopher was ill for five months, and when he recovered, in March 1495 he organized the conquest of Hispaniola with a detachment of two hundred soldiers. The natives were almost unarmed, and Columbus used cavalry and specially trained dogs brought with him against them. After nine months of this persecution, the island was conquered. The Indians were subject to tribute and enslaved in gold mines and plantations. The Indians fled from villages to the mountains, dying from unknown diseases brought by colonists from Europe. Meanwhile, the colonists moved to the southern coast of the island, where in 1496 Bartolome Columbus founded the city of Santo Domingo - the future center of Hispaniola, and later the capital of the Dominican Republic.
Meanwhile, the Spanish royal couple, having discovered that the income from Hispaniola (a little gold, copper, valuable wood and several hundred slaves sent to Spain by Columbus) was insignificant, allowed all Castilian subjects to move to new lands, paying the treasury in gold.
April 10, 1495 - The Spanish government broke off relations with Columbus, and Amerigo Vespucci acquired the right to supply India until May 1498. On January 11, 1496, Vespucci receives 10,000 maravedi from the treasurer Pinelo to pay the sailors' wages. In fact, he concluded a contract to supply one (if not two) expeditions in India in Andalusia, in particular the third expedition of Columbus. The success of Columbus's enterprise inspired Amerigo to leave the trading business in order to get acquainted with the newly discovered part of the world.
On June 11, 1496, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain to assert the rights previously granted to him. He provided a document according to which he actually reached the Asian continent (see above, although in fact it was the island of Cuba), stated that in the center of Hispaniola he discovered the wonderful country of Ophir, where gold was once mined for the biblical king Solomon. In addition, Columbus proposed sending not free settlers to new lands, but criminals, cutting their sentences in half. The last proposal could not fail to find a response among the ruling elite, since, on the one hand, it rid Spain of undesirable elements, reducing the costs of keeping them in prisons, and on the other hand, it ensured the development of newly discovered lands with rather desperate “human material.”

Third expedition

For the third expedition, few funds were found, and only six small ships and about 300 crew members went with Columbus, and the crew included criminals from Spanish prisons.

A representative of the Florentine bankers who financed the enterprise, Amerigo Vespucci, also went on the expedition with Alonso Ojeda in 1499. Approaching the South American continent at a latitude of approximately 5° N. sh., Ojeda headed northwest, walked 1,200 km along the coast of Guiana and Venezuela to the Orinoco delta, then through the straits into the Caribbean Sea and to the Pearl Coast.

Meanwhile, Amerigo Vespucci, moving to the southeast, discovered the mouths of the Amazon and Para rivers. Having sailed 100 kilometers upstream in boats, he was never able to land on shore due to the dense forest. Movement further to the southeast was extremely difficult by a strong oncoming current. This is how the Guiana Current was discovered. In total, Vespucci discovered about 1,200 kilometers of the northeastern coast of South America. Returning back to the north and northwest, Vespucci landed in Trinidad, and later linked up with Ojeda's ships. Together they explored the coast west of the Pearl Coast, discovered the eastern part of the Caribbean Andes, participated in armed skirmishes with unfriendly Indians, and discovered the islands of Curacao and Aruba - the westernmost of the Lesser Antilles. Ojeda named the bay to the west Venezuela (“little Venice”). Later, this name spread to the entire southern coast of the Caribbean Sea to the Orinoco Delta. In total, Ojeda explored more than 3,000 kilometers of the northern coast of the unknown land and never found its end, which meant that such land must be a continent.

Fate of the remains

Columbus's tomb in Seville

However, at the end of the 19th century, during the restoration of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, the oldest in the New World, a box with bones was discovered, on which it was written that they belonged to Columbus. After this, a dispute arose between Seville and Santo Domingo over the right to be considered the place where the great navigator rests.

The Columbus statue is 90 meters tall, which is twice the height of the Statue of Liberty without its pedestal. The sculpture weighs 599 tons. The Baltimore Sun newspaper titled an article about Tsereteli's Columbus “From Russia with "ugh"".

Subsequently, the developments of the monument to Columbus were used by the sculptor in 1997 when erecting in Moscow, by order of the Moscow government, on the spit of Balchug Island between the Moscow River and the Vodootvodny Canal, a huge statue of Peter the Great in the medieval clothes of a Spanish grandee at the helm of a Russian sloop 98 meters high.

In July 2010, it became known that a statue of Christopher Columbus by Zurab Tsereteli would be installed on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, near the city of Arecibo.

The statue, divided into 2,750 parts, lay in warehouses for two years. According to the Puerto Rican government, it costs $20 million to put it back together. The statue, if installed, would be the tallest structure in the US-controlled territories of the Caribbean.

Demolition of Columbus monuments in Venezuela

Named after Columbus

Toponyms Space

asteroid (327) Columbia, discovered in 1892.
ISS module Columbus

Theaters

Main Opera House of Argentina Colon Theater
Columbus Theater in the book “12 chairs” by Ilf and Petrov

Other

Studio Columbia Pictures
Monetary units of Costa Rica and El Salvador column
Argentine football club from Santa Fe Colon
Columbus exchange- movement of plants, animals, microorganisms and people from the Old World to the New and vice versa

On the money

Columbus on the columns

In honor of Christopher Columbus (in Spanish Cristobal Colon) the currency of El Salvador was named - Salvadoran Colon. On all, without exception, issued banknotes of all years of issue and all denominations, a portrait of a young or elderly Columbus was placed on the reverse side.


Reverse: 1 column, and		5, and


10, and		10, and 2,


25, and 50,		100, and

Columbus in philately

Filmography

"Christopher Columbus" / Christopher Columbus (Italy-France-USA, 1985). Mini-series (4 episodes). Directed by Alberto Lattuada, starring Gabriel Byrne.
“1492: Conquest of Paradise”/1492: Conquest Of Paradise (USA-UK-France-Spain, 1992). Directed by Ridley Scott, starring Gérard Depardieu.
"Christopher Columbus: The Discovery of America" /Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (USA-Spain, 1992). Directed by John Glen, starring Georges Corraface.

Hi Hi! Today is the time of great geographical discoveries, and I want to talk about Columbus.

Christopher Columbus, whose biography is very fascinating, will help us better imagine the history of the discovery of America.

We will consider all his expeditions to the New World with the most interesting details.

(1451 - 1506) - the great Spanish navigator of Italian origin. He made four transatlantic expeditions to America.

Columbus was born in the Italian Republic of Genoa. His family included three younger brothers (Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino and Giacomo), as well as a younger sister (Bianchinetta).

Bartolomeo and Giacomo took part in Columbus's expeditions to the new world after 1492 and were called Bartolome and Diego in Spanish. Christopher Columbus became a sailor very early and sailed in the Mediterranean Sea on merchant ships in 1474 and 1475. from Genoa to o. Chios.

In May 1476, Columbus, as clerk of a Genoese trading house, went to Portugal, where he lived for 9 years.

Columbus sailed to Ireland and England, and possibly Iceland, under the Portuguese flag. He also visited the Canary Islands and Madeira and traveled along the west coast of Africa to the Portuguese trading post of São Jorjima Mina (modern Ghana).

In Portugal he married and became a member of a mixed Italian-Portuguese family. He soon suggested that by moving west one could arrive in Asia.

Columbus, around 1483, tried to interest the Portuguese King John II with his plan for an expedition to Asia by the western route. But the king, for unknown reasons, refused Columbus.

Columbus left Portugal in 1485 and decided to try his luck in Spain. Early in 1486, while the royal court was in Alcala de Enaresi, Columbus received an audience with the king and queen.

Queen Isabella of Castile and her husband King Ferdinand of Aragon became interested in Columbus's project.

They assured Columbus that they could support him after the end of the long war to liberate Granada from the Moors.

While he was waiting for the end of the war, he met a young woman, Beatriz Enriquez de Arana. Despite the fact that they were never married, their son Hernando (Fernando) was born in 1488.

During Columbus's fourth voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, Fernando accompanied him. He later wrote a biography of his father.

During the taxation of Granada in January 1492, he was invited to the court. In May, the monarchs agreed to support Columbus's project and promised to award him the title of nobility and the titles of admiral, viceroy and governor general of all the continents and islands that he would discover.

Representatives of the Seville merchants gave money to equip the expedition. The sailors of the port city of Palos, at the request of the monarchs, provided two ships for Columbus's expedition.

These were two caravels: "Pinta" and "Nina". In addition, he chartered a 4-masted sailing ship (NAO), which was named Santa Maria.

Columbus, with the help of the famous sailor Martin Alonso Pinzon, assembled a crew of 90 people. On August 3, 1492, 3 ships left Palos. First, a small flotilla headed for the Canary Islands.

In September 1492, Columbus's expedition repaired its ships and replenished provisions, after which it left the island of La Gomera in the Canary Archipelago and headed west.

Columbus and other pilots used a navigation system that relied on calculating the direction, time and speed of movement while plotting the ship's course and determining its position.

They determined the direction using a compass(more about types of compass), time (about the concept of time) - using an hourglass, and speed - by eye. In his logbook, Columbus kept two systems for calculating distances: one for himself and the other for his crew.

He wasn't trying to fool the team, contrary to legend. On the contrary, he obviously calculated the course first in the units that he learned in Portugal and Italy, and then converted these figures into measurements that were accepted by Spanish navigators.

The journey proceeded calmly, with fair winds and almost no quarrels on the part of the crew. The watchman on the Pinta, J. Rodriguez Bermejo, saw fire ahead at two o'clock on October 12. At dawn, near an island in the Bahamas archipelago, the ships anchored.

The Taino Tubilians called this island Guanahani, and Columbus renamed it San Salvador. Christopher Columbus called the Tubilians Indians, believing that he was in Asia(more about this part of the world).

The flotilla, with the help of the Indians, continued its journey in the waters of the Bahamian archipelago and reached Cuba on October 28.

Columbus spent all this time looking in vain for the rich ports of Asia. Without Columbus's permission, Captain Pinzón left Cuba and went in search of new lands on the Pinta in order to establish trade with the Tubilos.

On the two remaining ships, Columbus headed to a large island, which he named Hispaniola (translated as “Spanish Island”, now Haiti), and explored its northern coast.

The Santa Maria, due to the fault of a young shift sailor, ran aground on Christmas morning and crashed. Columbus, on the only ship "Nina", reached the shore and for the first time fell asleep in the New World settlement - Fort Navidad, in which he left 39 people.

On January 4, 1493, Columbus prepared to return to Spain on the Niña, and sailed east along the northern coast of Hispaniola. Pinzón soon joined him, and on January 16, Niña and Pinta set sail for Spain.

To prove that he had reached a part of the world previously unknown to Europeans, he took 7 Indians with him. After some time, a fair wind drove his ship to the Azores.

The Spaniards reached the coast of Portugal on March 4, and stopped there to rest and repair ships. Columbus paid a courtesy call to King John II and sailed for Spain on March 13. "Nina" arrived in Palos 2 days later.

Columbus was warmly greeted by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. In addition to the privileges they had promised him earlier, they gave permission for a larger second expedition.

Christopher Columbus assured them that near the islands he discovered there was a rich Asian continent, where he wanted to establish a colony.

Columbus's plans were supported by Ferdinand and Isabella, they provided him with people and ships to go to Hispaniola. The Queen ordered the conversion of the Tuban people to the Christian faith.

Columbus easily found 1,200 people who agreed to go with him as future settlers. On September 25, 1493, a flotilla of 17 ships (including 3 large ships) set off from Cadiz and reached the Canary Islands on October 2, and 10 days later sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.

Columbus landed on one of the Caribbean islands on November 3, and named it Dominica. From there to the Coast of Hispaniola he sailed along the Lesser Antilles and Virgin Islands.

To the surprise of the arrivals, it turned out that all 39 people left in Navidad in January died (this was mainly due to clashes with the Tubilis).

Columbus, despite this, founded a new settlement, and named it La Isabela in honor of the Queen of Spain (January 1494). Unfortunately, the place for settlement was poorly chosen: there was no fresh water nearby, and it was soon abandoned.

In addition to searching for gold and determining the location of the ports of the Great Khanate of China, Columbus was engaged in the slave trade.

He and his men, armed with arquebuses, along with horses and fighting dogs, marched through the territory of Hispaniola, exchanging gold, and if they met resistance, they recaptured the gold by force and captured prisoners.

Columbus left his brother Diego to rule Hispaniola. And in the spring of 1494 he himself made an expedition along the southern coast of Cuba, discovering a number of new islands, including Jamaica.

During Columbus's absence, 3 ships arrived in Hispaniola under the command of his brother Bartolome. He found the colony in a state of chaos.

These ships were captured by a group of disappointed colonists and they fled to their homeland. In March 1495, Columbus began the conquest of Hispaniola using barbaric methods. During this conquest, thousands of Indians were captured or killed.

The Spanish monarchs were upset by this message, and they sent J. Aguado to check the affairs, who, at the end of 1495, confirmed their worst expectations: the mortality rate among the Indians was very high, mainly due to the cruel policies of the colonists.

The number of Europeans, in addition, decreased significantly due to disease and desertion. On March 10, 1496, Columbus set off for Spain, leaving his brother Bartolome in his place in Hispaniola, and on June 11, 1496, he arrived in Cadiz.

Isabella and Ferdinand in 1496 no longer hoped that they would be able to quickly benefit from Columbus's projects.

Columbus, even despite all the accusations of lack of ability to govern, managed to convince the monarchs to give permission for third expedition .

He could use 1 nao and 2 caravels to search for new lands, as well as another 3 caravels to bring new colonists and food to Hispaniola.

Near the island of La Gomera, the flotilla split up and left the mouth of the Guadalquivir on May 30, 1498. 3 ships set a course for Hispaniola.

On the other three ships, Columbus sailed south, reached the Cape Verde Islands and turned west on July 7. On July 31, he discovered the island of Trinidad, and then headed northwest to the shores of America.

Then he discovered a wide delta of some kind of river (in modern Venezuela the Orinoco River), and realized that there was a huge land mass there.

After examining the coast in the Orinoco delta area and discovering the island. Margarita, Columbus went to Hispaniola, where Bartolome and Diego could not restore order.

Isabella and Ferdinand, concerned by Columbus's reports, sent F. de Bobadillo to investigate affairs in the colony.

He quickly assessed the situation and arrested all three of Christopher Columbus's brothers, confiscated all their money, shackled them, and sent them to Spain in December 1500.

Immediately after their return, Columbus was summoned to Granada. The monarchs convinced the Genoese that they had never ordered him to be kept in chains. However, until September 1501 they delayed the consideration of his applications for the renewal of rights.

Ferdinand and Isabella returned all property and part of the titles to Columbus, but did not retain any powers of authority. Also, the monarchs did not give their consent to a new expedition for a long time. They began to create a new structure for governing the colonies, and N. de Ovando was appointed governor of Hispaniola.

In February 1502, Ovando sailed to the Caribbean in 30 ships with a large group of settlers.

New expedition Columbus was allowed to lead only in March 1502. The flotilla of Columbus's fourth expedition consisted of 4 small caravels.

On May 11, 1502, the admiral, who was 51 years old, and his 13-year-old son Hernando sailed from Cadiz on the flagship.

On May 25 they left the Canary Islands, crossed the Atlantic and on June 15 reached the island that Columbus named Martinique.

The flotilla reached Hispaniola on June 29, passing along the islands of the Antilles archipelago. Columbus and his companions soon made a new journey, which took place mainly along the coast of Central America.

The admiral no longer believed that he was in Asia. On the territory of modern Panama lived the Guay Indians, who traded gold with the members of the expedition, but they opposed all the ways of the Europeans to establish a settlement.

Guayami forced the Spaniards to leave the Central American coast in May 1503. One of the ships sank at sea, and the remaining three ships barely stayed afloat.

Columbus left another ship, and then went to Jamaica, near the shores of which the ships ran aground.

Columbus spent a whole year in Jamaica until a ship from Hispaniola rescued him at the end of June 1504. Only in November 1504 Columbus was able to return to Spain.

On May 21, 1506, Columbus died in the Spanish city of Valladolidi. He died without knowing that he was the discoverer of the New World.

In 1513, his coffin was transported to Seville, and then, around 1542, it was reburied in the cathedral of the city of Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic).

Yes, the process of discovery and exploration of the New World by colonists was so interesting and complex. And Christopher Columbus helped us get acquainted with this, whose biography told us everything🙂

Christopher Columbus is the discoverer of South and Central America. Columbus Expeditions.

Christopher Columbus biography

1 expedition. Discovery of America by Columbus in 1492

Christopher Columbus assembled his first expedition from three ships - the Santa Maria (a three-masted flagship 25 m long, with a displacement of 120 tons, captain of the ship Columbus), the Pinta caravels (captain - Martin Alonso Pinzon) and Niña (captain - Vicente Yanez Pinson) with a displacement of 55 tons and 87 expedition personnel.
The flotilla left Palos on August 3, 1492, turned west from the Canary Islands, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, opening the Sargasso Sea and reached an island in the Bahamas archipelago (Pinta sailor Rodrigo de Triana was the first to see American soil October 12, 1492). Columbus landed on the shore, which the locals call Guanahani, planted a banner on it, declared the open land the property of the Spanish king and formally took possession of the island. He named the island San Salvador.
For a long time (1940 -1982), Watling Island was considered San Salvador. However, our contemporary American geographer George Judge in 1986 processed all the collected materials on a computer and came to the conclusion: the first American land Columbus saw was the island of Samana (120 km southeast of Watling).
On October 14-24, Columbus approached several more Bahamian islands, and on October 28 - December 5, he discovered part of the northeastern coast of Cuba. On December 6 he reached the island of Haiti and moved along the northern coast. On the night of December 25, the flagship Santa Maria landed on a reef, but the crew escaped. For the first time in the history of navigation, by order of Columbus, Indian hammocks were adapted for sailor berths.
Columbus returned to Castile on the Niña on March 15, 1493. From America, Columbus brought seven captive American natives, who in Europe were called Indians, as well as some gold and plants and fruits never seen before in the Old World, including the annual plant corn (in Haiti it is called maize), tomatoes, peppers, tobacco (“ dry leaves, which were especially valued by the locals"), pineapples, cocoa and potatoes (due to its beautiful pink and white flowers). The political resonance of Columbus’s voyage was the “papal meridian”: the head of the Catholic Church established a demarcation line in the Atlantic, indicating different directions for the discovery of new lands for rival Spain and Portugal.
Christopher Columbus first landed on the shores of the New World: in San Salvador, Wisconsin, October 12, 1492.
Author of the painting: Spanish artist Tolin Puebla, Theophilus Dioscorus Dioscoro Teofilo Puebla Tolin (1831-1901)
Publisher: American company Currier and Ives (engravings, lithographs, popular prints), publication 1892.

2nd expedition of Christopher Columbus (1493 - 1496)

The second expedition (1493-96), led by Admiral Columbus, as viceroy of the newly discovered lands, consisted of 17 ships with a crew of 1.5-2.5 thousand people. On November 3-15, 1493, Columbus discovered the islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe and about 20 Lesser Antilles, and on November 19, the island of Puerto Rico. In March 1494, in search of gold, he made a military campaign deep into the island of Haiti, and in the summer he discovered the southeastern and southern coasts of Cuba, the islands of Juventud and Jamaica. For 40 days, Columbus explored the southern coast of Haiti, which he continued to conquer in 1495. But in the spring of 1496 he sailed home, completing his second voyage on June 11 in Castile. Columbus announced the opening of a new route to Asia. The colonization of new lands by free settlers that soon began was very costly for the Spanish crown, and Columbus proposed populating the islands with criminals, cutting their sentences in half. With fire and sword, plundering and destroying the country of ancient culture, the military detachments of Cortez passed through the land of the Aztecs - Mexico, and the troops of Pizarro - through the land of the Incas - Peru.

3rd expedition of Christopher Columbus (1498 - 1499)

The third expedition (1498-99) consisted of six ships, three of which Columbus himself led across the Atlantic. On July 31, 1498, he discovered the island of Trinidad, entered the Gulf of Paria, discovered the mouth of the western branch of the Orinoco delta and the Paria Peninsula, marking the beginning of the discovery of South America. Having entered the Caribbean Sea, he approached the Araya Peninsula, discovered Margarita Island on August 15, and arrived in Haiti on August 31. In 1500, following a denunciation, Christopher Columbus was arrested and, shackled (which he later kept all his life), was sent to Castile, where his release awaited him.

4th expedition of Christopher Columbus (1502 - 1504)

It was midnight on October 11, 1492. Just two more hours - and an event will take place that is destined to change the entire course of world history. No one on the ships was fully aware of this, but literally everyone, from the admiral to the youngest cabin boy, was in tense anticipation. The one who sees the land first is promised a reward of ten thousand maravedis, and now it was clear to everyone that the long voyage was nearing its end...

1.India

All his life, Columbus was absolutely sure that he had sailed to the east coast of Asia, although in fact he was about 15 thousand kilometers away. At that time it was already known that the Earth was round, but ideas about the size of the globe were still very vague.

It was believed that our planet is much smaller, and that if you sail from Europe due west, you can find a short sea route to China and India - countries that have long attracted travelers with their silks and spices. It was this path that Christopher Columbus dreamed of finding.

In 1483, Christopher Columbus proposed a project to King John II, but after much study, Columbus's "excessive" project was rejected. In 1485, Columbus moved to Castile, where, with the help of merchants and bankers, he sought to organize a government naval expedition under his command.

2. Convince the queen

It took Columbus 7 years to convince the King and Queen of Spain and their learned advisors to help him organize an expedition across the ocean.
In 1485, Columbus arrived in Spain. The only way for him to fulfill his dream and set sail is to receive the support of the Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. At first no one believed him. The court scientists simply did not understand how it was possible to sail to the west and get to lands that were far to the east. It seemed something completely impossible.

This is what they said: “Even if we could somehow descend to the other hemisphere, how would we get back up from there? Even with the most favorable wind, a ship would never be able to climb the huge mountain of water that the bulge of the ball forms, even if we assume that the Earth is really spherical.”
It was only in 1491 that Columbus was able to again meet with Ferdinand and Isabella and convince them that he could indeed find a sea route to India.

Columbus at a reception with the Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella

3.Team of prisoners

The crew of the ships had to be assembled from prisoners serving their sentences - no one else agreed to voluntarily participate in the dangerous voyage. Still would! After all, it was impossible to predict in advance how long this journey would last and what dangers might be encountered along the way. Even if scientists did not immediately believe in Columbus’s plan, let alone ordinary sailors.

Former criminals and the dregs of society will have an entire continent under their rule.

4.Three caravels

Columbus was provided with three caravels: “Santa Maria” (about 40 meters long), “Nina” and “Pinta” (about 20 meters each). Even for that time these ships were very small.

Sending them across the ocean with a crew of 90 seemed like an incredibly bold decision. For example, only Columbus himself, the ship captains and several other crew members had their own beds. The sailors had to take turns sleeping on the floor in a cramped hold, on damp barrels and boxes. And so on for many weeks of travel.

Three small wooden ships - "Santa Maria", "Pinta" and "Nina" set off from the port of Paloe (Atlantic coast of Spain) on August 3, 1492. About 100 crew members, the bare minimum of food and equipment.

5. Mutiny on the ship

They had never had to swim so far into the ocean and so far from their native shores. Columbus even specifically decided not to tell everyone how much distance had already been traveled, and gave much smaller numbers. With joy, the sailors were ready to believe in any sign of approaching land: for example, encountered whales, albatrosses, or algae floating on the surface of the water. Although in fact, all these “signs” have nothing to do with the proximity of land.

6.Magnetic needle

Christopher Columbus was one of the first in the world to observe how the magnetic needle deflects.

At that time it was not yet known that the compass needle does not point exactly north, but to the magnetic north pole. One day, Columbus discovered that the magnetic needle was not pointing exactly towards the North Star, but was deviating more and more from this direction. He was, of course, very scared. Is the compass on the ship inaccurate or maybe broken? Just in case, Columbus also decided not to tell anyone about this observation.

Late 15th century compass (similar to what Columbus had)

7.First Islands

Before land appeared on the horizon on October 12, 1492, 70 days of sailing had passed. However, the shoreline that was seen was not the mainland at all, but a small island, which later received the name San Salvador.

In total, Columbus made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean (and all four times he thought that he was approaching the shores of India). During this time, he visited many islands of the Caribbean Sea and only during his third voyage he saw the shores of the continent. During his fourth voyage, Columbus sailed ships along the coast for several months, hoping to find a strait leading to the long-awaited India. Of course, no strait could be found. The completely exhausted sailors were forced to return to the already familiar islands with nothing.

All of them, - writes Columbus, - walk naked, in what their mother gave birth, and women too... And the people I saw were still young, all of them were no more than 30 years old, and they were well built, and their bodies and faces They were very beautiful, and their hair was coarse, just like horse hair, and short... Their facial features were regular, their expression was friendly...

8.Indians

Columbus called the aborigines he found on the islands Indians because he sincerely considered the lands he found to be part of India. It is surprising that this “mistaken” name for the natives of America has survived to this day.

Moreover, we are lucky with the Russian language - we call the inhabitants of India Indians, distinguishing them from the Indians with at least one letter. And, for example, in English both words are spelled exactly the same: “Indians”. Therefore, when it comes to American Indians, they are called immediately with a clarification: “American Indians” or simply “Native Americans”.

Everything here seemed unusual and new: nature, plants, birds, animals and even people.

9.Columbus exchange

Columbus brought from his voyages many products not yet known to Europeans: for example, corn, tomatoes and potatoes. And in America, thanks to Columbus, grapes appeared, as well as horses and cows.

This movement of products, plants and animals between the Old World (Europe) and the New World (America) lasted several hundred years and was called the “Columbus Exchange”.

10.Astronomy

At the most dangerous moment, Columbus was miraculously saved... by knowledge of astronomy!

During the last voyage, the team found itself in a very difficult situation. The ships were destroyed, provisions were running out, people were exhausted and sick. All that remained was to wait for help and hope for the hospitality of the Indians, who were not very peaceful towards strangers.

And then Columbus came up with a trick. From astronomical tables he knew that a lunar eclipse would occur on February 29, 1504. Columbus called the local leaders and announced that, as punishment for their hostility, the god of the white people had decided to take away the moon from the inhabitants of the island.

And indeed, the prediction came true - exactly at the specified time, the moon began to be covered with a black shadow. Then the Indians began to beg Columbus to return the moon to them, and in return they agreed to feed the strangers the best food and fulfill all their wishes.